Titus takes office to ‘get things done’

WASHINGTON -- Dina Titus took her seat as Nevada's newest federal representative Tuesday as Congress opened a new session in which lawmakers mingled celebration with reminders of the slumping economy they hope to fix.

The first day of the congressional session is usually a day of celebration, and it was for nine freshman senators and 56 new House members, including Titus, 58, a political scientist who taught at UNLV and a Democrat who served 15 years as minority leader of the Nevada state Senate.

Titus' husband, Tom Wright, mother Betty Titus, sister Rho Hudson and friends from Nevada and her native Georgia looked on as she and other House members took the oath of office en masse. She later re-enacted the swearing-in with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Cookies and cold cuts were served in Titus' new office in the Cannon Building, where a flat-screen TV had been installed and some of the bookcases still needed to be put in place. She greeted several dozen well-wishers and was given books on philosophy, her family's native Greece and a framed Constitution among congratulatory gifts.

Earlier in the day, nearly 100 people, including representatives for mining, gaming, and organized labor, tourism and environmental interests, paid their respects at a breakfast that Democratic Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley sponsored for Titus at Berkley's Capitol Hill townhouse.

"It is a humbling occasion, and it inspires you to do the best you can for the people who worked so hard to get you here," Titus said. "I am here to get things done. Nevada needs help now, and there is a sense of urgency. We are not going to be partying much beyond today."

Titus became Nevada's 34th House member since statehood in 1864, and the state's third woman ever to serve.

In November, she defeated incumbent Republican Jon Porter to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which encompasses Henderson, Boulder City, parts of Summerlin, and outlying segments of Clark County such as Searchlight, Laughlin and Mesquite.

Titus is only the second university professor ever elected to Congress from Nevada, and the first to hold an earned doctorate degree, according to state archivist Guy Rocha. The first was James G. Scrugham, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, who was a House member and senator from 1933 to 1945.

More Nevada representatives have been business leaders or lawyers, and, decreasingly, miners and ranchers as the state's economy has evolved, Rocha said.

"We don't embrace intellectuals as politicians very much," he said. "We do not have too many pursue these careers and be successful."

At Titus' newly opened district office, a suite in an office park on Eastern Avenue in southeastern Las Vegas, about 50 supporters gathered for a reception celebrating the new congresswoman's swearing-in. Over coffee and doughnuts, they cheered when Titus could be seen on the C-SPAN feed from Washington.

Jean Wagoner, a 69-year-old retiree, said she was thrilled that Titus will be her representative.

"She tells the truth, there's no two ways about it," Wagoner said. "She's going to be working for us. I want Nevada to be a place my grandkids can grow up in."

The office space was still mostly bare, but in Titus' office, a very special piece of furniture had been installed: a large wooden desk that previously belonged to the late Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev., who served from 1959 to 1983. It was donated to Titus by Cannon's daughter, Nancy Cannon Downey, who said the desk dates to shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Cannon received the desk when he took office, used it throughout his years in Washington, then bought it and took it with him when he left the Senate, and later brought it back to Nevada.

"My dad was very supportive of her, and so am I," said Downey, who lives in Northern Nevada. "I thought we should keep it in the family, so to speak -- the Democratic family."

While Titus took a victory lap, for other Nevadans in Washington the day was more business as usual. Republican Rep. Dean Heller took the oath for his second term while his family remained in Carson City. Democrat Shelley Berkley began her sixth term accompanied only by son Sam.

Reid and Republican Sen. John Ensign are in the middle of their terms and picked up Tuesday where they left off last year. In his role as Senate majority leader, Reid delivered an opening speech calling on Democrats and Republicans to work together in dealing with the economic crisis.

"There is no question that the challenges ahead of us are staggering. I don't think anyone would disagree," Reid said. "But I am confident that if we renew in this body our commitment to bipartisanship, the 111th Congress will be a tremendous success."

The economy was on the minds of House members even during opening ceremonies.

"I spent more time on the floor specifically talking about the stimulus package and middle-class tax cuts," Heller said.

"The feeling that we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work right away was palpable," Berkley added.

The new Congress marks the first time Nevada will have two female lawmakers serving together, and Berkley and Titus are longtime friends. The only other female House member from the state was Barbara Vucanovich, a Northern Nevada Republican who served from 1983 to 1997.

Titus' election also changes the balance of the state's delegation to three Democrats and two Republicans. Heller said it will make little difference as lawmakers tend to work together on common state interests.

Berkley said Reid's influence will be strengthened by having two other Nevada Democrats nearby in Congress, with Heller and Ensign joining in on issues where there can be consensus.

"This is going to be a very friendly delegation," Berkley said. "Harry and I are joined at the hip, and I think Dina is going to join his other hip."

Review-Journal writer Molly Ball contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Media Bureau chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@ stephensmedia.com, or 202-783-1760.