Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Democrats no longer have carte blanche in Carson City
With Republican governor, one-party rule no longer the case
Having a Republican in the Nevada governor’s mansion could cool the tenor of Democratic lawmakers and the bills they advance through the Legislature, said Robin Titus, who last session was the Republicans’ leader in the Assembly and ran unopposed for the state Senate.
The trifecta that Democrats have held in Carson City — a majority in both the Assembly and Senate, plus the governorship — had emboldened Democrats to push for exceedingly liberal policies that didn’t necessarily have wide support, said Titus, R-wellington.
With Republican Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff, assuming the governor’s office in January, Democrats in the Legislature may need to give their Republican counterparts a say in policymaking if they want any of their bills to pass in the 2023 session, she said.
“Single-party rule, regardless of what party it belongs to, is not good for the state or the nation,” Titus said. “I think that the best policy is made when the opposing parties sit down, share ideas and you come to a consensus with what is best for everybody. And that hasn’t happened in the last two sessions.”
Lombardo last week announced a transition team that includes Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Applied Analysis; former Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison; Tina Quigley, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance; Nevada Gaming Commissioner Ben Kieckhefer; and Peter Guzman, the president and CEO of the Latin Chamber of Commerce.
Titus said that crafting the state’s budget, which falls on the governor’s office, should be second nature for the governor-elect because of his background at Metro.
“Managing people, working with the police unions and things like that, it’s going to be easy for him,” Titus said of Lombardo. “But it’s the other issues: the education issues, the health care issues and all those things. We’ll see who he has in his Cabinet and who he
uses as his transition team.”
Crafting state policy is entirely different from law enforcement organization and management, and requires its own skillset, Titus said.
“He certainly has tried to do some of his homework beforehand,” Titus said. “He has a very steep learning curve. It’s a little bit like snowboarding, you know? It takes a while to get ahead and all that, and it can hurt while you’re doing it.”
Despite Lombardo’s win, Democrats still have majority control of both chambers of the Legislature. They gained two seats in this month’s elections to claim a supermajority in the Nevada Assembly. With 28 of 42 Assembly members, Democrats can override a governor’s veto or push through legislation regardless of how Republicans vote.
But Democrats don’t have that advantage in the Nevada Senate. They hold a 13-8 edge over Republicans — one vote shy of a veto-proof majority — which means Lombardo’s veto pen could be an impediment to Democrats’ key legislative packages.
Speaker Pro Tem Steve Yeager, D-las Vegas, who last week was picked as chair of the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus, said in a statement he looked forward to working with Lombardo. While Yeager declined to didn’t expand on how he planned to work with the new Republican governor, there will likely be tense negotiations as the sides work to find common ground.
Lt. Gov.-elect Stavros Anthony, a Las Vegas Republican, said governing alongside Democrats gave him a familiar sense of deja vu. He spent 13 years on the Las Vegas City Council, which has long been controlled by Democrats.
“I’ll work with the Democrats,” Anthony said. “When I came on to the City Council in 2009, I was the first Republican elected in like 15 years. And you ask anybody that’s been on the city council: They know I’m professional, and I don’t talk bad about people. I talk bad about policies, but I won’t ever attack anybody.”
Yeager in a separate statement said he was “proud to lead the most diverse legislative caucus in the country because it is imperative that our lawmakers reflect the richness of our great state.”
He said Assembly Democrats focused their campaigns on protecting abortion access, strengthening education and building an economy that works for all residents. They look forward to working on those issues in Carson City, he said.
“Despite the historical headwinds blowing against us in this midterm election, we won our races because of our vision for the state and due to the hard work of our candidates, staff and partner groups . ... I am thrilled we will continue that legacy this session,” he said.