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ANOTHER CASUALTY IN THE WAR ON CONSERVATIVES
Just when you thought Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick had done all the damage
he could possibly do to anti-tax hike conservatives in the State Assembly, he
found yet another loose end to tie up, and in the process damaged the
reputation of a young man who sure as shinola didn’t deserve it.
Geoff Lawrence is
an economist by trade who has been doing yeoman’s work as a budget analyst for
the past few years at the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI). He’s been the leading architect of credible, substantive
proposals to reign in, streamline and cut government spending at the state
level, as well as the chief author of NPRI’s annual “Piglet Book,” a publication
shining the light on wasteful and outright foolish government spending in
Nevada.
Lawrence is a highly-respected fiscal conservative who has
spoken on government spending issues all across the country, as well as in
newspaper, television and radio interviews.
He’s quite the gregarious individual with an infectious laugh, a lovely
young wife, an 18-month-old son and a second child due in April.
After the historic Republican take-over of the Nevada State
Assembly in November, the Republican Assembly Caucus (RAC) offered Lawrence the
position of Policy Director. It was a
position tailor-made for him, his expertise and his experience. So Lawrence took the position, loaded up his
family and moved to Carson City in December.
Then the spit hit the spam.
Moderate Republicans, led by Hambrick, wanted to grease the
skids for Gov. Brian “America’s Worst
Governor” Sandoval’s (R&R-Advertising) Billion Dollar Tax Hike, maneuvered
back in December to oust conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore from her position as Chairman of the Taxation
Committee, as well as from her elected position as Majority Leader.
At the same time, Hambrick removed conservative Assemblywoman
Victoria Seaman and Assemblyman Brent Jones from the Taxation
Committee, as well.
As there weren’t enough conservatives in the RAC to block
these purges, conservatives resigned themselves to political reality and moved
on.
But Hambrick wasn’t done.
Just two days after being officially sworn in as Speaker
this week, it was announced that Lawrence had “resigned.”
Now, everyone who knows Geoff knew something wasn’t
right.
Why in the world would he “resign” from a job he was born for
- and had permanently moved his young family and pregnant wife to Carson City
for - just two days into the session? It
made no sense.
As Lawrence was unwilling to discuss the matter, I asked
several RAC members what the deal was.
All I was told initially was that it was a “personnel matter” and that
Lawrence was let go “for cause.”
“For cause”?
That’s a serious allegation that could seriously hurt
someone’s reputation. What in the world
could Lawrence have possibly done to warrant being fired…er, I mean resign
against his will…”for cause”?
So I did some more digging.
And of all the low-down, dirty-dealing, double-crossing things Hambrick’s
done since ascending to the throne back in December, this is indeed the lowest.
Someone in the caucus leadership leaked information about
the “personnel matter” to Jon Ralston,
Nevada’s #2 liberal-blogger-without-a-TV-
Since Lawrence understandably wasn’t talking about the
matter for fear of making a bad situation worse, I called Victor Joecks, NPRI’s vice president and full-time representative in
Carson City, and asked what he knew of the situation.
And you’re not going to believe this…
Joecks and Lawrence, of course, were colleagues at
NPRI. And naturally, they continued
their friendship and professional relationship in Carson City for the
legislative session. Naturally, they
talked often and, even more naturally, they talked about the state budget and
the proposed tax hike.
In one of those conversations the pair discussed a document
prepared by the taxpayer-funded Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB) which showed
that Sandoval’s proposed tax hike was some $200 million HIGHER than
Sandoval was telling the public.
Again, this was a PUBLIC DOCUMENT that numerous
people in Carson City had a copy of, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with
confidential Republican Assembly Caucus business.
Joecks, of course, wanted to make the public document public
so that you and I would know that the governor’s figures weren’t accurate. However, Lawrence didn’t want to be the
source of the public disclosure. So he
asked Joecks to find another source to provide him a copy of the document before
releasing and publishing it.
