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STUPID IS AS GOVERNMENT DOES
With reports of snow flurries in the Las Vegas valley on New
Year’s Eve, it was only natural to assume there was significant accumulation up
on Mt. Charleston, about a 45 minute drive from downtown. As such, I loaded the kids into the van
yesterday morning, stopped at Big 5 Sporting Goods to pick up a couple of new
sleds, and headed for Lee Canyon.
The first thing I noticed was cars parked on both sides of
the road right around where the snow line began…well before the Lee Meadows
roadside area where folks usually pull off for their kids to do some free
sledding. WELL before. I’ve never seen the area so crowded.
I mean, this place was packed with families and kids
tramping through the snow and looking for anyplace with enough of a clearing
and gravitational slope to accommodate a sled, no matter how short of a ride. I even saw kids trying to sled down
embankments that ended up directly in the road if they didn’t stop and hop off
in time!
In fact, the ONLY area where families and kids were not
sledding was…
The Foxtail Snow Play area which has been specifically
cleared for sledding!
That’s right. In the
infinite wisdom of the geniuses at the U.S. Forest Service, it’s OK for people
to sled pretty much anywhere in the Lee Canyon area, no matter how tree-filled
and dangerous, except the area specifically set up for…sledding.
I know this because my kids and I walked into the Foxtail
area – even though the parking lot had been plowed, the gate remained closed –
and began having a blast sledding down the cleared sledding hills, far and safely
away from the roadside traffic, only to be confronted by a woman shortly
thereafter who informed us the sledding area was…duh…closed to sledding.
Apparently, according to the Einsteins running the Forest
service, it’s not “safe” to sled in 9 inches of snow in the sledding area; only
12 inches of snow or more. So although
it was perfectly OK for people to sled everywhere else in the area, it was not
OK to sled in the sledding area.
Forrest Gump would be so proud!
Fortunately, during the course of our conversation about the
stupidity of not opening the sledding area for sledding while people were
sledding everywhere else except the sledding area, I came to understand that
while the woman had the responsibility to inform us that the sledding area was
closed, she did not have the authority to make us leave.
Guess who’s kids had a blast sledding in the sledding area,
all to themselves, for a couple hours yesterday afternoon?
FIORE FIRES BACK
Conservative Assembly Majority Leader-in-Exile Michele Fiore (R-Las Vegas) published a
letter to Speaker-of-the-Weak John
Hambrick yesterday, disputing his authority to remove her from her elected leadership
post unilaterally without a vote of the full caucus, as well as “appoint”
liberal Assemblyman Paul Anderson as
her replacement.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has the story here
The Las Vegas Sun has it here
The Reno Gazette-Journal here
And the Elko Daily Free Press has my explanatory column on
Fiore’s tax liens here,
and you can also access it here
in the Reno Gazette-Journal.
OSCARSON “PULLS A HICKEY”
Meanwhile, Team Anderson back-bencher Assemblyman James Oscarson of Nye County mistakenly
sent a sarcastic email relating to Fiore’s letter to Hambrick that appears to
have been intended for Anderson and/or Hambrick to…Fiore! It reads…
Now I know you Pahrumpians like this guy, but he’s nothing
more than an establishment tool who’s in the tank for Anderson and the Sandoval
tax hike. And you’re all gonna wake up
and realize it before the end of this session…after it’s too late. I guarantee it.
In his email Oscarson unintentionally admits that Fiore IS
still the legitimate Majority Leader.
Otherwise, why else would he so desperately want her to “resign”?
And if she IS still the legitimate Majority Leader,
why in the world wouldn’t she consider that an “issue”?
And since Fiore IS the legitimately elected Majority
Leader, why should SHE “put this behind us” rather than Oscarson and
Anderson?
Plus, if the desired course of action now is to do the work “we
were elected to do,” then shouldn’t he be supporting letting Fiore do the work
she was elected to do since she, not Anderson, was elected as
Majority Leader?
Hypocrisy you can cut with the knife.
In fact, if Hambrick had only sacked Fiore as Taxation
Committee chairman and not tried to ham-handedly undo her election as Majority
Leader, none of this would be happening.
The Speaker-of-the-Weak overstepped his authority and it’s he &
Anderson who need to back down and let everyone get to the work they “were
elected to do.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
CHAOS CAUCUS TO MEET AGAIN AFTER ALL
I hear that Majority Whip Jim Wheeler has obtained a ruling by a number of rules experts, all
in agreement that Hambrick doesn’t have the authority do what Hambrick tried to
do - including unilaterally replacing Fiore as Majority Leader with Anderson - without
a new vote of the caucus members.
Wheeler wrote in an email yesterday that…
In other words, Fiore is, in fact, still the duly elected
Majority Leader, not Anderson.
In addition, although Hambrick hath decreed that there shalt
be no further caucus meetings between now and the start of the session, Wheeler
reportedly has obtained the 13 votes of caucus members necessary to call their
own official meeting…with or without Hambrick…on Monday after all.
Adding fuel to an already explosive situation, I also hear a
couple of Team Anderson players have challenged Wheeler as to whether or not he
really has obtained the 13 votes needed to call the meeting; essentially
calling Wheeler a liar.
I’m guessing that’s not exactly what Dale Carnegie had in mind in his “How to Win Friends” book.
I’m also guessing that one of the doubting Thomases is
Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal”
Edwards, who reportedly has been shopping his vote for Monday’s caucus
meeting to the highest bidder in a desperate effort pay off some $40,000+ in
campaign debt I hear he’s still carrying.
And finally in a related unrelated story - and in the
age-old spirit of rats deserting a sinking ship - Republican Assembly Caucus
director Justin Harrison is rumored
to have taken another job and will not be returning to Carson City when the
Legislature convenes in February.
I understand Hambrick is hoping to raise from the dead Clyde Beatty to take the
job.
RECALL FEVER: CATCH IT!
The following is my Top Ten list of Republicans who
strategically deserve serious consideration of a recall effort for a variety of
reasons…not the least of which is because they are largely (mis)representing
Republican-majority districts and have no reason in the world to be voting for
higher taxes, yet have not taken a massive tax hike this session off the table…
If you live in the district of one of the above and are
interested in forming your own district recall committee, let me know. I’d be happy to help you set it up, give you
some guidance and serve as your resident agent.
If you’re not sure which district you live in, just click here and enter your address.
ROSS THE BOSS SPINS HIS LOSS
In a totally self-serving farewell message to Nevadans,
outgoing Secretary of State Ross Miller
wrote: “I can say with complete confidence that throughout one of the most
partisan eras in our nation's history, your Secretary of State's office has
performed its duties and functions in a bipartisan manner…”
As one of Miller’s victims in a costly, still-unresolved partisan
witch hunt to redefine “express advocacy” – along with two other conservative organizations
- all I can say is, “Hoo-aah, what a whopper!”
Then again, it is true that tax and regulatory changes Miller
forced upon Nevada’s business community - including small, home-based
businesses – screwed everybody in a truly bipartisan manner. Ross Miller was the most anti-business
Secretary of State this state has ever seen.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“The property taxes and property tax increase are paid in
most cases by the small business tenants further increasing their cost of doing
business and staying in business. The
modified business tax is a payroll tax. It is a head tax based on how many
people are employed by a business. It does not take into consideration whether
or not a business is profitable. It is a tax penalty paid by employers to hire
people and create jobs. The examples
stated are just two that could seriously hurt Nevada's small businesses. They
need to be considered by responsible legislators.” – Restaurateur and former Nevada
Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt
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