Guinn Center aims to be bipartisan
Agroup of Nevadans who don’t consider “moderate” a dirty word have opened the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, named after the late governor, who worked effectively with both parties. His passion was education and tax policy, and his grasp of the state budget was unparalleled.
The charming Gov. Kenny Guinn was proud to be a moderate Republican rather than an ideologue driven by partisan politics. His widow, Dema, said: “This is a good group. I do think they’re going to make a difference and to me, that was very important. I saw them focusing on education and the economy, the things Kenny believed in.”
Before her husband died in 2010, “he was so worried about the state, always focusing on a vision for the future and how can we make this state a better state to live in.”
Phil Satre, former CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment and now semi-retired, is chairman of the center’s board, which is divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Looking at the national and state landscape, Satre said, “The voice of political moderation has all but disappeared.” He hopes to change that.
The goal of the Guinn Center is to provide solid research to help decision makers, but not perform the research from a particular political perspective.
Satre said the center’s papers won’t tell policymakers how to vote but will lay out the facts and offer ideas.
How does a margins tax work in other states? What education programs work, or don’t work?
Nevada Policy Research Institute is a conservative think tank that presents research and advocates positions. The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada does the same, from a liberal perspective. Even the Greater Las Vegas Chamber presents research on state issues from a business standpoint. The Nevada Taxpayers Association focuses on tax policy.
So why is a Guinn Center needed? Satre said it’s to get away from ideologies and to provide research for legislators who, because of term limits, may not have the background on some of the issues. “Our research will be data driven, not driven by a political agenda.”
The center has an executive director, Nancy Brune, and a research director, Tori Carreon, and
“This is great,” said oldest son Greg Devlin, who traveled from northern Virginia for the ceremony held 60 years after the Air Force demonstration team was established.
“It’s good to see it back up in the air. It really is. It’s good for the family. I know my mother is really happy to see it,” he said, standing next to his mom, Shirley Buckley, of Texas.
Said Buckley: “I’m very honored. I know it means a lot to Gene. I know he’s here. He’s here” in spirit.
Thanks to a $10,000 donation from the Thunderbirds Alumni Association and countless hours of work by Rick Dale and his crew from History channel’s “American Restoration” program, the one-twelfth scale model of Capt. Devlin’s jet that for years had welcomed airmen and visitors to Nellis was returned to a prominent place in pristine condition.
“It means everything in the world,” Dale said after he watched the Devlin family unveil the dedication plaque Friday. “It’s a total honor to be part of this. Without these guys fighting for us there would be no freedom whatsoever.”
He said the toughest part of the restoration project was re-painting the model after all the old paint had been stripped. “Everything is rounded and has curves, so it was very hard making it exactly the way it was. And that was very important because they did it for a reason. Everything about the Thunderbirds is exact, every single thing they do.”
Built by Republic Aviation and installed at the base entrance in 1974 as a tribute to the fallen pilot, the sun-baked fiberglass model, with its faded blue stars and red-turned-pink trim, had been yanked down in 1999 and stowed in a remote hangar when the base entrance road was realigned.
For a decade, it had been forgotten but not lost. Tech. Sgt. Anthony Graham, the team’s quality assurance inspector, got a call one day to retrieve it from a storage yard where a hangar was being demolished. He said he “almost had a heart attack” when he saw this Thunderbirds symbol in its tattered condition. “It broke my heart,” he said in a January interview.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Thunderbirds commander and leader Lt. Col. Greg Moseley noted the team’s role-model obligation.
“We are responsible with representing every airman out there just like Capt. Devlin did,” he said. “What you see before you is a gentleman who wore a patch, much like most of us have on our chest and our arms to symbolize what is good about our Air Force, what is important about our Air Force, which is representing each and every day what’s important for our nation.”
Bill Devlin, a civilian cargo-passenger jet pilot from Centerville, Va., served more than 12 years in the Air Force at the controls of jets and transport planes. Because he was so young when his father died, his dad was “kind of unknown to me” but Friday’s ceremony “ties it in.”
Mark Devlin, the youngest of the brothers, who lives in the Houston area, said, “It’s just an amazing, overwhelming day to see the level of family that’s involved with the Thunderbirds.
“How warm and gracious they’ve always been to my family means the world,” he said. “Getting to actually meet some of these people that worked with him, it just helps me so much. I know he was a great man.”