UNR Get's Cuts. AB 449 Get's Sandoval's Undying Love and Support

Let me see if I get this right. The Governor’s draconian budget cuts have finally gotten the quiet UNR President Milton Glick to finally step onto the front page of today’s RGJ and kindly refer to the $59 million cuts as a “game changer”. (The full text of his comments are below).

Just below that headline, there is another story about an “ambitious economic development bill (AB449)” that was introduced, which Governor Sandoval says will cure damn near everything wrong with the state.

WTF? How many economic development canards has this state seen in the last 40 years? And here, they’re trying to sell us another one! Gee, if it creates jobs, it must be good? Right? Ask instead, does it create sustainable jobs, and better yet, sustainable communities.

Here’s some heresy: A new job doesn’t always create a better balance sheet for communities.

If economic development councils worked so damn well, why are we in the pickle we’re in right now? And, furthermore, how is our deluded Governorship going to convince business and industry to come to Nevada when the state can only boast one of the worst K-12 and higher education systems in the nation?

The FactCheckers at the Reno Gazette-Journal could do us all a huge favor and expose the lie that is ‘Economic Development’ councils/commissions/study groups. Talking about auditing the mining industry, how about auditing these black holes for tax dollars to ensure they produce what they promise.

It always sounds so good. ‘We’re gonna take a real look at our economic development efforts … blah, blah, blah and bring in new businesses to our state… blah, blah and create jobs!’ During times of financial stress - like now - I think you could sell Nevadans anything to promises to create jobs and pulls us out of the hole we’re in.

But please tell me how that will work with a wrecked and broken educational system. I’m sorry, but this is putting the cart before the horse. Worse, there are Democrats in Nevada who step up to support this - like John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.

Here’s why I believe the Monkey See-Monkey Do of ‘Economic Development’ should get a hard second look:

Economic Development efforts relieve local and state officials from having to the do the hard work of creating real cities and towns - communities with that often intangible ‘something’ to offer that draws investment from our neighbors.

Constantly at the top of that list of ‘something’ is a first rate educational environment. Placing close behind that are liveable communities, richly textured with less suburban sprawl, more arts and entertainment, diverse options for shopping, housing and mobility. The old  economic drivers of safety, leadership and services are more often led today by aesthetics in communities that are not dominated by the car-centered culture of the 1950’s-1990’s.

Successful communities - like Portland, Oregon - happen more organically, with a focus less upon buying ‘off the shelf’ packaged ‘solutions’ to their problems and more taking hard, honest looks at who they want to be and working within that. Nevada’s leaders have bought into the fantasy that they can spend their way back from the fiscal brink by offering ever more ‘incentives’ to bring business in - with the hope that another new industry/factory/distribution center would somehow create that ideal city where people just want to be.

This sort of old-thinking belies the real reasons people live where they live, and how economic growth flows from that (rather than the other way around!).

Knight Soul of the Community 2010 - National from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

Governor Sandoval, we’ve run out of things to give away. We’re fresh out of ‘incentives’. Will you please quit selling the same-old, same-old Ponzi Scheme of Economic Development? How do you plan to commercialize research from broken university systems?

Jobs and growth are the results of good economic and community planning, not a proxy for that.

Take a look at the Strategic Plan for Los Angeles County. Where do you see further tax breaks mentioned as an incentive to bring business in?

The overwhelming number of businesses in the United States have 10 employees or less. Visionary communities aren’t just seeking the next BIG industry or company to bring in from the outside, but rather how to nurture and grow from the inside outward, their own native talent - bright entreprenuers who live here because it’s the best place to live … not here just on account of the tax breaks. Tax breaks are only as good as the underlying economy. As soon as your neighbor offers a better one, those relying on that alone will be gone in a heartbeat.

Again, livable communities with solid educational credentials provide that rich soil for entreprenuerial growth and resulting economic prowess. Not more ‘Economic Development’ committees seeking to further cannabalize the picked clean bones of what’s left of a shattered economy, or steal from their neighbors.

The most sought after industries are the creative/knowledge economy. The Kaufman Foundation has published a report which outlines where the states stand right now (Nevada is number 30) in their attempts to develop economically through this recession, and how those states who will be successful might actually do it. Again, the same old cannabalistic economic development programs aren’t going to be models for new thinking.

