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KING JOHN’S PREMATURE EJECTION
Assembly Speaker-elect John
Hambrick advised via press release yesterday that he was removing Republican
Assembly Caucus Majority Leader Michele Fiore
as Chairman of both the all-important Taxation Committee AND as Majority
Leader without consulting with his caucus in advance.
Looks like he got a little ahead of himself.
Hambrick’s unilateral decision was made after Fiore did a
series of media interviews on Tuesday in which she explained that her
businesses ran into trouble with the IRS due to embezzlement by a former
employee. She said she made repayment
arrangements with the IRS and has been making payments of $5,000 a month to
settle the liens.
So what’s the problem?
LOTS of people have run-ins with the IRS. And as one of them – experiencing that absolutely hellish nightmare first hand - let me tell you it’s experience worth
having in a Chairman of the Taxation Committee!
But back to the press release. Hambrick said he found her explanations about
the IRS liens “unacceptable.” Not that
the caucus found her explanations about the IRS liens unacceptable. He, personally.
Judge. Jury. Executioner.
And for the life of me, I don’t know how he came to that
conclusion.
Is he saying she lied about having had an employee embezzle
from her company with the money that was supposed to be paid to the IRS?
Is he saying she’s lying when she says she has agreed to a
repayment plan with the IRS and has been making payments as agreed?
If so, on what basis did he come to those guilty-until-proved-innocent conclusions?
But the real howler in the statement was Hambrick’s claim that
Fiore’s interviews on Tuesday “have left our caucus further divided.”
Oh, puh-lease.
Ladies and gentlemen, Moses couldn’t unite these people. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
can’t put this Humpty Dumpty caucus together again. In fact, Hambrick’s move only made a bad
situation worse.
Leave aside the fact that he looks totally ridiculous and
indecisive by removing Fiore from Taxation…then the next day putting her back
on Taxation…then a couple days later taking her off Taxation…and who knows what’s
going to happen today?
THE REAL AGENDA
Look, we all know what’s really going on here.
The establishment moderate Republicans want a billion dollar
tax hike in the coming session.
And the last thing they want running the show in the
Assembly Taxation Committee is a conservative who has signed the Taxpayer Protection
Pledge promising the people of Nevada that she’ll “oppose and vote against any
and all efforts to increase taxes.”
That’s the same Tax Pledge, by the way, that Hambrick
initially refused to sign when he first ran for the Assembly…but signed in the
next campaign after his primary opponent signed it…and then went on a local
public affairs TV program – since cancelled – the very day after his election
as Speaker-elect and “pulled a Roberson” by saying he would break it to vote
for the governor’s tax hike proposal.
So he was against the Tax Pledge before he was for it. And now is against it again. Check.
But back to Fiore…
NOW PLAYING LEFT
FIELD
Did Hambrick remove her as chair of the Tax Committee
because of her situation with the IRS?
No. She was removed because she’s
an outspoken, unapologetic conservative who is seen as a roadblock to the
coming Sandoval tax hike.
Period.
What evidence to back up that opinion? Just look at who Hambrick appointed to
replace Fiore…
For the Majority Leader position, Hambrick didn’t tap
another conservative member of the caucus.
No, he tapped moderate Assemblyman Paul Anderson, who is not a signer of the Taxpayer Protection
Pledge and voted last year to extend the “sunsets.”
And to replace Fiore as chair of the Taxation Committee –
and this one is truly unbelievable – Hambrick appointed a FRESHMAN
moderate, Derek Armstrong, who has
yet to spend so much as a single day in the Legislature and has never even cast
a legislative vote, let alone chaired a committee meeting.
And – you guessed it – Armstrong also has refused to sign
the Tax Pledge.
If you’re still a doubting Thomas, consider this excerpt
from a story on this brewing brouhaha which appears in today’s Las Vegas
Review-Journal:
ILLOGICAL LOGIC
Now get this further absurd explanation that Hambrick gave
the RJ for removing Fiore and replacing her with Anderson…
Oh, dear Lord.
By this insane course of logic, Assemblyman Ira Hansen was originally elected Speaker-elect
by a majority of caucus members, so Hambrick should be removed now and Hansen
put back in that position?
Hmmm…
On the other hand, once Anderson gave up his position as
Majority Leader to run unsuccessfully against Hambrick for Speaker-elect, Fiore
ran for the Majority Leader position and was elected by a majority of caucus
members.
As Hambrick knows
full well. He was one of those who voted
for her!
So what Hambrick is really saying here to his colleagues is…
It’s good ta be da king!
Seriously. If Fiore
was elected by the caucus, how can Hambrick single-handedly and unilaterally
remove her? Who’s he think he is, Kim Jung-un?
