Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Legislators owe it to Nevadans to focus on governing, not politicking
Here’s a message to Nevada lawmakers as they prepare for the convening of the 2021 legislative session Monday: This session should be all about governing, folks, not politicking. The difference?
Governing involves focusing on the needs of the state’s citizens first, then respecting the art of compromise and working to build coalitions through cooperation and conciliation. It’s about using statesmanship and tact to craft the best policies for the public at large, even if it means getting less than you and your party wanted and may not satisfy all of your voters.
Politicking means advancing partisan ideology to serve base supporters, and getting over on the other side. In today’s tribalized political landscape, it’s zero-sum game: Give no quarter, take no prisoners, total victory or bust.
Governing is what Nevadans desperately need this year from their legislators — a group that works constructively, even if messily, to steer the state out of the pandemic and the economic crisis that has come with it.
Republican gains in the 2020 election mean passing legislation won’t be as easy as it had been since 2018, when Democrats held a supermajority in the Assembly and were just shy of one in the state Senate. The Assembly supermajority is now gone, and Republicans also cut into the Senate majority.
Disturbingly, several of these Republican candidates come from the extremist edge of the party. Witness Assemblywoman-elect Annie Black, who was identified as one of at least 13 Republican state lawmakers from across the nation who attended the rally before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Those GOP lawmakers should know that Nevadans, especially those in the south, have thoroughly rejected the politics of the extreme right. Just look at recent election results, in which candidates with reasonable and responsible views on immigration, gun safety, social justice, women’s reproductive rights and other major issues were swept into state and congressional offices. There’s a reason Democrats hold both of Nevada’s U.S. Senate seats, three of its four U.S. House seats, all but one of its statewide offices and most of its legislative seats. And that’s not to mention the past two presidential elections or recent ballot questions in which voters supported such issues as gun safety and renewable energy.
Now, in a state that was among those hit hardest by the pandemic, Republican obstructionism won’t be forgiven if it occurs in Carson City over these next few months.
That said, it will also be important for Democratic lawmakers to work with any of their GOP counterparts who choose to be responsible. This is not a year to dig in on ideology, or to play reelection politics.
The stakes are enormous. Going into the session, Nevada has the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation — 9.2%, just a tick better than Hawaii’s 9.3%. More than 350,000 Nevadans suffer from food insecurity, including more than 130,000 children. Students and families statewide are struggling with the challenges of remote learning, and there’s been a tragic upswing in suicides among our young people amid the isolation and economic pressures brought on by the pandemic. And while the rollout of coronavirus vaccinations offers hope for a turnaround sooner than later, experts say it’s highly unlikely that Las Vegas’ tourist economy will bounce back fully by the end of this year.
Real people are feeling real pain, and a great deal of it.
Those people should be the focus of Nevada lawmakers this year, not how to kick the other party down a notch or gather material for the next round of campaign advertisements.
Look, we get it: Governing can be hard, frustrating work. It’s certainly harder than politicking, which simply involves maintaining a party line and looking for any opportunity to chump the people across the aisle.
But this year, lawmakers owe it to Nevadans to do the hard work.