Bank on It
Heritage Bank of Nevada, with five branches in northern Nevada, just turned down $8.6 million in strings-attached “bailout” money from President Obama, with bank President Stan Wilmoth telling the Reno Gazette-Journal that they are “a community bank with local control and don’t want the federal government to dictate terms to our customers.”
Headline Bias, In the News
Legislative Democrats conducted a pair of dog-and-pony “town hall” meetings in Reno and Las Vegas yesterday to discuss the budget. The headline about the event in the Reno Gazette-Journal this morning reads: “Many at Reno’s state budget hearings call to raise taxes.”
Stop Digging!
The problem with the Nevada Legislature is that legislators keep adding new feel-good program after new feel-good program without regard to how we, the taxpayers, are gonna pay for ‘em. That’s why we’re in the fiscal mess we’re in today. And you’d think the severity of the mess we’re in today would cause legislators, at […]
About That “Vote of the People” Crud
Gov. Gibbons has been going around saying the people of Nevada voted for that room tax hike. No, they didn’t. Only the people of Clark, Washoe and Lander county had an opportunity to vote for the advisory question last November. But some folks are asking why Nevadans in other counties should have been able to […]
This Is “Essential”?
Legislators from both parties are whining and gnashing their teeth about how proposed budget cuts will be “devastating” to “essential” government programs. Well, take a gander at what your tax dollars just funded, courtesy of Cy Ryan of the Las Vegas Sun. According to Ryan’s report, the Nevada Commission on Cultural Affairs just awarded $3 […]
The Con Job
According to Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Anjeanette Damon yesterday, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said that she, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio and Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert “have begun meeting to determine which of (Gov. Jim) Gibbons’ cuts they intend to restore in the budget. The budget subcommittees will then vote […]
I Thought There Was an Economic Crisis?
Listen to almost any legislative leader these days, Democrat or Republican, and you’re likely to hear that the governor’s proposed budget cuts due to the economic recession are “devastating” and will hurt “essential services.” AB 254, introduced last week by Democrat Assemblymen Mo Denis and Ruben Kihuen, would make “the Ombudsman of Consumer Affairs for […]
Support AJR 4: Give School Choice a Chance
The following letter was sent to every state legislator via email today…
Time for Jim Gibbons to Resign
I don’t think John Wayne would have cared much for Gov. Jim Gibbons.
The Grand Delusion
Responding to Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford who called him a coward and Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio who called him a liar over his decision to neither sign nor veto the room tax hike, Gov. Jim Gibbons issued a statement yesterday which began with this line: “I have always made it clear that I […]
Fool-Hardy Legislation
As the state and national economies continue to go to hell in a hand basket, Assemblyman Joe Hardy (R-Boulder City) has decided that increased government regulation of manicurists is a more pressing priority.
Good Bills, AWOL Republicans
AJR 2 would require a 2/3 super-majority vote of the people to pass tax hike ballot initiatives, the same requirement to pass tax hikes through the Legislature.
The Great Prevaricator-in-Chief
I know this is harsh, but Gov. Jim Gibbons either doesn’t understand plain English, is a serial prevaricator (someone who doesn’t tell the truth), or has a room temperature IQ. Of course, some might argue “all of the above.”
Last Things First
Last summer, in the middle of a hotly contested Republican primary campaign against a conservative challenger, Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio (R-Reno) “guaranteed” voters that he wouldn’t be supporting any tax hikes this session.
Tax-Hiking Republicans Get Screwed by Guv
While running for governor in 2006, Jim Gibbons promised the citizens of Nevada, in writing, that he would “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.” Two years later the teachers union gathered enough signatures to force the Legislature to vote on a proposal to raise the room tax 3 percent. Their initiative […]
Raggio Republicans Pass Huge Tax Hike
Senate Republicans in the Nevada Legislature passed the third largest tax hike in the state’s history today, approving a 3 percent increase in the room tax in Clark and parts of Washoe counties which the Assembly already passed a couple weeks ago. Why is this a Republican tax hike even though Democrats control the Senate […]
Driving Up Health Insurance Cost
One of the reasons the cost of health insurance is so high is that government forces insurance companies to cover a variety of services, the cost of which ultimately gets passed on to consumers in the way of higher monthly premiums. Indeed, in some states men have to pay for maternity benefits whether they want […]