Legislative party looks more like a hangover for Las Vegas Chamber

The burgeoning Friends of Sandoval was still sweeping up the confetti and champagne corks from its victory party at the 2015 Legislature. But Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce President Kristin McMillan didn’t sound all that cheerful.

During a recent interview with the Review-Journal editorial board, McMillan seemed a little like someone who wasn’t invited to join in the celebration. Her group was challenged by several issues, accused of not leading the tax reform discussion, and in March was pummeled by Sandoval after it funded a Tax Policy Foundation study that essentially delivered what might have been perceived as a low blow to his efforts.

Sandoval’s aggressive legislative agenda, which increased taxes a record $1.1 billion, sent some jolts through the business community and the chamber’s more conservative membership. But the reform plan prevailed over the doubters and pouters. Its critics were marginalized.

McMillan obviously recognized all that and tried to keep her recent Carson City recap positive.

“We represent a very broad-based set of businesses in the community,” she said, adding that its members fill just about every line on the new commerce tax. Fact is, most of the chamber’s members are small businesses.

McMillan reminded those with short memories that the chamber’s work on several elements of the K-12 education and tax reform were ongoing long before the session began: “A number of the significant education reforms that we had advocated for are also going to be put in place.” And she appeared genuinely pleased with the funding for a UNLV medical school, Graduate Medical Education and with the element of accountability built into public school funding.

“Obviously, the reforms were very, very important,” she said. “That was our focus.”

But the elephant in the room was the chamber’s perceived lack of leadership and its funding of an independent Tax Policy Foundation study of Nevada’s revenue structure. After a series of interviews, its policy wonks came up with four general options to change the tax system. It also was highly critical of instituting a business margin tax on gross receipts, observing that it amounted to false tax reform and had been rejected by a wide margin by Nevadans in November. The foundation chided that “Even in states that still employ gross receipts taxes, the levies are a constant source of legislative headache and hassle.”

Sandoval minced no words in a March 26 response to the chamber’s effort: “The report issued today by the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Tax Foundation is utterly irresponsible, intellectually dishonest and built upon erroneous assumptions. I know I am not alone in expressing my disappointment in the chamber’s judgment especially for an organization that repeatedly claims to want to help move Nevada forward. Moreover, this act sits in direct contradiction to what the chamber’s leaders have expressed to me on several occasions privately in my office.

“The only good to come from this stunt is that for those of us who are working in good faith to solve Nevada’s education challenges, it removes all doubt about where the Las Vegas chamber stands. I believe the chamber’s leaders have done their membership a terrible disservice and have harmed the credibility of an organization that purports to stand for education.”

So perhaps that’s why McMillan’s tone made it sound like she wasn’t invited to the Friends of Sandoval victory party. She continued to defend the chamber’s effort to be part of the conversation, and the thoroughness of the foundation’s study. She framed the study as a “conversation starter.”

Make that a loud conversation.

“We did think and know there would have to be a compromise in the end if we were able to get this done,” McMillan said.

Hey, I buy that. Really, I do.

But I’m not sure that’s going to get McMillan and the chamber invited to tea at the Governor’s Mansion any time soon.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. Find him on Twitter: @jlnevadasmith