Gov.'s staff raises assailed

Lawmakers are again challenging Gov. Jim Gibbons over proposed salary increases for the governor's staff, calling the raises "bizarre" and "cavalier" since most state workers are in line for pay cuts.

"What I'm feeling and what I'm sensing, just from the e-mails I'm getting on this legislative account, is outrage," Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said during an Assembly Ways and Means Committee hearing.

"Everyone is being asked, whether it's the private sector or public sector, to reduce the amount spent on their health insurance, the amount of their pay," Oceguera said.

"They've been asked to do more with less."

Josh Hicks, the governor's chief of staff, said that overall payroll costs have been cut by 11 percent, and that staffing in the office has been cut, leaving remaining employees "doing more with less." But many of the remaining employees in the governor's office saw significant pay boosts after being promoted.

"If you look at this historically, in context, you can see that the governor's office is reducing, we're cutting back, and we're spending a lot less than we did in previous years," Hicks said.

Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, said the raises were "bizarre," noting that two of the positions that were cut were "constituent services" jobs and asking how the governor's office could say it was doing more.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, termed the raises "cavalier," adding that it may be time to review the law that allows the governor to set salaries within his office, working with a fixed overall dollar figure.

State workers protested the raises outside the Legislature in Carson City and the state Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.

"Gov. Gibbons doesn't get it," said Lisa Dehart, a welfare worker. "First he asks state employees to take a 6 percent cut, then he turns around and doubles the salary for some of his staff."

Kevin Ranft, a corrections officer, said there are hundreds of job vacancies in the prison system and guards have taken on extra responsibilities to make up for the staffing shortage.