ELECTION ’16: Some
Democrats I’m Supporting and Why
It took six years for Theo
Epstein, the Chicago Cubs’ president for baseball operations, to win the
World Series and break that 108 year curse.
And guess what?
They’re going to have to start all over again from scratch next
spring. That’s the nature of the
sport. There’s always next season.
Epstein knew and said that building a winning club would
take time. Rome wasn’t built in day, and
neither are world championships. His
objective was to get stronger season after season. And in the process, losing some seasons in
the short-term, as painful as they were, was necessary to move towards success
in the long run.
Which is the same way conservatives need to think in
politics.
No matter what happens on Tuesday, there will be all new
elections in 2018. And 2020. And 2022.
And…
However, in some cases an individual loss this cycle could
be devastating for the long term.
For example, if Republican Joe Heck loses to Democrat Catherine
Cortez Masto-Reid, that not only would saddle Nevada with
Reid-in-a-Pantsuit for six years, but could saddle the nation with Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader
for a decade or more.
On the other hand, there’s the Nevada Legislature.
Voters elected a Republican majority for both houses in 2014. However, they didn’t elect a CONSERVATIVE
majority in either GOP caucus. And so we
got screwed.
In the Senate it was 9 RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and 2
conservatives. In the Assembly, it was
13 RINOs vs. 12 conservatives.
As such, it was Republicans, led by a RINO governor, who
gave us the largest tax hike in Nevada history.
Reminding us once again that it’s not enough to just elect
more Republicans; you need to elect better ones as well.
So the question before
Nevada conservatives is this…
Do you want to reward this betrayal of GOP principles by
re-electing bait-and-switch Republicans who stabbed us in the back…or look at
the long-term and set a precedent NOW that clearly demonstrates that such
traitorous actions won’t be tolerated and will have serious consequences in the
future?
I’ve been in this game full-time for over 20 years. And God willing will still be in it for
another 20. So I’m playing for the long
term. As such, this question is easy for
me.
Screw the RINOs.
Make no mistake: That attitude could well put the Democrats
back in the majority for the 2017 session.
Then again, how much more damage could they do than the
Republicans did to us in 2015?
In fact, had it been a Democrat governor proposing that $1.4
billion tax hike, most Republicans never would have gone along with it.
So let’s take a look
at the Nevada State Senate…
Control of the State Senate, currently split 11-10 in favor
of Republicans, depends on the outcomes of three races…
- Senate District 5: Republican Carrie Buck vs. Democrat Sen. Joyce Woodhouse
- Senate District 6: Republican Victoria Seaman vs. Democrat Nicole Cannizzaro
- Senate District 15: Republican Heidi Gansert vs. Democrat Devon Reese
If Republicans lose two of these three, Democrats will
regain the majority – and all three are close.
None of the Republicans are incumbents who voted for the tax
hike, so I’m not out to “get” them in their individual races. However, all three are under the control of
GOP Senate Majority Leader Tax Hike Mike
Roberson – the Prince of RINOs (Gov. Brian
Sandoval is the King).
Seaman, in particular, is a problem.
Although she voted against the $1.4 billion tax hike as an
assemblywoman last year, she broke her Taxpayer Protection Pledge nine times on
other bills, has refused to re-sign it, and has gone completely over to the
Dark Side by pledging fealty to Darth Roberson.
For her part, Gansert was a GOP establishment shill when she
was in the Assembly and would also be a rubber stamp for Sandoval/Roberson next
year.
As for Buck, I know her and like her a lot…but she, too,
will owe her election to Roberson since Roberson has been her main funder for
the campaign.
It’s a pretty crappy
situation.
In these cases, I can’t bring myself to support any of the
Democrat candidates.
Then again, I have no desire to reward Roberson for his
treachery by returning him as majority leader.
Indeed, if the GOP loses its majority Tuesday night I won’t lose minute
of sleep.
That said, if I lived in Buck’s district, I’d vote for Buck
and hope for the best.
She’s never served in office, so we don’t know for sure how
she’d vote. Yes, she’ll be highly
influenced by Roberson, but she’s a pretty strong-willed woman. She deserves the benefit of the doubt
until/unless proved otherwise.
On the other hand, history has shown that Gansert and Seaman
will sell out conservatives and stab them in the back at the drop of a
hat. Knowing this, I couldn’t vote for
either.
So in the Seaman race I’d symbolically vote for “none of the
above” by simply leaving that race blank on my ballot. (The actual “None of the Above” option only
appears on ballots for statewide races.)
And in the Gansert race, I’d vote for the Libertarian
candidate.
