SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 04/22/2015

PC PEE-PEE POLICE WIN This is a late-night edition of Silver State Confidential because I wanted to let you know the outcome of Assemblywoman Vicki Dooling’s common sense bill (AB375) that declared that boys must use the boys’ bathroom in public schools and girls must use the girls’ bathroom. During the floor debate on the bill, Assemblywoman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards actually had the brass ovaries to falsely claim a vote for the bill requiring boys to use the boys’ bathroom and girls to use the girls’ bathroom was a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and warned his colleague to vote against it or risk incurring the wrath of a certain “ruthless blogger.” Gee, I wonder who he was referring to? You know, I’m starting to think Assemblywoman Edwards has an obsession with me.  But get this… The boob then turned around and voted FOR the bill! This clod is suffering some serious trans-partisan confusion. The bill was ultimately defeated by a vote of 20-22.  Politically-transgendered Republicans who voted with all 17 of the Democrats to allow boys to watch girls go wee-wee between classes in public schools… Assemblyman Derek Armstrong-Anderson Assemblyman Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey Assemblywoman Robin Titus Assemblyman Glenn Trowbridge Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury SB252 PASSES: GAME ON Well, it’s official. The Nevada State Senate, (mis)led by Senate Majority Leader Tax Hike Mike Roberson, passed Gov. Brian Sandoval’s gross receipts tax (SB252) today by a vote of 17-4.  The four “no” votes were Sens. Don Gustavson, James Settelmeyer, Pete Goicoechea and…Scott Hammond? Yes, moderate Scott Hammond…a public school teacher.  Meaning if any Republican in the Assembly is looking for cover to vote “no” on SB252 – being falsely sold as a fix for education – they now can point to Hammond and say, “Hey, HE did it!” And for that reason, Hammond’s “no” vote *could* be the most significant vote of the 2015 session - because Republicans in the Assembly need 15 votes to kill this obscene bill and there are presently only a dozen conservatives who can be counted on to vote “nyet.”  Hammond’s vote could help bring three other GOP fence-sitters over to the “right” side of this issue. In response to Senate passage of the governor’s gross receipts tax, conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore spoke for many of us with this statement issued shortly after the vote… “With all due respect, much of the governor’s proposal is based on the mistaken idea that the way to fix public education in Nevada is to pump more taxpayer dollars into the existing failed system rather than dramatically reforming that system and providing far more school choice to Nevada parents, including the financial assistance necessary to exercise that choice for low-to-moderate income families. “That said, the unemployment rate in Nevada remains, as Bill Anderson of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation put it last week, ‘stubbornly high’ at 7.1 percent.  As such, the last thing the Legislature should be doing is taking money out of the private sector, where it’s needed to create jobs, and transferring it to the public sector so that government can continue to spend beyond its means. “Conservatives in the Nevada State Assembly cannot and will not support SB252 as passed out of the Senate today.” What she said. Never missing an opportunity to take a “Fioreous” cheap shot at the Las Vegas conservative, Jon Ralston (D-UI), Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger-with-a-taxpayer-subsidized-TV-show, twit-tweeted… “Who cares what people who were never going to vote for taxes think of a tax plan? I know I don't.” Ah, yes.  We forget that the world revolves around Jonny Boy, and if he doesn’t care what the leader of the anti-tax opposition has to say, well, then no one else cares either, right? Fact is, Fiore couldn’t care less what liberals like Ralston, who have always supported this tax hike, think.  Neither do I.  THE RACE TO REPLACE REID A lot of names have been floated for GOP candidates who might run for Sen. Harry Reid’s seat next year, but not many conservatives.  Establishment Republicans mentioned include Gov. Brian Sandoval, Sen. Tax Hike Mike Roberson, Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison and former Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert – tax hikers, all.  Well-liked former Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki - considered a conservative, though without a voting record to verify it - is often mentioned.  But he told me last October at the Nevada Day Parade that he’s not leaning towards the race, as his children have reached high school age.  Understandable. The “dream” candidate for conservatives would be newly-minted Attorney General Adam Laxalt.  But he told me last week that he believes he can do more good for the state right now right where he is. And that leaves conservatives right where they’ve been for over a year now.  The only viable and credible conservative candidate on the horizon is also the only officially declared candidate: Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Beers.  Conservatives need to start uniting and coalescing around his campaign NOW, or risk a “Sandoval Republican” going up against a “Reid Democrat” – meaning…no difference and a general election choice between two evils. BILLIONAIRE BULLY BILL Nevada’s SLAPP law prohibits wealthy people/businesses from filing lawsuits, as Barry Smith of the Nevada Press Association put it, “just to silence their critics.”  SLAPP lawsuits are often filed by very wealthy people against individuals simply exercising their First Amendment rights and who don’t have the money needed to defend themselves in court. AB444 – the “Billionaire Bully Bill” - would gut Nevada’s SLAPP law.  It’s being pushed by Las Vegas gaming mogul Steve Wynn and somehow slid under the radar and was passed unanimously in the state Senate. Now that the “sneaky and pernicious” bill has been exposed, the Assembly should kill it. NEVADA NEWS & VIEWS Attorneys gone wild! Bill would eviscerate Nevada’s strong anti-SLAPP law – Mitchell Attorney General Laxalt supports challenge to Federal Agency’s Withdrawal of 1 Million Acres of Land LVRJ: Assembly GOP caucus members turn on each other SB 193: When a Good Bill goes Bad – NFIB U.S. Sugar Policy: De Minimis Protections against de maximus Agricultural Price Manipulation – Muth NPRI comments on Senate passage of Sandoval’s Gross-Receipts BLT Advertising NOW AVAILABLE!  Click here for additional information. FAMOUS LAST WORDS “The government shouldn’t have to do more with less.  It should do less with less.” – Chuck Muth 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…