Special session off to a rocky start

All is not peace and harmony on the eve of Tuesday’s special session.

Actually, it’s more like a snotfest.

Democrats and Republicans, united in their antipathy toward the Gibbons administration, became fired up Monday over a news release from the governor’s office which expressed joy that K-12 education was only going to be cut by 2.4 percent, not 10 percent in the current budget year.

“Governor Saves Education From Massive Cuts” was the headline the governor’s office felt appropriate.

Gibbons’Budget Director Andrew Clinger was defending the calculations, when Sparks Sen. Bernice Mathews contemptuously called it a “shell game.”

Then Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley chimed in that this was “infuriating” because “you can’t count on federal government’s largesse every time.”

The 2.4 percent decrease counts the federal dollars that come in to the state, not just the state’s general fund dollars.

A few minutes later, the usually civil Sen. Bill Raggio,R-Reno, asked if the governor’s office had obtained a legal opinion as part of its proposal to reduce deductions mining companies use to lower their taxes and Clinger said he didn’t know and Raggio would have to ask the governor’s office.

“I thought you were representing the governor’s office,” Raggio said.

Soon afterward, a furious Robin Reedy, the governor's chief of staff, rushed into the hearing room and defended Clinger and said peppering Clinger with the same policy questions “is just a waste of time.”

Raggio retorted, “You’re not going to tell me what kind of questions to ask.”

The legislators are frustrated because they say Gibbons has been inconsistent. First he says he’s OK with agencies self-funding themselves through fees, then he backpedals on a few agencies.

“I am not one of the individuals who condems the governor for supporting fees in the past,” said Buckley, who would rather see agencies charge higher fees so more money can go into K-12.

Reedy left after saying sarcastically she looked forward to speaking with the lawmakers again. “I’ve missed you for the last 24 hours.”

Outside the hearing, Reedy said it was “not fair for one person (Clinger) to take that crap” and that’s why she hurried over. Was this worse than usual? “They’re always snotty to the governor’s office,” she said.

But it seemed snottier than usual, a strong indication that the head-butting isn’t about to cease.

Clinger himself said it doesn’t bother him when lawmakers take shots at him, and blamed the shots on the frustration that a day before the session, they are still haggling over details. “I don’t take it personally.”

But he wasn’t the only Gibbons official to take it on the chin in that hearing. Department of Corrections Director Howard Skolnik was bashed for not providing information lawmakers needed to calculate prison budget numbers.

Corrections officials have been before the finance committee three times in the last two weeks, pointed out Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford. “And we’re not even close to getting information.”

But the hostility isn’t just between legislators and the governor’s staff.

There’s been no concensus even between Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate, over what should go and what should stay in the budget, one senator said. “We’re going to go to war with the Assembly first before we go to war with the governor.”

Peace and harmony? Not a chance.