SIDEBAR: Which reminds me: None of the Supreme Court or Appeals Court justices drew opponents. That’s not right. They also killed ESA’s. So I’m symbolically voting “None of the Above” in each of those races, as well.
One last Senate race:
District 3.
The incumbent is Democrat Sen. Tick Segerblom, my favorite unapologetic liberal.
His challengers – one Republican and one Libertarian – have
been all but invisible on the campaign trail.
Segerblom, on the other hand, is THE legislative
champion of the marijuana industry. If
you oppose legalizing marijuana, vote against Tick. But as everyone knows, I don’t. And regardless of what happens with Question
2 on Tuesday, marijuana advocates will NEED Tick in the Legislature next
session.
I’ve also, surprisingly, found common ground with Tick on a
number of other issues, such as criminal justice reform. Plus, he doesn’t seem to care for Tax Hike
Mike any more than I do. So even though
he and I disagree on 95 out of 100 issues…he’s my guy in this race.
Now on to the State
Assembly…
There were 13 RINO turncoats who voted for the largest tax
hike in Nevada history.
Four of them were scared to death of facing their betrayed
constituents in a re-election battle and quit.
Two others were defeated in primary challenges. And five now face viable general election
opponents.
One of these races is easy for conservatives…
RINO Assemblyman James
Oscarson in District 36 is facing Libertarian challenger Dennis Hof - with no Democrat in the
race. Hof has signed the Taxpayer
Protection Pledge. So there’s no
downside for conservatives to replace Oscarson with Hof. (Disclaimer: I’m a
paid consultant to Hof’s campaign.)
Next there’s RINO Assembly Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick. His sell-out of conservatives stretches FAR
beyond voting for the largest tax hike in history. The list is way too extensive to detail
here. Just take my word on this one.
His Democrat opponent, small businessman Owen Carver, was not the D’s preferred
candidate in this year’s primary and his party actively worked against
him. He defied them and the odds.
Alas, the GOP voter registration advantage in the district
is considerable. Carver’s only shot is
if a large number of #NeverRINO conservatives vote for Carver…which is exactly
what I’d do if I lived in that district.
Hambrick screwed us
royally…so screw Hambrick!
Next is Assembly District 29 between tax-hiking RINO
Assemblyman Derek Armstrong and
Democrat challenger Ozzie Fumo. I’ve already detailed why I’d vote for Fumo
in that race in a separate blog post. You
can read it here.
A similar situation exists in District 9 between tax-hiking
RINO Assemblyman David Gardner and
Democrat challenger Steve Yeager. But unlike Fumo, I don’t know Yeager or
anything about him.
So in that race I might be tempted to symbolically vote
“none of the above” by leaving it blank on my ballot. If Gardner is going to win, let him win with
RINO votes, not conservative ones.
Then again, when the time came to actually cast my ballot if
I lived in this district, I’d probably vote for the Democrat. Gardner lied to and screwed conservatives
royally…so screw him, too.
Ditto Assembly District 29 between tax-hiking RINO
Assemblyman Steve Silberkraus vs.
Democrat Lesley Cohen.
Silberkraus is both a weasel and a weenie. He posts the most asinine tweets I’ve ever
seen from a political candidate. Indeed,
I seriously think reading them kills brain cells. As such, I stopped “following” him months
ago.
He also lied through his teeth in a recent newspaper by
claiming he wasn’t detained and placed in handcuffs by Metro for stalking his
GOP primary opponent - and lied through his teeth about her in primary mailers.
Silberkraus is a tax-hiking RINO and a pathological
liar. He screwed conservatives
royally…so screw him. As a conservative
looking at the big picture, I’d vote for the Democrat in this race this time.
Now, here’s the
silver lining…
If these RINOs lose their seats and the GOP loses its
majority, it’ll be their own fault for stabbing conservatives and taxpayers in
the back. Again, I won’t lose minute’s
sleep over it. But there could be a big
benefit for conservatives as a result.
Here’s how…
The worst of the Assembly RINOs were the RINO leaders:
Speaker-of-the-Weak Hambrick and Majority Leader Paul Anderson.
Those two guided and engineered the tax hike in the
Assembly. And even though both are
likely to win re-election, that does not necessarily mean they’ll retain their
leadership positions.
Indeed, depending on how some other races turn out, if
Oscarson, Armstrong, Gardner and Silberkraus lose and the GOP ends up back in
the minority, it’s possible that conservatives could gain the majority of the
minority.
And that would mean Hambrick and Anderson could be ousted
from leadership, just as tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman Minority Leader Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey (more on this
clown below) was ousted immediately after the 2014 elections.
