(Victor Joecks/NPRI) – Seriously.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, refrained from making recommendations for Sandoval’s upcoming budget proposal, saying he wants to see the numbers first.
“It is the governor’s job to present the Legislature with a budget,” Horsford said. “I will comment on it at that time.”
And there’s more.
“Our job is to react first to the budget presented us by the governor,” Horsford said after speaking with Sandoval.
“I am encouraged. He is a governor who will show up to work every day. He has pledged cooperation with our caucus. It is incumbent on him to provide us with a budget and a plan and vision to move our state forward.”
So during the election season, Sen. Horsford said there should be $1.5 billion in budget cuts, but now he doesn’t want to identify them? Hmmmmmm.
This is most likely a cynical political move. By waiting for Sandoval to produce a balanced budget — one Sandoval promises won’t contain tax increases — Horsford and the Democrats can attack him for cutting education and wanting to kill children.
Of course, the majority of these “cuts” will actually be unapproved spending increases, but explaining how the budget the Democrats have in mind would increase state spending by 30 percent is more difficult than just asserting that conservatives/libertarians hate children, education, polar bears, etc. …
There’s also considerable irony in this strategy. Does everyone remember how liberals bashed Republicans on the federal level repeatedly over the past two years for not having a plan to govern and for just being “the party of no”? And they did this despite Republicans producing plans and introducing legislation on many major issues — including health care, the budget and energy.
So will Democrats in Nevada get anywhere near the same media roasting that Republicans did over this issue?
I’m not holding my breath.
