Heller, loquacious on some issues, goes silent on Sandoval fee plan

CARSON CITY — U.S. Sen. Dean Heller said he’s for infrastructure, against government borrowing and wants to work toward a simpler tax code, in his traditional address to the Nevada Legislature Monday. But in a brief non-interview after the speech, Heller refused to say whether he favors or opposes Gov. Brian Sandoval’s plan to increase the business-license fee to better fund education in Nevada.

Heller began his address by paying homage to several Nevada lawmakers who’ve passed away since the last session, including former Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, former Assembly members Bernie Anderson and Pete Livermore and former Carson City Mayor Marv Teixeira. He also acknowledged longtime Review-Journal Carson City bureau chief Ed Vogel, who died in February.

Heller also praised U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, before going on to insult the Senate majority leader’s approach to the job.

“As you’ve heard, Senator Harry Reid recently announced he will be retiring,” Heller said, prompting applause from some ever-classy members of the Legislature. Even Heller at that point said, “that was not an applause line.”

“Harry’s served our state with distinction in both local and state government before representing Nevada in Washington,” Heller continued. “Harry’s coming home to Nevada, and I’m sure his family is looking forward to spending more time with him.”

But then, a few paragraphs later, Heller added: “And the good news is: we’ve turned the corner in Washington. For the first time in six years the U.S. Senate is open for business!” (Now, who’s been running the Senate for the last six years again?)

Heller embraced the I-11 project that will someday join Phoenix and Las Vegas, and noted that he attended the groundbreaking for the Nevada portion of that project on Monday. He pledged to continue to work on reducing the backlog of Veterans Administrations claims in Nevada. And he praised Sandoval for helping Nevada’s economy recover better than that in other states.

But Heller also attacked the complexity of the federal tax code. “When it comes to simplifying the tax code, I feel no different [sic] than most of you,” Heller said. “It’s too big, too complicated, too expensive. A friend of mine used to joke that the tax code is as long as the Bible, but with none of the good news. The last time the federal tax code was updated Ronald Reagan was president, Tip O’Neill was speaker of the House, Dick Bryan was our governor and a gallon of gas cost you 93 cents. That was back in 1986.”

Given that critics say Sandoval’s plan is also complicated, and Heller’s general opposition to taxes, I wanted to find out what he thought about the governor’s plan. I asked him as he was leaving the Assembly chamber following the speech, but Heller demurred.

“I’m not doing any interviews just because I gave a speech, so I want to give you a great opportunity to report on an incredible speech,” Heller said with a chuckle. When I asked specifically about the governor’s plan, Heller dodged by saying, “I’m not in the Legislature so I don’t respond.”

Attempts to get more information from Heller through his spokesman later were equally fruitless. Heller noted in the speech that he began his political career as a member of the Assembly. (He also served as secretary of state and a member of Congress before being appointed, and later elected, to the U.S. Senate.)

Another applause line came when Heller declared his support for transferring federally owned public land back to the states, which has become a big issue in the 2015 Legislature.

“With over 85 percent of the land in Nevada being owned and controlled by the federal government, I’m a big proponent of transferring much of our land back to local or state government control,” Heller said to applause. “Since my first days in the House, I’ve made sure lands bills were a priority.”

But Heller appears to be a member of the reality-based community when it comes to public lands, acknowledging federal control over state lands, and working within the system to return lands to state or local control, the model embraced by Senate Joint Resolution 1, which asks the government to shift 7.2 million acres to the state. Heller doesn’t seem to believe in the approach represented by Assembly Bill 408, which essentially seeks to declare state ownership over those lands by fiat.