SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 10/24/2014

UBER IS HERE! Free-market ride-sharing company Uber - despite threats from the taxi cartel and the bureaucrats they own - opened for business today in Las Vegas, Reno and Carson City.  Woohoo! Folks, this is gonna be a political battle royale like you haven’t seen in Nevada in a LONG, LONG time. Bruce Breslow, professional bureaucrat and Gov. Brian Sandoval’s hand-picked apparatchik of the state’s Department of Business and Industry, threatened Uber drivers in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “We’re going to enforce the law.  We’re not going to get into an argument over philosophies.” Added one of Breslow’s *real* bosses, Brent Bell, president of Whittlesea Bell Transportation, “Just because they have slick new technology doesn’t give them the right to completely and arrogantly ignore the law.” The law Bell is talking about?  Probably the one where any new competitor to the taxi cartel in this state has to get permission from the Taxicab Authority, which the cartel all but owns, and PROVE there’s a “need” for their service. In what other industry does a competitor have to “prove” market need to the government before entering?  That’s insane. Welcome Uber!  Let the games begin. HARDY HEARTS HORNE? Assemblyman William Horne is one of the most liberal, anti-gun Democrat legislators in Carson City.  He’s now running to be a District Court judge in Clark County.  And on Thursday I heard a radio ad supporting his candidacy done by lobbyist Joe Brown, a former Nevada Republican National Committeeman.  Worse, in the ad Brown says Horne is also endorsed by Republican state Sen. Pete “Tax My Meat” Goicoechea and Republican congressional candidate Cresent Hardy.  What the heck is up with that? PAT HICKEY: TOUGH AS A PUDDING POP In 2012, Democrat assembly candidate Andrew Martin was ruled by a judge ineligible to run for his assembly district because he didn’t live in his assembly district.  Go figure. The Democrat majority in the Assembly seated him anyway, without a peep of protest from GOP Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey. A week ago, Democrat assembly candidate Meghan Smith was similarly declared ineligible to run in AD-34 this year.  When asked about whether or not she would rule out the possibility of seating Smith anyway next session, Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick replied, “Why would we do that?” Indeed, since the court ruling came too late to have Smith’s name removed from the ballot, there is certainly a possibility that Smith could still “win” the election on November 4th even though a judge ruled her as ineligible to run.  And if she does, Kirkpatrick and the Democrats are likely to seat her. Having been burned once before and rolling over as a patsy in the Martin brouhaha, surely Hickey won’t stand for it again, right? Asked by the Las Vegas Review-Journal “what he would do in Kirkpatrick’s place,” Hickey replied cutely, “I’m not in Marilyn’s shoes.” What a weenie. That was the perfect opportunity to draw a line in the sand.  Something a true opposition leader would do, especially when holding the moral high ground. “We stood by and allowed such an injustice in 2013 because it was the first time something like this had happened and, frankly, I’m a wimp,” Hickey could have said, but didn’t.  “But Republicans will not allow such a thing to happen again in 2015 without serious consequences, which will poison the entire legislative session.  If Democrats unwisely choose this path, it’ll be on their heads.” Instead, Hickey said, “We want to see what happens in that race before we have discussions about the outcome.” What a weenie. REMINDER: VOTE TODAY IN $100,000 TEACHER CHALLENGE Remember, you can (and should, please) vote every day for Brenda Moynihan in her effort to secure a $100,000 grant for C.T. Sewell Elementary School in Henderson. CLICK HERE to vote.  And remember, you can vote every day until the deadline on November 30th.  You know, just like in Chicago elections! CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? I don’t like it when bad things are done to good conservatives…especially when done by other good conservatives.  On Wednesday, a true education reform champion was attacked by a conservative education blogger in a post that, unbelievably, failed to disclose that the source of much of the negative criticism was the daughter of the author! That’s bad enough.  But much of the criticism was nothing more than unsubstantiated he-said/she-said innuendo in which the target was never given an opportunity to respond to or refute the attacks. I’m hoping – PRAYING – that the very reputable conservative organization that published this highly inflammatory hit piece will do the right thing and simply take it down over the weekend so we can all go back to frying bigger liberal government fish on Monday. Otherwise, the defense will have no choice but to present its case next week in the court of public opinion.  And rest assured, the defense is loaded for bear.  Oh, and yours truly will be serving as the defense attorney. FAMOUS LAST WORDS “The Nevada attorney general's race is a statistical dead heat, according to polling done on behalf of the Republican Attorney General Association. Democratic candidate Ross Miller took 40 percent of the polling and Laxalt 39 in the poll conducted Oct. 13-15, based on telephone interview with more than 500 ‘likely’ registered voters in Nevada.” – Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/23/14 HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Silver State Confidential is an email newsletter on Nevada politics, public policy and current events published (usually) daily by Chuck Muth, Nevada's #1 Renegade Conservative and the man voted "Most Likely to Irritate Liberals!"  Click on the link below for subscription information…