E!!

On the subject of delegates to the Republican national convention, a few readers (who don’t normally follow politics but are now perking up) have asked me what the stats from Nevada’s state caucuses were.  You can view them here. 

Romney got 51.1% of the vote; Ron Paul got 14.73%; and McCain got 13.75%.

One of my NV business owner pals just forwarded me her recent email exchange with Nevada State Senator Dennis Nolan.  It’s worth sharing especially since Nolan’s advice to her (and anyone who agrees with her) was to leave the state.  Way to persuade your critics and strengthen Nevada, Senator Nolan!

P:  The reason people don’t get Nevada plates is that they are the highest in the country. Hey, Earth to Nolan! You can CHOOSE your state of residency. You can set up an LLC or company in another state. All of these are perfectly legal ways to have plates from other states. Want people to register here? Cut the fees down and they will register!!! DUH!

Senator Nolan:  If they like paying to register in another state and let the rest of us pay for roads and highways, then they should live in the other state! DUH!

P:  Because people can have more than one house or an RV which is deductible as a house! DUH! Last time I looked half of it went to the overbloated worthless school system stuffed with illegals that you refuse to do anything about! DUH! WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE ROADS? WITH THE WAY THIS STATE IS GETTING CALIFORNICATED THERE WILL BE LOTS OF PEOPLE LEAVING!  READ IT AND WEEP! http://wyomingcompany.com/ 

$500 to set up a Wyoming LLC, cheap plates, no business tax and no Nevada stigma! and no Rhinos! That single move alone would save me $3,800 a year in plates for a 1999 car ($500), a 2001 car ($650), and a 2003 motor home ($1,800) which is never there! And when it is, it’s parked!!!! Tell me, why should I keep paying license plate fees in Nevada?????? It’s a NO BRAINER!

Senator Nolan:  Your Right! and in your case I think the move would be a prudent and in the State’s best interest!

(E!! Note:  The word “your” is not the same as the contraction “you’re” meaning you are.  Dare I speculate that Nolan attended public school in Nevada?)

P:  I’m sure there are plenty more people that would rather see you go. Shall we make a list???

Senator Nolan:  You’re probably right! No, don’t worry,  I’ve already started a list.  Hey, I really do appreciate your concern and  involvement despite our differences.  Have a good week.

(Having calmed down, Nolan realizes that shouting “DUH!” and advising unhappy citizens to leave the state is probably not a good strategy…or very Senatorial, either.)

P:  Truce, for now. If you really want to do something to help the economy, support cutting the school fees out of the budget and allowing for licensing your cars based on what they are actually worth, not some inflated retail price.  We pay $1,800 a year for license plates for a 5 year old motorhome. We RV outside of Nevada 10 months a year. When it’s in Las Vegas it’s parked. Now tell me why I should pay that kind of money to the state?

I can license in Wyoming or Montana (no sales tax either) by purchasing an LLC. I haven’t yet, but I’m going to. You can be a citizen of anywhere now by buying an LLC or Corp. Why is Nevada driving business and fees out of Nevada? Wyoming is actively seeking what would be Nevada businesses. I would love to see some numbers on how much the LLC business has dropped in Nevada since 2003, and the big tax and fee hikes.

The threat of a business tax being espoused by Rogers and Buckley are forcing people to look elsewhere. It is perfectly legal and smart to lower your taxes legally. It would be in Nevada’s best interest to change these 2 anti-business, anti-consumer things that are patently unfair. It would cut the cost of plates in half, and I bet alot more people would buy their plates here.

By the way, I am also a small business owner, Internet. It would be very easy for me to move my business to Wyoming. In fact I’m setting up a second LLC in Wyoming this next week as a precaution against a potential business tax. How many other businesses are doing or will do the same thing?

It’s a world economy now. State governments should realize that. Make it attractive for small businesses to be here or they will stop coming. Have a nice evening.

Remember the movie Pay It Forward in which random acts of kindness are not paid back but instead are bestowed upon someone Else?   

Here in Nevada, we’re gearing up to shoot the sequel.  It’s called Tax it Backward and its about Nevadans imposing taxes on folks who don’t live here:  the hapless tourists standing behind us in whatever line for whatever show at whatever mega-resort.

