The Nevada legislature is more than halfway through its 120-day session. Reno Public Radio's Michelle Bliss caught up with Fred Lokken, professor of political science at Truckee Meadows Community College, to discuss what he says is one of the most unproductive and dysfunctional sessions in state history.
Lokken has been studying Nevada politics for 24 years and says that with Republicans in charge of both the Assembly and Senate, this session has brought to light an embarrassing amount of infighting.
"Their behavior this session, not all of them, but for some of them, has been off the scale for what is appropriate in civil government," Lokken says.
He's referring to multiple altercations between Republican lawmakers, including a recent verbal altercation between Assembly members Ira Hansen and Victoria Seaman, along with a physical altercation involving Assemblyman John Moore and Majority Leader Paul Anderson. And don't forget how Assemblywoman Michele Fiore used an expletive to order fellow Republican Chris Edwards to sit down.
"The old-timers that I talk to," Lokken says, "people who literally helped to grow Nevada over the last several decades have expressed so much frustration in how it's changed."
Lokken says that if the legislature continues down this path, Democrats could have enough fodder to dominate the next round of elections.