SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 06/10/2014

YEAH, THIS HAPPENED TODAY

As statutes go, this one is actually fairly easy to understand:

“NRS 293.740:  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, it is unlawful inside a polling place or within 100 feet from the entrance to the building or other structure in which a polling place is located: (a) For any person to solicit a vote or speak to a voter on the subject of marking the voter’s ballot….

“The county clerk or registrar of voters shall ensure that, at the outer limits of the area within which electioneering is prohibited, notices are continuously posted on which are printed in large letters ‘Distance Marker: No electioneering between this point and the entrance to the polling place.’”

So when I got the call just after lunch today from a Republican candidate informing me that she and other campaign workers had been thrown off school property by the assistant principal at Green Valley High School in Henderson despite being over 100 feet away from the entrance to the polling place, I was kinda surprised. 

After all, the public schools are on, you know, public property, right?

A quick call to Citizen Outreach’s intrepid CEO, Dan Burdish, and a call to Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald led to calls to lawyers and election officials which apparently led to calls to election officials at Green Valley High who apparently relayed the information to the assistant principle which resulted in the assistant principle changing his tune and telling the GOP campaign workers that they could come back.

So instead of printing out a copy of the NRS and driving over to the school with my lawyer’s number on speed dial, I went back to work.  Temporarily.

Next thing I know I get a text from the same GOP candidate: “We were told to leave again.”

Hi, ho, hi, ho, it’s off to school we go!

At GVHS the first person I spoke with was an on-site election official.  He showed me exactly where the 100-foot markers were posted and assured me that the campaign workers were well outside the boundary and completely compliant with the law.  The stink, he said, came from school officials.

So off to the principal’s office I went…a trip eerily reminiscent of my days at Calvert Hall High School in the mid-1970s!  But this time I was loaded for bear.  Here’s the series of tweets I put out chronicling/paraphrasing the confrontation…

Ass. Principal left the bldg. Principal complained that workers set up folding table, chairs & umbrella.

Me: "Did they damage property?"

Principal: "No."

Me: "Then what's the problem?"

Principal: "I don't want them setting up camp."

At that I pulled out copy of NRS...

Me: "Where in this statute does it say no folding tables or umbrellas? Do I need to call our lawyer?"

Principal: "Fine, tell them they can come back tomorrow."

HELLO, McFly! The election is TODAY. There is no tomorrow. 

Bottom line: GOP workers can go back to GReen Valley HS & work the dinner shift til closing. How do educators not know this stuff??

No, seriously.  Public school educators supposedly have not only passed required U.S. history courses, but many of them TEACH it to our kids.  How can they not grasp the very concept of free speech on ELECTION DAY?

Oh, that’s right.  Two words. Teachers union.

That said, let's end this on a high note...

The following came into my email box from the Wall Street Journal just before the Green Valley spit hit the spam…

Judge Finds California Laws on Teacher Tenure Unconstitutional

In a closely watched court case that challenged California’s strong teacher employment protections, a group of nine students have prevailed against the state and its two largest teachers' unions.

A state court decision found all the state laws challenged in the case to be unconstitutional, a verdict that could fuel similar lawsuits in other states where legislative efforts to ease rules for the dismissal of teachers considered ineffective have failed.

The student plaintiffs in Vergara v. California argued that the statutes protecting teachers' jobs serve more often to keep low-performing instructors in the schools—hurting students' chances to succeed.

So there is hope after all!

Interesting side note: The lawyer who headed up the legal team that one today's surprising victory was former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olsen, whose wife Barbara died on 9/11 when Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon.

WHEN RALSTON STARTS DOING HIS SNOOPY DANCE…

As I’ve written before, the odds are most – if not all - of the conservative challengers going up against establishment-backed Republicans in the primary will come up short.  That would include the majority of candidates not only endorsed by Citizen Outreach PAC, but also the Nevada Republican Party.

Money still talks quite loudly in politics.

Which means ol’ Jonny Boy Ralston will be crowing with joy like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys tonight.  But when he starts driveling out his sanctimonious pontifications, remember this…

Two years ago, the Republican Senate Caucus endorsed two moderate candidates – Mari Nakashima and Steve Kirk - in highly-contested swing districts.  Both won their primaries against conservative challengers.  Then both went on to lose in the general election.

On the other hand, in another contested race that year, a certain personal injury attorney posing as a tea party conservative, Mark Hutchison, won.

So don’t let anyone, especially Ralston, tell you that any election losses tonight are the exclusive providence of conservatives, especially since every single one of the establishment GOP’s candidates ran their primaries – fraudulently – to the right of St. Ronald of Reagan himself.

Again, no matter how the balloting turns out later tonight…conservatives won.  Either the true conservative upstart won, or the fake conservative poser.  Not one moderate Republican candidate had the honesty and personal integrity to run as a moderate – including Mr. Moderate himself, Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey (Reno-RINO).

Seriously…and don’t let anyone in the media tell you otherwise.  Every single Republican candidate who wins tonight ran as a conservative.  Some lied, of course.  And they’ll be exposed as frauds later.  But that doesn’t change the fact that tonight, conservatives won BIG in Nevada.

If you get this in time, I’ll be at Mundo restaurant in downtown Las Vegas watching the results come in with Nevada GOP Chairman McDonald, conservative Sue Lowden, conservative Niger Innis and others tonight around 8:00 pm.  If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and share a toast to our victory!

DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS

>>>>> Overheard at First Friday Happy Hour last week: “What’s the difference between Lucy Flores the gang-banger and Lucy Flores the lawyer?  Answer: Now she registers her gun.”  Ba-da-boom!

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“At the Nevada State Convention on April 12, Nevada Republicans passed a freedom-oriented libertarian/Tea Party State Platform. It probably is the most freedom-centric state Republican Party platform in the United States.” – Brendan Trainor, Reno News & Review, 6/5/14