The would-be producers of this very bad idea are the usual suspects:  the head honchos in the teachers union and many of the Dems in Carson City.  The extras are the voters in favor of fleecing Nevada’s tourists rather than pay for a tax increase on themselves.  Those against funding education spending increases with a room tax increase can be found on both the left and the right. 

CityLife editor Steve Sebelius thinks we need to raise taxes.  Me and the Muthster, we say no.  Where we three agree is thinking its wrong to fund the education department by taxing people who don’t live in Nevada (tourists) via higher lodging taxes.  Yesterday, Sebelius wrote…

“The Review-Journal published a poll in today’s editions, revealing that 60 percent favor increasing the room tax to pay for education, a move that will raise about $150 million to $185 million per year. ‘People will vote for tax increases that don’t affect them. I would be surprised if it did not pass given the numbers that are showing right now,’ said Brad Coker, managing partner of Mason-Dixon, the company that did the poll.

“Exactly. People don’t mind soaking others for things they ought to be paying for themselves. In this case it’s two easy targets: Casinos, and tourists. 

“How many of those people would walk into a 7-Eleven, fill up a Big Gulp, grab some Doritos and then tell the clerk to charge the guy who’s next in line? Sure they might want to do that, but how many would actually have the cojones to do it in person?

“Not very many. But they’ll do it at the ballot box.

“The point is, education benefits everybody in Nevada, and therefore, everybody in Nevada has an obligation to pay.”

Correct-a-mundo.  To raise taxes on tourists is not only taxation without representation – a no-no per the Founders of this great nation - it’s also bad for Tourism which, might I remind everyone, is a major source of revenue here in Nevada.  

If we’re going to raise taxes for education in Nevada - which I strongly oppose because I don’t think more money is the answer to our education problems – then Nevadans ought to be the ones to put their money where their ballot button is. 

And that’s a Wrap.

“When examined as a whole, I find it impossible to believe that there is simply no way to reduce spending within the system of higher education. . . . The system of higher education currently employs 1,328 people who are paid $100,000 or more annually.”

- Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, 8/20/08

“The top 452 (university system employees)…all make more than the governor, who receives $140,000 a year.  The highest paid university system employee is [Dr. William Zamboni, head of the School of Medicine's surgery department] who receives $1.4 million a year in compensation not counting health and retirement benefits.”

- Nevada Appeal, 8/21/08

The Muthster tells me that Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley did an interview last week in which she threatened to target any Republican candidate who signs the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. 

On the other side is Muth and Citizen Outreach, not-so-gently reminding candidates that there will be a barrage of pre-election phone calls and mail-outs into their districts if they don’t sign the Pledge.

What’s a Republican candidate to do?  Buckle when the leader of the opposition party points her canons his way, or stand up for fiscal conservatism and fight the Good Fight?

Here’s a third alternative for Nevada’s candidates:  if you’re billing yourself as a Republican but support raising taxes on an already over-taxed citizenry, do us all a favor and leave the party.  Buckley will be glad to have you, and we’ll be glad to see you go.

If you’re a voter who opposes new taxes, or are running for election and want to see and/or sign the Pledge, go here.  Candidates can fax it to Citizen Outreach at (775) 522-3925.

As I noted in a post the other day, Republicans have historically tended to be more reliable voters than Democrats, i.e. they show up at the booth with a lot less prompting and prodding.  This is a factor that cannot be left out of the registration equation.  Democrat campaign managers need to figure out how many registered Democratic voters are needed to equal/exceed one Republican vote.  Because it is an issue of quality over quantity, it is not going to be a one-to-one correlation.

On this subject, NV Senator Bob Beers has some comments on all the media attention the voter registration issue is getting.  He notes that while much Ado has been made about the voter registration gains made by Democrats in the past year (here and here and here), some Republicans see it another way:

The hyper-aggressive Democrat voter registration program, funded by Harry Reid’s millions in advance of his 2010 re-election or election of his son in his place, seems to have been focusing on that peculiar brand of ultra-transient new resident, most of whom have probably moved home in the wake of the flattening of Nevada’s once-thriving job market.

