Just charge it on your new Visa!

Over the years, there have been plenty of bad ideas to come out of the Nevada Legislature, and Democratic Assemblyman Harry Mortenson's latest proposal has to be near the top of that list.

At a joint hearing this week of the Senate and Assembly taxation committees, Mr. Mortenson fretted over the state's fiscal condition. "We are in a panic," he said. "Could you not float a bond and use future revenue to pay off the bond?"

Where to begin?

First, it would be refreshing to hear Mr. Mortenson or any other legislator express regret for ramping up spending at record rates during the boom years, which has directly led to the state's current predicament. But that will never happen, of course.

Instead, Mr. Mortenson proposes that lawmakers just continue down the same course during these tough economic times, but instead of actually finding the money to pay for the state's endless list of "needs," they simply break out the plastic and charge it, leaving the bills for future taxpayers.

Mr. Mortenson might want to track down a few Nevadans whose homes are in foreclosure and find out how that approach worked for them.

"I would never float a bond to pay for operating costs of the state," Marvin Leavitt, a lobbyist and former Las Vegas finance director, told the committees in response to Mr. Mortenson.

No kidding. The idea was even too much for Kathy McClain, the Las Vegas Democrat who chairs the Assembly Taxation Committee and has rarely seen a spending endeavor that she didn't like.

"It would be like a credit card you are paying back over 10 years," she said.

OK, then. It's settled. Mr. Mortenson's proposal needs to be taken out and shot.