SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 01/01/2015

KING JOHN’S LATEST OUTRAGE According to the word on the street, Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick has decided that even though he doesn’t chair a single committee, liberal Republican Assemblyman Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey has been re-assigned to the large and luxurious office usually reserved for the chairman of the powerful Assembly Ways & Means Committee. Suspicion is that this move was made to (a) derail Hickey’s plans to use the “nuclear option” to knock Hambrick out of the Speaker’s chair on February 2nd, and (b) allow Hambrick, once he is officially elected Speaker of the Assembly, to immediately tap Hickey as the new Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee.  Which will be awfully convenient since Hickey will already be in the Ways & Means Committee chairman’s office! The for-now Ways & Means Committee chair, liberal Republican Paul Anderson, has been appointed by Hambrick – without authority – to replace conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore as Majority Leader and, if the appointment holds, will reside in the Majority Leader’s office. I say, “if the appointment holds” because Fiore remains the duly elected Majority Leader and is not prepared to give up that position without another election or proof that Hambrick has the authority to remove her unilaterally without consultation or consent of the full caucus. In that regard, one of Team Anderson’s followers, the hyper-thin-skinned Assemblyman Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner (RINO-Kirner Tax), is claiming that according to “Mason’s Rules” Hambrick has “complete unilateral authority” to remove Fiore and appoint Anderson as ML.  But it is the Nevada State Assembly itself that operates under Mason’s Rules, not the Republican Assembly Caucus.  And there appears to be either (a) no bylaws for caucus operations or (b) no caucus bylaws that address this particular situation.  So Hambrick and Team Anderson are simply declaring a coup and hoping the conservative members of the caucus will simply tire of the fight and give up. Meanwhile, Hambrick has also unilaterally cancelled Monday’s Republican Assembly Caucus (RAC) meeting that was scheduled to be held in Carson City to coincide with the swearing-in ceremonies for statewide officers.  In a memo to caucus members yesterday, Hambrick declared… “I have spoken about a possible caucus meeting after the Inauguration on Jan 5th. I have decided that there will not be a meeting on the 5th and we will not be holding any further caucus leadership votes. Our team is set.” Hambrick obviously fears his team is NOT set; that a meeting of caucus members could result in (a) undoing his universal undoing of Fiore’s election as Majority Leader and/or (b) undoing his own election as Speaker-designee. Regardless of how you feel about Hambrick and the situation related to the internal strife that continues to plague this political gang that can’t shoot straight, how can an elected caucus leader tell the caucus members who elected him that they’re not allowed to meet, especially since they will already be in Carson City at the same time on Monday anyway? Is John Hambrick establishing his own GOP caliphate? Here’s King John’s email address: john@hambrick4assembly.com LAST CHANCE TO SIGN OUR “DEAR JOHN” LETTER If you want to add your name to our letter to Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick urging him to do the “right” thing and resign as Speaker-designee or face a recall effort, please e-sign it before midnight tonight, January 1, 2015. Just go to www.ResignOrRecall.com NO FIRST FRIDAY HAPPY HOUR TOMORROW I didn’t get a notice until yesterday, but January’s First Friday Happy Hour – now hosted by the Nevada Republican Men’s Club – has been cancelled for tomorrow night due to the New Year’s holiday weekend. Speaking of the NRMC... I know he’s going to hate me for suggesting this, but former Nevada Republican Men’s Club President Phil Perine would make an EXCELLENT Clark County Republican Party chairman.  He did an absolutely fantastic job with the NRMC over the past year. Which reminds me: As part of the GOP’s “war on women,” the new president of the Nevada Republican Men’s Club is…Suzette LaGrange.  A woman.  Go figure. DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS I passed a gas pump last night advertising unleaded for just $2.35 a gallon.  Thank you, Republicans! *   *   *   *   * So a conservative group I’d never heard of did some robo-calls over the holidays in the district of Assemblyman Derek Armstrong relating to the issue of taxes and possibly siding with Democrats in a “nuclear option” scheme.  In response, fellow Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards sent an email to the rest of the Republican Assembly Caucus members calling the conservative activists “imbeciles.”   I guess it really does take one to know one. *   *   *   *   * Which GOP political consultant – Cory Christensen or Nathan Emens – blackmailed Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick; threatening to personally sue every member of the Republican Assembly Caucus if Hambrick didn’t unilaterally remove Majority Leader Michele Fiore from her leadership posts?  Hambrick still isn’t saying, but a consensus among players involved in the scandal has settled on… Emens. Indeed, the circumstantial evidence pointing at Emens is so strong now that, absent an outright denial by either Emens or Hambrick that Emens is the blackmailer, I’m going to assume he is, indeed, the guilty party.  I don’t want to keep blaming Christensen and raising suspicion about him for something he probably didn’t do. *   *   *   *   * Liberal Republican Assemblyman Pat “The Appeaser” Hickey burbled out a New Year’s column calling his fellow GOP caucus members “clowns” and bemoaning the “partisan caucus” system that he, himself, led in the last legislative session until his colleagues kicked him to the curb after November’s elections. Republican grassroots activist Walt Nowosad inked an appropriate response do Hickey’s sour grapes whining.  Click here to read it. *   *   *   *   * Our friend Wayne Allyn Root has a special Happy New Year message: “Let’s celebrate Obama!”  Click here *   *   *   *   * The 29-year-old illegal alien who plowed over and killed Michael Grubbs while he was pushing his granddaughter in her stroller just a couple days before Thanksgiving was, according to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal “convicted in a DUI crash and was ‘very uncooperative’ with authorities during the investigation.”  The woman “also was cited for having an open container of alcohol while in a vehicle” earlier this year.  The woman has been living in the U.S. illegally since 2006, yet was never deported despite at least two serious, dangerous run-ins with the law.  It makes no sense.  And now an innocent man doing nothing but taking his granddaughter for a stroller ride is dead.  And before the usual crowd goes bonkers claiming I’m just anti-Hispanic, this particular illegal alien is from…Bulgaria. It’s not the nationality; it’s the illegality. FAMOUS LAST WORDS “A politician open to tax increases has decided that reforming government to work better and cost less is simply too much work.” – Grover Norquist, president, Americans for Tax Reform 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…