MUTH'S TRUTHS 06/15/2016 POST-ELECTION WRAP-UP 06/15/2016

MUTH’S TRUTHS: POST-ELECTION WRAP-UP

Editor’s Note: This will be an all-Nevada edition of Muth's Truth covering yesterday’s primary elections, so those of you from other states may want to just go ahead and skip today's newsletter. 

But for everyone else…WOW, what a night!

SO LONG, TAX HIKE MIKE!

First and foremost, our #1 “Most Wanted” RINO (Republican in Name Only), State Sen. Tax Hike Mike Roberson, went down in flames in the 3^rd Congressional District GOP primary in absolutely jaw-dropping fashion.

Roberson - who famously broke his signed Taxpayer Protection Pledge by ramming through RINO Gov. Brian Sandoval’s $1.4 billion tax hike last year – should have won this race in a cakewalk.  He had every advantage…and then some!

He’s the sitting Senate Majority Leader, with all the power and prestige that goes with that lofty position.  He raised over $1 million for his own campaign, with another $2 million+ that came in as “independent expenditures.”  Plus the full-throated endorsement and support of the state’s governor.

He also had not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but SIX conservative primary opponents splitting up the anti-Roberson vote.  And he was absolutely shameless in lying about himself, lying about his voting record and lying about his opponents. 

I mean, there was NO WAY for this guy to lose, right?

Yet conservative, Tax Pledge-signer Danny Tarkanian – who Roberson savaged and blistered with attack ads – whooped him by 8 points!  How embarrassing.

And especially embarrassing for Sandoval, who continues to back one losing candidate after another.  This guy’s endorsement is more like a kiss of death!

The loss was equally embarrassing for Roberson’s over-rated political gurus, Mike Slanker and Billy Rogers, who despite having all the king’s horses and all the king’s men – and over $3 million to spend – barely got over 24 percent of the vote for their candidate.

That said, don’t allow the political malpractice of Slanker and Rogers to take anything away from Tark.  The man did exactly what he needed to do… 

He raised a lot of money for his campaign (though nowhere near what Roberson raised) and he did it early.  He hired competent, professional campaign staff and consultants.  He wasn’t afraid to take off the gloves and go toe-to-toe with Tax Hike Mike, weathered the onslaught of attacks, and gave every bit as good as he got.

Well done, and a well-deserved victory.  On to the general vs. Harry Reid’s hand-picked candidate.

Oh, and by the way…

Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, who came in third in this race, sent out today one of the classiest, most-gracious congratulatory emails to Danny that you’d ever want to see.  No wonder so many of us conservatives love this babe.  It’s too bad only one of them could have won this race.

SO LONG, ST. ERV!

In the most hotly contested GOP state senate primary, tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman Erv Nelson got spanked by Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman, 63–37 percent. 

Erv had a lot of nerve.  He ran for the assembly in 2014 as a “Scott Walker conservative.”  He loudly and proudly proclaimed his opposition to raising taxes.  But then he shamefully flip-flopped when it came time to vote for the largest tax hike in Nevada history last year.

But he didn’t just break his word.  He stood up on the floor of the Assembly, mounted his high horse and delivered a shameful, self-serving, holier-than-thou speech rationalizing how hood-winking his voters and betraying all the Republicans who supported him was a noble thing.

A speech that to this day sends a tingle up liberal blogger Jon Ralston’s leg.

Nelson then cowardly decided not to run for re-election and face the voters he stabbed in the back.  Instead he moved into a different district and ran for the state senate with the full backing of Sandoval, a pot-load of money, and a disgraceful willingness to lie through his teeth about his voting record.

Fortunately, after this embarrassing loss we can probably stick a fork in this RINO’s political career.

The bad news for conservatives, however, is that Seaman is a terribly flawed and untrustworthy candidate.  Although she did vote against the $1.4 billion tax hike, she nevertheless voted for 9 other lesser tax/fee hikes last year despite signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

And for this race, she flip-flopped and refused to re-sign the Pledge.

My fear is she’ll now again try to cozy up to Majority Leader Tax Hike Mike (like she did during the session last year) and “go moderate” for the general election where she’ll face a solid, well-funded Democrat in a district with a pretty significant Democrat voter registration advantage.

Indeed, there’s a good chance Republicans will ultimately lose this seat – and maybe their 11-10 majority.

