Blowing Golden Opportunity

(Danny Tarkanian) – The recent Op Ed written by Senator Roberson reminds me of the adage, if you keep saying the same thing long enough people will believe it.

Last November, Nevadans elected a Republican legislative majority for the first time in 85 years, providing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make critical changes necessary to our State’s education system, public retirement system, elections, tax and fiscal reforms.

Unfortunately, the 2015 Legislature squandered this precious opportunity. Instead of providing school choice for all, they passed a bill providing school choice to only a “handful” of our children. Why not pass a bill providing it for every child?

The Legislature passed a bill eliminating prevailing wage, which cuts costs by 20% or more, on school construction projects.  But the bill requires prevailing wage on all other public projects. If it is fiscally responsible to eliminate prevailing wage for school construction than why not eliminate it for all public works projects?

The Legislature failed to pass a bill requiring voters to show a Photo ID to vote even though more than 70% of Nevadans support it, and other states around the country are passing similar bills.

The Senate failed to reform the Public Employee Retirement System which is bankrupting our state and instead chose to pass the largest tax increase in our State’s history. Ironically, this $1.2 billion tax increase is nearly identical to the one voters rejected in the last election by 4-1 margin, only it’s more complicated and easier to manipulate.

Carson City politicians can brag, but Nevadans know we can do better, and we should.

Danny is a Political Commentator on 790 “Talk Now … Talk That Rocks” Talk Radio 790AM & 104.3FM, and a blogger for “Tark Bytes.” Visit his blog at http://DannyTarkanian.com.