CARSON CITY -- Sen. Ray Shaffer, R-North Las Vegas, says he missed the last days of the 2003 Legislature -- including the final vote on the critical $863 million tax plan -- because he put his family ahead of politics.
"My vote was not needed," Shaffer said Monday, adding that he did not think his absence would hurt him in his bid next year for re-election.
Shaffer said he and his wife, Sharon, had booked a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands in May, thinking the Legislature would end by July.
His wife had packed all of their belongings and returned from Carson City to Las Vegas, only to find that their home irrigation system had broken and their shrubs and plants were dying. Shaffer said he flew back to Las Vegas to fix the system.
Shaffer, a retiree, said he tried to send his daughter in his place on the cruise, but the cruise line wanted $300 to make that change. And his daughter did not have a passport needed to visit one of the islands that was not part of the United States. In addition, he said, his wife was uncomfortable about going alone.
"She was panicking," Shaffer said. "Sometimes you have put your family first."
He said he would have also lost $3,000 on his ticket.
Before leaving, he said, he talked to Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, about his situation. He said Perkins assured him there was a change in the vote in the Assembly to get the bill passed.
Hardy and Perkins could not be reached for comment on Shaffer's explanation.
Shaffer said he had "voted three times for the tax bills so everybody knew where I stood."
The Senate vote was 17-2 on the tax bill with Shaffer absent and Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, abstaining because her husband is involved in a bank. Fourteen votes -- or two-thirds -- was needed to pass the tax bill.
Several of Shaffer's colleagues had mixed reactions to his explanation about his absence.
Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, laughed when told about Shaffer's explanation.
"That's the best story I have ever heard. I wish I would have thought of it. Everybody had to change plans to serve," Coffin said, adding that he had to cancel a vacation in Hawaii.
"I'm sorry I put the job ahead of my kids. They would have really enjoyed that," Coffin said.
He also pointed out that Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, had to cut short her vacation in Spain to return to serve in the second special session.
Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, said "everybody made sacrifices."
"Nobody could have predicted the Legislature would run two extra months. It took a lot of people's family time and income," Nolan said.
"Ray made a lot of sacrifices. I think he said, 'Enough is enough.' It was a personal decision. I can't fault him," Nolan said.
He agreed that Shaffer's vote was not needed on the Senate side, but it would have been a different story if Shaffer was in the Assembly where the tax bill won 28-14 after Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, switched sides, giving the majority the necessary two-thirds.
"I think Ray weighed that out," Nolan said.
Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, agreed.
"I don't think he was needed," he said. "We didn't have the stalemate in the Senate that existed in the Assembly."
Neal said he wouldn't hold the absence against Shaffer and said he took off one night in the session himself. Neal drove home, missing the next day of the session.
Shaffer said that while he was at sea his office staff kept him informed via e-mail of the progress of the tax bill. And while in the islands, he stopped off in Honolulu to attend the Council of State Governments western conference.
As chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Shaffer said it was important for him to attend the conference. He said he has worked with Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, D-North Las Vegas, on a program to train truck drivers across the nation on identifying possible terrorists or their activities.
Neal said he did not think voters would hold the absence against Shaffer, but Coffin said he believes Shaffer's absence is "a clue this is his last session."
Shaffer, however, said he's "definitely" going to run for re-election.
"There will be an army of people after me," he said, referring to his switch from being a Democrat to a Republican last year.
Titus has said Shaffer will be one of the main targets of the Democratic Party in the upcoming election.
Shaffer, a retiree, will have 20 years in the Legislature in November 2004 and if re-elected it would be for his last term because of the constitutional limit on terms.
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