But for now, Seaman discharged St. Erv…and that’s something to celebrate!

SO LONG, PK!  SO LONG, GLENN!

Going into yesterday’s primary election, conservatives had already chalked up four victories against the 13 tax-hiking RINO’s in the state Assembly without firing a shot. 

In addition to Nelson quitting to run for the state Senate, Assemblymen Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey, Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner and Lynn “The Bug Man” Stewart all quit rather than face voters.

Republican voters took out two more yesterday.

Tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill only got 26% of the vote and went down in flames to conservative Tax Pledge-signer Al Kramer up in Carson City.

And appointed-not-elected tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman Glenn Trowbridge got his hat handed to him big time by conservative Tax Pledge-signer Jim Marchant in Clark County.

Two other tax-hiking RINO’s got by by the skin of their teeth. 

Assemblyman David Gardner in Clark County only beat conservative challenger Diana Orrock 45-37% because a third, self-centered spoiler candidate in the race, Minddie Lloyd, siphoned off 17% of the anti-Gardner vote.

And tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman Stephen “Snow Job” Silberkraus won by only 253 votes thanks in part to…

(a) The post office mysteriously “losing” two of conservative challenger Amy Groves’ three mail pieces, and delivering the third one THREE WEEKS late, and…

(b) Silberkraus setting up a fake PAC and swamping the district with a half-dozen last minute hit pieces falsely accusing Groves of being supported by the Democrats, even though SHE, not him, was endorsed by the Nevada Republican Party in the race.

What a lying rat-b**tard.

Groves was also attacked, unbelievably, with two hit pieces in the GOP primary by the DEMOCRAT candidate in the race, who clearly saw that Groves would have been the tougher Republican candidate in the general election.

That was the toughest loss of the night for me.  Groves would have been GREAT in Carson City. 

But the reckoning isn’t over yet…

ON TO THE GENERAL

For those of you keeping score, we started with 13 turncoat Republicans in the Assembly who voted for the largest tax hike in history.  Four quit, and two were defeated in primaries yesterday. 

So half of them are now gone.

But it ain’t over yet…

Out in Nye County, tax-hiking RINO Assembly James “The Big Selloutski” Oscarson raised a jaw-dropping $140,000 from Gov. Brian Sandoval and other special interests as thanks for breaking his word and betraying the trust of his constituents.

His conservative Tax-Pledge-signer challenger, Tina Trenner, barely raised over $10,000.  A 14-1 fundraising disadvantage.

Yet The Big Selloutski won by only 133 votes!

And if not for another self-centered, spoiler candidate who got in the race, Rusty Stanberry – who siphoned off 433 anti-Oscarson votes – The Big Selloutski would have been toast. 

But he still may be…

Waiting in the wings for the general election is brothel owner/television reality star Dennis Hof, who will be on the ballot in November running as the Libertarian candidate.

And with Nye County being libertarian-leaning Ron & Rand Paul Country, Hof – with his money, his celebrity, his girls and his soapbox – could very well win in November since there’s no Democrat running. 

In fact, let’s get the ball rolling right now with Citizen Outreach PAC’s first general election endorsement…

Dennis Hof for Assembly District 36.

And I know some of you are going to hate me for this, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…

Gardner, Silberkraus and tax-hiking RINO Derek Armstrong may have eked out primary victories last night, but they ain’t out of the woods yet. 

All three are in Democrat-majority districts. 

All three face serious, organized, well-funded general election opponents.

And I won’t lift a finger to help any of them. 

Indeed, I might very well end up supporting the Democrat candidates, because I simply cannot bring myself to support such lying sacks of tax-hiking…

I mean, if a man’s word is no good, the man is no good.  And those three are rotten to the core.

So in the final analysis, it’s quite possible that four more of the tax-hiking RINOs will lose their seats in November. 

Which will leave only tax-hiking RINO Speaker John Hambrick, tax-hiking RINO Majority Leader Paul Anderson and tax-hiking RINO Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury out of the13 turncoat Assembly Republicans still in the Legislature.

A reckoning richly deserved.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

OTHER ASSEMBLY RACES

• In Assembly District 26 in Washoe County, conservative Tax Pledge-signer Lisa Krasner – who only lost to RINO “Kirner Tax” Kirner in 2014 by 11 votes – defeated Sandoval’s endorsed candidate.  And since no Democrat or third-party candidate filed in that race, she automatically wins the seat!

