MUTH'S TRUTHS 03/28/2014

CAMPUS CARRY EMERGES AS ISSUE IN LG RACE

Yesterday, the Douglas County Republican Central Committee (DCRCC) published the transcripts of interviews conducted with Nevada lieutenant governor candidates Mark Hutchison and Sue Lowden.

You can click here to read the full transcripts, but one issue in particular caught my attention.  The question…

“During the past session of the Legislature, there were many bills brought that related to the protection of 2nd Amendment rights. One of the most controversial of those, known as the Campus Carry, and it died in committee despite the testimony of rape survivor, Amanda Collins. If you were governor, would you sign or veto such a bill and why?”

The part of Hutchison’s answer that actually dealt with the question asked was…

“I believe strongly in our Second Amendment rights.  I believe that Americans have the right to carry weapons as long as it consistent with both federal and state law. If there was a law that was presented for ‘campus carry’ I would support that law.”

Sounds pretty good, right?  OK, now for Lowden’s answer…

“When I'm lieutenant governor I intend to do everything I can to get that bill passed. I am someone who has a concealed weapon license and someone who knows Amanda Collins and has a personal relationship with her and [I] know that she had her own concealed weapon license; her gun was in the car. She was being raped by someone who didn't obey the law and had a gun to her head as she was being raped. I'm very passionate about this bill and I not only would sign it into law, but [also] would be a proponent of it. I'd also like to mention that my opponent in this race that I am running for lieutenant governor, would not co-sign the bill. He is not a co-signer of the bill; I think that is a big distinction between the two of us.”

WHOA!  Did I read that last sentence right?

Let’s rewind…

Hutchison said that if there was a bill to allow campus carry he would support it.  Lowden, however, said that there was such a bill in 2013, but that Hutchison didn’t co-sponsor it.  Who’s telling the truth?

Well, I looked it up. The bill was AB 143.

Every Republican member of the state Assembly co-sponsored that bill.

And all but four Republican members of the state Senate co-sponsored the bill.

The four state Senators who refused to co-sponsor the campus carry bill were Sen. Moderate Mike Roberson, Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, Sen. Greg Brower, and…

SEN. MARK HUTCHISON!

So I guess this is yet another case of Hutchison being against something before he was for it…just as he was against ObamaCare before he voted to implement it not once, not twice, but three times!

How in the world can anyone trust anything this guy says on the campaign trail any longer?

Buckle up, boys and girls.  I predict this issue is about to become a very big issue in this race.

HOT HEAD HUTCH

Zach Hudson of the Nevada Democrat Party and I don’t find much in common, but his take last Friday on GOP lieutenant governor candidate Mark Hutchison seems pretty much spot on…

Is it “Angry Birds,” or “Angry Chickens?”  This morning, former Nevada Republican Party Executive Director Chuck Muth reported that multiple-state vacation homeowner Mark Hutchison is refusing to participate in any more televised debates with TEA Party extremist Sue Lowden.   Why would Hutchison chicken out of allowing the vast majority of Nevadans access to the debates?  According to Muth, it’s because of Hutchison’s last debate performance which was described by Jon Ralston as “angry,” “apoplectic,” “incensed,” “irritated” and “volcanic.”

Why was Hutchison so angry during the debate?  Well, when you are an “anointed” candidate, you tend to develop a sense of entitlement and thus don’t hold up well when your record is challenged.  And considering Hutchison’s campaign staff’s “sad" performance after the debate, we think Lowden’s attacks on Hutchison’s Obamacare and tax hypocrisy are starting to get under Team Hutch’s skin.      

“Mark Hutchison chickening out of more televised debates should be seen within the context of what it is: a sad attempt of an entitled candidate to stop the bleeding from his laundry list of hypocrisies,” said Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Zach Hudson.  “Whether it’s posing as an anti-Obamacare crusader after voting to implement the law in Nevada, or pretending to be anti-taxes after proposing a $600 million tax increase last session, Mark Hutchison’s hypocrisy is as transparent as his anger at actually having to work at becoming the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor.

MR. OBAMACARE

You know a campaign is in trouble when they have to resort to putting out intentionally misleading, if not outright false, information about their opponent. Case in point, this tweet from Team Hutch earlier this week:

“4 years later #Obamacare still a mess yet @SueLowden continues to push the Reid agenda of feds running Nevada's healthcare system #NothxSue.”

This would be funny if not so transparently pathetic.

ObamaCare is a mess.  So is Nevada’s ObamaCare exchange, which Sen. Mark Hutchison (R&R-Advertising) supports and voted to implement.  And what Hutch is saying is that it’s better for Nevadans that we have our own government-run home-grown mess, which he supports and voted to implement, rather than the federal government-run mess. 

Lowden’s position is that both are bad.  And if I’m not mistaken, I believe she supports the ballot initiative which would repeal Nevada’s ObamaCare exchange.

But because Hutch is so screwed politically for supporting not only the Nevada ObamaCare exchange, which is a mess, but ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid in Nevada, which is a ticking time bomb scheduled to go off during Gov. Brian Sandoval’s second term, Team Hutch is now desperately trying to find a way to tie ObamaCare to Lowden, as well.

Sorry, but that dog won’t hunt.  Hutch voted for Nevada’s ObamaCare.  Three times last year.  He owns it. 

And people who are only now finding out about his actual voting record in favor of ObamaCare don’t like it one bit, especially Republican primary voters such as “Jeff,” who sent me this email the other day…

“Chuck, another point. (Voting against Hutchison) may be the only way for Republicans to express their displeasure with Governor Sandoval's botching of healthcare in Nevada.”

Sounds like a plan.