Sprawl repair could put a lot of Nevadans back to work. Urban sprawl - particularly in places where land has been historically cheap and under-utilized such as Nevada - is contributing to negative perceptions of our state. Probably far more than the occasional whore house.

GenY want’s to walk. They’re willing to pay a premium for it. These are your entreprenurial, knowledge/creative businesses of the future. They don’t want to live out in BFE … or Spanish Springs, or Silver Springs, or Fernley and commute. That’s so 1960’s. Their grandparents day.  Where do you see the great bulk of foreclosures? Out in the sprawl. This doesn’t even account for the millions of boomers who want to age in place.

Do this hard work to repair sprawl, and the good businesses will come flocking.

So, at the end of the day, all AB449 says to me is ‘more old thinking’ and hanging desperately to what seemed to work in the past. Keep doing things the way you’ve always done them, the old Incident Command instructor told us, you’ll keep on getting the results you’ve always gotten. Except when it comes to ‘Economic Development’ we don’t actually know how well it’s worked - especially during the tough times. We’re guessing. We can’t afford to guess anymore.

It’s time to repair the educational system in Nevada, and quit with the magical thinking of ‘Economic Development’. These type of initiatives merely serve to obscure what really needs to be done to improve our states communities and make them the real drivers for sustainable growth and progress.

-maven

If you’re concerned - as you should be - here is the full text of President Glick’s comments:

AT A GLANCE

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Monday Musings: March 28. 2011

I write this powered by ginger ale. As regular readers might’ve noticed, there wasn’t a Friday Fish Wrap this week, since yours truly was laid very low by your friendly gastroenteritis - aka Norovirus. The mere idea of sitting upright, at the computer, made my stomach turn. It was horrible, but I’m sorta, kinda back up and running - just not on all cylinders.

Queasy tummies are not helped by the day’s news headlines.

Like this morning, when I found myself in agreement with Bill O’Reilly on Libya. That would’ve sent me reaching for ginger ale on a good day.

Here’s the Maven’s take on Libya: This isn’t Iraq or Afghanistan. Up to now, it’s been apples and oranges. There was not, apparently, time to dither. Qaddafi was, reportedly, about to make good on an insane promise to commit mass murder - PDQ. A ‘No-Fly Zone’ was crafted in short order - by  U.N. resolution and NATO coalition of which we are a part. Last time I checked, simply declaring a ‘No-Fly Zone’ doesn’t make it one. Some enforcement is called for. As I understood it, the ‘goal’ was to prevent imminent - as in ‘any moment now’-  harm to thousands of people. And to throw a bit of breathing space around Benghazi.

“Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures … to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph which shall be immediately reported to the Security Council” (emphasis mine.)

Although I’m not a Constitutional scholar - like say, Sharron Angle - I’m okay with giving the President a temporary pass on this one in regard to Presidential War Powers. Are we ‘at war’? Did we declare war on Libya? Are there boots on the ground ala Lebanon or Somalia? I must of missed that. I thought it was more of a quick strike police action sponsored by the UN and prosecuted by NATO. We are a part of NATO. Now, the French and others of the coalition have seemingly taken the lead - which was the intention all along as I understood it.

I get ‘mission creep’, and the very real fears in Congress of an erosion of their Constitutional power to ‘declare war’. It’s now time for Mr. Obama to come to the American people and Congress to make his case. For any actions going forward from this point, I think Congress has every right to assume it’s Constitutional authority under Article 1, Section 8.

As I said the other day, people from both the right and left - most notably Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-OH - need to take a deep breath. Let’s listen in on Monday night. Let the man make his case, and then move on with deliberate speed.

Or, as my late father used to say: “Stop. Back up, and proceed with caution.” Words to live by.

Now, on to the Nevada Budget Theatre. Act II - Mining for Deductions.

In this mornings Reno Gazette-Journal, Tim Crowley, President of the Nevada Mining Association, sent me reeling for yet more ginger ale. “Nevada mining has been an active participant in helping to solve Nevada’s fiscal issues”. On which planet?

Mr. Crowley has been listening too much to Gov. Brian Sandoval - or is it the other way around? Yessir, there is a sliding scale of 2 to 5 percent of Net Proceeds of Mineral Tax. Yup. It’s mandated by the Nevada Constitution. Then Mr. Crowley goes on to explain how hard and expensive it is to get all those itsy-bitsy flecks of gold and other minerals out of the spaces between grains of sand.

