by Dennis Myers
Paul laxalt 1922-2018 Former Nevada governor and U.S. senator Paul Laxalt has died at a Virginia health care facility. Former vice president Joe Biden tweeted that Laxalt was “someone with whom you could disagree without being disagreeable.” Laxalt, a Republican, brought politics in Nevada up to date in the 1960s by introducing techniques like opinion surveys and modern precinct organizing. He served first as a district attorney, then as lieutenant governor, and lost his first U.S. Senate race after a recount before becoming governor in 1967. His governorship was of greater import than his later senatorship. Particularly important were enactment of the state’s corporate gambling law, which closed out the family-owned casinos era and brought in massive capital that made the megaresorts possible, and establishment of the community college system. Historian Russ Elliott wrote that the corporate gambling law was a “mixed blessing … forcing [casino regulators] to distinguish between active and passive stockholders, in effect causing the state to lose control of the passive stockholders and making it more difficult to find hidden interests.” He and neighboring governor Ronald Reagan were credited with creating the bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, though state legislators were just as instrumental. But TRPA functioned poorly. It became more successful after a 1981 restructuring. Laxalt served one term as governor, left public life to start a Carson City casino hotel, then ran for the Senate in 1974, winning narrowly after a recount. In the senate, he started off leading the fight against the Panama Canal treaties and against secondary labor union picketing of construction sites, losing both but making a favorable impression. But that splash of leadership on issues was never repeated. Later, he settled into a role as President Reagan’s friend. There is no Laxalt Act, or any legislation of consequence. Laxalt was helpful in getting the MX missile system in Nevada and Utah killed but grew out of touch with changing times in the state, particularly environmentalism. When opposition to nuclear waste developed, he warned Nevada against becoming a “peacenik” state. His political judgments included convincing Reagan to choose Richard Schweiker as running mate in the 1976 GOP primary race against Gerald Ford and convincing Reagan to make a last minute 1986 Nevada visit in a vain attempt to defeat Harry Reid for the senate. Many hoped Laxalt would become more engaged in policy making and Senate business, but he did so only episodically, as when GOP leader Howard Baker in 1981 called on Laxalt to help win freshman conservatives to vote to raise the debt limit for President Reagan above the trillion dollar mark. Laxalt looked half-heartedly at running for majority leader against Howard Baker (and passed), halfheartedly became general chair of the Republican National Committee (Frank Fahrenkopf handled daily duties), sued McClatchy Newspapers half-heartedly for reporting skimming went on at Laxalt’s Carson casino without Laxalt’s knowledge (he settled the case), and ran for president half-heartedly (and withdrew before a vote was cast). There was a feeling of unfulfilled potential about him. He never returned to Nevada to live—his Senate campaign slogan was “One of us”— and he’s little known to many in the state today.
—Dennis Myers
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08.09.18
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller with a group of soldiers at Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County.
Heller on veterans Iraq, Afghan vets weren’t impressed there was a time when it was fairly easy to learn how veterans’ groups felt about members of Congress. They issued report cards on the members’ voting records. However, most and possibly all veterans’ organizations have dropped this practice. The last report card issued by a veterans’ group was released in 2010 by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). And in that report, Dean Heller of Nevada—then a member of the U.S. House—tied for the worst grade in the Nevada congressional delegation. Heller received a D compared to an A for Dina Titus, a B for Harry Reid, a C for Shelley Berkley, and a D for John Ensign. Heller has been emphasizing veterans’ issues in his campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate. A television commercial he’s running touting his veterans record has gotten wide news coverage. But in 2010, when IAVA ranked him on the way he voted and the bills he co-sponsored, he made what they considered the right decision on just 11 out of 18 occasions.
The IAVA report does not distinguish between a vote against veterans or failing to vote, treating them both as harmful to veteran needs, but we have tried to learn from congressional records which of the two he did. What IAVA considered Heller’s mistakes were these: • In both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon violated enlistment contracts and kept servicepeople in the war zones past the end of their enlistments, a practice known as stop-loss. Congress passed legislation providing extra compensation but did not order an end to stop-lossing. And even the additional pay was initially paid only to servicepeople who were stop-lossed after Congress approved the extra money. In House vote 348 on June 16, 2009, Heller voted against a measure that would have paid the extra money to those who were stop-lossed earlier. • In 2009, HR 3082 contained money for homeless veterans, rural veterans and mental health treatment. Heller either voted against the measure or failed to
vote on it during House vote 529. We were unable to learn which he did, but it cost him. • IAVA supported House vote 336, which was a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. For IAVA it was important because of the frequency of rape in the military—3,200 reports of sexual assault involving servicemembers in 2009, 279 of them in combat zones, though the Pentagon estimated only about a fifth of such incidents were reported. IAVA said the measure “significantly strengthens the [Pentagon’s] military sexual trauma (MST) prevention programs … including requiring the creation of a sexual assault hotline and authorizing access to legal counsel for sexual assault victims.” Heller voted against the measure. • Heller also lost points with IAVA by failing to “take a leadership role” on some issues by not co-sponsoring specific measures. The four measures that were important to IAVA in 2010 were HR 1016, which provided for advance military appropriations to overcoming chronic congressional tardiness in approving the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs “20 out of the past 23 years;” HR 4121, updating a disability claims process that was “outdated years before most [Iraq and Afghanistan] veterans were born;” HR 5933, providing for changes to the New GI Bill; and HR 5120 or HR 5400, which dealt with job opportunities for new veterans. Of these four priorities for Iraq and Afghan war veterans, Heller co-sponsored none. The situation in the Nevada congressional delegation, in which Democrats have better records of support for veterans than Republicans, was common in most delegations and generally. During the 2008 presidential election between John McCain and Barack Obama, when Disabled American Veterans was still doing congressional report cards, we noted, “In 2006, Disabled American Veterans gave McCain a 20 percent rating. In 2006, Disabled American Veterans gave Obama an 80 percent rating. … In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator McCain a grade of D. In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator Obama a grade of B-plus.” (“McCain and veterans,” RN&R Newsview blog, Sept. 26, 2008). In that article, we also gave the following 2006 IAVA rankings for
