Legislature must recognize it's not all about gaming

At a fundraiser last Friday night, the woman seated next to me leaned over and said over the den of disco music, "I am working on the passage of the ERA in Nevada."

"What?" I said, intelligently, thinking that I had heard her say that she was working on the passage of the ERA in Nevada. "You know, The Equal Rights Amendment."

"Really!" I exclaimed incredulously, my eyes wide and mouth agape.

I felt myself falling into a time warp. Suddenly, I was spinning back to 1975 when I first moved to Carson City and attended my first session of Nevada Legislature. The hot issue of the day was the Equal Rights Amendment. Being a young female activist, I joined the grassroots lobbying efforts in favor of the amendment. I attended meetings, wrote letters, testified at hearings, and attended the tearful session when the ERA was defeated.

This was my first introduction to the Nevada Legislature and since then I have registered as a volunteer lobbyist and championed a number of citizen issues. Several years later, I was in a meeting of citizen lobbyists when a then-junior state senator and now a senior senator said in so many words that we might as well not waste our time because the gaming/tobacco lobby was going to get whatever they wanted and that our bills would only pass if they were consistent with the agenda that gaming had set for the session.

At the time, I took exception to his view and made an impassioned plea for citizen involvement at the Legislature. However, after attending law school, growing up a little bit and continuing to observe the process, I began to see the wisdom and accuracy of the senator's words.

Over the years, I have been both impressed and appalled with the results of the legislative process. I believe the 2003 session was the worst that I have ever seen with the governor throwing down the gauntlet on the revenue issues in his State of the State address to the summer gridlock which demonstrated a distinct lack of leadership.

However, in some respects, it was also the best session because it was the first time in my recollection that the gaming/tobacco lobby did not have total control over the legislative process. The governor's gaming-supported taxation proposal was not blindly passed without any questions asked. Instead, it was modified and balanced to represent interests other than gaming.

I acknowledge that gaming is a major component of our economy and that the industry makes enormous contributions to our state's economy. It also makes enormous contributions to political campaigns, but in spite of the dominance of gaming in Nevada politics, it is not the only interest in this state. Our economy has diversified over the past 20 years and there are other economic interests in the state now and I think that to some extent those interests should be represented as well.

In addition, there are actual real people, like you and me, and I think that occasionally we should figure into the equation. I recognize that from a politician's point of view, this is problematic since most of them want to be re-elected and they will need gaming money to be successful in their future campaigns.

However, I am hopeful, probably because I am optimistic by nature and maybe still a little naive, that the legislators elected to the 2005 session of the Nevada Legislature will take care of gaming but at the same time will act courageously to oppose gaming positions where there is detriment to other economic sectors or to the populace in general.

With that thought, I welcome "the suits" to our fair town and hope that they enjoy the beauty of our state capital during their stay.

P.S. In the event the Equal Right Amendment is revived, it will be interesting to see how the last 30 years has affected the arguments, concerns and attitudes regarding the general concept of equality for women. I look forward to the discussion.

n Linda Johnson is a 30-year resident of Carson City, a wife, mother and a retired attorney and a longtime observer of Nevada politics.