Some contend the Democrat voter registration program has become so aggressive that it has taken to registering people who do not actually exist.

The majority of existing voters who are changing their party affiliation to Democrat had been registered Non-Partisan. Those people probably were already voting Democrat, so changing their registrations won’t have much impact on November end-of-season voting, though it will cause an increase in the raw number of Democrats who vote in primaries.

As case-and-point, Beers points to the primary balloting…particularly in the Porter-Titus congressional district, where more Republicans voted than did Democrats.  26,892 Republicans voted compared to 26,241 Democrats despite all the buzz re: the massive registration lead Democrats had supposedly built in that district.

Below Beers shows the trend in some other districts where there was both a Democrat and Republican primary:

Well, I don’t relish raining on conservatives’ celebratory parade after Tuesday’s primary victories here in Nevada, but a commitment to fair analysis requires that I do just that.

See Nevada Republican Party Chairman Sue Lowdon’s blog for the list of delegates and alternates that will go to the National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.  She notes the delegation will be traveling with a Nevada-based POW from Sparks, Bill Elander, who, like Senator McCain, spent time at the Hanoi Hilton.

Lowdon:  ”In the end, I believe Nevadans agree that the path to prosperity now is as important as it was a quarter century ago, when Ronald Reagan advocated for peace through strength, lower taxes on our workers and businesses, and free-market principles to encourage ingenuity, economic growth, improved consumer goods and lower prices. This election, all of those same issues are up for grabs, and I believe Nevadans will help elect Senator John McCain as our next President.”

This morning on the drive to work, I heard Heidi Harris say (on talk radio KXNT) that Obama will be opening four more campaign offices in Las Vegas this week.  Not surprising now that McCain has a slight edge in the polls.

The good news for the Dems is their voter registration edge of about 60,000, many of whom were signed up by the Obama campaign in recent months.  In addition, the Las Vegas Sun reports that the Dems have trained 600 new precinct leaders in addition to the 1,000+ who were trained for the caucuses.

The bad news for Obama is that he has to overcome the senate’s most liberal voting record in a state that is unwaveringly pro-gun and has a deep aversion to tax hikes.  He’s also got a problem in re: to energy because the majority of Nevadans – in both parties – support creating more energy (drill, drill, drill) vs. cutting consumption.

The question is:  will those extra voter registrations and the opening of these new campaign offices make a difference for Obama in November – and should the NV GOP follow suit?

Republicans tend to be more reliable voters, so the GOP doesn’t always have to work as hard to get their peeps to the polls.  With numbers this close, though, McCain’s people may want to take a page from the 2004 Bush-Cheney playbook.  The Republican ground operation in Nevada was huge and Kerry was defeated by 21,500 votes.

Not sure that’s going to happen, though.  The McCain campaign seems to be focusing more on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan — states with larger numbers of electoral votes than Nevada – I guess thinking that if they can win 2 out of 3, they can win the whole enchilada.

Obama seems to be taking a different approach:  grabbing enough (other) Bush states such that losses in the big Midwestern states won’t mean as much.  Clearly, Nevada is one he wants in the bag.

Rasmussen now has McCain 45% vs. Obama @ 42% in Nevada.  See their chart (below) to see the gains and losses since February.

How big is Nevada for the candidates?  Politicker’s Pindell Report lists Nevada as the most competitive (closest) toss up state in the nation.

Rasmussen reminds us that Nevada has cast its five Electoral College votes for the winning candidate in seven straight presidential elections. And the last four of these were very competitive with nobody carrying the state by more than four percent of the popular vote.

This year is shaping up to be another squeaker – for somebody. 

I must have some sort of mental block re: Alff.  (Forgot to mention her again.)  She came in 2nd in Clark County but lost in the statewide race.  Well and good.

My Inbox is full of joyous emails from Nevada conservatives.  Here’s what they’re so darn happy about:

GOOD-BYE TO YOU:  Everyone is just delighted that incumbent Republican Assemblywoman Francis Allen - who refused to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and also embarrassed herself and her supporters by recently stabbing her husband in a drunken rage - lost to Republican challenger Richard McArthur (who not only signed the Pledge but campaigned on it).  McArthur stomped Allen by a 2-1 margin.

