Jim Gibbons Representative calls petition effort on spending controls 'vague and confusing'

CARSON CITY -- Rep. Jim Gibbons on Friday became the fourth major governor candidate to come out in opposition to state Sen. Bob Beers' Tax and Spending Control in Nevada petition.

The Nevada Republican's announcement is the latest blow to the petition, which was challenged in a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by the AFL-CIO. A hearing on that lawsuit has been scheduled for Thursday before District Judge Bill Maddox in Carson City.

The litigation has blocked Beers, who is also a gubernatorial candidate, and his supporters from circulating the petition. The union contends the 200-word explanation for the petition that will be shown to citizens before they sign the petition is misleading and contains factual errors.

Gibbons, the front-runner in the polls, called the petition "lengthy, vague and confusing," and insisted he does not need it to guide him to be fiscally responsible or "to remind me who works to pay the bills."

"I will work to make sure our government remains as limited and focused as possible," he said. "Spending should be based on needs and resources, not on an arbitrary formula."

Under the TASC proposal, state and local governments could not increase spending above the combined rate of inflation and population growth without voter approval.

Beers must collect 83,156 valid signatures on petitions by June 20 or the proposal to amend the state constitution cannot be placed on election ballots in November. The proposal needs voter approval both in the fall election and in 2008 before spending would be limited.

While acknowledging the lawsuit has cost him time and additional litigation is possible, Beers said Friday he remains confident of securing enough signatures before the deadline.

Deputy Secretary of State Renee Parker said it is possible for Beers to qualify his petition even if he has less than four months to gather signatures. She noted four petitions secured enough signatures two years ago for spots on the ballot even though their sponsors did not begin collecting signatures until two months before the deadline.

Those qualifying petitions included the AFL-CIO proposal to increase the minimum wage by $1 per hour. For that election, however, Parker said sponsors needed to gather only 51,000 valid signatures.

Gibbons joins gubernatorial candidates state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt in expressing opposition to the tax and spending measure. Titus and Gibson are Democrats, while Hunt is running in the Republican primary against Gibbons and Beers.

Beers, of Las Vegas, complained that it took Gibbons 57 days from the time the petition was filed to make his decision.

"At least now we know why he took so long to make a decision on this," Beers said. "It can't be easy trying to figure out how you're going to tell the citizens you want to lead that you don't trust them with their own money."

He said Gibbons supports collective bargaining for state employees, a step that would lead to additional state spending, and voted consistently for higher spending in his 10 years as a congressman. That shows he is not a fiscal conservative, Beers said.

"His announcement today is consistent with what he has done in Washington. It doesn't make him a bad person, but not the person Nevada needs to lead it," Beers said.

But Robert Uithoven, Gibbons' campaign spokesman, said the representative promised collective bargaining only for prison correctional officers, not all state employees.

Uithoven said Beers first secured statewide prominence in 2003 when as an assemblyman he was part of the group of the "Mean 15" legislators who fought against the record $833 million tax increase ultimately approved by the Legislature after two long special sessions.

Without the Gibbons Tax Restraint Initiative that requires a two-thirds affirmative vote for tax increases, Uithoven said there would have been no "Mean 15," Beers would be little-known, and the Legislature would have approved a gross receipts tax by a simple majority vote.

Instead of that tax, the impasse caused legislators to switch to increases in cigarette, liquor and gaming taxes, and impose payroll and real estate transfer taxes.

Gibbons' initiative was placed in the state constitution by voters in 1996.

If elected governor, Gibbons vowed to veto any budget approved by the Legislature that contained what he felt was excessive spending. He also said he would insist on refunding to taxpayers excess taxes collected by the state.

Beers said Gibbons has lost touch with Nevadans' views on taxes during his time in Washington.