Just whose ox is being gored? someone needs to ask our legislators
February 27, 2010 - 8:59 am
We've heard the Democratic and Republican legislators all week in the special session chide the gaming and mining industries for being such skin-flints unwilling to part with a few million dollars to help the starving state government get through famine and disaster.
When gaming lobbyists pointed out the state's largest casinos bled red ink in the amount of $6.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 and laid off nearly 34,500, state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said, "We are not done. Gaming must participate."
"You are absolutely wasting our time," Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said business and gaming lobbyists said they couldn't bear additional taxes or fees. "You have to be at the table now. I live here. I love it here. I don't want to see it unravel."
"Republicans and Democrats need to work together and we need to put the state's needs first," said Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.
On Saturday, Review-Journal reporter Jennifer Robison put the pain in perspective.
Take a look at this chart and find the pain. Find who is bleeding and whose needs are being put first.