BOB “LITE” BEERS IS OFF THE SHELF:  Mr. Beers reluctantly signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge after he was elected in 2006 – and then immediately broke it during the 2007 legislative session.  Beers lost by a 2-1 margin to Republican Jonathan Ozark (who signed the Pledge).

JUST MARVELLOUS:  Another victory worth noting is that of former Republican Assemblyman Don Gustavson who defeated incumbent Republican Assemblyman John Marvel.  Marvel also broke HIS Tax Pledge by flip-flopping and voting for the gigantic tax hike in 2003.

Everyone’s glad that three Pretend Republicans have been replaced (subject to general election wins) by fiscally conservative Republicans.

SQUEAKER:  In the State Senate, Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio pulled out a close one over Republican challenger and former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.  Despite 30 years of service to his district, his strong leadership position, and outspending his opponent by more than 10-1, Raggio only won by around 500 votes.  (“whew!”)

CHAOS AVERTED:  In a closely-watched county commission race, GOP leaders dodged a proverbial bullet when former Clark County Chairman Brian Scroggins beat longtime Commissioner Bruce Woodbury…whose name was still on the ballot despite being ruled ineligible by the state’s new term limits law.  Had Woodbury won, debates would have raged over who would replace Woodbury on the general election ballot.  Now the party can just unite behind Scroggins.

KIDS AND PARENTS - VICTORY #1:  Many of you may know that the Nevada State Board of Education voted last December to slap a moratorium on the approval of any new charter schools, despite Very long waiting lists.  Under pressure, the Board lifted its moratorium at their meeting last weekend. 

#2:  Four of the nine Board members who voted against charter schools opted not to even seek re-election – including Harry Reid’s daughter-in-law, Cindy Reid.  And then yesterday Board member Barbara Myers lost to challenger Dave Cook in a three-way primary fight.  The two will meet again in November with Myers the likely loser.  Which means the Board could end up with six new members who, hopefully, won’t be as anti-school choice and anti-education as the last one. 

Does all this bode well for Conservatives in November?  Perhaps.  For today, we’ll enjoy the Victory – and continue to Hope. 

Literary ref from header:  “And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ He chortled in his joy. …”

Here are the final results.  Good night!

BTW – If anyone knows or can find out how Greg Nance got elected to the NV DOE Board in the first place, will you please email me?  Thank you!

So, unless the remaining precincts go for Pickering in a big way, it’ll be Alff and Chairez in November…

A reader emailed and asked why I didn’t say anything about today being Primary Day in Nevada.  The short answer is I didn’t think readers outside NV would care and residents here already knew about it.  Anyhoo, I just got home a little while ago and am checking the preliminary results online.

Here are a few Fun Clark County Facts while you wait for me to do that.  Clark County is NV’s largest county by population (because it contains Las Vegas).  County was created in 1908.  Total county population was 1.9 million in 2006.  We have approximately 327,000 registered Dems, 235,000 registered GOPers, and 136,000 “miscellaneous” (Independents etc.) for a total of about 697,000 registered voters.

OK, enough of that.  With 82% of the precincts and all the mail-outs in, we had about 102,000 people vote.  See all the results here.  No big surprises in the Congressional races.  I’m too tired to go through the rest of them one by one, but I will say this:

Glad to see Chad Christensen won in his Assembly race.  Glad to see Francis “the Knife” Allen did poorly in hers.  Didn’t much care whether Assemblyman Bob Beers won or lost, but know people who are glad. 

And am appalled and disgusted that Family Court Judge Del Vecchio got 20,000+ votes.  I’ve been sitting on some details I’m privy to re: Del Vecchio thinking it was all best revealed in October, but if That many people are not yet aware of the many, MANY reasons this guy should not only Not be on the bench but should be in prison…I’ll re-think the delay.

The more I read and the more people I talk with, the weirder this Nance story gets.  I’m starting to wonder if the guy has some serious psychological issues and what the mental/emotional capacity of his wife may be – which prompts me to try to be kind with my questions and comments. 

