Nevada gov takes control of state's stimulus funds

CARSON CITY - Gov. Jim Gibbons signed an executive order Friday taking control over federal stimulus money coming into Nevada, fueling his fight with the Democrat controlled Legislature by challenging them to sue.

"I'm done with partisan potshots," Gibbons said.

The executive order creates the position of director of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds within the Republican governor's administration.

The Legislature's Interim Finance Committee earlier this month approved hiring a coordinator to oversee the $2.2 billion Nevada is receiving, but it took the position out of the governor's office and put it in the office of state Controller Kim Wallin, a Democrat.

"I made it clear in earlier statements that I felt the actions of the Interim Finance Committee were inappropriate," Gibbons said.

Instead of filing a legal challenge to the committee's action, Gibbons said, "Nevadans will be better served by me taking immediate steps to get the whole job done right."

"I will leave it to the Nevada Legislature to determine if they wish to waste taxpayer dollars in an effort to usurp my constitutional responsibilities," Gibbons said, adding that "doing so will cause needless delay" in the distribution of federal stimulus money.

The Interim Finance Committee oversees money in the state's contingency fund between Nevada's biennial legislative sessions.

Gibbons had requested $257,709 from the committee to pay operating costs and salaries for a cabinet-level position and an executive assistant to coordinate and track stimulus money and ensure stringent federal reporting requirements are met. The first report is due Oct. 10.

But Democratic lawmakers said such a position requires specific qualifications, something not required for political appointments.

Making it a classified position in Wallin's office will "ensure the person in there has the basic qualifications to do the job," said Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, during an IFC meeting.

The political salvos heated up this week when Robin Reedy, Gibbons' chief of staff, said the governor wouldn't abdicate his authority to oversee the federal dollars and that Wallin "can lick the stamp" on the reports.

Wallin had scheduled a meeting with agency department heads Tuesday to discuss reporting requirements, but no one showed up on a directive from the governor's office.