Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand:

Regulators shine in protecting Nevada’s gold standard

El Cortez Rennovation Tour

Steve Marcus

A view of a Strip casinos from a Tower Premium King room at the El Cortez in downtown Las Vegas Friday, Feb. 12, 2021.

Government can be, and mostly is, a very good thing. It and the many people who serve in government are a source of focus, of help and of leadership. But government and those many people who serve in it can also be perplexing.

That’s not a good or bad thing, just something that sometimes defies logic or rational explanation and, therefore, creates confusion among the body politic.

Welcome to democracy.

This past week provided two examples of our democracy — at work and, shall we say, at playing at work.

The first was a very public action taken by Nevada’s gaming authorities. They told the state’s major industry that its ability to fully open in the coming weeks and months and, hence, help provide a more robust recovery for Nevada’s major industry, would depend on each licensee’s plan — and the execution of that plan — to fully vaccinate its workforce.

Bravo.

I know that when Gaming Commission Chairman John Moran Jr. and Gaming Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson sent their memo to the industry, they did so knowing the impact their combined action would have on Nevada’s gaming operators. They also knew full well the pushback they would continue to receive from many licensees who have suffered mightily during this economically challenging year of COVID.

And, yes, the two gaming regulators also knew that a gaming license is a privilege in this state and that it is not only a privilege to participate as an owner but that the responsibility to operate according to Nevada’s highest standards is a requisite part of the deal.

Not only do vaccinations protect the workers and their families — the people who make these places successful — but they also send the proper message to the tourists, our guests, who do the hard work of leaving their money in Nevada to benefit every person who lives here.

The decision by government — and the leaders who serve our state — was not only the right one but the only one.

Nevada’s ability to get back into business — and get everyone else back to work — still depends on tomorrow’s headline. And that headline needs to say that the standard for gaming in the state of Nevada is still golden.

At this point I shouldn’t neglect to suggest that the gaming regulators continue their sound and sane efforts to keep our industry safe.

With COVID-19 vaccinations soon to be readily available to all adults, the next consideration should be a memo to all licensees requiring proof of vaccination before people can fully participate in the wonders of Las Vegas.

Show us your shot record and it will be our privilege to serve you.

• • •

Something else happened this past week. It’s something that isn’t readily apparent — unlike the gaming regulators’ decision — as a sign of leadership and courage. Being kind, I will just call it perplexing.

And that is North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee’s decision to change political parties. The conservative Democrat announced that henceforth he will be a member of the Republican Party.

OK, no biggie. People switch party affiliations all the time. Sometimes the reasons for the switch make sense, sometimes not.

For example, tens of thousands of people across the country have left the GOP just since Jan. 6. That’s when Donald Trump supporters and their ilk stormed the U.S. Capitol, threatened the lives of the speaker of the House and the vice president of the United States, killed a Capitol policeman and injured many others, all in an effort to keep Trump in office in defiance of the U.S. Constitution and in compliance with the wishes of their Dear Leader.

And ever since then a huge part of the Republican Party has either maintained an inexplicable silence in the face of the need to be outraged, or it has actively blamed everyone but the people who committed this sedition against the United States of America.

Frankly, I am surprised that there aren’t more Americans who have shown their disdain for GOP cowardice and left in disgust.

But, the good mayor went the other way. He left the Democrats to join the party of insurrection, malice toward most and economic prosperity for the favored few. And he made it sound like he was doing what was best for working people.

I can’t argue with my friend John about his concern for the far-left’s attempted coup of the Nevada Democratic Party. We are all concerned, but not overly so. There is time for education, knowledge and real-world living to take hold.

But I can question the wisdom of his decision to join Nevada’s Republican Party, which has already been co-opted by Trump’s acolytes. They have already demonstrated that no amount of education, knowledge or reality can change their warped, malicious and oh, so very selfish view of life.

In Nevada, though, most people thrive in the middle of political thought. That’s the part that believes that all people can succeed; that government is there to help not to hinder; and that there is a common good that good people can have in common.

Most Nevadans believe there are some issues that are national in scope — like fighting pandemics, building railroads and highways and other major infrastructure projects that make travel safer, easier and more efficient. And, yes, where there is a national goal for democracy — you know, where everyone who wants to vote gets to vote without political manipulation and interference from petty parochial politics. And where people in one state are treated equally under the law with people from other states, where poor and middle-class people have the same rights and opportunities to succeed as wealthy people and where people know full well that there are no guarantees of success.

That’s where most of us live. The crazies on the right and left notwithstanding.

So, why the change, John?

Maybe, just maybe, John has his sights on the governor’s mansion and he knows that a moderate Republican from the South — remember our dear, Kenny Guinn — can actually win.

But that means he will have to beat Gov. Steve Sisolak, the man who already lives there.

But, assuming Nevada continues to reopen and life gets back to normal in the next few months, I believe the voters will remember our good governor’s steady hand through the extremely difficult challenges of this awful pandemic and reward his leadership with another term.

I could be wrong, of course, about the mayor’s motivation.

But, so could Mayor Lee. In which case it is he who will be recognized as a member of a Republican Party that defies recognition.

Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.