• In Assembly District 35, conservative Tax Pledge-signer Assemblyman Brent Jones held on and defeated Sandoval’s endorsed candidate in a brutal, five-way primary.

• And in Assembly District 4, conservative Tax Pledge-signer Richard McArthur beat Sandoval’s endorsed candidate. 

Frankly, under the circumstances, I’m hoping Sandoval comes out and endorses Hillary Clinton for president!

OTHER RACES OF INTEREST

In the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Congressman/Doctor/Brigadier General Joe Heck absolutely crushed, 65-22%, gadfly challenger Sharron Angle, who, in the campaign, disgustingly misdirected people looking for Heck’s campaign website to a porn site. 

He beat her in EVERY county.

Now on to the general with the only real hope Republicans have of winning a Democrat seat – and Harry Reid’s seat at that!

And let’s just pray this is the last time we ever see Angle’s name on a Nevada ballot.

*   *   *   *

In a state Senate race up in Reno, former Sandoval chief-of-staff Heidi Gansert, a mushy moderate from Jump Street, won a somewhat less-than-impressive race against businessman Eugene Hoover, which could mean she’s vulnerable to a tough Democrat challenge in the fall.

Hoover, the conservative challenger, tried to make everyone happy by voicing opposition to tax hikes but refusing to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge – a litmus test for me and a lot of other conservatives who are sick and tired of candidates who talk out of both sides of their mouths. 

For many of us, if you don’t take the Pledge, take a walk.

Hoover still has a promising future in politics if he wants it.  Let’s hope this experience teaches him that the only things in the middle of the road are “yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”  Take a stand for what you believe and put your John Hancock where your rhetoric is.

*   *   *   *

In Douglas County, two conservative challenger candidates running for county commission - Dave Nelson and Larry Walsh - reached out to me via campaign supporter Tom Starrett a few weeks ago and asked if they could sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge even though they weren't running for Congress or the Legislature.

I said ABSOLUTELY...and happily added their names to our online list of Pledge signers. 

Nelson and Walsh were challenging two incumbent county commissioners who were wobbly on possible local tax hikes.  And not only did Nelson and Walsh sign the Tax Pledge, they RAN ON IT.

When the smoke cleared last night, both won handily! 

Nelson 56-44% and Walsh 58-42%.  Plus, I'm told, this has shifted the commission make-up from 4-1 tax chumps to 3-2 tax champs.  Way to go, guys!  Congratulations.

*   *   *   *

And finally...

In the District Court, Department 20 race in Clark County, Judge Eric Johnson – who a few weeks ago ruled against the ACLU in a lawsuit trying to kill Nevada’s new school voucher program – won the primary but didn’t get over the 50% needed to avoid a run-off in November.

Still, better to go into the general as the primary winner than not!   Citizen Outreach PAC will continue to support Judge Johnson.

Cheers.

Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD

Professor of Psephology (homeschooled)

Publisher / Irritator-in-Chief

P.S.  OK, there was one race outside of Nevada of interest. 

In a special election in Virginia, Congressman J. Randy Forbes – who’s been in elected office for 26 years! – lost, 53-41%, in a GOP primary to a 36-year-old former Navy SEAL.

Watch out, Paul Ryan.  We’re comin’ for you next!

NEVADA NEWS & VIEWS

I knew.  I…KNEW…IT. 

As I noted here yesterday, it seemed odd that the local firefighters union would come out in opposition to allowing more local private hospitals to open more trauma centers.  I mean, what's it to them, right?

I surmised that there must be some self-serving reason for the union bosses, including Lyin’ Ryan Beaman, to oppose an idea that might save lives.  And, as it turns out, there is.

You see, two of the hospitals wishing to open new trauma centers are owned by Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), which has been the target of protests, pickets and harassment in recent months over what the unions, including the firefighters union, claim to be “stall tactics” on health insurance negotiations.

Of course, no mention of this vested interest in the issue was included in their op-ed opposing trauma center expansion that was published on Tuesday by the Las Vegas Sun. 

These sneaky, self-serving union bosses are as despicable as a tax-hiking RINO.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“In wartime, certain liberties have been suspended in order to protect the country.  This may be one of those times.  Or should we wait until our enemies obtain a weapon of mass destruction?  Congress should declare war on all terrorist groups.” – Columnist Cal Thomas