WHEN YOUR COCAINE ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAS TO BE THERE OVERNIGHT
From Beth Warren of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee:
“Corrupt law enforcement officers in Memphis, Texas and Mexico helped the city's most notorious drug-trafficking organization flourish for more than a decade, a drug dealer told federal court jurors Tuesday. Convicted trafficker Orlando Pride also testified that the organization he served routinely used FedEx to ship millions of dollars worth of cocaine from Mexico to the U.S.”
“Pride also told jurors the organization loaded 200 kilograms of cocaine ‘in a crate as big as a casket’ in Mexico and shipped it to the United States by way of FedEx for distribution in Memphis and throughout the South. In all, there were 45 different FedEx shipments -- each carrying an estimated street value of more than $4 million, he said.”
Why use drug-runners when you can just use FedEx, right? But something tells me the shipping giant won’t be featuring Mr. Pride as its spokesman in TV commercials anytime soon.
BROWER’S HEARTBURN…AND GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
It was a brilliant move by state Senate Democrats to get incumbent Sen. Sheila Leslie to resign from her current Senate seat, move, and run against incumbent Republican state Sen. Greg Brower in Washoe County. Leslie’s absolutely the strongest candidate they could possibly field in this “swing” district…and this race could determine whether Republicans or Democrats hold the majority next year.
Democrats currently lead 11-10.
GOP Senate campaign chief Sen. Michael Roberson responded: "Desperation makes people do crazy things. I wish Senator Leslie well with her de facto retirement from politics." But that’s false bravado. This race will absolutely be competitive and Sen. Roberson might want to stock up on Maalox.
And I’m betting Sen. Brower wasn’t the least bit happy to learn he suddenly had a major challenge on his hands after expecting for months to coast to re-election. However, if he plays this right it could end up being a major boon to his long-term political career.
The district still leans GOP, so it’s absolutely winnable for Brower. And Leslie is generally considered the most obnoxiously liberal Democrat in the entire Legislature. And again, this race could determine which party controls the state Senate in 2013. So every conservative and Republican in the state will have a HUGE stake in the outcome.
If Brower’s campaign gurus handle this correctly, he could build up a statewide donor database like nobody’s business. Leslie’s voting record makes her a perfect “boogeyman.” And Brower’s voting record in the 2011 session was solidly conservative (90% Citizen Outreach rating) – including voting AGAINST the $620 million tax hike.
Leslie and Brower. Left and right. Liberal and conservative. Night and day. Apples and oranges. If Brower’s team can’t raise dough out of every nook and cranny in Nevada – urban, suburban and rural – for the opportunity to knock Leslie out of the Legislature and possibly win a governing majority, shame on them.
And as a bonus, if he pulls it off and does, indeed, send the liberal Ms. Leslie packing, Brower will have a statewide donor database from which to pull for his expected run for attorney general in 2014.
Sen. Brower, time to make some lemonade out of that lemon you’ve been handed.
ANNOUNCEMENT RAISES MORE QUESTIONS THAN IT ANSWERS
A gentleman by the name of Paul Anderson threw his Republican hat into the Assembly District 13 (Clark County) ring on Wednesday.
His press release says he possesses “a unique skill set that helps him understand the complexity of the issues facing Nevada today.” But it doesn’t say what that “unique skill set” is.
It says his company, AndersonPC, was founded in 1996 and is a “Regional Service Provider covering the Mountain West with clients in Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Sacramento.” However, a regional service provider of “what” exactly isn’t explained.
The press release goes on to explain that what’s “most important to (Paul) is spending time with his wife…and their four children.” It adds that “Despite his busy schedule, he stays involved in his children’s lives.”
That’s wonderful, but it raises this obvious question: If the most important thing in your life is spending time with your wife and children, and you already have a very “busy schedule,” why would you choose to run for an office that would require you to leave your family and spend four months away from them in Carson City?
Now, I’m sure there’s a good answer to that question…but it sure isn’t included in the press release. So I decided to click on the “For more information” link to access the campaign website to see if I could, you know, find more information.
Alas, the only way to get more information on this candidate and his campaign at the website is to provide the campaign with your full name and email address. Otherwise, you can’t get into the site. Sigh.
Let’s just say I’ve seen better campaign rollouts than this one.
ANOTHER COOLER HEAD IN CAUCUS VS. PRIMARY DEBATE
Jim Clark - President of Republican Advocates and a member of the Washoe County & Nevada State GOP Central Committees, as well as a columnist for the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza – writes this week that he agrees with my concerns about the Nevada GOP switching from the presidential caucus system to a primary:
“Muth points out that the Democratic and Republican Parties are private, self-governing entities and that to default each party's presidential selection process to the state would be particularly egregious for Republicans because we preach that nanny-state governments can't do anything right. And indeed other states have dabbled into crossover primaries where anyone can vote for either party's candidates and thereby the parties surrendered control of their selection process to the state.
