Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Politics:

Sandoval says he asked Hansen to step down over ‘offensive’ remarks

Tesla Special Session Sept. 11, 2014

Cathleen Allison / AP

Nevada Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, speaks on the Assembly floor during the second day of a special session at the Nevada Legislature on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Carson City.

Gov. Brian Sandoval asked Ira Hansen to step down as the Assembly speaker during a private meeting in Carson City, according to the governor’s office.

The development is the latest break in a story that’s rocked Nevada’s political landscape since Thursday.

Sandoval asked Hansen to resign his post on Friday, two days before the embattled lawmaker announced his decision to leave the position.

Hansen emailed a media release on Sunday announcing the decision, saying that he “stood in the way” because “the powers that be are planning a massive, more than one billion dollar, tax increase.”

Hansen told the Reno-Gazette Journal that Sandoval is planning to push through the Legislature a tax package of that size.

The governor has not publicly released details of his budget, which may encompass tax increases or extensions.

Hansen is known as an anti-tax conservative, but he has voted to extend a more than $650 million tax package from sunsetting during his tenure in the Assembly.

Republicans chose Hansen to lead the chamber after the Nov. 4 elections that thrust the party into control of the Legislature.

On Thursday, he came under fire for columns he wrote for the Sparks Tribune from 1994 to 2010.

In them, he ridiculed minority groups, women and members of the LGBT community.

Sandoval said he asked Hansen to step down “because of his offensive published writings and statements regarding race, sexual preference and gender.”

The Reno-Sparks NAACP called for Hansen’s resignation along with other national groups.

Many of Nevada’s Democrats and Republicans condemned the comments.

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