Nevada Republicans upset with Gov. Gibbons

Republican lawmakers made it clear Wednesday they were upset by Gov. Jim Gibbons' decision not to sign the room tax increase.

Gibbons included the money raised by the tax increase in his proposed budget. But a spokesman said after the vote the governor will allow the petition to become law without his signature.

"He won't sign it based on principle," said Dan Burns. "He didn't support the tax hike and he doesn't support tax increases. He will not veto it because he will not stand in front of the will of the people."

That prompted a rare criticism of a fellow Republican by Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, which Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, echoed.

"The governor proposed the room tax in his budget and that is one of the reasons I supported it," said Raggio, adding that Washoe County voters also supported the tax.

"Additionally, the governor indicated that he would approve it if the voters supported it," Raggio said in a statement. "If he is now not going to sign it, I and others have certainly been misled."

"I agree that we were misled," said Gansert. "I was very disappointed with his statement."

Raggio, Gansert and others on the Republican negotiating team that worked on proposed budget cuts had to be talked into the room tax by the governor.

"He is kind of throwing us under the bus," said Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, who voted for the proposal.

Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, levied the sharpest criticism against the Republican governor, accusing him of cowardice.

"After including the voter-approved room tax initiative in his budget, he has taken the easy way out by choosing to take no stance on the initiative," Horsford said in a statement.

"We must face the future with courage and competence, not with the cowardice the governor has demonstrated today," he said. "It is clear that he lacks any vision for what Nevada should be now and in 20 years and that the people of Nevada cannot trust what he says or does."

In a statement from Las Vegas, Gibbons said that despite his personal opposition to tax increases, "I will respect and abide by the will of the voters."

"I included the tax increase in my proposed budget reluctantly as I don't believe raising taxes is the way to get Nevada out of an economic recession."

He said other governors have allowed bills to become law without signing when they were reluctant to support them.

"If Sen. Horsford considers the governor of this state a coward for refusing to be an

ardent supporter of a tax increase, then I think our new Senate majority leader has made it perfectly clear to Nevadans that he not only plans to raise taxes but intends to do so with great zeal and enthusiasm," Gibbons said.

Assemblyman Tom Grady of Yerington, also a member of the Republican leadership group, said he was surprised since Gibbons put the tax money in the budget.

"The bottom line is, if you're going to budget it, you ought to fund it," said Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City. "I call it the budget-but-don't-fund-it syndrome."

"It's amazing he chooses not to support the very item he included in his budget," Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said. "The state is probably in the worst condition it's been in in decades. We're hemorrhaging and instead of being frank and open with our challenges, he's trying to play politics."

Horsford said lawmakers will have to do the work to balance the budget.

The room tax will generate an estimated $232 million for the state during the biennium from Washoe and Clark counties. In future years, the money will go straight to public education.

Under the Nevada Constitution, the bill will become law after five days even if Gibbons doesn't sign it.