VICTOR JOECKS: Legislative Democrats trounced listless Lombardo

When people sell out their beliefs and allies, they usually get something substantial in return. Gov. Joe Lombardo didn’t bother with that part.

Months ago, Lombardo and legislative Democrats appeared fairly evenly matched. Yes, Democrats had large majorities, but there were enough Senate Republicans to sustain the governor’s vetoes.

Lombardo started off with a terrific inaugural address. He called expanding school choice and increasing school safety “top priorities.” He also talked up the need for “fiscal discipline.” That was important, because the federal stimulus and recovering economy left Nevada flush with cash.

His commitment to those concepts didn’t last long. In his State of the State address, Lombardo proposed a massive $2 billion increase in education spending and big raises for state employees. He briefly mentioned that he wanted a mere $50 million for Opportunity Scholarships, Nevada’s small school choice program. He didn’t even talk about the more expansive school choice plan know as Education Savings Accounts, despite campaigning on them.

This was stunning for two reasons. To start, Lombardo ran on reforming schools, not lavishing them with more money. The other problem was tactical. Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, both Democrats, stood staunchly opposed to Lombardo’s agenda. Their top priority was likely to be more money for education and state employee pay. Lombardo left himself with few bargaining chips.

This isn’t 20/20 hindsight. I wrote in January, “Lombardo just gave away his leverage” and “The Democrats don’t have to compromise. Lombardo capitulated.”

Lombardo dug his hole deeper when he said in January that he wouldn’t veto the budget to get his policy priorities. Even in early May, Ben Kieckhefer, Lombardo’s chief of staff, said the priority was the budget. Little surprise that legislative Democrats mostly ignored Lombardo’s policy bills.

At the time, I wrote that he needed to “break out the veto pen” to get his legislation moving. He did, late, threatening to veto the budget unless Democrats passed his priorities. Days later, he released a statement reiterating that he wouldn’t sign budget bills without policy reforms. He dared Democrats to “test his resolve.”

Yeager and Cannizzaro did, and Lombardo rolled over. Democrats used amendments to gut his bills. They refused to pass Opportunity Scholarship tax credits. His crime bill barely existed after Democrats deleted most provisions. Other supposed priorities, such as election integrity measures and tax cuts, barely came up.

But Lombardo frequently acquiesced to Democrat spending and priorities. Senate Democrats bragged the education budget included more than $300 million more than Lombardo proposed.

Late in the regular session, Senate Republicans voted against the capital improvement projects budget. They wanted to force some small concessions from Democrats. Because that budget contained a tax increase, it needed two-thirds approval.

Lombardo called a special session — and put only the budget bill on the agenda. No Opportunity Scholarships or charter school funding. In a meeting, Lombardo told Republicans on Tuesday to end their holdout and vote for that budget — without getting anything. Sen. Scott Hammond, who’s termed out, did. I believe Sen. Minority Leader Heidi Gansert would have cast that vote if needed. An utter embarrassment.

One defense of Lombardo is that at least he vetoed a bunch of bad legislation, although far from all of it. But if the best you can say about Lombardo is that a Republican governor vetoed terrible Democrat bills, you’re condemning him with faint praise.

Lombardo was supposed to be leading the charge for school choice, not raising the white flag. Republicans should hope he has the courage to confront his failures, learn from them and do better going forward. Otherwise, the issues Lombardo championed just a few months ago won’t be passing any time soon.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen to him discuss his columns each Monday at noon with Kevin Wall on AM 670 KMZQ “Right Talk.” Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.