Room for debate

Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

In the first scheduled debate between the major party candidates for governor, Democrat Rory Reid and Republican Brian Sandoval will meet tonight in a forum that is supposed to be devoted to education issues.

It should be an interesting discussion considering it wasn’t too long ago that state officials were talking about spending money to reduce class sizes and investing more in higher education. The recession has ended much of that talk. Discussion is focused on budget cuts.

When the Legislature meets next year, it will be confronted by a huge deficit, which could reach $3 billion. This deficit follows rounds of budget cuts, leaving the next governor and Legislature with difficult decisions.

This is the first of what is supposed to be three debates between Reid and Sandoval, and we hope during this and subsequent debates that they will clearly explain their vision for the future and articulate how they’ll carry out their vision. Will they raise revenue? Will they cut? If so, what will they cut and what will that do to state services?

Education is a good place to start because of its importance to the state — it is crucial to the economy and affects everyone in some way. As it is, the state’s schools have not rated well. Are the candidates in favor of improvements, and if so, how? What will the consequences of their ideas be?

Both have argued against raising taxes, but the voters should have details of what they would plan to do if elected. For his part, Reid has released a series of proposals, including one for education, and last week he sent out a paper outlining his proposals for the state budget. He called for a 10 percent cut across the board for state agencies and cutting staff and pay. Reid also picked up some ideas from Gov. Jim Gibbons’ Spending and Government Efficiency Commission, which parsed the budget to find places to trim.

Reid’s budget plan has been criticized for being incomplete and overly optimistic — it assumes the economy will rebound enough to bring in an extra $615 million to the state. Fair or not, the criticism shouldn’t overshadow the fact that Reid came out with a proposal and some specific ideas. He should be credited for providing ideas that can serve as the foundation for a discussion. Sandoval should follow Reid’s lead and provide his own ideas for how he will approach the budget so voters can contrast their ideas.

Four years ago, Nevada’s election for governor came down to one word: taxes. Gibbons won the race by painting his opponent as a tax-and-spender and repeating his no-new-taxes pledge. He went through the campaign saying little about his plans for the state. But Gibbons’ campaign slogans and platitudes haven’t helped Nevada get through this crisis.

This time around, there needs to be a serious, civil conversation about the direction the state is headed. Reid and Sandoval have agreed to three debates, but there should be more. Reid has called for more but Sandoval hasn’t rushed to answer the challenge. In the past we’ve seen front-runners avoid debates because they don’t help them in the polls, and that’s too bad.

Nevada needs to have a robust discussion about its future. We hope tonight’s debate is the start of that.