By Chuck Muth
Several years ago, to a “Perspective 2008” audience in Las Vegas, Somer Hollingsworth of the Nevada Development Authority observed: “Government has one business: That’s to beat the crap out of you.”
It was true back then, and remains true today.
And while there are certainly business organizations and associations out there that do darned good work on behalf of Nevada’s businesses, the state’s largest such advocate has a track record and reputation for going-along-to-get-along and cutting deals so that the government only beats half the crap out of you.
Feel better?
Now, I don’t want to name any names (the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce), but this particular business organization endorsed 16 legislative candidates in the June 12 primary elections. And only ONE of those candidates voted against last year’s re-imposition of that $620 million worth of tax hikes that primarily hit Nevada’s businesses (license fees and payroll tax) and/or signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge promising not to extend those business taxes again next year (Assemblyman Pete Livermore of Carson City).
Thanks to the Obama administration’s recent executive fiat granting backdoor amnesty to 800,000+ illegal immigrants, Arizona is studying last week’s White House directive as possible grounds for giving illegal immigrants the legal right to drive. Under a 1996 Arizona law, any person seeking a driver’s license must prove identity and legal presence in this country. The recent move by the feds to issue residency and work permits to illegal immigrants meeting the backdoor amnesty criteria may make these illegal immigrants eligible to apply for and receive driver’s licenses.