The LVRJ, which portrayed a flirtatious Nance at a DOE Board meeting in its Sunday story, now says Nance was having “make-out sessions” during meetings this past weekend.  Board VP Ruggiero called the conduct “shocking and deplorable” in his interview with the RJ.  Yesterday Ruggiero told me he had “never seen anything like it.”

For those of you just catching up, Nance, 49, is married to Sharona Dagani, a wheelchair bound 20-year old with cerebral palsy.  He met her in a nursing home earlier this spring (where Nance was recovering from a heart attack) and the two were married two weeks ago.  Apparently Nance was showering Dagani with what one might generously call an abundance of affection during meetings at which she was seated next to him in her wheelchair.

The RJ story notes that Dagani won a $2M lawsuit from a medical malpractice lawsuit last year.  When asked about this, Nance says he signed a pre-nup that protects his wife’s assets and that he has taken a vow of poverty as a Pentacostal preacher for a ministry he operate(d) out of his home.

Married or not, one wonders what a 49 year old man is doing making out with a disabled woman of 20 at a public meeting in between napping and boasting about all the “partying” he is doing.  If Nance and Dagani have any concerned friends and/or family here in Vegas, perhaps you should look into the situation.

Well, as sometimes happens in politics, the story changes while a draft is sitting and waiting for more information.  Such is the case today with the resignation of Greg Nance, Nevada’s District 5 DOE Board member, in the aftermath of his ridiculous antics and highly improper behavior at this weekend’s Board meeting.

In preparation for making the details public and providing contact information for complaints from the public, I had interviewed acting Board President Ruggiero, emailed one other Board member, and was waiting on a call back from the DOE Ethics panel.  In lieu of that and since Nance is now gone (thank goodness!) here some excerpted lowlights from the LVRJ article about his behavior:

“…Nevada Board of Education member Greg Nance dangled a piece of jewelry in the face of his newlywed wife, ringing a tiny bell on a bracelet as she giggled…

The distraction caused fellow board member Cindy Reid to call for an immediate halt to Saturday’s video-conference of the state Board of Education…  “I don’t know what to say,” Reid said from a conference room on East Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas. “I’m embarrassed the public has to watch this. This is so inappropriate.”

Nance, who represents District 5, was unapologetic. “I will entertain my wife. I love my wife,” he said, adding that he was only answerable to the members of his Las Vegas district.  Bill Irvin, a deputy attorney general who advises the board, urged Nance to follow decorum.

Nance responded that there was no law saying his wife could not sit next to him at board meetings. “Therefore, bite me!” Nance told the attorney. 

Vice President Anthony Ruggiero, who was acting president for the absent President Marcia Washington, advised members of the public to file complaints and continued the meeting.

During a break, Nance, 49, told the Review-Journal that he married the 20-year-old woman 12 days ago. She has cerebral palsy and came to the meeting in a motorized wheelchair.  He said “too much partying and rock ‘n’ roll” over his honeymoon explained why he could not always stay awake or hear what was going on.

Because he was dozing during one policy discussion, Reid demanded that he take back his vote on his issue. The board agreed with Reid, but the issue passed by a wide margin anyway.”

I didn’t begrudge Nance his fair share of happiness with a wife 29 years his junior and who apparently had nothing better to do than sit by his side while he slept through DOE Board meetings.  But her presence at the conference table, Nance’s open flirting, Nance’s invitation to Ruggerio to “bite me,” and Nance falling asleep during discussions and voting were improper, ill-mannered, and just totally unacceptable. 

I was going to say Nance should be sanctioned or removed.  Nevada is already a political laughing stock in many ways and has more than enough clowns to go around.  Thankfully, Nance agreed.

