Outrageous scheme

A last-minute amendment adopted in Carson City last week by the Senate Government Affairs Committee would allow the union that represents Las Vegas police to negotiate wage and benefit contracts directly with the Clark County sheriff, shutting out Clark County commissioners, Las Vegas City Council members and their representatives.

Detective David Kallas, chief Carson City negotiator for the Police Protective Association, introduced the amendment, explaining the change would "eliminate layers of bureaucracy that's an impediment from coming up with a deal."

Sure. The same way judges who insist our police respect the Bill of Rights constitute a "layer of bureaucracy" that keeps police from getting the job done -- right, detective?

Today's all-Democratic, all-pro-union Clark County Commission may not be the most effective body of elected officials ever charged with keeping personnel costs down, demanding the public get good value for its tax dollars. But should they ever support jacking taxes through the roof to pay for ever more profligate union contracts, at least voters retain the option of going to the polls and voting them out.

Yes, the sheriff is also elected. But he's elected primarily to supervise police performance. The sheriff of Clark County -- within recent memory -- has always been a cop. And it's in the nature of a "top cop" to want his officers as well-compensated as possible. Cutting out the elected officials who make the hard choices to shift money to or from this or that program -- balancing police manpower needs against all the rest -- removes any natural predator from the process.

During heated negotiations that finally led to arbitration in 2005, for instance, then-Sheriff Bill Young testified in favor of the union's pay hike request, which was 3.75 percentage points higher than the county's offer.

Who was right? The arbitrator chose the county's offer, which already exceeded Consumer Price Index growth for the period. That decision saved taxpayers $17 million.

Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, one of two commissioners who sit on the Fiscal Affairs Committee and thus have a say in police contract negotiations, says having county and city negotiators at the table allows them to balance police costs with other government undertakings, including child protective services and the Fire Department.

"I have the utmost respect for the sheriff, and he knows his department well," Mr. Sisolak said last week, "but he doesn't know what the other departments are doing or going through."

This outrageous and fiscally homicidal scheme is precisely the kind of thing old Carson City hands would expect a union lobbyist to try to sneak into the budget at the last minute. The question is why our state senators -- grown-ups who should know better -- would fall for it.