EXPOSING THE TAX LIEN
LIE
Still not convinced that this is a War on Conservatives
hidden by a slight-of-hand attack on Fiore’s finances?
Sit down and be prepared to have your delusion completely,
totally shattered once and for all.
When Hambrick first announced that he was removing Fiore as
Taxation Chairman, he also announced that he was removing freshman conservative
Republican Assemblywoman and Tax Pledge signer Victoria Seaman from the Taxation Committee, as well.
So if this was really all about Fiore’s tax liens, then why kick
Seaman off the Tax Committee with her?
Seaman has no tax lien issues with the IRS.
No, by kicking Seaman off the Tax Committee along with Fiore,
Hambrick revealed that it was all about getting rid of conservatives, not tax
liens. It was plain as day.
OK, now get this…
Not only did Hambrick remove Fiore as Majority Leader
yesterday, but he also – secretly - without telling his caucus – and without
telling the public – removed conservative Assemblyman John Ellison from the position of Speaker Pro Tem and replaced him
with liberal Republican tax-hiking Assemblyman Lynn “The Bug Man” Stewart!
Ellison has no tax lien problem with the IRS. So, then, why did Hambrick screw him, too,
yesterday?
Come on, people! How
much clearer can it get?
The Republican establishment isn’t out to get Fiore over
those tax liens. The tax liens are a
smoke screen.
They’re after EVERY conservative.
But here’s where it gets really embarrassing.
After the secret decision to remove Ellison became known,
Hambrick got some blowback.
So what did he do?
What he always does.
He reversed himself AGAIN and put Ellison back on as
Speaker Pro Tem!
Good. Grief.
ANDERSON’S WHOPPER
For his part, Anderson – who with Hambrick’s move got back
the job Fiore took from him in a caucus election a little over a week ago - told
the RJ that “Speaker Hambrick did what he thought best to unite the caucus and
bring an end to the internal strife.”
Hoo-ahh! What a
whopper! Anderson’s nose must be about
ten-foot long this morning after that one!
Removing Fiore as both Chairman of Taxation and as Majority
Leader has only further divided the caucus, not unite it.
Removing Fiore as both Chairman of Taxation and as Majority
Leader has only made the internal strife worse, not better.
This was a stupid move, period.
Even if the decisions hold up – and there’s no guarantee
they will, since Hambrick had no authority to unilaterally undo an election –
Hambrick has shown himself to be completely incapable of providing the steady,
unwavering leadership necessary to serve as Speaker of the Assembly for the
2015 session.
His decisions are apparently based upon the opinions of the
last person he talks to.
So you can’t take his word to the bank.
Plus, Hambrick is clearly cowed by the governor, lobbyists
and donors who presently control the GOP establishment in Nevada and is willing
to do their bidding to curry their favor.
He’s made himself look more like Pee Wee Herman than Stormin’
Norman Schwartzkopf.
BREAK OUT THE MUSICAL
CHAIRS
Indeed, Hambrick has so embarrassed himself and irreparably
damaged his reputation by demonstrating all the leadership resolve of a bowl of
Jello that, frankly, he needs to step down as Speaker-elect.
Because if he thinks selling out the conservative members of
his caucus and siding with the moderates means the moderates won’t now pursue
the “nuclear option” and displace him on February 2nd, he’s sadly
mistaken.
Hambrick has, unfortunately, shown himself to be both weak
and unreliable. Why would Democrats want
to deal with someone whose decisions blow with the wind when they can gang up
and install a true tax-hiking moderate Republican instead?
What?
You want to know how to reach Mr. Hambrick?
Well, according to his campaign website - which reads, “It
is imperative that I have your feedback so I can best represent you in the
legislature” - here’s how to weigh in…
Email: john@hambrick4assembly.com
Cell Phone: (702) 499-6169
Just trying to help!
DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS
So this Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram “kidnapped at least
185 women and children and killed 32” of them in Nigeria yesterday.
But waterboarding is bad, right?
* * *
* *
Get this: Just two weeks after a Nevada judge closed down
ride-sharing company Uber from operating in Nevada, an 8% rate hike in tax
fares kicked in. Go figure.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the rate hike now
makes Las Vegas-Clark County “the second-highest rate in the nation among cities
with a tourism-based economy,” following only Honolulu.
* * *
* *
The City of Las Vegas approved using tax dollars to build a
soccer stadium downtown on a 4-3 vote.
Look for conservative Councilman and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Beers to take the decision to a
vote of the people via referendum.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man's
word should be as good as his bond, that character—not wealth or power or
position—is of supreme worth.” – John D. Rockefeller
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