By Pat Hickey, Reno Gazette Journal, May 14, 2024
Mark Twain had a way of saying things most people feel, but few ever say.
In speaking of politics — which at times can either be a metaphor for life, or a bungling three-ring circus representation of it — the American humorist had this to say: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
It seems a majority of Nevada voters agree with the onetime Nevadan. The most recent voter registration numbers from the Secretary of State’s Office bear this out: 602,000 Nevadans are registered as Democrats, 570,000 are registered as Republicans, and 809,000 are signed up as either nonpartisans or members of other minor political parties.
America’s founders warned that political parties and their partisan antics could be our undoing as a country. In his Farewell Address to the nation in 1796, first President George Washington warned: “However (political parties) may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people …” John Adams, the often irascible and always honest second U.S. president referred in 1788 to the fears of one party-rule, writing that “in a single sovereign assembly, each member … is only responsible to his constituents; and the majority of members who have been of one party” is a “tyranny of the majority.”
In today’s atmosphere of hyperpartisanship in which election results swing wildly in directions both left and right, the ensuing political pendulum becomes more like a guillotine than a bellwether of our legitimate differences. It’s the primary reason why Nevada voters are increasingly “voting with their feet” against membership in the two major political parties, as evidenced by the fact that only approximately 30% of Nevada voters are Democrats, 29% are Republicans, and a whopping 41% prefer a nontraditional political affiliation.
It seems obvious that “one-party rule” — regardless of what party it is — is not what a majority of Nevadans want. It’s why in 2022, they voted for a Democrat legislature and a Republican governor. Given the trend in registration numbers, Nevada voters are overwhelmingly in favor of partnership over partisanship. It appears, they favor individual candidates over their political parties.
It’s good news for the future, but bad news for the ever-decreasing partisan organizations comprised of donkeys and elephants.
A longtime Nevada lobbyist who’s worked under seven governors believes that government governs best in Carson City when there are “backstops in place that provide checks and balances between the governor and the Legislature, which provides the stability and the predictability most voters want. ” He adds, “Having a governor from a different party who can say ‘I don’t agree with your proposal’ (through the threat of a veto), can moderate legislation into something the chief executive can sign, and more effectively create the kind of balance most voters think is best.”
That same lobbyist told me, “By breaking one-party rule under the last governor in 2022, Nevadans said they wanted someone from a different party to be in charge, giving a Republican governor a seat at the table when big issues with the Democrats are being hammered out.”
It’s also why current Republican Governor Joe Lombardo is putting an unprecedented effort in support of State Assembly and State Senate candidates from his own party in the hopes of preventing Democrats from acquiring a supermajority in both legislative chambers that would deny him his veto power.
“Since we took office last year, Nevada is among the leaders in job creation and economic development,” the governor told me. “We have invested our limited resources in mental health, education, and accountability but we have a long way to go.”
Lombardo talked about how he sees his role in the partnership of state government: “Leadership is not the same thing as partisanship. I need legislators, regardless of party, who put Nevada first, and that cannot happen with single-party rule that pushes our state in extreme ways.”
Asked about why he’s so concentrated on preventing a supermajority in the Legislature by Democrats, Lombardo talked about last session where he had the power to block certain progressive proposals from those on the other side of the aisle: “I vetoed bills that would have raised taxes, created new regulations that hurt small businesses, restricted constitutional freedoms, and would have made it harder for families to maintain their quality of life. The path to avoiding a supermajority and the extreme legislation that would come from it includes recruiting candidates for office who are problem-solvers.”
One of those candidates the governor has identified to run and even flip Senate District 11 in Clark County is Lori Rogich. An attorney and wife of legendary political guru Sig Rogich, she successfully sued the Clark County School District on behalf of students statewide “who learn differently.” Lori is a formidable candidate and life partner of former Ronald Reagan campaign ad creator and the namesake of Sig Rogich Middle School, a five-story Blue Ribbon national award recipient in CCSD.
The onetime single mom who worked her way through law school stepped away from her law practice when Lombardo asked her to run, saying, “I’m a newcomer to the political arena. I’ve never run for office but have seen first-hand the negative impact of bad laws, unnecessary regulations, and too much legislation passed for political or ideological purposes over simple public policy … with a commitment to bipartisanship.”
Joe Lombardo is hoping a candidate like Lori Rogich can help him effectively “say no,” next legislative session — keeping him relevant to the lawmaking process and striking a balance instead of ramrod, if Democrats enjoy a veto-proof majority — in effect making Nevada a “one-party rule” state.
Democrat President Harry Truman believed such a balance was necessary for the nation to stay on an even keel.
“I think we would lose something important to our political life if the conservatives were all in one party and the liberals all in the other,” Truman said. “This would make us into a nation divided either into two opposing and irreconcilable camps or even into smaller and more contentious groups.”
Which of course, is more or less what we evolved into in 2024. According to government relations agency MultiState, “There are more states under one-party control than at any other time in modern history. Only 11 states have divided governments without control of of both the governorship and both chambers of the legislature.” Nevada is one of the 11, and most Nevadans pride themselves on being “purple” (nonpartisan), as opposed to being exclusively “blue” (liberal), or “red” (conservative).
Jon Meacham, Pulitzer-prize winning historian, writing in The Soul of America: “Wisdom generally comes from a free exchange of ideas, and there can be no exchange of ideas if everyone on your side already agrees with one another.”
Mark Twain was correct to advise us to question the prevailing wisdom of the majority, telling his readers: “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men (and women) and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
The same is true of partisan politics. It’s why a majority of Nevadans don’t want a minority one-party rule. We’d be wise to remember that when we vote in November.