Wow. And yet, despite this difficulty, Nevada’s mining companies still somehow managed to walk away with BILLIONS. And pay nada, zero, zip in the way of any portion of that 5 percent. You can audit this until the cows come back home, and they’ll explain that “it’s the deductions, stupid!”

Pad enough tax deductions into any tax rate and you’ll end up paying zero taxes. This is what companies like all-American General Electric have done so well … leaving you and me to pick up their share. We may not have hundreds of tax attorneys at our beck and call, but we weren’t born yesterday - well the TeaBaggers were, but that’s another story.

The hands down best research and scholarship on this has been done by The Las Vegas Gleaner - It’s not the audits, it the deductions … - where he points out that 111 times in the last 10 years, the mining industry, although managing to squeak out of the state with a mere $4.3 BILLION in minerals, paid nada, zip, nothing in taxes on those minerals. As the price of gold skyrocketed to historic levels.

Here’s how the Gleaner stated it:

 
”- From 2000 through 2007, the mining industry in Nevada extracted and sold gold
worth $25.5 billion, and paid taxes to the state general fund totaling $125.3
million, an effective gross state tax rate of one-half of one percent.  
 
- Mine owners are allowed to write off expenses as deductions. Over the last
eight years, the Nevada mining industry has deducted 79 percent of the value of
gold production, and paid taxes only on the value of the remaining 21 percent.
 
- In any given year from 2000 through 2007, one-third to one-half of all the
mines operating in the state produced gold worth hundreds of millions of dollars
but reported zero taxable proceeds.
 
- Nevada’s two largest gold mines, the Barrick Goldstrike mine and Newmont’s
Carlin Trend project, have reported zero taxable values during years when the
mines have produced gold worth a half billion dollars or more.
 
- While the 5 percent Net Proceeds of Minerals (NPOM) tax rate is written in the
Nevada Constitution and would take years to change, the deductions by which the
mining industry avoids so much taxation are written in state statutes (NRS
362.120) and can be eliminated through legislation, raising tens and possibly
hundreds of millions of dollars for the state budget as early as the next biennium.” Las Vegas Gleaner

You have expenses. I have expenses. Somehow they just don’t add up to zero taxes - at least ours didn’t this year.

When I moved to Nevada, I realized that I might be moving in with people that were cynical, greedy and were here to avoid paying their share somewhere else. What I didn’t realize was that I was also moving in with people who were amazingly, profoundly stupid - as in letting the mining companies walk away leaving us all holding the bag for the rent.

Meanwhile, Nevadan’s elect ninnies like the bobble-headed Brian Sandoval to mouth morally satisfying deficit reduction, cutting and saving platitudes while making excuses about how highway robbery by mining is simply ‘the law’. He might as well have told Jon Ralston “Hey, Jon … it is what it is”, got up, tore off the ‘mike’ … throw it down and walk off the set for dramatic effect. I could have respected him for that.

But shit rolls downhill. What the Bizarro World GOP/TeaBagger Party hath wrought in Washington, holding the wimpy Dems hostage to their warped fiscal worldview, pushes the pain down to the beleaguered states, who - as in Nevada - would push it further to the cities and counties.

Lyon County is in a world of hurt, leading the way among Nevada counties in the pain parade. A report from Moody’s Investors Service, a rating agency, noted the trend, saying that states are “increasingly pushing down their problems.” They continued, saying that this coming year would be the “toughest year for local governments since the economic downturn began.”

What the citizens of Nevada need to do is ask Gov. Sandoval, and Tim Crowley, how far they plan on pushing down the state’s problems before facing reality? I mean, what happens when they get to the bottom?

Other Stuff.

Sharron Angle is back. She reminds me of the crazy relative. Every family has one. This is the one (usually with an ‘substance abuse’ problem) who shows up at family events - and everybody holds their collective breath hoping against hope that she doesn’t make a scene. Of course, if you’re me … I’m hoping for the opposite, under the banner of always having something to blog about.

Concealed Weapons on Nevada Campuses? WTF? Are they crazy? Answer: See above discussion about mining taxes. Talk about a tragedy waiting to happen.