Here’s a worthy cut-and-paste from The Muthster re: Nancy Allf, a Nevada Supreme Court candidate with a case of chronic deceitfulness:

Nancy Allf, Nevada Supreme Court candidate and wife to a prominent Democrat campaign consultant, has a commercial running on TV in which she claims to have tried a case before the Supreme Court. However, on Face-to-Face this week, host Jon Ralston called her on the claim and the former head of Planned Parenthood in Southern Nevada had to admit that she never tried any case before the Supreme Court. So what we have here is someone who didn’t tell the truth wanting to sit on the state’s highest bench where everyone coming before her will be required to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaking of Allf, an alert News & Views reader points out that the former head of Planned Parenthood, her law firm and her client were fined more than $50,000 for making statements in court that “are lacking any plausible legal or factual basis, are undoubtedly unmeritorious, do not abide by common sense, have been brought in bad faith, and have resulted in unreasonable, unnecessary and vexatious increases in litigation and other costs to the parties, together with a multiplicity of proceedings.” Don’t take my word for it, read all about it HERE

If you’re a Nevada voter, make sure you don’t punch the button for Alff in November!

I’m glad Chuck Muth keeps talking about Yucca Mountain.  Harry Reid says the debate is “over” and that the Yucca Repository will “never happen.”  The thing is, Yucca never enjoyed the benefit of a full, open debate.  It was quashed by Reid and Friends as “bad for Nevada” and that was That.

Here’s a flashback to some of my thoughts in early June:

“The United States Department of Energy submitted its license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 3,” wrote Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto in an op/ed in the Nevada Appeal. “Nevada’s experts reviewed the application and quickly concluded that it is neither viable nor complete.”

I’m wondering who these “Nevada experts” were. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short stint on NV’s political airwaves and especially in re: to Yucca Mountain, it’s that the word “expert” gets bandied around like nobody’s business and due diligence and follow-up questions are key to uncovering the truth.  Very often, the so-called “expert” is some underqualified PR hack who is being paid to have the opinion he has.

I’d be willing to bet that some of these “Nevada experts” are people who have already come down against Yucca in the past.  And shall we ask how they managed to sift through the 8,600 page application in less than a week in order to render their “expert” verdict…?

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to take three to four years to evaluate all the information before reaching its decision on whether or not to license the Repository…so who were these speed-reading geniuses that managed to do it in 4 days???

We keep seeing what looks an awful lot like co-ordinated, biased knee-jerk opposition over Yucca Mountain.

I missed posting at noon-ish today; it’s been a long, hard sun cycle; and my creative juices are dry.  So, I’m going to do what all great bloggers do and post someone else’s clever riff in order to fill blogspace.  This is from Chuck Muth’s News & Views:

DO YOU, MR. CANDIDATE, TAKE MS. VOTER…?

I ran into another [Nevada] Republican candidate today who has yet to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.  His objection is one I hear quite often from candidates who simply don’t want to take a firm position on a critically important philosophical, as well as fiscal, issue. “I’ve learned over the years never to say never,” this candidate told me this afternoon.

Really?  I wonder exactly when he learned that lesson?

I suppose it was sometime AFTER promising Mrs. Candidate on their wedding day that he was taking her “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, forsaking all others, ’til death do us part.”

I mean, if your philosophy is to “never say never,” then shouldn’t those old marriage vows be made a bit more flexible?  I mean, shouldn’t we take out the part about “til death do us part” and insert some kind of escape clause which acknowledges that when it comes to being faithful, “everything is on the table”? I mean, it’s just not right to never say never, right?

You see, when you really, really, really, really, REALLY believe in something at the very core of your being, it’s not hard to say “never.”  Then again, if you really, really, really, really, really DON’T believe that raising taxes is a bad thing, then you come up with all kinds of excuses for not making such a firm promise.

So, Mr. & Mrs. Taxpayer, when a candidate who refuses to give you a firm promise not to raise your taxes comes to you asking for your vote, remember…it’s just a one-night stand.  There’s no commitment involved.  Just hope he or she at least leaves you enough money for cab fare home.

Though I hate to praise the Dem campaign machine, I must give credit where credit is due and award an “A” to the Nevada Democratic Party for interactive web-design and creativity on this site. 

It’s called “Tracking America’s Worst Governor” and is a pretty well-researched expose of all of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons’ gaffes, inconsistencies, slip-ups and personal indiscretions.  Not sure how effective it will be in pressuring him to resign or getting him recalled, but it’s pretty darn funny. 

Even if you don’t live in Nevada and could care less about The Adventures of Jim Gibbons, you should check it out just for the graphics, fun clicky-ness – and multiple LOLs.

