SAGE Commission won’t touch education budgets

Monday, June 16, 2008 | 3:09 p.m.

So says a letter to new members from Chairman Bruce James, who also announces hiring of ex-budget boss Perry Comeaux as staffer and says members should try to "impress the media" with their cooperative spirit at first meeting. Here's his letter:

Dear Commissioner,

I would like to extend my congratulations to you for being selected by

the Governor to be a member of the Nevada SAGE Commission.

Our work will begin with the first meeting June 26 at 1:30 pm at the

State Capitol. This will be a "get organized/get on the same page/get

started" session with briefings from various folks on ethics, the open

meeting laws, overall state budget, scope of our work, etc. Because it

is the first meeting, and because of the times, I expect there will be

press coverage, some enthusiastic, some skeptical. We want to do our

best to impress the media with our sincerity in taking a bipartisan

approach to the finding of facts, letting the chips fall as they may,

and making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature that will

improve state services and reduce costs and that can be implemented.

At the beginning of the meeting, we'll go around the table with

self-introductions, allowing each of the 14 of us 2-3 minutes. I'll ask

you to:

--identify where you were born

--where you went to college(s)

--how long you've lived in Nevada

--your current or recent past business affiliation

--what "you are famous for" (creativity a plus here!)

--and, what you would like to see the Commission accomplish

As we get started, keep in mind that this is a Commission established by

the Governor to review the Executive Branch under his direct control.

Because they have their own governing boards, we will not look at either

higher or lower education unless specifically requested to do so by the

Legislature. We'll have a full plate at the beginning, so I would hope

that they hold off any such request for the time being.

We start business with a three person, paid executive staff:

General Frank Partlow

Executive Director

775-742-4136 cell

[email protected]

Perry Comeaux

Deputy Director

[email protected]

775-671-5534

Suzanne Kilgore

General Manager

775-997-3502 cell

[email protected]

The Executive Offices of the Commission will be located at University of

Nevada, Reno in the Getchell building (courtesy of President Glick). The

mailing address is:

Nevada SAGE Commission PO Box 2700

Reno, NV 89505

The staff is currently working on setting up the office, establishing

telecommunications/official email, etc., as well as preparing for our

first meeting.

You will soon hear from Suzanne with additional information and with

requests for you.

I look forward to our first meeting and the opportunity to work with you

over the next two years to find ways of helping the Governor and the

Legislature make state government more efficient and cost effective now

and into the future.

Thank you for taking on this important new assignment.

Sincerely,

Bruce

Bruce R. James

Chairman

Nevada SAGE Commission