Spending a Day With NPR. Friday, I was actually too sick to watch television or read. So I just left NPR on low in the background for the whole day, as the cat lay wrapped around my head. Now I understand why the GOP wants to gut their funding. It’s because NPR actually has a lot of content that is A) Fascinating, B) Professional, C) Fair and Balanced, D) Engaging, Entertaining and Educational,  E) Relavant and F) Highly addicting. In other words, everything that regular radio isn’t. Somebody tell Rush Limbaugh.

The Weather. I’m so over this winter. I’ve also had more than enough of the wind howling around the house, sounding like the roof is coming off any moment.

Psychic Fair. When the weather turns warm and sunny, I’ll be looking foward to turning a Skeptical eye to the upcoming Reno Psychic Fair. Maybe they can look into the Tarot Cards or chicken guts and divine just how Gov. Sandoval can find the money to balance the budget, feed the hungry, fight fires, keep the lights on in the university system, educate the little children - all without raising taxes, even on mining.

Maybe I’ll get a ‘reading’ and let you know.

Cheers.

-maven

Simply stupefying speechifying: Sandoval and Obama

Washington, D.C.—Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement in reaction to the President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“Tonight we heard a blueprint for how to move our country forward by investing in what works and cutting what doesn’t. We heard a vision for keeping America a global economic superpower by out-educating, out-innovating and out-building our competition. To get there, we’ll have to set aside our differences and reach across the aisle.

“In Nevada, that means working together to create good paying clean energy jobs, training our workforce with the tools needed to compete in a global economy and boosting our small business community.

“Republicans have a responsibility to work with us to create jobs instead of wasting time with pointless political stunts. Republicans should join us in looking to the future instead of refighting old battles and pressing extreme, ideological plans to end Social Security and Medicare. I hope they will join us in finding common-sense solutions to the challenges we face as a nation – to rebuild our economy today, create the jobs of the future and strengthen the middle class.”

###

Sigh. Too true. The GOP leaving hard line ideology behind and joining in good faith? Good luck with that. Here’s a post-partisan tweet from Rep. Paul Broun (R-Tenn.) : “Mr. President, you don’t believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism.” Well, we can certainly count him onboard, can’t we? All this while Obama was praising newly minted House Majority Leader, John Boehner … hero of the working class. I thought Boehner was going to burst into tears again.

Kumbaya.

Here’s one of the most hopeful parts of Obama’s speech:

“Over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries. Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all. But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change.

So tonight, I’m asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system. Get rid of the loopholes. Level the playing field. And use the savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years – without adding to our deficit.”

Sigh. That’s nice.

The speech tonight was masterful once again. It set out wonderful goals. It’s bound to rate highly in the popular polls. It seems to have hit all the right notes, ala Bill Clinton.

This begs the fact that the U. S. corporate tax rates are already among the lowest in the world.

“In its Paying Taxes 2009 publication, based on its 2009 Doing Business report, the World Bank-International Finance Corp. estimated that the United States has a lower effective rate of current corporate tax than that of several other nations, including Germany, Canada, India, China, Brazil, Japan, and Italy. The publication also included a figure that compared effective and statutory corporate tax rates for several G-8 and BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India, China] countries…” Media Matters

When will the average American get a clue that no corporation, not to mention the wealthiest of Americans, never, ever pay the statutory tax rate. That would be as stupid as walking up to the airline ticket counter and asking to pay the highest published fare. Then, there was that pesky GAO report citing that nearly two-thirds of American corporations paid no federal income tax. (Note the declining federal taxes paid by U. S. corporations in graph below)

Tonight we heard all the usual rhetoric … very well delivered. All designed to put the Republicans on the defensive, if that’s possible since they’re beaming in from an as yet undiscovered planet (can you say Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI ?). Yup, we’re all gonna have flying electric cars one day, and mag-lev rail between Reno and the Bay Area. Right. We’re gonna get all this done with a “spending freeze”.

Gawd help us.

Obama starts out patting himself on the back, for what? Extending tax cuts. Tax cuts create jobs, you know. Sigh. This is simply buying into the ‘new centrism’ and GOP mythology. (Note below, that even individual tax rates in the U. S. aren’t exactly going through the roof.)

