Not every California concept is bad
Walking near the legislative building one day in Carson City, I came across a car with a distinctive bumper sticker: "I don't much care how you did it in California."
Chalk it up to Nevada resentment of the Golden State, which sees our big government, big-spending, big-deficit neighbor to the west as a cauldron of bad ideas just waiting to "Califonicate" pristine Nevada.
The poor bumper sticker's owner would probably be chagrined to learn Nevada's constitution -- and many of its laws -- are cut-and-pasted from the Golden State.
But that doesn't mean that every idea that comes from California is a loser. Consider Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, who has proposed the brand-new state of South California, comprised of 13 southern counties tired of affiliation with the rest of the difficult-to-govern Golden State. Under his idea, the majority of Southern California and a good chunk of the central valley would become the 51st state (sorry, Puerto Rico!). Pointedly excluded is the liberal bastion of Los Angeles County. (I can't wait to see Stone's border fence!)
The concept isn't new: Southern California has been talking about taking its ball and going home since the 1850s. But it is an interesting idea, notwithstanding Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution, which says "No new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the Legislatures of the states concerned as well as the Congress."
Gov. Jerry Brown's spokesman calls the plan "a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time." What do you expect? He's lived in Northern California way too long. But Stone's idea -- however far-fetched -- got me thinking about Nevada. On Sunday, I wrote about a legislative scorecard that showed how Southern Nevada lawmakers often vote against the region's best interests. Southern Nevada, it turns out, subsidizes the rest of the state, to the detriment of Clark County's residents.
Well, what if our region -- specifically, Clark County -- was its own state? Problem solved!
First, our Northern Nevada friends who fret frequently about the growing power and influence of Clark County could stop worrying. We won't take over, we'll take off. Good luck making state payroll with the casinos on Virginia Street and the crumbs that fall from mining's table, Nevada.
Second, as our own state, we'd get to keep 100 percent of the revenue that comes from the economic activity generated here. That means, at a minimum, better roads and maybe hiring some people who can figure out how to time the signal lights properly.
Third, our state capital will finally be in Las Vegas, meaning regular citizens can go give the Legislature a piece of their minds as easily as complaining to the City Council. (Speaking of, we should probably unincorporate all the local governments, especially those flirting with municipal bankruptcy in part because they built a pricey new City Hall and sewer treatment plant. You know who you are.)
Fourth, former Mayor Oscar Goodman can finally be governor without ever leaving the city he loves. Term limits? They aren't in the constitution of the nation's newest state. But legalized prostitution, marijuana and gay marriage sure would be!
Sure, we'd have to work out that whole water situation, since we couldn't swipe Eastern Nevada's groundwater without negotiating an interstate compact. But with all the cash we'd be saving by not subsidizing the north (and the dire straits the rest of the state would be in without us) we could always make them an offer.
Welcome to New Nevada!
Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist, and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/SteveSebelius or reach him at 387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.
