KEEP NEVADA'S CITIZEN LEGISLATURE

The Marijuana Lady is at it again. It wasn't enough for Assemblywoman Chris
Giunghigliani to be a prime sponsor of last year's statewide pro marijuana
initiative; now she thinks it unfair that one can test positive and possibly
get a DUI rap some days after smoking pot because marijuana stays in one's
system for a long time.

So she wants to change the law. I don't suppose it has occurred to her that
if she doesn't smoke the stuff, she has nothing to worry about. It's kinda
like sexual abstinence. It works every time it's tried.

But that's not the worst of her overzealous hyperactivity. She now wants
annual legislative sessions. Of course this pops up every two years like
clockwork, always sponsored by a Democrat because Democrats seem to have
nothing better to do than waste their time and our money enacting hundreds
of questionable laws.

And they would dearly love to be paid for it every year instead of every two
years. The fact that our founding fathers intended that serving government
in a legislative capacity for a short time every couple of years was to be a
sacrificial, non-professional inconvenience means nothing to exploitation
specialists like Giunchigliani.

Annual legislative sessions would be the beginning of the end of our citizen
legislature. Why do you suppose that we have so few lawyers in our
Legislature as compared to states that have either annual or continuous
sessions? It's because today even the lowliest , fresh-out-of-school lawyer
can't make a living as a legislator in Nevada. Thank God!

And it wasn't all that long ago that even California's legislature met for
only three months every two years. It, too, used to have a citizen
legislature and in those days it wasn't dominated by tax-taking special
interests.

Running true to form, Assemblywoman Guinchigliani is again camouflaging the
truth. This is standard procedure with public education representatives at
all levels. And Giunchigliani is not only a highly paid teacher, that is
when she finds time to teach; she is also a big-time teacher's union
activist.

And we all know where the teachers' union stands on taxes. It has never seen
a tax it didn't love. Annual sessions would double the union's lobbying
activities favoring tax increases for higher teacher salaries and more
benefits. As things now stand the teachers' union, which is the most
relentless of all Nevada lobbying groups, must be content with only one
crack at our Legislature every two years. Again, thank God!

Looking at Giunchigliani's distorted claims that we Nevada citizens want
annual sessions, and that we'd vote in favor of same if it were on the next
ballot, I say bull dung! During the 2001 session, the university system also
claimed that its polls showed the majority of Nevadans being in favor of
annual sessions, but the poll questions were obviously worded to elicit the
university's desired response.

As I said, of all special interest groups the education lobby is the
champion fabricator. Only tax-taking special interests will benefit from
annual legislative sessions.

Now, one law that could and should be enacted either by the Legislature (if
it has the guts), or by ballot initiative, is the prohibition of any public
employee, past or present, from serving as a legislator. Nevada state
employees are already prohibited by law from serving as legislators. So why
are teachers and other public tax-takers, present and retired, allowed to
make tax laws and set budget priorities which directly and indirectly affect
their own incomes?

That is a flat-out conflict of interest, and I don't give a damn what the
Ethics Commission says! If it's a conflict for state employees, it's a
conflict for teachers and all other public employees. The Ethics Commission
interpretation is hopelessly outdated. We taxpayers are being royally
screwed! In one of my forthcoming columns, I will list the names of our
present legislators whose incomes are, or have been, derived from tax
dollars. You will be surprised at the number.

As an aside, my sources tell me that Richard Perkins, Assembly speaker, has
been anointed by gaming's special interests to be our next governor. He is
alleged to have already collected 1 million bucks as seed money for his 2004
campaign. Like Gov. Guinn, he must have agreed to shut up where gaming is
concerned and stay out of the way.

Actually, Perkins is a rather personable young fellow, but I don't see him
as being qualified to be governor. But on second thought, Govs. Guinn and
Zero, er, Miller, have shown that pedigrees don't always account for much
either. If my sources are right, as they usually are, the Dragon Lady will
have a fit.