The President goes on to talk about cutting discretionary spending to levels not seen since the Eisenhower Administration. I’ve got news for the President, if Eisenhower had seen what we’re dealing with right now, he’d have increased spending. Eisenhower wasn’t stupid.

Typically, no where in the speech was it mentioned that the bulk of our “discretionary spending” is for the military-industrial complex, AKA ‘The War On Terror’, AKA wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I cite Warresisters.org, nationalpriorities.org.

Did I disagree with it all? No. I found the suggestions to consolidate redundant agencies, utilizing transparency via internet technology, and similar attempts to corral bureaucratic sprawl encouraging … just as I did with Nevada’s new Republican Governor, Brian Sandoval when he proposed the same thing. Bravo. But this is such a ‘gimme’ that a school child would have thought of it. It’s nice, but let’s get back to the hard stuff.

That hard stuff which was noticeably lacking might be summed up in these keywords: unemployment, guns, foreclosures, financial fraud, Wall Street regulation. You’d think that all was well again on the crumbling financial front. And, it is if you’re an investment house or bank. Not so much if you’re a working schmuck.

Once again, Obama did a great job looking at the big picture, having forgotten some of the themes of his campaign that particularly resonated with voters … climate change, decline of the middle class. You’d have hardly remembered, listening tonight, that last year nearly one million American families lost their home to foreclosure.

Thanks, Mr. President, for stating the obvious.

Then there was the rebuttal from Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI. You’ve gotta hand it to the GOP on selecting this guy. He’s real purty. Shiny. New. Well spoken. Reagan-esque brown suit. The guy is really good. So obviously sincere. He’s also batty. And, his figures don’t add up. In fact, the GOP leadership isn’t sure they want to own it.

Ryan comes out of the box strong, declaring that the ‘Stimulus’ was a complete failure. Huh? Not according to anybody that matters. The stock market is back up, GDP and employment are really beginning to turn around. The loans to banks and businesses are paid back with interest. Where, Paul, is it a failure? Analysts from Moodys to the CBO have said it’s added a minimum of 1.6 million to more like 2.5 million jobs. That’s failure?

Not content to butcher the facts on the Stimulus, Ryan marches on to attempt to discredit health care reform. Uh, sorry Paul, but once again, every analyst that matters - and even the Wall Street Journal - says you’re wrong.

The Affordable Health Care Act will keep kids on their parents policies longer (saving money on premiums), small employers will see their costs relatively unchanged, employees of larger firms will see costs stay the same or go lower ( as I did with the really big airline that I get my health coverage from), people buying their own insurance can now qualify for some nifty tax credits that they couldn’t get before - lowering their costs. Yada, yada. Where is the FAIL, Paul? Where?

Under the misguided GOP plan to repeal the AHCA, more Americans would be without any health care coverage:

I’m going to do what the GOP leadership should’ve done. Ignore Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-MN. If Paul Ryan is merely batty, she’s bat shit crazy … as SailorColin, my Las Vegas correspondent would say. I don’t want to dignify her rants.

And then came SandovalCorp.

It’s probably pretty egotistical of me to assume this, but I’ll go right ahead. Were my readers wondering where my comments were last night, after another equally stupefyingly boring and predictable State of the State by Gov. Brian Sandoval? I just couldn’t do it. I sat there, head in hands, and couldn’t bring myself to do it.

To state the obvious. Governor, if this is Nevada ‘family’, you make a great case for being orphaned.

Mr. Maven and I sat there waiting in vain for SandovalCorp. to even mention that MINING (or GAMING) should step up and pay their fair share. So the reality train - which started with the video by Bob Fulkerson at PLAN - stopped just shy of Carson City.

Yes, Sandoval has a thankless job, but he wanted it badly enough to give up a comfy, cushy federal lifetime judgeship. No tears of pity here. I told Mr. Maven that my instincts are saying that GOP operatives are looking at the well-coiffed, well-spoken Hispanic Wunderkind (uh, I can’t think of a similar term except in German) with a mind to bigger and better things. If he can just hang on and not embarass himself like John Ensign.

This is supposing that Nevada can’t go further than dead-last in education. That’s good for Sandoval Corp. since he’s going to, well … gut education further. It should be embarassing to have even mentioned it.

Again, no mention of MINING. Which kinda takes a huge chunk - as in boatloads - of money out of this state every year, laboring under a tax structure that harkens back to the day of Mark Twain.

