SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 11/29/2014

HELP WANTED: ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE FOR DISTRICT 36 Nevada Assembly District 36 is one of the safest Republican districts in the entire state.  There are over 14,000 registered Republicans and less than 10,000 registered Democrats.  Attila the Hun can be elected here. Indeed, the highest-rated conservative legislator for the 2011 session - Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, who chalked up a stellar 93.5% conservative voting score - represented District 36 that year. Unfortunately for conservatives, Goedhart opted to return to the private sector and was replaced in 2012 by James Oscarson, who unlike Goedhart, refused to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Strike one. Worse, Oscarson chalked up the 8th WORST conservative rating among Republicans on Citizen Outreach’s scorecard in the 2013 legislative session, voting conservative less than half the time (49.02% rating). But I guess because he’s such a likeable guy it appears conservatives and fellow Republicans in District 36 gave him and his decidedly less-than-impressive voting record a pass and re-elected him on November 4th. But here’s the problem… It’s not just their votes on issues during the legislative session that can help or hurt the conservative movement.  In fact, Oscarson’s FIRST vote after this year’s election was perhaps the single most important vote of the 2015 legislative session… The vote on whether or not to oust wishy-washy moderate Assemblyman Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey as caucus leader and replace him with conservative Assemblyman Ira Hansen. Unfortunately, Oscarson wasn’t with us on that one. Strike two. Instead he allowed Gov. Brian Sandoval’s minions to fill his head with delusions of grandeur.  Word on the street is that Oscarson was promised support for a run for lieutenant governor down the road if he would just stick with Hickey.  And so the ambitious Mr. Oscarson sold out his conservative base in District 36 for the potential promise of higher office. Fortunately, Hansen prevailed without Oscarson’s support. Unfortunately, it’s déjà vu all over again. With Hansen stepping down from the Speaker-designee spot, there’s a new leadership battle on the horizon.  The caucus will meet in Las Vegas Tuesday evening to elect a replacement for Hansen, and probably a different Majority Leader, as well. There are two evenly-split camps in the Republican Assembly Caucus right now.  There’s the conservative team led by Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, the highest-rated legislator in the 2013 session (84.62% conservative score), and the second-highest rated Assemblyman Jim Wheeler (75.47% conservative score) vs. the moderate GOP establishment team led by the ousted Hickey (46.15% conservative score) and Assemblyman Paul Anderson, the single-worst, lowest-rated GOP legislator in the 2013 session (30.00% conservative score). Guess which team Mr. Oscarson is playing on? Sorry, Charlie, but three strikes and you’re out. So I’m avoiding the Christmas rush and am now accepting “applications” from conservatives in Assembly District 36 who might consider a Republican primary challenge to Assemblyman Oscarson in 2016. Conservative icon William F. Buckley’s rule was to support the most conservative electable candidate.  Looking at the voter registration numbers in this district, there’s simply no excuse whatsoever for not nominating and electing someone with far stronger conservative bona fides than Mr. Oscarson. Frankly, it’s embarrassing to have replaced a staunch conservative hero such as Assembly Goedhart with such a mushy-moderate establishment GOP “sell-out” more interested in higher office than advancing conservatism in this upcoming historical legislative session. Not much we can do about it now for the 2015 session, but there’s no time like the present to begin preparing for the next election. So if you’re a true-blue, unapologetic conservative who is unafraid to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and might consider running in the 2016 Republican Party primary for Assembly District 36, shoot me a confidential email expressing your interest and we’ll start laying some groundwork. Or if you, personally, don’t want to run but know of someone else who might be good…let me know that, too, and I’ll follow up. Contact me at: chuck@campaigndoctor.com And if you’d like to contact Mr. Oscarson directly… Phone: 775-513-7468 Email: James.Oscarson@asm.state.nv.us MORE PRIMARY BAIT I’m hearing rumblings that freshman Assemblyman Chris Edwards, District 19, is similarly migrating over to the “dark side.”  District 19 is a strong Republican-majority district; however, Edwards somehow racked up what appears on campaign finance reports to be a campaign debt of some $25,000…though I’ve heard it’s actually more than DOUBLE that!  Not exactly “fiscal conservatism,” is it? In any event, word on the street is that Anderson has agreed to help Edwards retire his campaign debt in return for Edwards’ supporting Anderson for Speaker and/or Majority Leader in this week’s caucus election.  If so, we’ll soon know how much 30 pieces of silver is worth these days. We’ll also know where another 2016 Republican primary challenge will be in order. Edwards, by the way, not only refuses to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, you may recall that in his failed congressional campaign against Rep. Dina Titus in 2012, he produced a low-budget YouTube video in which he absurdly and preposterously claimed that some 90 percent of the voters he talked to said they didn’t want him to sign it. As if 90 percent of the voters have even heard of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. This guy can’t be believed. This guy can’t be trusted.  I predict it’s only a matter of time before he trips over his own B.S. and earns a well-deserved primary challenge in 2016. Here’s Edwards contact info in case you enjoy having smoke blown up your skirt… Phone: (702) 715-4308 Email: Chris.Edwards@asm.state.nv.us REMINDER: VOTE TODAY IN $100,000 TEACHER CHALLENGE Remember, you can (and should, please) 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.  And remember, you can vote every day until the deadline on November 30th.  You know, just like in Chicago elections! FAMOUS LAST WORDS “It’s better for conservatism if the GOP establishment is pulled toward the Tea Party, rather than repelled from it” – Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg 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…