It’s business climate, that is! 

(Don’t listen to anyone who says (about the summers in southern Nevada), “But it’s a dry heat.”  Any place you can get third degree butt burns from your leather car seats or heat exhaustion when walking to the mailbox is seriously Hot.)

(PS  The surface of the sun is also a “dry heat.”)

This past Friday, Louis Dezseran @ the Nevada Policy Research Institute posted a disturbing commentary on excessive government pay and perks.  Here are some excerpts (emphasis mine):

Last year, 162 Washoe County employees each cost taxpayers more than $100,000, while 61 Clark County employees each cost taxpayers more than $200,000. One Clark County official made $266,562 – almost double the salary set by law for Nevada’s governor. 

An open records request found that the City of Las Vegas paid more than $21 million for overtime, the State of Nevada spent over $29 million, and Clark County paid the most at more than $32 million in one year.  One Vegas city employee made more in overtime than he made in base salary. Multiple Clark County fire officials made close to $100,000 each in overtime.

Further, state and county audits found that some public employees received overtime pay despite it not being approved in advance by supervisors, that several law enforcement personnel received more overtime than their contracts allow, that some law enforcement officials were paid for overtime they did not work, and that some Laughlin police officers received both regular salary and overtime pay for the same shifts.

Public employees in some counties receive extra holiday pay for working on such faux holidays as “Family Day,” “Nevada Day” or the employee’s birthday.  Some public employees enjoy inappropriate round-the-clock use of taxpayer-funded vehicles. 

Finally, some county employees taking college classes are fronted the entire cost of tuition and books, then are paid time-and-a-half for hours spent in class.

It is commonly argued that police and firefighters have jobs that are more dangerous than the average citizen’s, so higher pay is appropriate.  But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, law enforcement and firefighting actually do not rank in the country’s top ten most dangerous occupations. Lower-paying occupations in construction, mining, fishing, roofing, farming, trash collection, manufacturing and the military see more deaths and injuries on the job than do either law enforcement or fire fighting. 

Where is accountability to Nevada’s taxpayers?  Where is the fairness to our private sector employees who earn far less than our government workers for doing essentially the same jobs?  And where is the outrage that irresponsible payroll spending by our elected officials has helped create Nevada’s current economic situation?

I encourage Nevada residents to contact their state Senators and representatives in the Assembly and let them know we expect them to pass economic reforms that will limit government spending on the salaries, overtime, and perks of our public employees.  If you receive a response, please email me or post a Comment so we can track results.

Not sure if anyone else caught Laura Ingraham’s interview with Danielle Bologna on her radio talk show last week?  This is the San Francisco woman whose husband and two sons were brutally murdered last month by Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.  Thanks to the policies of America’s most famous “Sanctuary City,” authorities failed to place an immigration hold on Ramos despite TWO prior convictions on gang-related FELONIES…AND an arrest on gun charges in March.

Click here to contact San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome’s office and let him know what you think about this!  You can also contact your Senator and/or Congressman with your thoughts about illegal immigration.

My three cents:  ALL illegal immigrants – not just those who violate ADDITIONAL laws after breaking our immigration laws to get here - should be reported and deported on “first contact” with a U.S. citizen and/or our authorities.  Our immigration laws are not (and should not be treated as if) they are casual suggestions. 

For an example of the proper care and handling of illegal immigrants, see this story re: a major raid and dozens of arrests in northern Nevada last fall and this follow up story describing the consequences for a company’s failure to comply with immigration law:  a Reno McDonald’s franchise owner was ordered to pay $1M in fines for knowingly employing illegal immigrants.

A couple of Nevada lawmakers are trying to get a bill passed that will do something about illegal immigration in Nevada – but unfortunately there does not seem to be wide support in the Nevada Assembly.

It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of John McCain – but for those in northern NV who would like to see him in person…he will be hosting a Town Hall meeting this Tuesday, July 29th at Reed High School in Sparks. The doors will open at 8:00 am.  To RSVP for the event, click here or call (702) 425-2299. The campaign staff says no confirmation or reply is needed to attend the event.

