Sen. Bill Raggio Resigns

by BRANDON RITTIMAN - January 5, 2011

 
Raggio

Nevada Legislature

Nevada State Senator Bill Raggio (R)

Late this morning State Senator Bill Raggio- who's held that title longer than anybody else in history- announced he's resigning.

KUNR News Director Brandon Rittiman explains it caught a lot of people off-guard.

Rittiman: Absolutely, Dan. And you'd like to be happy for a guy in his 80's finally retiring, but most people in Northern Nevada politics view this as a very dark day because they lost one of the biggest guns in their arsenal.

Senator Raggio will leave his post at the end of next week. He says he's leaving for health reasons which those close to him confirm have been limiting his ability to serve.

The end of Raggio's senate career has been a bit rocky. He was recently stripped of his post as leader of the senate republicans (a job he'd had for a very long time) because he did not endorse Republican Sharron Angle's effort to unseat US Senator Harry Reid. She of course lost that bid.

Because of the new term limits, this was Raggio's last term, so we knew this was going to happen eventually, but a lot of people were banking on Raggio's experience and strong negotiating skills to help tackle the historic budget problem in the legislative session that starts next month.

Since Raggio's seat was entirely in Washoe County, the county commission gets the job of filling the seat.

I talked with commissioner John Breternitz a few minutes ago- one of Raggio's fellow republicans. He says it's going to be a tall order.

Breternitz: s "Well I don't think you can actually replace a Bill Raggio- there's so much experience and knowledge there that there is not a replacement. "

Regardless- the commission is going to have to pick somebody- and quickly, too. We are only 33 Days from the start of the legislative session.

Stay tuned to KUNR for more on this story as it develops. Dan?