Here’s a suggestion for a new Nevada state motto:

Fuck no, we can’t.

Sigh.

-maven

Reid vs. Sandoval Debate: Snore.

This was simply the least informative, least surprising debate of this woefully endless campaign season. The debate between former judge, Brian Sandoval and Rory Reid, a Clark County Commissioner and heir apparent to Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, left me struggling to stay awake and engaged.

Let’s bottomline it here: Not a game changer.

As a former university level debater/debate judge, Sandoval won on style points. He’s pretty. He’s improved his public persona and speaking ability. Woulda that Reid coulda.

But let’s look at substance.

Both continue to ignore the 900 lb gorilla in the room of a massive revenue shortfall in this state. We’ve got such a broken electoral system that no candidate can dare mention the OBVIOUS:

We need to raise taxes.

Sandoval lost to Reid on the subject of education and it’s critical importance is turning this state around - ever. Rory is right, if you take the current funding crisis out on education in Nevada, it won’t matter how low the taxes are. Business will not come to Nevada.

We already have insanely low, insupportably low taxes. Gee, why then haven’t businesses been flocking here? Why are we in such a hole? Because Nevada is always at the bottom on education - that’s the one constant that Sandoval refuses to recognize.

So, we sat there and watched these two candidates dance around, restating their talking points, the guy with a flawed plan vs the guy with no plan but pretty teeth.

What have we really got here?

Sigh.

-maven

Primary Election: It's over but for the laughing and pointing

This is gonna be great! Grab a few brewski’s, put your feet up and get ready for the big show as the full tilt crazy Teanut, Sharron Angle, gets ready to take the country back from her socialist arch nemisis Harry Reid. The race to November has the potential to deliver both drama and laughs aplenty.

Sharron Angle … a bloggers’ dream

Angle, the wacky choice of wingnuts everywhere, has so firmly locked herself into the bedbug corner that she should be easy pickings for Reid. Supposing of course, that the alien pods sown by the Tea Party Express fail to bear the required numbers of clueless, fact hating zombie fruit - and Reid doesn’t stumble.

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Monday Musings: May 17, 2010

Oh, I’m so very tired of the sound and fury so very early in the process. I refer to the upcoming Republican primary for both Governor and Senate. 

Somewhere out there, I can visualize the few rational old-timey Republicans, sadly shaking their heads about so many voters being disaffected - or just plain gagging in unison with the Dems - over the poor choices we get … candidates that are beholden to special interests or the extreme wingnuts.

If I believed we could slap them into conscious action, I’d so be there.

The sham anti-Sandoval ads are at it again. Telling us that the sham front organization doesn’t speak for the campaign insults our intelligence. Don’t the Reid people get it?

Now, the above concept has been lifted from the ‘weathervane’ ad against Bradley Byrne down in Alabama- where the GOP not only marries their first degree relatives, but attempts to destroy them politically. And, considering how sleazy they both are, you might be forgiven for wondering if they’re by the same equally sleazy political machine.

Reid is obviously sleeping soundly at night, safe in the belief that Liberals and Progressives would have serious qualms about voting even for a Republican ‘moderate’ that can’t seem to decide which side of the fence he’s on. Uh, maybe … maybe not.

This ‘weathervane’ approach by Sandoval tells me that he’s just not into the Tea Party ( a good thing ), but would like to have it both ways.

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Dan Hart's 'Don't bet on Sandoval' just another cheesy front group

Don’t let anybody say that I only walk the talk on a single side of the street. In this case, a former Reid operative is pissing me off with this campaign against Brian Sandoval - the guy who would be Governor Jim ‘Crazy Pants’ Gibbons replacement.

Out of sheer cussedness I think I’d vote for Sandoval, were the election tomorrow. If I could re-register as a Republican temporarily to vote for Sandoval in the Republican primary, I would do it in a heart beat.

Is the Rory Reid campaign listening?

They ought to be.

I don’t like chicken shit front groups. They’re inherently dishonest. They usually represent dishonest people/causes that I don’t like. These front groups - finely tuned by the wingnut ‘right’ - occasionally find their way into good campaigns- like that of Rory Reid.

That’s too bad.

Have you seen the ads against Brian Sandoval?

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