Raggio will vote on taxes

CARSON CITY (AP) " With approval late Wednesday of an exemption to conflict-of-interest rules, a key Republican state senator reversed course and said he'll cast what's seen as an essential vote to pass a $781 million tax measure.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, at first had said he didn't have a conflict but decided not to vote on the tax plan, SB429, after being advised by the Legislature's chief legal adviser to be cautious in the tax matter.

State Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, said that despite the change in the Senate rules he will still abstain from voting on the tax plan to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

"I don't think I have any conflict," Hardy said. But he added that he doesn't have "rock-solid" legal advice that he can vote on higher taxes, and so he won't out of "an abundance of caution."

The exemption says conflict rules remain in place but don't require senators to abstain from voting on measures "of immense statewide importance which globally impact all citizens of this state." A ban on voting should occur "only in clear cases" of conflict, the revision states.

The tax plan is needed to help plug a $1.1 billion hole in a nearly $7 billion state budget for the next two fiscal years. The plan was on shaky ground when both Raggio and Hardy said they wouldn't vote, but with Raggio's reversal its odds of passage improved.

SB429 requires a two-thirds vote to win approval and to survive an expected veto from Gov. Jim Gibbons. The 12 Senate Democrats need two Republicans to assure that necessary two-thirds vote.

Earlier Wednesday, a Republican operative fighting the tax increase plan said Raggio shouldn't vote for the plan, in line with legal advice and his pattern of abstaining on bills that pose potential conflicts.

Uithoven, head of a nonprofit group called the Western Alliance Fund, said he's a Raggio supporter but believes Raggio "should remain consistent with his previously disclosed conflicts and avoid voting on the massive, pending tax increase."

Uithoven had worked for Gibbons while Gibbons served in Congress, but said he's not working with the governor to oppose the tax plan.

He also said the Western Alliance Fund advocates for government policies that support low and fair taxes and isn't flatly anti-tax. In the case of the pending legislative tax plan, he added he believes "that raising taxes out of this already beaten and tattered economy is foolish."

Raggio has been a key member of the so-called "core" group of legislative leaders involved in lengthy closed-door negotiations on the tax plan.

Hardy also has been a key figure in the negotiations. He informed other lawmakers on Wednesday that he can no longer negotiate and will even abstain from voting on any package of bills.

Hardy said he has been threatened with an ethics complaint if he continues to negotiate a final package. He's president of the Associated Builders and Contractors, whose board members include Steve Hill, head of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and a strong proponent of reduced public employee pay and benefits.