SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 10/07/2012

TARK CAMPAIGN GETS HIT BY “FRIENDLY” FIRE FROM SANDOVAL

I have been preaching this to GOP “leaders” in Nevada for almost 20 years now: Not only is raising taxes bad public policy, but it KILLSthe Republican Party politically.  Just the latest case in point:

Republican congressional candidate Danny Tarkanian debated his Democrat opponent,Steven Horsford, this week.  At one point Tarkanian criticized Horsford, the Senate Majority Leader, for raising taxes by voting to extend some $620 million worth of “temporary” tax hikes that were supposed to “sunset” last year.  To which Horsford accurately replied:

"These are solutions we worked on a bipartisan approach with Governor Sandoval, a Republican mind you, and Republicans in the Legislature."

That’s right. 

Thanks to Republican Brian Sandoval and a number of go-along-to-get-along Republican state legislators who voted with the Democrats to raise taxes last year, Republican challenger candidates such as Tarkanian have been disarmed of a potentially lethal campaign issue this year. 

Thanks a lot, Gov. Sandoval.

The fact is Democrat and independent voters don’t want their taxes raised any more than Republican voters.  But thanks to politically obtuse wishy-washy moderate Republicans,Republican candidates can’t run effectively on the anti-tax hike issue because Democrats are able to use tax-hiking Republicans as a shield to protect them from criticism.

As Danny Tarkanian experienced this week.

Thanks a lot, Gov. Sandoval.

My friend Grover Norquist refers to tax-hiking Republicans as “ratheads in a Coke bottle” because they spoil the anti-tax hike “brand” for every other Republican.  An apt reference. But somehow the term “useful idiots” also keeps popping into my mind.

7 QUESTIONS FOR SEN. ROBERSON, POR FAVOR

Some random thoughts and questions on state Sen. Michael Roberson’s (R-Henderson) proposal to spend $20 million to teach Hispanic kids, many in the country illegally, how to speak English:

(1) Why is this the taxpayers’ responsibility? 

(2) How will this be paid for?  Cutting somewhere else?  If so, where?  Or raising taxes?  If so, on whom and by how much?

(3) Why should Republicans support hiring 200 new teachers’ union members who will pay dues to defeat Republican candidates? 

(4) If it’s OK to support Sen. Roberson’s $20 million “good idea,” aren’t we going to have to support the other 62 legislators’ $20 million “good ideas” (62 times $20 million = “real” money), too? 

(5) Once this new $20 million program is put in place, what’s to stop it from increasing in cost to $30 million, then $50 million then $100 million and more (see: “class size reduction boondoggle”)?

(6) Wouldn’t it be better to provide school vouchers and allow parents of kids who can’t speak English to send their kids to private schools that might specialize in English immersion rather than the government trying to fix a problem the government itself has created?

(7) Does this proposal comport with the Republican Party platform on immigration, education and fiscal issues…or is it just a political stunt in an effort to pander to Hispanic voters?

Inquiring minds wanna know.