Governor honors Paul Laxalt on his 90th birthday

Laxalt, a former governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. senator celebrated his 90th birthday. He was born on Aug. 2, 1922.

“Senator Laxalt was a champion for our state and our country and it is fitting to honor his contributions on this special day,” said Sandoval, who served as an intern for Laxalt early in his own career.

He noted that Laxalt spearheaded the move in the 1980s to block the MX missile system from being based in Nevada and slashed funding for the proposed nuclear storage site at Yucca Mountain.

Laxalt also made an attempt to run for president in 1988. He remained in the Washington, D.C., area following his Senate retirement, serving as a partner in a law firm and forming the government consulting agency, the Paul Laxalt Group.

Laxalt said in an email that the was “honored by this kind and thoughtful gesture” on the part of Sandoval. He added it has been 28 years since Sandoval served as an intern in his Senate office in Washington, D.C.

“Although I couldn’t have predicted that he would one day serve as Nevada’s governor, it was clear from the outset that he had those qualities which indicated that for Brian ‘the sky was the limit,'” Laxalt said. “I might add that his sunny optimism is downright ‘Reaganesque.'”

Laxalt often was called President Ronald Reagan’s best friend in Washington. He and Reagan had been governors of Nevada and California respectively in some of the same years.

Paul’s brother, the late Robert Laxalt, wrote a book about his brother’s run for governor and the acclaimed “Sweet Promised Land” about their sheep herder father’s return as an old man to the Basque country of his youth.

The old Carson City post office and state library now is named after Paul Laxalt.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.