Sandoval and Ensign stand up for what they believe

Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Emptying out the notebook (and my head) after a few days spent in Carson City this week with prostitutes, pimps and politicians (What is the last line of “Animal Farm” again?):

• No new taxes, Part 6,756: After my second capital sojourn, and while it is still early, I have come away with two conclusions about the nontax debate in Carson City.

First, despite what some (I include myself) thought during the campaign, Gov. Brian Sandoval did not take the intractable no-tax position out of political convenience simply to neuter the already neutered Jim Gibbons. He really believes it. He believes any new taxes will make the economy worse. He will not bend, will not accept a tax package, although, perhaps, as the Sun’s David McGrath Schwartz reported this week, he might allow a tax proposal to go on the ballot.

Second, the Democratic plan is either nonexistent (the best case) or a waste of time (alas, this may be answer). I think the Democrats believe by showing how devastated education and other services are in the Sandoval budget, that the governor will move or that they can create some popular groundswell that will cause riots for taxes across the state. Welcome back to Planet Earth, folks.

There is only one way the Democrats can get a plan to minimize the cuts and put through a tax package, too. And that is to target the votes they will need — stiffen the wobbly ones in their own caucuses and find five Republicans (three senators and two assemblymen). There should be a chart in the leadership offices eyeing what policy, what pork, what inducements could be offered and that should be the endgame. (I’d target a few extra because people do get amnesia toward the end about their promises to vote for things.)

See how simple it is?

• Walking the Walker or not? Sandoval’s dance on collective bargaining would have tangled most two-steppers. But he has miraculously maintained his balance, even after that celebrated phone call between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the faux David Koch. Sandoval clearly does not want to wade into the collective bargaining debate just yet, as evidenced by what he said — or more what he didn’t say — in his State of the State speech:

“Collective bargaining must be reformed if we are to change the course on which we find ourselves. I stand ready to work with local government officials and union leaders to ensure employee compensation does not hamper government performance.”

Sandoval would not bite when we Fourth Estaters pummeled him after the speech about pussyfooting around such a crucial issue for local governments (state employees do not have collective bargaining rights). Indeed, one of the hallmarks of this administration is its refusal to take any position on bills until they arrive on the governor’s desk — I understand there may be rare exceptions — and to rebuff hypotheticals. (Drives us crazy.)

But then when the transcript of the Walker call was released this week, Sandoval seemed to have a problem. Here’s the relevant part:

“And I’ve gotta tell you the response from around the country has been phenomenal. I had Brian (Sandoval), the new governor of Nevada, called me the last night he said he was out in the Lincoln Day Circuit in the last two weekends and he was kidding me, he’s new as well as me, he said, ‘Scott, don’t come to Nevada because I’d be afraid you beat me running for governor.’ That’s all they want to talk about is what are you doing to help the governor of Wisconsin.”

Even though that was widely perceived to be Sandoval supporting Walker’s effort to end collective bargaining, and The Atlantic reported Walker was “coordinating” with other governors on the issue, Sandoval’s staff quickly rebutted that presumption, repeatedly saying the governors only chatted about education reform, taxes and budgets. Sandoval repeated that in an interview this week with the Sun’s Anjeanette Damon.

Really? Collective bargaining never came up?

I wonder how many in the already skittish public sector will buy that.

• Hooked on hookers: It was simply amazing to watch the spectacle that was Harry Reid’s “Bye Bye Brothels” tour of the capital Tuesday. But the most telling fallout came when Sen. John Ensign took the opposite view, sending the national media into a snickering frenzy.

Best headline in Yahoo! News: “John Ensign sides with the hookers against Harry Reid.” So, in the same week, Ensign — who slept with his best friend’s wife who also was his wife’s best friend and who then had his parents pay them off while trying to find the cuckold a job — repented at a town hall and stood up for brothels.

Nevada: Home of the brave and the tone-deaf.