SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 09/29/2014

NOONAN NAILS IT

Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter and opinion columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote this absolutely fantastic closing sentence in her column this week…

“It’s good to win, but winning without a declared governing purpose is a ticket to nowhere.”

Noonan was writing about Republicans in Congress whose electoral strategy is “don’t rock the boat, don’t mess things up with anything controversial.” 

But she could just as easily have been talking about Republicans in the Nevada Legislature, especially Senate Minority Leader Moderate Mike Roberson and his two hand-picked stand-for-nothing candidates in the swing races of Senate Districts 8 and 9.

Seriously.  Other than, “If you elect us to the majority, we’re going to tax the tar out of mining and dump it into education,” what does Roberson and his GOP brethren stand for?  What’s their platform?  And why would it be better for Roberson and the Republicans to raise our taxes and increase spending than the Democrats doing the exact same thing?

Thanks to the Gibbons Tax Restraint Law, Republicans in both the Senate and the Assembly had enough seats in both 2011 and 2013 to block the extension of 2009’s “temporary” tax hikes that were supposed to “sunset” in 2011.  If they wouldn’t use their power then to do the right, fiscally conservative thing, why in the world would anyone believe they’d do anything differently if they had the majority?

All these GOP leaders care about is getting elected and being a legislator.  They have no core philosophical convictions and sure as hell have no backbones.  They regularly stand for nothing and fall for anything.  They have no declared governing purpose and, worse, refuse to debate their opponents or subject their campaigns to serious media scrutiny.

Roberson - and his counterpart, Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey – don’t deserve to be in the majority.  Majorities have to lead.  And Roberson and Hickey have proven the only place they’d lead us is to Liberal Lite. 

Thanks, but no thanks. 

DAVE FOR HIMSELF: EPIC FAIL

Clark County GOP Pooh-Bah “Dave for Himself” McKeon sold Central Committee members a bill of goods that would make any snake-oil salesman proud.  Alas, not only have the dineros failed to flow into the party’s coffers under his “leadership,” neither have Republican voter registrations.

Here’s something you might not know.  When an organization such as the Clark County Republican Party wishes to conduct a voter registration drive, it has to purchase the voter registration applications from the Elections Department, and each form is numbered and tracked as it is returned.

So how has Chairman Dave for Himself done this year?

According to a well-informed source…

“On January 3 of this year the Clark County Republican Party purchased 1,000 Voter Registration Affidavits from the Clark County Registrar.  As of September 14 at total of 64 of them had been turned in; 3 went to registering Democrats, 4 IAPs, 1 Libertarian, 3 NPs and 53 Republicans.”

That’s it?  53 Republicans over a period of eight-and-a-half months?  Heckuva a job, Davey.

I LIKE LITTLE A LOT

When pressed in the GOP primary to explain why he was claiming to be a conservative even though he’d voted to extend the $600 million-plus worth of “temporary” tax hikes from 2009 that were supposed to expire in 2011, and again in 2013, Republican lieutenant governor candidate Mark Hutchison has said it’s what Gov. Brian Sandoval wanted and he had to support his fellow Republican.

Now think about that rationalization.  It means that if the governor was a Democrat instead of a Republican, odds are Republicans such as Hutch would never vote for such a massive tax hike – thanks again to the Gibbons Tax Restraint law!

So tell me again why it’s so important to Nevada taxpayers for Hutch – who would clearly continue Sandoval’s tax-and-spend policy agenda if he were to ascend into the governor’s chair once Sandoval inevitably leaves mid-term for whatever excuse/job he comes up with – to be elected lieutenant governor rather than former gang-banger, Democrat Lucy Flores?

The IAP’s candidate, Mike Little – who has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge - is looking better and better in this race every day.

MUTH’S TRUTHS

So the Clark County school district that can’t teach Johnny how to read now wants to teach 5-year-olds in kindergarten how to...er, um, how to put this…“spank the monkey.”

Are you freaking kidding me?

If any of you with school-age kids are looking for a way to get your kids out of the government education camps but can’t afford private school tuition, consider home-schooling. 

It’s a scary thought at first.  I know; I went through it 10 years ago when my eldest daughter was approaching school-age.  But you can get all kinds of help and get all your questions answered from the RISE Resource Center in Las Vegas.

Click here

If you want to talk to someone directly, call (702) 748-7473 and ask to speak with the center’s CEO, Elissa Wahl.  Nobody knows this subject and all the options better than Elissa.  Tell her I referred you.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“The debate isn't really about whether government has a role in protecting life. The debate really hinges on when life begins.” – Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)