Brian Greenspun knows a leader when he sees one

By Brian Greenspun (contact)

Sunday, May 4, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Facing up to our challenges.

I decided a few weeks ago that I was no longer going to act like a common scold in this space. The people of Nevada should know by now that I believe we are in desperate need of new leadership at the state level and any other part of government that doesn’t recognize that we are in trouble or, worse, refuses to do anything about it.

I kept my promise to myself until the other night when I was watching Jon Ralston on “Face to Face.” That may sound like a commercial plug for Jon’s show on Las Vegas ONE, but it is really a plug for the concept of learning. Tuesday night I learned a great deal because my friend Terry Lanni was Jon’s guest.

Terry, for those of you who don’t know, is the chairman and chief executive of MGM Mirage Resorts. His company is the largest employer in Nevada. What affects MGM has a direct effect on 57,000 employees and their families and an indirect effect on the rest of the state because as MGM goes so does the rest of the gaming industry. And, as we are learning all too painfully right now, as the industry goes, so go we all.

My intention is to not be common or to scold but, rather, to enlighten. It is an intent born from that show and what I believe was Terry’s purpose in appearing on it the other night.

It is no secret that there are significant challenges in our community that are, in part, caused by some macroeconomic issues, i.e., the falling dollar, the price of gasoline, a recession that our government won’t acknowledge and the stagnant real wages of most Americans.

Much closer to home we have an airport busting at the seams, the airlines under pressure or out of business, and freeways maxed out to the point that a four-hour ride from Los Angeles now takes eight — and climbing. And nothing — I mean nothing — is being done about any of it.

The good news is that with the price of fuel near $4 and climbing, the roads will be empty and the need for airport capacity will be diminished. That’s a joke, by the way. A sick one.

The point is that this state, at a time of historic growth in which enlightened and responsible leadership is essential, is in a terrible fix. We need leadership.

And as much as Terry tried to say how much he supports our governor, he couldn’t find one substantive issue on which there was agreement. At least not one when it came to a responsible revenue policy, a responsible infrastructure policy or anything else in which the word responsible or reasonable was used as an adjective.

Terry did agree that Gov. Jim Gibbons’ ideological-bound “no tax” policy was probably a good idea as the governor looks forward to reelection. Gov. Gibbons, it would appear, may be the only person in this state who looks forward to his reelection.

Terry spoke about a video he sent out to MGM employees in which he urged them not to sign a petition to put an initiative on the ballot that would increase the gross gaming tax by close to 45 percent. He told his hoped-for viewers that the effect would be most harmful to the gaming industry generally and devastating to the many resorts that are barely making it these days.

He is absolutely right, but I believe he is wrong to think that the employees are in a listening mood.

They are the folks who can’t get to and from work in a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost because our roads are too crowded and the price of fuel to get there is getting prohibitive. When they do get to work, they are witnessing layoffs that frighten even the most secure among them. They see their kids getting substandard educations, their mortgage problems overtaking their own “American dream” and their elected leaders ducking for cover at the first sign of having to make a tough decision.

In short, people are not in the mood for love, especially if it is coming from someone who represents those who “have” when there are so many who have not. And none of them will buy anything Terry says when he couples it with his support for the governor. People are hurting but they are not stupid. They know where the problem is and they also hate themselves because they played their part in electing him.

So now comes what sounds like another easy fix, a chance to have the other guy pay the freight, in the form of the teachers union initiative. The irony here is that our teachers are supposed to be among the smarter folks in our society — we ask them to teach our children — but we now have to question their intelligence.

I don’t question their commitment, I don’t question the deep-felt emotion and frustration they feel when they see our education system go begging because there is no leadership in this state. But I do question the sanity and responsibility of any group that believes that mortally wounding the only golden goose that Nevada has — its tourist economy — is the way educated people should behave.

In 2003 the gaming industry, the teachers, many of our enlightened legislators and Gov. Kenny Guinn, got behind a plan that would raise the revenue needed to build the roads, buy the schoolbooks, construct the campuses and educate our people toward the top of the heap rather than relegating them to the bottom. It required the gaming industry and the business community to pay together toward a better Nevada. Everyone who could afford it would be asked to invest. It was a good plan and, if it had passed, would have put our state in a far better position today than the one in which we find ourselves.

It was killed by some greedy businessmen and a no-tax ideologue from Washington, D.C., named Congressman Jim Gibbons. The state rewarded him shortly thereafter by electing him governor.

No one has a right to ask how that happened.

So, my good friend Terry, I know you are sincere in your message and I believe you are committed to this state, to your employees and to all the people who work honestly toward a better future. So here’s your chance to lead.

Drop the facade. You can’t possibly support this governor and what he is allowing to happen to your industry and this state. It isn’t in you. Instead, do what you are good at doing and what I believe you have always wanted to do.

Let the people of Nevada know that you will run for governor in 2010 and between now and then speak and act like you want their vote. Lead, Mr. Lanni, like I know you can.

There is an entire state of Nevada waiting to follow you.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.