Saturday, January 3, 2015

SILVER STATE CONFIDENTIAL 01/03/2015

STUPID IS AS GOVERNMENT DOES

With reports of snow flurries in the Las Vegas valley on New Year’s Eve, it was only natural to assume there was significant accumulation up on Mt. Charleston, about a 45 minute drive from downtown.  As such, I loaded the kids into the van yesterday morning, stopped at Big 5 Sporting Goods to pick up a couple of new sleds, and headed for Lee Canyon.


The first thing I noticed was cars parked on both sides of the road right around where the snow line began…well before the Lee Meadows roadside area where folks usually pull off for their kids to do some free sledding.  WELL before.  I’ve never seen the area so crowded.

I mean, this place was packed with families and kids tramping through the snow and looking for anyplace with enough of a clearing and gravitational slope to accommodate a sled, no matter how short of a ride.  I even saw kids trying to sled down embankments that ended up directly in the road if they didn’t stop and hop off in time!

In fact, the ONLY area where families and kids were not sledding was…

The Foxtail Snow Play area which has been specifically cleared for sledding!

That’s right.  In the infinite wisdom of the geniuses at the U.S. Forest Service, it’s OK for people to sled pretty much anywhere in the Lee Canyon area, no matter how tree-filled and dangerous, except the area specifically set up for…sledding.

I know this because my kids and I walked into the Foxtail area – even though the parking lot had been plowed, the gate remained closed – and began having a blast sledding down the cleared sledding hills, far and safely away from the roadside traffic, only to be confronted by a woman shortly thereafter who informed us the sledding area was…duh…closed to sledding.

Apparently, according to the Einsteins running the Forest service, it’s not “safe” to sled in 9 inches of snow in the sledding area; only 12 inches of snow or more.  So although it was perfectly OK for people to sled everywhere else in the area, it was not OK to sled in the sledding area.

Forrest Gump would be so proud!

Fortunately, during the course of our conversation about the stupidity of not opening the sledding area for sledding while people were sledding everywhere else except the sledding area, I came to understand that while the woman had the responsibility to inform us that the sledding area was closed, she did not have the authority to make us leave.

Guess who’s kids had a blast sledding in the sledding area, all to themselves, for a couple hours yesterday afternoon?

FIORE FIRES BACK

Conservative Assembly Majority Leader-in-Exile Michele Fiore (R-Las Vegas) published a letter to Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick yesterday, disputing his authority to remove her from her elected leadership post unilaterally without a vote of the full caucus, as well as “appoint” liberal Assemblyman Paul Anderson as her replacement.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has the story here
The Las Vegas Sun has it here
The Reno Gazette-Journal here

And the Elko Daily Free Press has my explanatory column on Fiore’s tax liens here, and you can also access it here in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

OSCARSON “PULLS A HICKEY”

Meanwhile, Team Anderson back-bencher Assemblyman James Oscarson of Nye County mistakenly sent a sarcastic email relating to Fiore’s letter to Hambrick that appears to have been intended for Anderson and/or Hambrick to…Fiore!  It reads…

“It means she is again trying to draw attention to something she perceives is an issue. She should resign and put this behind us and allow the caucus to do the work we were elected to do.”

Now I know you Pahrumpians like this guy, but he’s nothing more than an establishment tool who’s in the tank for Anderson and the Sandoval tax hike.  And you’re all gonna wake up and realize it before the end of this session…after it’s too late.  I guarantee it.

In his email Oscarson unintentionally admits that Fiore IS still the legitimate Majority Leader.  Otherwise, why else would he so desperately want her to “resign”? 

And if she IS still the legitimate Majority Leader, why in the world wouldn’t she consider that an “issue”?

And since Fiore IS the legitimately elected Majority Leader, why should SHE “put this behind us” rather than Oscarson and Anderson? 

Plus, if the desired course of action now is to do the work “we were elected to do,” then shouldn’t he be supporting letting Fiore do the work she was elected to do since she, not Anderson, was elected as Majority Leader?

Hypocrisy you can cut with the knife.

