Saturday, February 14, 2015

SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 02/14/2015

THE DAILY GRUBER*

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (RINO) challenged folks who oppose his Billion Dollar Tax Hike to put forward their own alternatives. 

Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz (R) accepted Sandoval’s challenge and did just that.  On Thursday Schwartz appeared before the Senate Finance Committee and, for his trouble, was verbally ripped to shreds by Sandoval’s political henchmen. 

Here’s how Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Ray Hagar described the ambush…


I've never seen an elected constitutional officer of Nevada get ripped so badly in the Legislature in my past 15 years covering Nevada politics than what happened to Treasurer Dan Schwartz Thursday in the Senate Finance Committee.

No respect was given Mr. Schwartz, Nevada's newly-elected treasurer, before this usually politically-correct and high-ranking group of senator. And the most vociferous criticism came from members of Schwartz's own Republican Party.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, raised his voice loudly -- OK, he yelled -- at Schwartz, saying, "You are an embarrassment, sir!"

Roberson added some equally derogatory statements that made me think I was in a bar in Rock Springs, Wyo., and a fight was gonna break out.

The volume of Roberson's voice was memorable. I have not seen that kind of volume since Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, took apart Washoe school Superintendent Paul Dugan back in '05 or ‘07 in a committee hearing about a tax proposal for schools.

Roberson's anger seemed unbecoming of his position. He's the most powerful man in the Legislature. Did he really need to roll over Schwartz like a road grader?

Roberson’s a thug and a bully whose word isn’t worth the proverbial warm bucket of spit.  So what do you expect?

Hagar concluded with this…

Former GOP Gov. Bob List, who was in Carson City Friday, is also a lawyer. He noted that any citizen of Nevada has the right to suggest a plan or idea in writing to the Legislature.

Gov. Sandoval said before the Legislature that he would be “all ears” if someone came up with a plan that is better than his proposed $7.3 billion general-fund budget.

That offer apparently did not apply to the Senate Finance Committee. To this group, it is Sandoval’s plan or take the highway.

“We don’t require any new budget proposals,” Finance Chair Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, told Schwartz.

There you have it.  It’s like the old saying, “You can have your car in any color you want, as long as it’s black."

Nevada taxpayers can have any budget proposal they want, as long as it’s Sandoval’s.

And these people will stop at nothing, including destroying any and all opponents, to get their way.

* “Gruber” refers to Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist caught on tape admitting that they lied and misled the public in order to pass ObamaCare because they thought the voters were too stupid to understand.

WIRE-GATE UPDATE

Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards was scheduled to do an interview with KDWN 720 AM talk-show host Alan Stock Friday morning from 7:00 – 7:30 a.m.  And he began speaking fluent Politicianese with his first sentence.

He did, however, answer one direct question with a direct answer.  He said that, yes, someone did offer him money for his vote.  It’ll be interesting to see if (a) that’s true, and (b) who it was.

About halfway through the interview, the man Edwards claims tried to bribe and extort him, GOP activist Tony Dane, called into the show.  Rather than sandbag Edwards, though, Stock asked Edwards for permission to put Dane on the air with him.

And that’s when Edwards tucked tail and ran for the hills!

Edwards refused to allow Dane on the air, which was fine and understandable.  But then he told Stock he suddenly had a meeting to go to and had to cut the interview short.  What a weasel. 

But here’s something new we learned today which lends credence to the notion that Edwards only ran to Metro on December 23rd because he became aware of the possibility that another GOP activist, Rob Lauer, was considering filing an ethics complaint against him for trying to sell his vote.

Indeed, in the search warrant affidavit used to search Lauer’s house, Metro declared it was specifically looking for…

“Affidavits, complaints, statements or other documents which allege the commission of an act which may be unlawful or unethical, whether actual or perceived, committed by Assemblyman Chris Edwards.”

You see, this indicates that Edwards did not run to Metro at the time he was allegedly bribed.  This indicates he only ran to Metro after he became aware that Lauer was considering blowing the whistle on Edwards for offering to sell his vote.

In a sorta unrelated note, at the end of the shortened interview, Stock tried twice to get Edwards to take a firm position on Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Billion Dollar Tax Hike.  And twice Edwards, like a typical, double-talking, fork-tongued politician, ducked the question without giving a direct answer.

Weasel.

DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has now gone on public record as opposing Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Billion Dollar Tax Hike.  He joins Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz and Nevada State Controller Ron Knecht in a growing collection of Republican elected officials telling the supposedly Republican titular head that they have no confidence in his leadership on the budget.

*   *   *   *   *

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigs, have NO TOBACCO in them.  So please explain to me why they should be taxed sky-high like tobacco?  It’s certainly not a health reason.  No, it’s purely to give the government more money.  Just…say…no.

*   *   *   *   *

SB 119 should really be two separate bills.  One would exempt school construction projects from the cost-inflating union welfare program known as prevailing wage.  That’s good.  The other would allow school districts to continue taxpayer-approved tax hike for 10 years beyond their expiration date without a new vote of the people.  That’s bad.  Real bad.

Unless the two items are separated so that both are “clean” bills, SB119 should be killed.  You just shouldn’t take “the people” out of a decision made by “the people.”

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

"So, various lawmakers and government employees sneered and jeered when state Treasurer Dan Schwartz had the temerity to suggest the state would not sink into chaos if its general fund budget was increased by merely 4.6 percent instead of the governor’s proposed 12.3 percent.  Sandoval’s Chief of Staff Mike Willden, who has had his snout in the public trough for 40 years, said he was ‘insulted’ by Schwartz’s criticism of the budget. In 2013 Willden was paid nearly $150,000 in salary and benefits as the state director of Health and Human Services.” – Columnist Tom Mitchell


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