Our Nutty Governor: Part II

In case you don’t read Blue Sage Views (and shame on you if you don’t because I’m certainly too lazy to cover this kind of thing everyday), today there was a Senate Committee on Taxation hearing on Bill 324–an effort to revise the tax structure relating to vehicles in several ways in order to raise funds for the construction and maintenance of public highways. The Senate certainly can’t look to Governor Gibbons for any leadership on this issue. Even if he did have anything interesting on the subject, he’s been too busy dreaming up conspiracy theories and calling them rumor and then saying “Psych!” Its gotten so bad that even the corporate dudes who bought him the office are exasperated with Gibbons’ lack of gubernatorial qualities. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce’s Tim Cashman thoughtfully tried to remind Gibbons why they gave him so much money in an statement to the Las Vegas Sun: “It’s called leadership,” You’d think Gibbons would understand that at least a small part of his job as Governor, you know, the head of the state, is to LEAD. Okay, I take your point, we are talking about Gibbons.

Let’s review Gibbons’ leadership on transportation funding, shall we? Because he has sworn not to raise any taxes (don’t forget Dina Taxes!), Gibbons’ bright idea was to ignore the not outlandish recommendations of a task force appointed by outgoing Governor Kenny Guinn to tie gas prices to inflation, raise the fee for a driver’s licenses along with several other vehicle related taxes and fees. I guess its too logical to tie road maintenance and construction to residents’ actual use of the roads. But Myrna you ask: “What did Gibbons plan to fund the transportation budget shortfall with if not vehicle and road related taxes and fees?” The budget surplus of course! The fact that there is a budget shortfall instead of a budget surplus is proving to be an inconvenient truth for the Governor. With no budget surplus, Gibbons announced that he wanted a task force to look into toll roads (public-private partnerships pimped by Dick Gephardt) which won’t cost citizens a cent, except when they want to drive on them. Toll roads are what we call a regressive tax , except without the benefit of the regressive part. You can read all about the overwhelming success of toll roads over at Desert Beacon’s place. Oh, and Gibbons isn’t opposed to citizens deciding to tax themselves, he just doesn’t want to be the one to do it.

You can can out more about the cost-effectiveness of maintaining our roads now, rather than building new roads later at Fix Nevada Roads. They are working for you, and they have a pretty nice website. Let’s face it–long-term thinking is not Gibbons’ strong suit. He can’t even decide whether the Wall Street Journal is on the take or not. Or is it that they are at Titus’ beck and call? I can’t keep his delusions straight. Anyway, how can he be trusted to lead the legislature on this issue? Someone has got to step up and show Gibbons how to govern. Raggio? Buckley? Anyone?

Similar Posts:

• Reno Toll Roads?
• Governor is Calling a Special Session Last Week of June
• You Know What They Say about Hubris

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