SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 11/21/2014

DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS Busy night Thursday…especially for an old guy accustomed to turning in around 9 o’clock! First there was a reception for Nevada State Sen. Tick Segerblom (D-Las Vegas) at his home in which he was feted for his work on the state’s medical marijuana dispensary bill.  My 14-year-old daughter – attired in a cute but not too revealing (!) black cocktail dress borrowed from her mom - went with me.  Kristen sat next to Sen. Segerblom the day his bill actually passed in the Senate last session and they became fast friends. Interestingly, there were a LOT of Republicans at the event, including conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, the “28th Vote” that allowed Tick’s bill to pass in the Assembly.  Apparently marijuana is the bipartisan drug of choice that unites otherwise warring political clans. From there we joined my friend and political consultant Steve Brown and a dozen of his friends from L.A. at Tao for dinner before we all tried to sneak Kristen into the Latin Grammies after-party at the XS Nightclub at the Wynn.  No dice.  She got “carded” and kicked out.  Somehow I forgot to get her a Mexican consular card showing that she was 21. Lousy, stinking government nannies!  It’s not like the kid was drinking or gambling or smoking a cigar.  She was with her dad for a rare opportunity at a really cool, star-studded party – something, as a kid, she would remember and tell her own kids about sometime down the road (in about 40 years!). Then again, this was yet another early-age lesson about the dangers of an all-powerful government taking decisions away from individuals and investing them in “Big Brother.”  So I guess some good will still come out of this otherwise not-so-fun experience. The hardest part of the evening, though, was getting enough caffeine in me through tiny cups of cappuccino and energy drinks to stay awake through the midnight showing of the new “Hunger Games” movie which my new teenage daughter – Jenna, 13 today – insisted upon for her birthday. But enough of that.  Back to politics… Both Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) have now ruled out a run for the U.S. Senate against Harry Reid in 2016. *IF* Reid runs for re-election, which I’m predicting he won’t. That leaves conservative Republican Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Beers as the only active GOP candidate for the race unless/until Reid announces his retirement.  Then, and only then, will Gov. Brian Sandoval (R&R-Advertising) also jump into the race – providing his political handler, Pete Ernaut, lets him. Guess who’s coming to lunch? I attended an LVGEA forum on education yesterday at the MGM Grand Conference Center – in which no real new ground was broken - mostly because none of the panelists were movement conservatives but, rather, representatives of the teachers union and more-money-for-education politicians, including Senate Majority Leader Moderate Mike Roberson (RINO- But the real fun part for me was being seated at the “Media” table right next to my ol’ buddy… Jon Ralston, Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger! Reporter Amber Phillips does a post-election autopsy of Democrat congressional candidate Erin Bilbray-without-the-Kohn’s excuse-ladened campaign corpse which is eerily reminiscent of the failed U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Sharron Angle four years ago.  It includes a reference to the “long Twitter arguments with conservative Nevada Republicans about whether Heck's team could put yard signs in her neighbor's yard.”  Gee, I wonder who they’re talking about!  You can read the full article by clicking here. Assemblyman Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner (RINO-Kirner Tax) has earned himself the reputation of being the biggest crybaby in the Legislature.  This guy will whine about any story of any kind from anybody that is not to his liking.  He’s that annoying spoiled kid we all grew up with who literally took his ball and went home if he didn’t get his way. So it really was no surprise when the Father of the Kirner Tax when to court this week and obtained a temporary injunction against a requested recount by his Republican challenger, Lisa Krasner - who he defeated on election day by just 11 votes. Fortunately, Kirner lost in court on Thursday.  The recount process will commence this afternoon.  Here’s hoping for a miracle and this “girlie man” also loses the recount! The long knives are out for Assemblyman Ira Hansen (R-Reno) over provocative statements he made and wrote as long as 20 years ago as an opinion columnist and conservative radio talk-show host.  The overwrought frothing by liberal activists such as unionista Andrew Barbano and the NAACP on the internet, social media and email is almost comical to behold. Do you know what this is?  It’s just another high-tech lynching of a conservative leader.  The left has been pulling this crap for decades.  It even has its own verb: “borking.” Problem is, a lot of Republicans fall for this every time.  Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if some fair-weather pansy (is that “homophobic”?) Republicans have already advised Hansen to throw in the towel and resign. Speaking of which… Conservative-loathing political consultant Mike Slanker – writing under the pen names of “Brian Sandoval” and “Dean Heller” - issued completely unnecessary and chillingly hyperbolic statements yesterday condemning Hansen’s exercise of free speech and thought.  And that is FAR more outrageous and dangerous than anything Hansen ever wrote or said. By the way, has anyone else ever heard the phrase “sticks and stones can break your bones but names will never hurt you,” or is that something crazy my mom and dad taught just me and my brothers and sisters? From the Department of Unsolicited Advice: If whoever is advising Speaker-designate Hansen thinks liberals will drop it and this story will blow over in a couple of days if they just don’t comment on it, I have three words for them: “chickens for checkups.” When these people smell blood in the water, they’re like dogs on a bone.  So this is no time to “bunker down.”  This is but the first test to see if Hansen has the stones to fight back when punched in the nose.  This is, as Joe Biden once so eloquently put it, “gird your loins” time.  This is no time to “pull an armadillo” by rolling over and playing dead.  It’s honey badger time, baby! ONLY 9 DAYS LEFT TO VOTE IN $100,000 TEACHER CHALLENGE Remember, you can (and should) vote every day for Brenda Moynihan in her effort to secure a $100,000 grant for C.T. Sewell Elementary School in Henderson.  CLICK HERE to vote.  FAMOUS LAST WORDS “The Obama administration admitted Thursday that it over-reported the number of people who signed up for medical coverage under the President’s signature health care law by double-counting, in its initial reported numbers, hundreds of thousands of people who enrolled in dental insurance plans.” – New York Daily News, 11/20/14 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…