Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dina Titus holds her smile as Independent American Party candidate Christopher Hansen is removed by security for trying to crash the major-parties-only gubernatorial debate Monday night, held at Bally's. Photo by Craig L. Moran.
In their first Las Vegas face-off, gubernatorial candidates Jim Gibbons and Dina Titus gave well-rehearsed answers to questions posed by a panel of interest groups to an audience that couldn't contain its enthusiasm.
The questions, which addressed such topics as water, taxes, diversity and senior health care, were given to the Republican and Democrat in advance. The moderator repeatedly urged the crowd to keep quiet and civil, to limited avail, especially after the evening began with a decidedly unscripted moment.
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Christopher Hansen, the gubernatorial candidate of the Independent American Party, stormed the stage from the audience as Titus and Gibbons walked on from the wings. Seizing the moderator's microphone, clad in a stars-and-stripes shirt, Hansen shouted, "I'm running for governor too, and I deserve the right to speak too!"
Hansen was hustled offstage by security workers at Bally's, where Harrah's Entertainment Inc. played host to the debate Monday evening. Organizers said nearly 2,000 people attended the event.
With the ability to compose their answers in advance, the two major-party candidates attempted to lay out themes. Gibbons, a Republican congressman from Reno, repeatedly stressed the concept of the "American dream." Titus, the leader of the Democrats in the Nevada Senate, who took the more critical tone, ended nearly every rebuttal with an attack on Gibbons' record and with the mantra, "He may have forgotten, but I believe Nevada remembers."
The first time she said it was in a response to the first question, from a representative of the state AARP, who asked about increasing the availability of in-home services for seniors.
Gibbons pointed to his votes at the federal level to allow importing cheap prescription drugs from Canada and his support of the recently enacted Medicare prescription drug benefit. He said government should "unwrap the straitjacket of one-size-fits-all federal mandates," giving states more flexibility. He called for a statewide toll-free number that seniors could call to find out what services were available to them.
Titus pointed to her activism on disability issues; she recently had an assisted living center named for her in Las Vegas. She said that the state already has what Gibbons suggested: Titus herself sponsored legislation that created Nevada's 211 line, which anyone can call to find out about state health and human services.
She said that as governor, she would fully fund existing state programs to cut waiting lists. Then she went on the attack, saying Gibbons had received an F rating from a retirees' group.
The audience gasped at that as she launched into her line about Gibbons forgetting and Nevada remembering. By the fourth or fifth repetition, they would be groaning.
Both candidates tread delicately on the issue of water resources, where Southern Nevada interests are pushing hard for a pipeline from White Pine County but rural residents are opposed. Titus emphasized "smart growth" and "sustainability," while Gibbons said more scientific study needs to be done to ensure a "21st century" technological solution to water needs.
Gibbons said that he has worked as a hydrologist and has practiced water law. "I know water from the ground up," he quipped.
Titus accused him of taking conflicting stands on the issue and of being a fair-weather friend to Southern Nevada. "He's told rural Nevada that he would not let Clark County steal their water," she said. "He tells you one thing, and he tells them something else. You can look at other things that he's done that were against Southern Nevada that he doesn't want to talk about either."
Gibbons responded, "That's not stealing. That's balancing the resources. ... We do that with 21st century science and technology, and we share that water ... so that each county can live the American dream."
Regarding the budget surplus Nevada is expected to enjoy next year, Gibbons supported endowing the Millennium Scholarship and shoring up the rainy day fund, but he encouraged caution not to drive up state spending in the long term. Titus said she would pour money into education, expanding all-day kindergarten, vocational education and university research.
Gibbons, whose attacks on his opponent throughout the campaign have focused on allegations of fiscal irresponsibility, replied: "Well, you just heard it. She's going to spend every penny of it."
Titus' proposals involve recurring appropriations that would drive up the cost of government permanently, meaning that when a surplus doesn't come in, taxes will have to be raised to support such programs, Gibbons said.
"It's interesting that now you want to endow the Millennium Scholarship when at our last debate, you were talking about limiting it only to those on the very low end of the income scale," Titus fired back.
But that's not true. At the debate in Reno two weeks ago, Titus accused Gibbons of wanting to make means testing a part of the scholarship, and her campaign later was unable to back up the assertion that Gibbons had taken such a position.
Asked about the lack of Hispanics in the Nevada Cabinet despite their 26 percent share of the state's population, both candidates dropped Hispanic-sounding names of their advisers. Titus said, "We need to look at Nevada through a kaleidoscope, not a microscope," while Gibbons' line was, "I believe in qualifications; I do not believe in quotas."
Titus accused Gibbons of divisively exploiting the issue of illegal immigration: He is airing attack ads on the topic that many analysts have called misleading. Gibbons volleyed with a straightforward, "Nonsense."
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which endorsed Gibbons early on, asked the candidates about Nevada's business climate. Gibbons said business-friendliness has fueled the state's economic boom and must be maintained. Titus didn't sugarcoat her stance in favor of raising the minimum wage, encouraging businesses to provide health care and child care for their workers and focusing economic development on creating high-paying jobs.
"We keep taxes reasonable and responsible, as Nevadans always will do, but you know, businesses look at other things too. They look at quality of life," she said.
Both candidates spoke fondly of renewable energy for the future, but Titus' focus was on sun and wind, while Gibbons made the audience do a double-take when he asserted that solar energy isn't reliable because "the sun only shines for half the day." He said biodiesel and coal-to-liquid conversion should also be looked at.
Finally, the candidates traded barbs on taxes. Titus said Gibbons was guilty of what he was charging her with, saying he voted for tax and fee increases 50 times in the state Assembly. Gibbons said he has voted for reducing taxes 250 times at the federal level.
"Nobody likes taxes. Nobody likes to raise taxes. Nobody likes to pay taxes," Titus said. "But if somebody climbs in their back window, they call the police, or their house catches on fire, or their children can't read, then they know what taxes are used for."
"My opponent has just finished the litany that proves that for 18 years, she does what she likes to do, and that's raise your taxes," Gibbons countered. "The government today in the state of Nevada has a surplus. No one should be talking about raising taxes."
