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CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Some conservative Republicans upset over tax increases passed by the 2009 Legislature are taking aim at Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio and discussing a recall effort against the veteran lawmaker.
Organizer Dana Allen, a businessman who has been active in Tea Party rallies, said the Reno Republican is being targeted because he campaigned on a platform of fiscal restraint but helped push through nearly $1 billion in tax increases to plug a gaping hole in the state budget.
“This is a way to hold politicians accountable,” Allen told The Associated Press when contacted Tuesday by phone.
Recall supporters plan an organizing meeting Thursday. And an e-mail is being distributed in northern Nevada by a group called The Committee to Recall Raggio.
“It is time to send a message to elected officials that they can no longer mislead voters before an election and ignore them after they get into office. That legislators answer to their constituents, as Sen. Raggio will soon learn,” it states.
Raggio, first elected to the Nevada Senate in 1972, was re-elected last year and has two more years before he is barred by terms limits from running again.
He said he's heard rumors about the potential recall, adding, “I don't lose any sleep over it.
“Nobody thought we'd have to raise taxes,” he said of the massive budget shortfall that loomed when lawmakers convened early this year and sales and gambling taxes dried up because of the recession.
“I didn't sign any pledges” not to raise taxes, Raggio said. “I know what I did was right.”
A tax plan increasing sales taxes, business levies, license and vehicle registration fees passed 17-4 in the Senate and 29-13 in the Assembly. A veto by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons was quickly overridden.
Under a last-minute amendment sought by Raggio, most of the increased taxes expire in 2011, when lawmakers hold their next regular session.
Eric Herzik, a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, called the recall prospect “another stupid Republican trick” that he couldn't believe it was happening.
“This is the last thing the Republicans need, is more of this internal fighting over who's a real Republican,” said Herzik, a Republican.
“It's going to be expensive, it's going to drive people away from your message. And the Democrats just have to be smiling.”
To force a recall election, organizers would have 90 days after filing a notice of intent to gather signatures of at least 25 percent of the number of people in Senate District 3 who voted in the 2008 general election, according to the secretary of state's office.
Organizer Dana Allen, a businessman who has been active in Tea Party rallies, said the Reno Republican is being targeted because he campaigned on a platform of fiscal restraint but helped push through nearly $1 billion in tax increases to plug a gaping hole in the state budget.
“This is a way to hold politicians accountable,” Allen told The Associated Press when contacted Tuesday by phone.
Recall supporters plan an organizing meeting Thursday. And an e-mail is being distributed in northern Nevada by a group called The Committee to Recall Raggio.
“It is time to send a message to elected officials that they can no longer mislead voters before an election and ignore them after they get into office. That legislators answer to their constituents, as Sen. Raggio will soon learn,” it states.
Raggio, first elected to the Nevada Senate in 1972, was re-elected last year and has two more years before he is barred by terms limits from running again.
He said he's heard rumors about the potential recall, adding, “I don't lose any sleep over it.
“Nobody thought we'd have to raise taxes,” he said of the massive budget shortfall that loomed when lawmakers convened early this year and sales and gambling taxes dried up because of the recession.
“I didn't sign any pledges” not to raise taxes, Raggio said. “I know what I did was right.”
A tax plan increasing sales taxes, business levies, license and vehicle registration fees passed 17-4 in the Senate and 29-13 in the Assembly. A veto by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons was quickly overridden.
Under a last-minute amendment sought by Raggio, most of the increased taxes expire in 2011, when lawmakers hold their next regular session.
Eric Herzik, a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno, called the recall prospect “another stupid Republican trick” that he couldn't believe it was happening.
“This is the last thing the Republicans need, is more of this internal fighting over who's a real Republican,” said Herzik, a Republican.
“It's going to be expensive, it's going to drive people away from your message. And the Democrats just have to be smiling.”
To force a recall election, organizers would have 90 days after filing a notice of intent to gather signatures of at least 25 percent of the number of people in Senate District 3 who voted in the 2008 general election, according to the secretary of state's office.
