Legislators pass on good government to follow their consultants

Once again, many Nevada legislators demonstrate that if they have to choose between what the voters want and what their political consultants want, about half side with the ones who brought them to the party: the consultants.

So what that Assemblyman Tick Segerblom's bill would save taxpayers the $1 million it costs every other year to pay for municipal elections with miserable turnouts. Those elections help political consultants pay their bills in odd-numbered years. So a bill the public wanted was deep-sixed Wednesday. But the political consultants still have full employment.

It isn't just me who wanted the municipal elections switched from odd to even-numbered years. Readers told me how much they hated going to vote for just one or two candidates in the April 7 municipal elections. A long ballot might have had three races to decide.

The few who voted saw firsthand the wasted manpower and want the municipal elections combined with the state and federal elections. I begged legislators to pass the bill in my April 6 column. Apparently, I should have gotten on my knees like Erin Kenny, but even that wouldn't have saved the bill.

Assembly Bill 256 died this week without a vote of the Assembly.

After it became clear the bill wouldn't pass, Segerblom himself pulled the bill the day it was supposed to be voted on and put it in that never-never land known as the chief clerk's desk. It stayed hidden there until Wednesday, when it missed the deadline to leave the Assembly and head to the Senate.

So who does the death of the bill benefit? One small but powerful group: the political consultants who help elect these same legislators, then turn around and lobby them on issues.

Instead of fixing a long-term problem and saving millions and millions over the long haul, legislators couldn't reach any agreement. Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, said the bill had bipartisan support with half the Republicans and half the Democrats supporting it, and half opposing it from each party, almost an even split.

"The people who profit by the current system were happy that it died," Segerblom said Thursday. He didn't know whether any specific consultants actively worked against the bill, describing the opposition as "very behind the scenes."

The other loser in the bill's demise was Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. If the bill had passed, some politicians, including Goodman, would have served longer terms by 16 months so the terms would end up on the same cycle.

For those of you who adore the term-limited mayor, that would have been a plus.

It's not such a positive for those who detest the mayor, such as the leaders of the Culinary union. They were recently described as "evil" and "sociopathic" by the name-calling mayor, enraged over the union's opposition to building a new City Hall in these dire economic times.

Some of the opposition was because of the second part of the bill, the part that pushed the August primary in even-numbered years to June. Nevada's primary has bounced from June to September to August and now Segerblom wanted it to go back to June.

He's not the only one.

State Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson, is the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 162, which also changes the primary to the second Tuesday in June in even-numbered years. Her bill passed the state Senate unanimously and is now in the Assembly. Sen. Bill Raggio's bill to move the primary to September died in committee.

Her bill doesn't include the changing of the dates of municipal elections. Yet.

Segerblom hopes to revive his idea and fold it into her bill. "I'm not being a Pollyanna, but this is not the time to give up," Segerblom said. "I'm still pounding the pavement."

So you've got a good government idea that will save Clark County taxpayers millions over the years, or it can remain dead and save consultants money.

What to do, what to do? Vote for good government or upset your consultant?

It's a no-brainer, but that doesn't mean Segerblom's idea will be revived or win approval.

If you want to voice your opinion on this or any other issue, the toll free number for the Legislative Counsel Bureau hot line is 1-800-995-9080, or from Las Vegas it is 486-2626.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.