Globalization of commerce changes a lot

Sen. Randolph Townsend (R Š Reno) visited our fair community a couple of weeks ago to discuss a number of issues, speaking in the posh Club Room of the newly refurbished Crystal Bay Club. Townsend, whose district includes Incline Village and Crystal Bay, reminisced about the formative days of our township, his first home when he moved to Nevada from San Francisco three decades ago. He was able to stump many in the audience by asking a number of trivia questions about Incline's geography in the 1960s and 70s.

For the main part of his talk, Townsend discussed the recently adjourned legislative session in detail, singling out club members Marianne Ingemanson, Ted Harris and Dale Akers for their successful contributions supporting tax relief for homeowners. At legislative committee hearings, he said, many lawmakers engage in somewhat rude activities ... sending e-mails or playing solitaire with their laptops, whispering to colleagues, coming in late or leaving early. But, Townsend said, in the 24 years he has been in the legislature, he has rarely seen lawmakers show the respect given Ingemanson when she appeared to testify in favor of a 3 percent cap on homeowner real estate tax increases. Lawmakers perked up and paid attention to Incline's tax restraint celebrity ... her testimony was a strong factor in the eventual passing of tax cap legislation into law, according to Townsend.

The senator described some of the changes for the worse that have occurred in Nevada's Assembly. Revealing that Incline's Assembly representative, Lynn Hettrick, is considering retirement, Townsend contrasted recent legislative sessions with earlier more collegial days which ended with the retirement of Democrat Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, "a true gentleman." Although there were more total votes cast for Republican Assembly candidates than Democratic candidates in both the 2002 and 2004 elections the 2000 gerrymandering appears to have guaranteed a Democrat majority in Nevada's Assembly at least until the 2010 census. Democratic leadership has used that majority arrogantly and brutally, Townsend said. "If a Republican Assembly member sponsors a bill it is nearly impossible to even get a hearing" according to Townsend.

What happens then is that good proposals languish or get "stolen" and reintroduced with a Democrat as sponsor.

He explained changes to the Millennium Scholarship program made by the legislature. Originally financed by proceeds of litigation against tobacco companies that fund is now depleted so taxpayer funds were tapped to meet the program's needs. Townsend said that Assembly Democrats want all Nevada students to get scholarships regardless of grades.

He believes that, if taxpayer funds are to be used, financial support should be limited to high achieving students in specific majors, such as math and computer science, which are needed to make Nevada an attractive place for new businesses.

Townsend was carrying a copy of Thomas Friedman's bestseller, "The World is Flat," when he arrived and as he ended his talk he explained why.

The book is a fascinating look at the forces behind globalization of commerce by a very talented New York Times columnist. The work details how a combination of free software, educated East Indians, a world glut of fiber optic cable and the technological threat of Y2K combined to totally restructure the world's economy in an incredibly short period of time. The result has been a sharp increase in productivity and standards of living for all involved.

The senator highly recommends the book because he sees similar forces at work and resultant opportunities . . . in Nevada.



Jim Clark is president of the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Republican Advocates. He also serves as chair of Independent Incline.