Lawmakers honor Jacobsen and Dini

Lawmakers took time out Thursday to honor two men who have served longer in the Nevada Legislature than any other state legislators.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said retired Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen and retired Assembly Speaker Joe Dini "will forever serve as models" for future legislators.

Jacobsen, a Minden Republican, served a total of 40 years in the Assembly and Senate, including stints as speaker in the lower house and president pro tempore in the Senate.

Dini, a Yerington Democrat, served 36 years in the Assembly, including eight sessions as speaker.

At a total of 76 years' service, Raggio said, "That's longer than I am old."

Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, told lawmakers the resolution honoring them was not for Dini and Jacobsen, but for members of the current Legislature.

"Both men left this place better than when they came and left us better for knowing them," he said.

Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, told his house they were "honoring them not only for the length of service, but the quality of their service."

And Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said he had the "incredibly bad timing" to follow them representing parts of both men's former districts.

"That's not a hill to climb," he said. "It's a 10,000-foot cliff."

Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, who followed Dini in that post, described him as "like a second father to me."

"He is the only person in the state who will always be called 'Mr. Speaker,'" he said.

And Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, the first black to serve in the Nevada Senate, said it was time he took the blame for one of Jacobsen's more infamous foibles. He said when Jacobsen was giving him a ride to the Reno airport one wintry day, the Minden senator asked why there weren't more blacks living in Northern Nevada.

"I told him it's too cold," said Neal with a laugh. "Then a few years later, we had a delegation from Nigeria, and they asked Jake the same question, and he repeated what I told him: it's too cold."

That comment by Jacobsen prompted amused reactions from some, but outrage from others.

"He took quite a ribbing for that, and I just wanted to set the record straight," said Neal. "He got that from me."

Dini and Jacobsen left office when the members of the current Legislature were sworn into office in January.