Heller offers a cloudy vision for gas price relief

We've noticed that Carson City's own Congressman Dean Heller has not shied away from criticizing the majority party for its inaction on the country's most pressing issues, so we pay special attention when we hear from his Washington, D.C., office. After all, if there's a leadership void, perhaps it's Heller who can help fill it.

Such was the case, we figured, with a press release headlined "Heller Pushes for Plan to Lower Gas Prices." That's a big issue, of course, and that our congressman may be providing a vision for relief is newsworthy.

In House Resolution 1135 that he authored Thursday, however, that vision amounts to "calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to immediately address skyrocketing gasoline and diesel prices in America."

And that's about all it says.

Sadly, his vision for addressing the issue is to blame the other party for not addressing the issue.

As his own press release says, "families across Nevada and the country are experiencing financial hardships because Congress has failed to address skyrocketing fuel prices."

So our plea to Heller, whose press release seems to suggest he is not a part of this Congressional failure, is to address it with ideas rather than blame and divisiveness.

Surely Heller is privy to some of his own party's solutions for solving this crisis. We might be safe to assume it places no blame on either Middle East leaders, among whom President Bush ought to hold sway after all he has fought to invest there, or on big oil companies, whose record profits and tax breaks Heller has defended in the past.

So, Congressman Heller, we await your solutions, and your leadership.

That's why we sent you to Washington, after all.

• This editorial represents the view of the Nevada Appeal Editorial Board.