Which he did.
Joecks told me he obtained a copy of the exact same document
from State Controller Ron Knecht. And only
after obtaining a copy of the document from Mr. Knecht did Joecks make it
public and blow the whistle.
Again, this was a public document prepared at taxpayer
expense that was widely circulated. It
was not some top secret, confidential internal memo relating to RAC business.
Nevertheless, because Lawrence supposedly admitted to
discussing the document with Joecks, Hambrick used that incident as a BS excuse
to fire the highly-respected, highly-ethical Lawrence “for cause.”
I’m sorry. I mean,
Lawrence “resigned” against his will.
This is just sickening.
Hambrick was clearly just looking for a reason to get rid of
this rock-solid fiscal conservative who clearly could help Republicans in the Assembly
find alternatives to Sandoval’s Billion Dollar Tax Hike.
And in the process, he trashed a good man’s good reputation
by telling people he was released “for cause” when there clearly was no cause whatsoever
other than the fact that Lawrence was a rock-solid fiscal conservative who
opposes Sandoval’s Billion Dollar Tax Hike.
Oh, and get this…
Rumor has it that Lawrence will be replaced with Majority
Leader Paul Anderson’s
anti-conservative/pro-tax hike political adviser Cory Christensen who was fired by the caucus as a political
consultant last December for, among other things, undermining conservatives during
the 2014 elections.
Insult to injury for conservatives if it comes to pass.
In any event, Geoff Lawrence didn’t deserve to be treated
like this.
Hambrick should be ashamed.
If the Speaker-of-the-Weak wanted to get rid of Lawrence for
philosophical or political reasons, he should have at least been man enough to
do it straight up instead of fabricating this bogus “for cause” excuse and
hurting Lawrence’s reputation.
Shameful. Just
shameful.
I’m hearing that as each day has gone by, Hambrick, drunk
with power, has been strutting around the legislative building with his chest
puffed out like some barnyard cock. Oh,
how I’m going to enjoy it when this back-stabber’s political neck is finally
cut off.
Let the recall begin!
THE GENERAL VS. MASTER AND COMMANDER
So there’s this political activist in Las Vegas named Steve Commander who is a real control
freak and the personification of the phrase “going off half-cocked.”
A few years ago, he was ousted as grand imperial pooh-bah of
a tea party group and earned the nickname “Master and Commander” here in Muth’s
Truths.
Master and Commander sent out an email this week – with the
inflammatory subject line “Joe Heck Turns
His Back On Benghazi” – which got into the face of Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nevada) over an opinion
column in WorldNetDaily.com. Here’s what
Master and Commander demanded of Heck…
Fortunately, I already discussed the article privately with
Dr. Heck when it first came out a couple weeks ago, so I can answer Master and
Commander and anyone who may have gotten the email…
Rep. Heck did meet with the gentleman quoted in the article,
along with some others, on December 3, 2014.
He did not, however, cut the meeting short, as was alleged.
The meeting was scheduled for 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. and the
meeting concluded at the end of the allotted time in order for Rep. Heck to get
to a committee hearing on…Benghazi.
It appears the gentleman who claims Rep. Heck was “arrogant”
simply had his nose bent out of shape because Rep. Heck disputed what the man
claimed to be “facts.”
Rep. Heck did state that some of the “facts” being presented
by this guy were patently false and it appears the gentleman in question simply
didn’t like being challenged on his assertions.
I don’t know Mr. Jones, who made these accusations against Rep.
Heck. But I do know Joe Heck.
He and I may not see eye to eye on every issue, but I’ve
never had any reason to doubt his word.
And as a presently-serving GENERAL in the Army
Reserve and a sitting Congressman, I’m guessing he knows more about what’s
going on with the Benghazi situation than a civilian and former military
officer who retired from service a couple decades ago.
So yes, I believe Congressman Heck’s version of the story
related to the meeting in question.
If that’s not good for Master and Commander…well, who cares?
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