Columnist Jeff German: Titus emerges as governor's chief voice of opposition

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus is used to being the voice of opposition in the Senate, where she has had to take a back seat to Republican Majority Leader Bill Raggio the past several legislative sessions.

But this week, the Las Vegas Democrat expanded her combative ways, emerging as the chief political adversary of the new Republican administration of Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Titus, a UNLV political science professor and a veteran of 10 years in the Senate, was by far the most critical of Guinn's belt-tightening State of the State address Monday. She charged the speech lacked substance, an accusation Republican lawmakers and Guinn aides strongly refuted.

Guinn, it turns out, may be partly to blame for her harsh remarks.

For some reason, Titus was the only member of the Democratic and Republican leadership who was not briefed ahead of time about Guinn's televised address. So she went into the speech a little irritated.

During the talk, Guinn singled out Titus for playing a leading role in the debate over growth in Southern Nevada. But the governor also said he didn't share her views on how to deal with growth. He said he wouldn't sign any growth bills unless they are supported by the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority, a hybrid board of business people and elected officials that Titus and others believe has been ineffective.

After the speech, Democrats went up to Titus and suggested the governor had taken a clever shot at her. Titus started to believe she had been slighted.

She also had real concerns about Guinn's call for a total revamping of a budget process that has been in existence long before she and Guinn arrived on the political scene.

Titus ended up giving so many media interviews rapping the governor that she nearly lost her voice the next day.

Those close to Guinn say Titus was being overly sensitive. They say the governor was serious about praising her efforts on the growth issue but also was trying to be honest about the differences he has with her.

Other Democrats, such as Assembly Speaker Joe Dini of Yerington and Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins of Henderson, were more diplomatic in their reaction to the address, maybe out of deference to Guinn's lack of experience in dealing with the Legislature.

Dini also had reason to feel slighted. He didn't learn exactly what Guinn was proposing until a couple of hours before the governor's talk, when he received his briefing from Guinn's chief of staff, Pete Ernaut, and general counsel Scott Scherer. Prior to that, Dini had no contact with the governor or his staff about the budget.

But the veteran speaker wasn't complaining.

"I think he had to step in and make some pretty tough moves," Dini said. "I give him a lot of courage and guts for doing it."

One of the ironies of Guinn's address was that he urged bipartisan support for his game plan to take apart the budget process, but he kept the Democrats in the dark about his plan until the speech.

Was it a partisan ploy? Or just an oversight because of Guinn's newness to Nevada politics?

Whatever it was, we probably can expect Guinn to learn from this experience in the future. He has a reputation for being a consensus-builder.

At the same time, however, Guinn aides say he's prepared to fight for the ideas he outlined in his address -- millennium scholarships, zero-based budgeting, ethics reform and education accountability.

He made that clear after his forceful address in which he declared, "There's a new day in Nevada."

Guinn also left little doubt that he intends to play an active role in running state government -- in contrast to his Democratic predecessor, Bob Miller, who was fond of delegating power.

On Monday, Nevadans saw the Kenny Guinn they didn't get to see during the campaign. They saw a strong-willed man who has definite ideas about how to lead the state into the 21st Century.

As for the lawmakers, they saw the makings of a hands-on style they haven't seen in Carson City in years.

It's a style that likely will allow Titus to remain the voice of opposition for the next four years.

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