Here’s a little tip for all you aspiring extortionists:  when attempting to shake down your target, don’t paste your signed demands to his door – and don’t have the document notarized at the local UPS Store.

Send your thanks for this sage advice to former Nevada Democratic Party official and campaign consultant Michael Zahara in care of the Clark County Jail in Las Vegas, NV.  Zahara was arrested this week on charges that he tried to extort $5,250 from his former boss, Nevada Assembly candidate Sanje Sedera. 

Zahara taped a notarized letter to Sedera’s door threatening to tell Sedera’s family, business associates and family members that Sedera, a former resident of Sri Lanka, had committed mortgage and IRS fraud and was involved in “terrorist rebel activity.” 

Sedera, who has been a mortgage broker in Las Vegas since 1996 and who dropped out of the campaign to help with relief efforts in Myanmar, contacted police immediately after finding Zahara’s missive taped to his front door.  Sedera says the claims are baseless.

See more details in this Las Vegas Review Journal story.

Here’s a strange fascination for this election season:  The Arizona Democratic party is using one of the GOP’s own to shred U.S. Rep John Shadegg (R-AZ) in this new campaign ad.  Set to the classic David Bowie song “Changes,” the ad includes quotes (and provides sound bytes) of controversial statements recently made by U.S. Congressman Dean Heller from Nevada (R-Carson City).

In a segment which first aired on KTVK-Channel 3 on March 3, Heller re-stated an old mantra about the men who go to D.C. only to become corrupted:  “Instead of changing Washington, Washington changed us.”  Then, on July 8 in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Heller expressed concern over the influence of trial lawyers, environmental lobbyists, and labor unions in Washington D.C. and said “its’ time to clean house in the Republican party” and “the next couple election cycles are going to do that.”

When first reported, Heller’s comments were seen either a gaffe or a bold move – depending on the hearer.

The Daily Kos snarked, “Dean Heller’s foot, meet Dean Heller’s mouth.”  Others in D.C. agreed and quickly came out against Heller’s remarks.

But Chuck Muth, one of Nevada’s best-known conservative pundits and a constituent in Heller’s district, supported Heller’s comments without equivocation. Muth blogged, “Longtime liberal columnist Michael Kinsley famously defined a “gaffe” in politics as “when a politician tells the truth.”  If you accept that definition, and I do, then Nevada Republican Rep. Dean Heller committed a gaffe of canyon-sized proportions this week.  I hope he keeps it up.”

As Muth told the Las Vegas Review Sun, “[Heller] was the first one to voice publicly what an awful lot of conservatives around the country are saying.”

Some in D.C. agree.  As reported here by PolitickerNV, The Club for Growth said “Heller is spot on” and cited cases in which Republicans are losing seats in special elections.  Spokesperson Soloveichik said, “We’re seeing a lot of housecleaning because people are disenchanted with what Republicans are doing.”  Referring to corruption scandals and lamenting that Republicans can no longer be taken seriously as stewards of fiscal conservatism, Soloveichik said, “They’ve abandoned their principles.”

My three cents?

I’ve been getting quite a few comments and emails from frustrated conservatives who believe money and power has corrupted many Rupublicans in Washintgon D.C. and that we should “throw the bums out.”  If their sentiments are shared, Shadegg and/or other Republicans may well have cause for c-c-c-Concern come November.

Today’s edition of Chuck Muth’s Nevada News and Views draws some interesting comparisons between Nevada and Colorado politics apropro of this piece by Fred Barnes @ The Weekly Standard.   Barnes breaks down the dynamics of the recent Democratic surge in Colorado; Muth cites similar examples from Nevada and says we may be headed in the same direction this November.

Is Muth on the money with his analysis that Democrats are way ahead of the GOP with grassroots efforts in the great swing state of Nevada?  If you’ve been watching the local political and non-profit Want Ad pages (as I have) you’d have to say Yes.  See here and here and here and here and here. All are “Hiring Now” ads for Democratic and/or Progressive campaign workers and/or canvassers in Las Vegas (where most of Nevada’s population resides).

I couldn’t find even ONE ad for/from the GOP.  What gives?!  (Please send me the link(s) if you can find any.  I’d love to be corrected!)