’41 To Angle’

CARSON CITY -- In her four sessions as a member of the Nevada Legislature, then-Assemblywoman Sharron Angle of Reno wasn't one to compromise on her conservative principles.

Angle, now the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, regularly voted against the positions held not only by Democrats but also by fellow party members, and she quickly gained a reputation as an outsider.

Reporters described her frequent "no" votes in the 42-member Assembly as "41 to Angle."

"She very much voted her conscience," said former Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville. "It cost her. The majority leadership didn't choose to process many of her bills because of it. She was staunch in her convictions. I give her credit for that. But was she tremendously effective? Maybe not."

During the 1999 through 2005 sessions, Angle was one of two members of the Assembly to vote against 79 bills that were backed by both Republicans and Democrats. She was the only Assembly member to vote against 39 bills that all other members supported.

Over her career, she was listed as the first, or primary, sponsor on 57 bills. Just two of those bills became law.

One was a rather innocuous bill that stated motorcycles "must" be equipped with a certain type of taillight. The previous law had stated they "shall" have the taillights.

The second, which passed unanimously in 1999, mandated that juveniles or their parents be required to pay restitution, or at least perform community service, when the juveniles injure another person.

Her political aides credit her with a third bill, one in which the Legislature made a statement about improving reading.

Angle's bill died at the end of a session, only to be revived and approved in a special session as a Senate bill.

Angle twice was chosen the worst Assembly member in polls conducted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the legislative sessions. She was named the second-worst and the third-worst member in her other sessions.

Legislators, lobbyists and press members participated in the polls. The same number of Republican legislators as Democrats were given poll forms. The polls were anonymous .

Jerry Stacy, Angle's longtime spokesman, said Angle wasn't the kind of legislator "who goes along to get along" and legislators retaliated by killing her bills.

"That's the way they play politics down there," Stacy said. "Because of the people who go along to get along, we got tax increases shoved down our throats. She stood by her principles. Her constituents liked her."

But former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said Angle's constituents lost because her political views were too extreme for the mainstream and she would not work with others to pass bills.

Based on her legislative performance, he predicts Nevadans will be the real losers if they elect her to the U.S. Senate. Perkins backs incumbent Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat.

"She had every opportunity to be part of an effective group," Perkins said. "But her views were too radical. If she is elected to the U.S. Senate, the state will go from No. 1 to No. 100 in power and stature. She would be a disaster for Nevada. No one in the Senate is going to listen to Sharron Angle."

Angle failed twice to change the law requiring smog inspections of motor vehicles in large counties.

She failed three times to pass a bill to outlaw smoking in the food areas of grocery stores. That later became law through a public petition.

Twice Angle also failed even to get hearings on her bills to require that women getting abortions be told that abortions increase their risk of getting breast cancer. Those bills produced a strong negative reaction from many other female legislators.

Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, said she was a breast cancer survivor and found the Angle bill insulting to women.

Angle maintained that 22 scientific studies found the abortion-breast cancer link, but opponents contended major medical organizations found no such link.

She also alienated most other female legislators in 1999 when she opposed a bill mandating insurance companies that offer prescriptions to provide birth control pills for women. She contended the requirement would increase insurance costs.

But then-Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said the bill was a matter of fairness because some of the insurance companies were paying for Viagra for men, but not birth control pills for women. Giunchigliani also said during the debate in 1999 that abortions could be prevented if more women had access to birth control pills.

In a recent interview, Giunchigliani, now a Clark County commissioner, said Angle's position on that bill was beyond that of conservative legislators and reflective of how much of an extremist she was as a legislator.

"She never worked in a collegial manner," Giunchigliani said. "You have to listen to both sides and make compromises to get things done. You want to have a voice. That is why people elected you."

Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, however, often took the same position as Angle on bills, particularly those that increased costs for health insurance companies. He said it wasn't that Angle opposed birth control pills.

"Mandating requirements for insurance companies increases the cost of health care for everyone," said Gustavson, a state Senate candidate and supporter of Angle's U.S. Senate candidacy. "We were the most conservative members of the Assembly. Hindsight is great. She made some mistakes, and I made some mistakes."

The most famous 41-to-Angle vote came in 2005, when she voted against Assembly Bill 489. Hers was the only "no" vote in the entire Legislature, and the bill was overwhelmingly approved and is now state law. The law limits annual increases in property taxes to 3 percent for owner-occupied residential property and 8 percent on commercial property.

At the time, property values were skyrocketing and homeowners were experiencing double-digit tax increases and demanding that legislators act quickly to keep the increases down.

Angle said she voted no because it was not a "permanent fix" because legislators could later remove the cap.

"The legislative bill is flawed, no matter what they do to make it better," Angle said. "It is temporary. As long as the Legislature can tinker with it, they will. People want something permanent."

She contended her Proposition 13-style petition, based on a measure in California that sparked a taxpayers revolt in the 1970s, would put a 2 percent cap on increases in the state Constitution and was a permanent and better option.

The 3 percent cap approved in 2005, however, has not been changed by the Legislature. And year after year, including after the 2005 law went into effect, Angle couldn't secure enough signatures, or lost court cases, to put her Proposition 13 before voters.

Some votes by Angle would puzzle fiscal conservatives.

She voted against the $3.2 billion 1999 state budget, a 20 percent increase over the previous budget. But in 2005 she supported the then-record $5.9 billion budget, which was 23 percent larger than the previous budget.

That year she even supported the "pork barrel" bill that included money to buy a $25,000 antique Indian basket.

"Sometimes there are things you legitimately have to spend money on," Angle said at the time.

Angle also did not have a perfect record of voting against every tax.

She voted for a bill in 2003 to allow Washoe County to increase its rental car tax and use the proceeds to construct a minor league baseball stadium in Reno.

But that same session, she was one of only six legislators to vote against allowing Clark County to increase its own rental car tax and use the proceeds for performing arts centers.

Stacy said Angle voted for Reno's stadium tax only after going to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and securing an amendment that the tax would not apply to local people who needed to rent cars while their vehicles were being repaired.

Giunchigliani said a slew of people testified for the performing arts tax; and she doesn't see how Angle could vote for a car rental tax for Washoe County, but not for a car rental tax for Clark County.

While also supporting the baseball stadium tax, Giunchigliani said a performing arts center serves a "greater public purpose" than a stadium built for the Reno Aces, a privately owned team.

The $502 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts, being constructed with private donations and the car rental tax, tentatively will open in March 2012. Through the car rental tax, the city of Las Vegas was able to float a $105 million bond toward construction of the center.

Stacy said the baseball stadium has contributed to the revitalization of downtown Reno.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.