Republican legislators: Rocky Balboa they ain't

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley released the following statement about Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons' proposed budget:

"The Governor and his full-time staff have had more than six months to come up with a vision and budget for Nevada " legislators have had four days of budget hearings. Rather than choosing to move our state forward, the Governor has chosen mediocrity for our state and our children. Rather than taking the time to develop a plan for re-building Nevada, he has chosen the expedient path of eliminating essential services for those who need them the most.

"The Legislature, working in a bi-partisan approach, will do the job the Governor has failed to do: provide vision and leadership during tough economic times. ... The Governor is right that no solution to our budget problems will be easy. But Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized his plan because it is reckless and irresponsible. As the Legislature convenes next week, we will work in a bi-partisan manner to provide the necessary vision and leadership to balance the budget."

Two points:

First, Barbara Buckley has been in the Nevada Legislature since 1994. That's 15 long years, folks. And she's on the Finance Committee. In addition, every member of the Legislature has known about the current budget problem for well over a year. The Legislature has been called into Special Session twice in the past six months to deal with the problem. And Buckley has been traipsing all over the state on her "Magical Misery Tour" talking about Nevada's budget and tax structure since last fall.

For Barbara Buckley to claim she's only had "four days of budget hearings" to come up with an alternative "vision and budget for Nevada" is laughable on its face.

Secondly, where are the Republican legislators while all of this is going on?

It's easier to find Waldo while blindfolded than to find a Republican legislator willing to call out the Democrats on this charade. Instead we get Republican legislators giving aid and comfort to the opposition with statements such as this from GOP Sen. Warren Hardy this week: "I want to assure you, I'm not going to participate in the dismantling of the higher education system in this state."

Good grief.

Sure, there may be parts of the Gibbons plan Hardy and other Republican legislators don't like. But they don't have to give the plan a bear hug to point out that while calling it "reckless and irresponsible" the Democrats themselves have been reckless and irresponsible by not sharing with Nevadans a specific alternative "vision" for Nevada.

As long as GOP legislators continue to let Democrats take cheap shots at the budget without firing back, they will, indeed, be completely and totally irrelevant in the legislative process again this session. Which also explains why they've been in the minority in the state Assembly since Barbara Buckley was first elected in 1994.

Democrat strategist and political bare-knuckler James Carville once said, "'It's hard for someone to hit you when you have your fist in their face." Which is why Nevada Democrats are having a field day pummeling Gov. Gibbons these days. Nobody's swinging back.

If Republican legislators aren't going to climb into the ring with Gibbons, the least they could do is throw in the towel.

- Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy grassroots advocacy organization. He may be reached at chuck@citizenoutreach.com.