Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid this morning signed his name to the document officially launching his candidacy for governor, turned to his wife, Cindy, and said, “Here we go.”
“I’m honored to be running for governor in the state I love,” Reid said. ‘I think it’s an opportunity to fundamentally change Nevada.”
Even after I questioned his sanity — actively campaigning for a job that will entail balancing a budget that contains a multi-billion hole, dealing with what could be the most contentious Legislature in modern times in 2011, and generally sitting in the seat that many people blame for the state’s problems — Reid wouldn’t give an inch. “This is an exciting time because it provides a change to do things that we’ve never done before,” Reid said, referring to his economic plan to add revenue to the state’s budget without raising taxes.
But, Reid did admit that if he’d been in Gov. Jim Gibbons‘s shoes during the recently concluded special session, he’d have signed the budget deal the Legislature passed. “My candidacy is about avoiding that situation again,” he said.
Also to be avoided: Any talk of taxes, which legislative leaders have said will be needed to balance the budget during the 2011 Legislature. Reid has steadfastly refused to discuss the possibility of increased taxes. He cited the work of a state-appointed Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group, charged with examining the state’s tax system and suggesting improvements, and said he didn’t want to influence the outcome. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to pre-judge this group of citizens,” he said. (And thus, the group has fulfilled Mission One of its charter: Give would-be elected officials a convenient way to avoid taking a position on a controversial issue.)
Asked about polls showing him trailing Republican front-runner Brian Sandoval, Reid said survey numbers this far from Election Day don’t matter. “Pundits and polls aren’t going to decide this election. People will,” Reid said. So that means he doesn’t consider pundits people? I’m hurt and offended. But somehow, I think Reid can live with that.
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