ASSEMBLY GOP’S “BENEDICT ARNOLDS” THREATEN NUCLEAR OPTION
Shortly after I sent out yesterday afternoon’s Silver State Confidential, I was
informed that the secret plans to force a Throw-Michele-Under-the-Bus meeting of the
Nevada Republican Assembly Caucus for tomorrow had been scuttled.
Public exposure appears to have the same effect on political
conspirators as a flashlight turned on cockroaches. Go figure.
The GOP establishment is absolutely horrified at the
prospect of going into the 2015 Nevada Legislature with conservatives holding
every one of the leadership positions in the Republican majority, as well as
several of the key committees – especially the Taxation Committee.
You see, Gov. Brian
Sandoval (R&R Advertising) is preparing to propose the Mother of All
Tax Hikes: The Sequel, and the last thing he wants is 15 conservative Republicans
blocking it in the Assembly the way they did in 2003 when then-Gov. Kenny
Guinn proposed the original Mother of All Tax Hikes.
And what is really giving him nightmares is the prospect of
conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore
not only chairing the Taxation Committee where his tax hike will be heard and
considered, but as Majority Leader of the Assembly, as well, where she’ll have
even greater clout and a bigger megaphone to rally public support in
opposition.
Here’s the problem in the GOP Assembly: There are two very
distinct, evenly-divided camps.
Camp A is led by conservatives Fiore, Assemblyman Ira Hansen and Assemblyman Jim Wheeler.
Camp B is led by GOP establishment moderate Assemblymen Paul Anderson, Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey and James
Oscarson.
Each camp has 12 members.
Speaker-in-Waiting Assemblyman John
Hambrick is the tie-breaking vote.
The conservative bloc supported Hambrick for Speaker. The moderates backed Anderson.
Hambrick won. Fair and square. And by tradition, the Speaker-elect of the
majority party is elected Speaker by acclamation by members of both parties on
the first day of the legislative session.
But Anderson and his side refuse to accept their
defeat. So instead, they’ve been whining
and threatening Hambrick all week with the “nuclear option.”
The nuclear option would be for Anderson and his band of
moderate Republicans to vote with the 17 Assembly Democrats to deny Hambrick
the Speakership.
Anderson and, presumably, Democrat Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick – who served as
Speaker in the 2013 session – would serve as co-Speakers and the various
committees would be reassigned with new Democrat-Republican co-chairs instead
of Republicans chairing those committees outright.
Meaning Fiore would be ousted as Chair of the Taxation
Committee.
That
this gaggle of crybaby moderate Republicans would sell
out to the Democrats for an unprincipled power-sharing arrangement after
some 30 years serving as the Assembly’s minority party is
simply outrageous.
Even more so when you recall the Great Cobb Convulsion of
2007.
Hearken back, dear reader, to the start of the legislative
session that year. The Democrats were
the majority party. Their Speaker-designate
was uber-liberal Assemblywoman Barbara
Buckley.
But when the vote for Speaker came up on opening day,
Buckley was elected 41-1 rather than by acclamation. The lone vote against her was cast by conservative
freshman Assemblyman Ty Cobb of
Reno. For which Cobb was pilloried
unmercifully by both Democrats and go-along-to-get-along establishment
Republicans.
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal described it at the time…
“You would have thought he'd danced naked into the chambers, painted
blue and started slaughtering livestock.”
So when one lone conservative Republican opts not to vote
for a liberal Democrat as Speaker…well, that’s a mortal sin and all hell breaks
loose.
But when a dozen moderate Republicans threaten to vote with
the Democrats to block a conservative-backed Speaker even though Republicans
are in the majority…well, that’s OK.
No, it’s not.
And Anderson & Company should be ashamed of themselves for
continuing this ongoing hissy fit. It’s
time for them to grow up and suck it up and get with the program. It’s time for them to be what they always
chastise conservatives to be when conservatives lose a leadership fight…
Good team players.
TODAY’S ASSEMBLY GOP LINE-UP
As the old saying goes, you can’t tell the players without a
scorecard. And many of you have written
asking which Assembly Republicans are on which team.
So with the understanding that some players might very well
switch teams at any time in the future, here’s how they match up as of this
morning…
TEAM FIORE
Assemblywoman Michele Fiore
Assemblyman Ira Hansen
Assemblyman Jim Wheeler
Assemblyman John Ellison
Assemblywoman Jill Dickman
Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman
Assemblywoman Robin Titus
Assemblywoman Vicki Dooling
Assemblywoman Shelly Shelton
Assemblyman Brent Jones
Assemblyman John Moore
Assemblyman David Gardner
TEAM ANDERSON
Assemblyman Paul Anderson
Assemblyman Chris Edwards
Assemblyman Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey
Assemblyman Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner
Assemblyman Lynn “Bug Man” Stewart
Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury
Assemblyman Wes Duncan
Assemblyman James Oscarson
Assemblyman Stephen Silberkraus
Assemblyman Derek Armstrong
Assemblyman P.K. O’Neil
Assemblyman Erv Nelson
TEAM MANAGER
Assemblyman John Hambrick
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"Millions of Americans cannot tell you who lived at
Mount Vernon or who wrote the Declaration of Independence - let alone the
Emancipation Proclamation. But they know that to be 'a Benedict Arnold' is to
be a traitor of the deepest dye - someone who coldly betrays not only a sacred
cause but every moral scruple along the way.” - Arthur L. Herman
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