Two GOP pillars in state Senate felled

By David McGrath Schwartz

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The defeat of Republican state Sens. Bob Beers and Joe Heck gave Democrats control of both the Nevada Assembly and Senate for the first time since 1991.

In the bargain, Democrats eliminated, at least for now, two prominent figures of the Nevada Republican Party.

In Beers, conservatives have lost a leading ideological voice in the Legislature for limited government. Once a candidate for governor, Beers was considering another run.

Heck, an emergency room doctor and U.S. Army Reserve colonel, was considered a rising star and possible future candidate for U.S. senator or governor. Those plans have suffered a setback.

In the Assembly, Majority Leader Barbara Buckley now holds a supermajority, or two-thirds of the vote, which will allow Democrats to override a veto from Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons. Democrats needed just one seat to reach the magic number of 28 and it appeared late Tuesday that they had.

The bigger prize for Democrats, however, was the state Senate. Interest groups aligned with the Democrats spent millions to unseat Heck and Beers.

Democrats will now head powerful state Senate committees that can make or break policy agendas.

State Sen. Steven Horsford will likely become majority leader. (The party caucuses will soon meet to pick committee chairmen and leadership.)

The change in Senate leadership will likely further tilt the state’s political power to the south. Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who has served as the majority leader for every session but one since 1987, has long been perceived as a protector of Northern Nevada’s political power against Southern Nevada’s exploding population.

Long term, Democrats will have the upper hand in realigning political boundaries to favor their party following the 2010 Census.

Yet the next legislative session, which begins in February, will be dominated by the state budget. The change in Senate control will affect the debate.

The latest forecast from the governor’s office is that the state will need a 30 percent across-the-board cut to balance the budget. Even those inside the Gibbons administration question whether government can function with cuts that deep.

That means a proposal will come before the Legislature to raise taxes.

“This legislative session will make 2003 look like kids’ play,” said Guy Rocha, the state’s archivist, referring to the contentious and prolonged battle to raise taxes under then-Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Though Horsford, D-Las Vegas, has said he does not want to raise taxes, pressure to do so will grow as constituencies — parents of public school children, advocates for the poor, public safety officers and prison guards — decry the effects of such massive cuts.

Senate Democrats don’t have the 14 votes, or a two-thirds majority, required to increase taxes or override a Gibbons veto. And Senate Democrats have been notoriously resistant to control, each with their own agenda, and often with higher political aspirations.

But they’ll be in a better position to push their agenda.

Still, that lack of a supermajority in the upper house will give Republicans some leverage. And Horsford is likely going to have to maneuver around Raggio. Even in the minority, he could prove a tough foe, with his knowledge of Senate rules.

Don’t look to Allison Copening, who defeated Beers, or Shirley Breeden, who defeated Heck, to become a driving force during the next legislative session. The candidates relied on outside expenditures that hammered the incumbent with negative ads, a national Democratic wave, and ducking debates and tough questions.

Now, they’ll have to navigate the politics of Carson City. And their positions on the issues, from renewable energy to higher taxes, will be on the record.

Sun reporter Cy Ryan contributed to this story.