“Muth also points out that the GOP cannot revert to a presidential primary election unless both the legislature and the Nevada Democrats agree to do so which is at best problematic. A primary instead of a caucus would mean candidates would have to spend money on mass media which would negate the importance of dedicated, informed and involved grass roots volunteers. The answer, Muth says, is to master the current system. He is right about this.”
“Muth also points out that the GOP cannot revert to a presidential primary election unless both the legislature and the Nevada Democrats agree to do so which is at best problematic. A primary instead of a caucus would mean candidates would have to spend money on mass media which would negate the importance of dedicated, informed and involved grass roots volunteers. The answer, Muth says, is to master the current system. He is right about this.”
So is Clark…who also notes that while the caucus system needs to fix some things – particularly “how to allow the military and other absentees to vote, how to conduct early voting, how to accommodate those who actually show up but don't want to get involved in electing members to the parties' governing structures” - they aren’t problems that can’t be fixed.
Clark also notes that the generally well-run caucuses in Washoe County resulted in an influx of new volunteers, new members on the Central Committee, and a better-than expected attendance at this year’s Lincoln Day Dinner. So despite all the naysayers who want to rush the party into a government-run primary, there’s a lot to be said for the old-fashioned caucus system – IF the party’s leadership get’s its stuff together and runs it right.
Or at least learns to count without using an abacus!
F STREET BOONDOGGLE
Democrat Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Coffin has come out opposed to wasting $8.5 million to reopen the little-used, non-essential F Street underpass below I-15 simply to mollify a vocal minority constituency that got its widdle feelwings hurt when it was walled off as part of a major highway improvement project several years ago.
Indeed, even one of the chief activists pushing for the reopening admits it has nothing really to do with the ability of the community to reach downtown Las Vegas. “F Street is really not necessarily about just a reopening,” neighborhood activist Trish Geran told the Las Vegas Reveiew-Journal. “It is about a symbolic change of fairness and justice."
$8.5 million in a down economy for “a symbolic change of fairness and justice”? I don’t think so. Why not buy some schoolbooks for the neighborhood’s minority children instead?
Oh, and get this: It turns out Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford didn’t tell the truth when he demanded that F Street be reopened because the residents supposedly weren’t given sufficient notice about the planned closure. So good for Councilman Coffin for having the stones to stand up for Nevada taxpayers and just say “no.”
Alas, his colleagues voted 5-1 to waste the money on Wednesday anyway.
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
* From today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal: “How about this for a Las Vegas-based reality show: A restaurateur opens a new joint and boasts about how unhealthy people can eat greasy, fattening, cholesterol-filled meals. Then, one night, a man walks into the Heart Attack Grill, orders a Triple Bypass burger and has a heart attack right there at the table.” Gotta love Las Vegas!
* Cutting the budget is so simple, even a game-show host can do it! Check this out
* The Tax Foundation – which liberals and former GOP Sen. Bill Raggio love to quote to “prove” Nevada is a low-tax state – released a study on Tuesday showing we actually “pay the 13th-highest rate for state and local sales taxes in the country.” (h/t LVRJ).
* The new Nevada State Public Charter School Authority is actually off to a darned good start. At their first meeting they elected Kathleen Conaboy - a solid school choice advocate experienced in government affairs at McDonald Carano Wilson as chairman - and Elissa Wahl of the Rise Resource Center, a Las Vegas nonprofit that offers support to families who home school their kids - as vice chair.
* More importantly, the members overruled staff’s recommendation and approved a new charter school application. Keep an eye on this board. If you start to see the teachers union squealing like stuck pigs, you’ll know it’s doing GREAT work.
ALL THE “RIGHT” MOVES
* Acting Nevada GOP Chairman James Smack has fired the party’s Finance Chairman, former U.S. Senate candidate John Chachas. In response, Chachas has threatened to create his own outside political operation and seed it with $100,000 of his own money. Which raises the obvious question: If he’s the Finance Chairman and has $100,000 to contribute, why didn’t he just contribute it to the Nevada GOP?
* A trifecta of prominent conservative Republicans is rumored to be interested in running to fill the vacancy on the Las Vegas city council: Former state Sen. Bob Beers, former Channel 13 sports reporter Ron Futrell and former congressional candidate Craig Lake. Another half-dozen or so candidates will likely also throw their hat in the ring, meaning a tiny portion of what is expected to be a low turnout election could be enough to win.
* Republican state Sen. Elizabeth Halseth was a “no show” for Wednesday’s Legislative
Committee meeting. Rumor has it she went tiger hunting in Alaska…whatever that means.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“U of IL report: Chicago is the most corrupt city in the USA. Oh come on. You KNOW they cheated to win that spot.” – Tweet from former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson
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