A Republican minority under conservative leadership would be
FAR better than the Republican majority under RINO leadership that
shoved the largest tax hike in Nevada history down our throats in 2015.
And that’s something conservative could build on for the
2018 election season.
Sometimes you just have to take one step back in order to
take two steps forward.
Other Democrats I
like…
In my own Assembly District 12, I’m supporting Democrat
Assemblyman James Ohrenschall.
I don’t know his Republican opponent and have never heard
from him. No mailers or even any yard
signs. Hard to take candidates seriously
who don’t take running a campaign seriously.
But more importantly, I haven’t forgotten that Ohrenschall
was one of only two Democrats two sessions ago who defied his party’s
gun-grabbing leadership and voted for that year’s campus carry bill. That took guts.
The other Democrat who stood tall for gun rights was
Assemblyman Richard Carrillo in
District 18.
This one’s a bit more problematic for me because I know and
like his Republican opponent, Christine
DeCorte. However…
While Carrillo got an “A-” rating by the National Rifle
Association, DeCorte chalked up a “C.”
What kind of conservative only gets a “C” from the NRA?
I also found it extremely distasteful that DeCorte did a
mailer against Carrillo over his arrest last year for DUI…even though he was
passed out in his car and not actually driving.
It’s not that DeCorte used the arrest in her campaign. That’s fair game. But what she did was show a photo of a guy
passed out in the bushes…but the photo was NOT of Carrillo. It was a stock photo of some other guy!
That’s a foul even in
the blood sport of politics.
To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how I would vote in this
race. Probably end up flipping a coin in
the voting booth.
In the Clark County Commission Race for District A, I
support incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak.
The guy has a strong pro-business background, was the most
active, inquisitive and responsible member of the Southern Nevada Tourism and
Infrastructure Committee, and had the cojones to stand up to the firefighters
union thugs a couple years ago.
And if he runs against a tax-hiking RINO for governor in
2016, I could very well end up backing him in that race, as well. Never again will I vote for a “Sandoval
Republican,” including Lt. Gov. Mark
Hutchison.
One more for the
road…
For Nevada State Board of Education, District 2: David Carter.
From his bio, Carter says he “retired as the Executive
Director of Fiscal Services, at Capistrano Unified School District (Orange
County, California), a district of 53,000 students, in 2012. My service totaled
thirty-three years in accounting/budgeting; including twenty-five in California
school districts. My service included working at small districts (2,000
students) and large (53,000 students), and financially strapped as well as
wealthy school districts. My time included working with school budgets, school
construction accounting, and projecting future school housing needs.”
He also opposed last year’s tax hikes by the Nevada
Legislature. Sounds highly qualified and
fiscally conservative enough regardless of who his opponent is. However…
His opponent is Pat
“The Appeaser” Hickey.
Hickey was once a RINO state assemblyman. In fact, until after the 2014 elections he
was the Republican Assembly Minority Leader who never met a tax he didn’t hike
– including voting for the largest tax hike in Nevada history last year.
Scared to death of facing voters after that vote, Hickey
quit and decided not to run again for re-election – which he would have lost in
a landslide.
But as a payoff for his tax vote, Gov. Brian “Worst Governor in America” Sandoval appointed Hickey to fill
a vacancy on the Board of Education.
Not only is Hickey a back-stabbing tax-hiking RINO, he also
has a spine made of Jell-O and is one of the smarmiest politicians in the
state. Voters everywhere should cheer if
he’s knocked off by Carver.
In conclusion…
I don’t expect all of you to agree with me on all of
these. And that’s OK.
But I can’t support any Republican who not only voted for
that $1.4 billion tax hike, but also voted to screw Nevada businesses and
job-creators with that new business income tax that’s very much like the one 80
percent of Nevada voters rejected at the polls in 2014.
Oh, and created a new “Nevada IRS” that even businesses that
don’t have to pay the tax must report to.
I will not reward Republicans for this betrayal simply
because they have an “R” next to their name, even if it means the GOP loses
their majorities. If they do, it’s their
own fault, not mine. Screw them.
And after all, if establishment Republicans aren’t bound by
party loyalty – remember “Republicans for Reid” and “Never Trump”? – why should
conservatives?
#NeverRINOs
Cheers.
Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
Professor of
Psephology (homeschooled)
Nevada’s #1 Irritator of Liberals and RINOs
P.S. The Las Vegas Raiders take on defending Denver Broncos
Super Bowl champs in tonight’s Sunday Night Football game. And, hey, if the Cubs can win the World
Series…
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