EDITORIAL: Electorate’s voice comes first

November 17, 2008 by Editorial staff 

 

A week before Election Day, Robert Blakely admitted to The Rebel Yell that he wasn’t “being real active” in the campaign process and didn’t think he was going to win against incumbent Bret Whipple.

On Nov. 4, when the election results rolled in, Blakely had defeated incumbent Bret Whipple 53 to 46 percent.

Was this a case of ignorant voters liking the name Blakely over the name Whipple? Or was a vote for Blakely a vote against Whipple’s policies?

We at The Rebel Yell are inclined to believe the latter.  After all, if anything, the last name Whipple would conjure images of the friendly Mr. Charmin toilet paper spokesman, Mr. Whipple, which might get the coveted “cute vote.”

For almost a year, we’ve questioned Whipple’s performance on the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents.  In November of last year, when Chancellor Jim Rogers sent one of the first of many letters to Gov. Jim Gibbons protesting the statewide budget cuts, Whipple – along with Regent Stavros Anthony – wrote a letter to the governor stating the belief that the overall state has always been “100 percent supportive.”

The Rebel Yell thought then, as we do now, that regents are elected (and paid) to champion support – financial especially – for the higher education system. Last December, Whipple told the Board of Regents they needed to prepare for the budget cuts, as if the universities weren’t silently preparing while still publicly vocalizing opposition.

This attitude toward the Nevada System of Higher Education undermines the ability of the board to function as a solid voice for students, faculty and the community.

While it may be a good thing to have Whipple’s attitude off the board, Blakely is a relative unknown who ran for office only because he noticed that nobody else (until Whipple filed at the last minute, after him) was running.

Not exactly promising.

The fact that Blakely was a no-show to a scheduled press conference in a UNLV journalism class on Thursday morning is also not promising, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. We ditch class sometimes too.  Hopefully, students, faculty and the higher education system will find a surprise champion in Blakely.

It’s a real shame that candidates may run unopposed (Jack Schofield in District 5) or almost unopposed (District 2) for positions for any public office, including the Board of Regents.

Higher education is an important issue and the tasks assigned to the Board of Regents are no laughing matter.  They approve biennium budgets for each institution, and individual university presidents and the system’s chancellor. Many have used the Board of Regents as a springboard to higher public offices – Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, former Nevada Democratic Chairwoman Jill Derby and most recently Clark County Commissioner-elect Steve Sisolak.

People should feel honored to serve on the board.  Similarly, it shouldn’t be an easy process to get there.

With that said, looking at the two open regents positions – the seats vacated by Thalia Dondero (who reached the term limit but was unopposed on the Nov. 4 ballot) and Sisolak (who will be moving onto the Clark County Commission) – Gov. Gibbons needs to make the individuals wishing to fill these seats pass the public test.

Candidates who lost their local elections, for whatever reason, shouldn’t be offered a spot on the Board of Regents. These seats are not conciliatory ones the governor can hand out freely.  Bob Beers, a Republican who lost a state Senate seat on Nov. 4, expressed interest in the board, despite a terrible track record on higher education.  Whipple has expressed interest in a new district to fill a vacant seat.  Even Dondero, who expressed unhappiness over the decision that she was included in the Nevada term limit laws, told The Rebel Yell “maybe [the governor] will appoint me.”

These are unacceptable propositions.  Gibbons’ decisions to fill the vacant positions should be made with the will of the voters in mind.  Voters agreed on term limits and they voted against Whipple and Beers.

Rogers has publicly suggested that the governor vet the candidates through a committee of higher education faculty, administrators and local business members.  This is a perfectly reasonable approach.

Too much of the fate of the Nevada System of Higher Education rests in the text-happy hands of the governor and his cronies in Carson City.  If nothing else, the governor should allow the system to have some say in its future by allowing them a voice in the filling of the two vacant regent seats.