Tax Hike Talk Not Over ’til It’s Over
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness breathed just a little bit of life into Democrat hopes to raise taxes again this legislative session this in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this morning, reportedly telling reporter Ed Vogel that “The governor has a balanced budget that we are supporting right now and I think on June 7 […]
Shades of Maggie Thatcher
“For the record,” wrote Jon Ralston in RalstonFlash last Thursday about Assembly Speaker John Oceguera and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, “both Democratic leaders today downplayed any talk that they are not getting along.” This reminded me of a famous quote by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: “If you have to tell people you […]
Licensing & Regulating Big Wheels?
Not satisfied with registering cars, motorcycles and trucks, charging a king’s ransom for the “privilege,” and then jacking up the fees “temporarily” in 2009, the Nevada Legislature is now trying to force people who ride little mopeds to not only register them with the DMV, slap on a license plate, get liability insurance, and wear […]
Wy R Kidz Isn’t Lernin’
Teachers sure aren’t doing themselves any favors by making ridiculously absurd arguments against minor spending reductions in education. Take Annette Bonder (please!). Ms. Bonder is a substitute teacher in Clark County who posited the notion in a recent Las Vegas Sun letter-to-the-editor that reducing the salary of a public employee in Nevada equates to “actually […]
Neal Smatresk’s Grand Delusion
A Las Vegas Sun interview last week revealed that UNLV President Neal Smatresk believes taxpayer “state funding for UNLV is not spending, but an *investment* in the Southern Nevada economy.” He claims UNLV is a “profit center” for Nevada and complains that taxpayers – who keep pumping more and more money into this “investment” without […]
Why Dems Keep Tax-Hike Hope Alive in Carson City
(Chuck Muth) – If Democrats continue to believe there’s even a slim possibility that a tax hike could pass through each house of the Nevada Legislature and blow past a certain gubernatorial veto, Republican legislators have only themselves to blame. While Gov. Brian Sandoval continues to issue Shermanesque “No way, no how” statements regarding tax […]
Sandoval Recall Underway; Sandoval Loses Sleep
And some think only the Right is infested with gadflies. Not. As such, I bring you Bernie Sammons. This yahoo has swallowed the Kool-Aid and is threatening to have Gov. Brian Sandoval recalled. But rather than try to explain this numbnut’s effort myself, I’ll let him do it. The following is from an email sent […]
The Government Shutdown that Wasn’t
OK, who didn’t see this coming? I mean, really. Who actually stayed up all night waiting to see if the federal government was going to be closed, thereby ushering in Armageddon? Seriously, did anyone doubt that a last-minute deal would be struck? Did anyone not know that all the doomsday predictions were just scare tactics […]
If Only They had Really Shut It Down
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported yesterday afternoon that a federal government shutdown could also idle some Nevada state workers, including employees at “the state departments of Health and Human Services, Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, Wildlife Services, Business and Industry’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration Information Technology and the State Historic Preservation Office.” If only they […]
Dems Try to Sneak Tax Hike By; Two GOPers Fall for It
The Assembly on Friday passed a bill that would, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, “create a citizens committee to prepare ballot questions on how Nevadans want to pay for highway improvements.” In other words, the Assembly wants to get around the 2/3 super-majority requirement for the Legislature to pass tax hikes, as well as […]
PLAN’s Smokin’ Tax Hike Plan
Our friends over at PLAN, the Progressive “Liberal” Alliance of Nevada, sent out a tweet this week which read: “One cent increase in cig tax bring in $1million/year.” Fine. The left claims there’s a $2.5 billion hole in the budget, so why doesn’t PLAN get the Democrats to actually introduce a bill to hike the […]
The Relevance of Oceguera’s Irrelevant Argument
Assembly Speaker John Oceguera’s recent claim that Gov. Brian Sandoval “has made himself irrelevant in the budget process” for refusing to put tax and fee hikes on the table is, itself, irrelevant. The only thing relevant here is reality, and the Speaker is dealing in delusion. Here’s the budget reality: Gov. Sandoval has submitted a […]
“Bill Bandit” Responds
Assembly Speaker John Oceguera (D-Sherwood Forest) responded today to Sen. John Lee’s criticism on Monday of Speaker Oceguera’s pilfering of some of his colleagues’ legislation. Interestingly, he never addressed the theft charge; only complained that Sen. Lee made the theft public instead of working out the matter behind closed doors. You see, Johnny O loves […]
Hyperbole U’s Wixom Waxes Poetic on Tax Hikes
Hyperbole U trotted out University Regent Mike Wixom on Sunday with a Las Vegas Sun op/ed using the term “new paradigm” in the headline – which immediately suggested to me the opinion was going to be, well, six parts crappola mixed with a healthy dose of flapdoodle. And Regent Wixom did not disappoint. Wixom complains […]
Johnny O, the “Bill Bandit,” Strikes Again
Yesterday, Nevada’s citizens discovered that Democrat Assembly Speaker John Oceguera had effectively stolen four gun-related bills that had previously been introduced by legislative colleagues and resubmitted them under his own name. In response, Sen. John Lee, a fellow Democrat, sent Oceguera a stinging letter, calling the Speaker out for his actions. Well, it turns out […]
Clark County GOP Engages
While they’re still circulating milk cartons featuring the missing Nevada Republican Party during this all-important legislative session, the Clark County GOP folks have found their voice, their issues and their email list and are now fully engaged in the battle. Just today I received two “Action Requests” – one urging support for state Sen. Elizabeth […]
How to Get Rid of Gadflies
So there’s this yahoo tax attorney in Boulder City name Stephen Stubbs who appears to have a type of “Basic Instinct” obsession with City Councilwoman Linda Strickland and maintains a website maintaining that she’s is “unethical” for successfully defending some of her constituents who were wrongly sued by the city for exercising their First Amendment […]