Buckley looks back on session at town hall

By J. Patrick Coolican

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 | 10:48 p.m.

The 2010 race for governor feels like it has begun during the past 24 hours.

Although she declined to fully commit to running, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley sounded like a candidate as she extolled achievements during the recent legislative session and spoke of the need for a new governor. She spoke to about 75 activists at the Henderson Democratic Club Wednesday night just 48 hours after the session concluded Monday.

Meanwhile, Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, another Democrat with eyes on 2010, hired a bevy of top-notch consultants to do his media, polling and mail, as reported by Sun columnist Jon Ralston.

Although Henderson is Reid territory, Buckley received a warm reception in what could be the first of many town halls during the next 17 months as she considers a run to become the state's first woman governor.

"I just have to say thank you," said a state employee in a union T-shirt. "I'm so impressed. My question is, when is Speaker (Buckley) going to announce her run for governor?"

Buckley said she would plan her son's 10th birthday party and go to Disneyland first.

Buckley was also challenged for not doing more this session, during which legislators passed a bipartisan budget and tax bill that will raise about $1 billion in new revenue but also makes deep cuts to K-12 education, higher education, social services and state worker salaries.

She said they did what they could given the political reality, the "tyranny of the minority," as she called it, referring to the need to win two-thirds majorities to pass a tax increase. She said the state will need to both diversify its economy and broaden its tax base beyond gaming and sales taxes to prevent the type of fiscal crisis that has beset the state for nearly two years.

The speaker, who has a long legislative resume that includes health care, consumer protection, affordable housing and education, also said she favors annual legislative sessions to do the budget, as well as a state lottery to raise revenue. She said her biggest regret this session was the inability to override Gov. Jim Gibbons' veto of her bill to create a special rainy day fund for education, which sought to prevent cuts to schools in the event of another fiscal crisis in the future.

Gibbons will face Republican primary opponents. He has accused Buckley of being a tax-and-spend liberal and will likely continue to do so in the coming months.