State losing one-of-a-kind lawmaker

By J. Patrick Coolican

Sunday, May 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.

These are some of the ways in which state Sen. Randolph Townsend is not like other legislators:

• He goes to the gym at 4:30 every morning and often works out with a personal trainer until 6:30 before arriving at his office, where he keeps big tins of protein mix. He is 62 years old.

• His morning aesthetic regimen must resemble that of Patrick Bateman of “American Psycho” fame: A widow’s peak of sculpted and frosted hair, double-breasted suits with braces (fancy word for suspenders), thick silk ties, half-dollar-sized cuff links. “Look at the photos on the walls of the Legislature through the years, and you’ll see I’ve aged well,” he said.

• He came to the Senate as a Democrat and a crusader on consumer protection; he leaves, forced out by term limits, as a Republican ally of business.

• He represents Reno, but his wife lives in Las Vegas, and he is a constant sight on the Southwest shuttle, often reading The Wall Street Journal or talking through an unlit cigar.

• He has a deeper knowledge than many in the Legislature — lawmaker and lobbyist alike — in some key policy areas, ranging from energy to workers’ compensation, but also mental health and animal cruelty (he’s a frequent dog show attendee).

There is no doubt. Nevada is losing, at least for now, a true original.

Townsend represents a certain Republican mind-set that is dying off: Noblesse oblige — the belief that with privilege comes responsibility.

“I always thought this was a great opportunity to give back,” he said, sitting behind his big desk, a charcoal drawing of himself on the wall behind him. “This is what you owe the universe.”

Townsend was born to a wealthy Pacific Northwest timber family. He has had a race car business, managed a Lexus dealership, worked in public relations and advertising and now sits on the board of an investment company.

(His Republican colleague, state Sen. Warren Hardy, offers a good-natured ribbing about Townsend as entrepreneur, in which he built wealth as a kid with a candy operation and a paper route, but really showed his business prowess when he inherited millions upon turning 18.)

Townsend attended San Francisco State and finished his studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, so he could be closer to his mother after his father died.

After the oil crisis of 1979, he took an interest in energy and barnstormed the state seeking signatures for an initiative that would protect rate payers. “The only person with a voice was the shareholder,” he said.

He paid for the effort himself: “I wrote a check.”

The Townsend-backed ballot measure passed in 1982, and Townsend got his Senate seat.

He has been a policy leader on energy, and renewable energy in particular, though he did not hew very closely to his Ralph Nader roots — he developed strong ties to the utilities.

“You got a graduate degree in energy because you’ve had to learn it from the ground up,” he said.

In 1986, Townsend switched parties and became a Republican because he thought the Democratic Party had moved too far to the left. He is no ideologue, though. He voted for a tax increase this session.

“Diversifying our economy is driven by education, and you have got to fund it,” he said.

Townsend endangered his future electoral prospects in the process, because Republican primary voters tend to punish their members who break with party doctrine.

He said he is not thinking about that, for now.

As longtime chairman of Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, Townsend was something of a legend, generous, bipartisan and beneficent, though no one doubted who was in charge, especially on his issues such as workers’ compensation and worker safety, telecommunications and energy.

He could bloviate with the best.

He could surprise, too.

About a decade ago, he brought together a broad coalition to improve mental health services. Dini-Townsend Hospital in Sparks bears his name.

“This isn’t a job that would be measured in a normal way. It’s a public trust and the public should measure us on how we safeguard that public trust.”

Townsend considered his legacy: “I’ve always believed I’m the most fortunate man I’ve ever met. So I had an obligation to stand up for the guy who doesn’t have anybody. Whether you’re mentally ill or mentally retarded, or the folks in the animal world, or energy consumers. I’ve tried to give a voice to those people.”