Well, well, well. The Nevada State Education Association (teachers’ union) tax grab Juggernaut appears to have hit a rut. The initiative petition would have jacked up taxes on Nevada casinos’ gaming receipts by 44 percent and earmark somewhere between $250 million and $400 million per year raised thereby into teachers’ salaries.

The proposal has spawned the super bowl of political gang fights. The petition itself is not in the least subtle. It would just grab huge hunks of money from casinos and put the cash in a big slush fund that could only be used to pay teachers and “classified employees” (custodians, bus drivers, etc.). Principals and other administrators would be specifically excluded from this bounty. The union’s arrogance stems from the fact that with 56,000 teacher-members in the Silver State they have the raw power to gather the 58,628 voter signatures necessary to put it on the fall ballot by May 20. Voters would still have to approve the measure in two successive elections but I guess proponents plan to worry about that later.

Casinos, represented by the Nevada Resorts Association, immediately filed suit to invalidate the petition on a technicality. The district court required some wording changes but essentially left the devastating language intact. The Resorts Association has appealed that decision to the Nevada Supreme Court who will hear the matter July 1 and decide ... who knows when? That could be fatal to a petition that has a deadline of May 20 to get all required signatures.

Meanwhile the Resorts Association engaged former Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich, R-Reno, and former Nevada Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, to jointly mount a media campaign against the measure. The two can be heard in a 30 second ad opposing the “tax grab” on local talk radio shows.

There is still one more possible arrow in the casinos’ quiver. Come up with a similar but watered down version of teachers’ union measure and circulate petitions for that so it would confuse voters, perhaps scuttling both petitions (anyone remember the two anti-smoking measures we voted on recently?).

However before that shot got fired the teachers’ union blinked. “Teachers may drop petition” read one newspaper headline late last week. “Union considers compromise with gaming chiefs” read another. The Las Vegas Sun reported that, although the Resorts Association remains adamantly opposed to the tax measure, certain key gaming executives met in secret with teachers’ union officials to hammer our a compromise that would “slightly” increase hotel room taxes to raise money for education if the teachers drop their petition. No casinos would return reporters’ phone calls but union president Lynn Warne confirmed the newspaper story without giving any details.

But just that tiny news leak, with only a hint of facts, spawned a mountain of speculation. While tinkering with the room tax may not directly impact casinos’ earnings a significant increase could impact Nevada’s competitiveness with other destination resort states. Accordingly Governor Gibbons weighed in saying that he would veto any increase in the room tax. Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said that any such increase would have to originate in the legislature and pass by a 2/3 majority. He added that he believed that no one in either political party would run for election this fall advocating any kind of tax increase. And although union officials and casino executives were absolutely mum about what’s going on the governor’s office hinted at the probable ultimate compromise by announcing: “the governor would support a reallocation of the existing room tax rate to help support education.”

Stay tuned for the next episode in the battle of the titans.

Jim Clark is President of Republican Advocates, a vice chair of the Washoe County GOP and a member of the Nevada GOP Central Committee. His columns run in the Bonanza’s Sunday edition.