SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 11/09/2014

DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Glen Cook reminds us today that Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval once said that if he had a GOP state Senate and Assembly, he would pursue the same kind of bold, aggressive agenda that Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker has pursued. Well, I guess we’ll find out if he’s as good as his word this time soon enough. I know it was to be expected, but I still find it funny watching the Nevada GOP establishment’s political consultants taking credit for election victories that had everything to do with the unprecedented low voter turnout among Democrats and absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with their supposed brilliant “strategery.” Indeed, the ONLY credit for the GOP’s surprising abundance of victories goes to Republican candidates who put their names on the ballot despite being given little or no chance of winning - including attorney general candidate Adam Laxalt (everyone *knew* he couldn’t beat Ross Miller, remember?) and assembly candidates Jill Dickman, Vicki Dooling, Brent Jones, Victoria Seaman, Shelly Shelton, John Moore, David Gardner and Derek Armstrong. Nevada Republicans were 20 years late to 1994’s “Contract with America” party in which the GOP achieved an historic and unexpected majority in the legislative lower house.  But unlike Newt Gingrich’s House of Representatives in ’94, Nevada Assembly Republicans not only won a majority this year, but conservatives won a majority of the majority. The election to oust former Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey initially broke down to 15 conservatives vs. 10 moderates – with a couple of moderates harboring conservative leanings but who had sold out their philosophical souls to the “establishment” for various amounts of magic beans. So there will be no excuse if Assembly Republicans don’t propose and pass an extremely bold, conservative legislative agenda next year, especially additional tax-and-spending restraint measures (Bob Beers’ TASC) and universal school vouchers (Ed Goedhart’s EIEIO). And no, the state Constitution does NOT have to be amended to make Nevada the Voucher Capital of America.  Just ask former gubernatorial General Counsel Scott Scherer. Republicans should also put forward a Constitutional amendment extending the state’s 2/3 super-majority requirement for passage of tax hikes to ballot initiatives.  That’s the loophole liberals tried to use with their so-called Education Initiative this year.  Time to close it. By the way, there is a HUGE hole in Nevada’s budget that almost no one is talking about…yet.  It’s been created primarily thanks to Gov. Brian Sandoval’s decision to expand Medicaid as part of his embrace of ObamaCare.  That ill-considered decision needs to be fixed – at the very least by implementing a co-pay requirement for recipients. Two other pieces of advice for legislative Republicans: a.)  Dust off your copies of Bruce James’ SAGE Commission report, or see if you can pick up a copy on eBay, and… b.)  Get the phone number for Geoff Lawrence of the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) and put it on your speed-dial. It will be interesting to see if Senate Majority Leader Moderate Mike Roberson kills the Assembly’s conservative agenda the way then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole killed the House conservatives’ agenda in ’95. Organizers of a petition drive to make marijuana legal in Nevada for recreational use say they have almost twice the number of signatures needed to qualify the measure for the 2016 ballot – where it will surely pass overwhelmingly.  The 2015 Legislature should see the writing on the wall and just go ahead and pass it themselves and get the tax revenue rolling in much sooner. Speaking of 1994, following the GOP takeover of the House, Republicans were extremely successful nationwide in getting Democrats to switch parties – including here in Nevada where then-Nevada GOP executive director Dan Burdish oversaw a voter registration program that resulted in Republicans becoming the majority party for the first time since Reconstruction. That same opportunity now presents itself again – but this time the focus should be on winning back the trust and registration of disaffected conservatives who for the last ten years have been abandoning the GOP for “independent” status. Word on the Street: Front-runner to replace Lieutenant Governor-elect Mark Hutchison for his soon-to-be-vacant state Senate seat is former State Sen. Ray Rawson. The fix is rumored to be in for UNLV’s new university president.  Regent Cedric Crear, who happens to be black, is pushing the promotion of UNLV Provost John White - who ironically, but surely not coincidentally, is also black – for the top job.  Will University Regents get trumped by the race card and suckered into another affirmative action hire?  You can probably make book on it. 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! FAMOUS LAST WORDS “Nov. 4 was a national vote of no confidence in Barack Obama.  Had a British prime minister received a vote like this, he would have resigned by now.” – Columnist Pat Buchanan 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…