In fact, if Hambrick had only sacked Fiore as Taxation Committee chairman and not tried to ham-handedly undo her election as Majority Leader, none of this would be happening.  The Speaker-of-the-Weak overstepped his authority and it’s he & Anderson who need to back down and let everyone get to the work they “were elected to do.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

CHAOS CAUCUS TO MEET AGAIN AFTER ALL

I hear that Majority Whip Jim Wheeler has obtained a ruling by a number of rules experts, all in agreement that Hambrick doesn’t have the authority do what Hambrick tried to do - including unilaterally replacing Fiore as Majority Leader with Anderson - without a new vote of the caucus members.

Wheeler wrote in an email yesterday that…

“(I)t is the opinion of all of the experts I contacted that the Speaker Designate does not have the unilateral power to remove someone from office if that person was elected by the body. This would cause havoc and is not permissible under either Roberts, NRS, or Mason’s (rules).”

In other words, Fiore is, in fact, still the duly elected Majority Leader, not Anderson.

In addition, although Hambrick hath decreed that there shalt be no further caucus meetings between now and the start of the session, Wheeler reportedly has obtained the 13 votes of caucus members necessary to call their own official meeting…with or without Hambrick…on Monday after all.

Adding fuel to an already explosive situation, I also hear a couple of Team Anderson players have challenged Wheeler as to whether or not he really has obtained the 13 votes needed to call the meeting; essentially calling Wheeler a liar. 

I’m guessing that’s not exactly what Dale Carnegie had in mind in his “How to Win Friends” book.

I’m also guessing that one of the doubting Thomases is Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards, who reportedly has been shopping his vote for Monday’s caucus meeting to the highest bidder in a desperate effort pay off some $40,000+ in campaign debt I hear he’s still carrying.

And finally in a related unrelated story - and in the age-old spirit of rats deserting a sinking ship - Republican Assembly Caucus director Justin Harrison is rumored to have taken another job and will not be returning to Carson City when the Legislature convenes in February. 

I understand Hambrick is hoping to raise from the dead Clyde Beatty to take the job.

RECALL FEVER: CATCH IT!

The following is my Top Ten list of Republicans who strategically deserve serious consideration of a recall effort for a variety of reasons…not the least of which is because they are largely (mis)representing Republican-majority districts and have no reason in the world to be voting for higher taxes, yet have not taken a massive tax hike this session off the table…

Assemblyman Chris Edwards: District 19 (Clark)
Assemblyman James Oscarson: District 36 (Nye, Lincoln, Clark)
Assemblyman Pat Hickey:  District (Washoe)
Assemblyman Randy Kirner: District 26 (Washoe)
Assemblyman Stephen Silberkraus: District 29 (Clark)
Assemblyman Derek Armstrong: District 21 (Clark)
Assemblyman Paul Anderson: District 13 (Clark)
Assemblyman Lynn Stewart: District 22 (Clark)
Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury: District 23 (Clark)
Assemblyman P.K. O’Neil: District 40 (Carson City)

If you live in the district of one of the above and are interested in forming your own district recall committee, let me know.  I’d be happy to help you set it up, give you some guidance and serve as your resident agent.

If you’re not sure which district you live in, just click here and enter your address.

ROSS THE BOSS SPINS HIS LOSS

In a totally self-serving farewell message to Nevadans, outgoing Secretary of State Ross Miller wrote: “I can say with complete confidence that throughout one of the most partisan eras in our nation's history, your Secretary of State's office has performed its duties and functions in a bipartisan manner…”

As one of Miller’s victims in a costly, still-unresolved partisan witch hunt to redefine “express advocacy” – along with two other conservative organizations - all I can say is, “Hoo-aah, what a whopper!”

Then again, it is true that tax and regulatory changes Miller forced upon Nevada’s business community - including small, home-based businesses – screwed everybody in a truly bipartisan manner.  Ross Miller was the most anti-business Secretary of State this state has ever seen. 

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“The property taxes and property tax increase are paid in most cases by the small business tenants further increasing their cost of doing business and staying in business.  The modified business tax is a payroll tax. It is a head tax based on how many people are employed by a business. It does not take into consideration whether or not a business is profitable. It is a tax penalty paid by employers to hire people and create jobs.  The examples stated are just two that could seriously hurt Nevada's small businesses. They need to be considered by responsible legislators.” – Restaurateur and former Nevada Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt


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