Clark GOP Loon Platoon Not Going Away Anytime Soon

The new-and-improved (but not lemon-scented) Clark County Republican Central Committee held its first, hastily-arranged fundraising event last night at the Italian-American Club.

People lined up for an hour to get in.  Standing room only.  Had to be well over 300 people.

Newly-elected Chairman Jesse Law introduced the new officers who were elected with him at the CCRCC meeting on July 28, before outlining his plans to build an effective political organization and elect more Republicans up-and-down the ballot next year.

Wildly successful event…especially with only two weeks’ notice to put it together.  Chairman Law is off to a great start.

HOWEVER…

The clown car of ex-party leaders under former Chairman David Sajdak – who ran the CCRCC into a ditch in the 2020 elections – is still trying to get back on track even as it’s being towed away to the scrap yard.

After the July 28 meeting, “Acting” Chairman Steve Silberkraus and his officers-in-exile Executive Board called for a separate meeting on August 17 in an effort to undo Law’s election.  They also filed a lawsuit to block him and his new Executive Board from taking the reins.

And last night at 5:16 pm – after the fundraising event was already getting underway – a District Court judge, Jessica Peterson, injected herself in this intra-party feud by issuing a temporary restraining order blocking Law and his officers from “representing themselves as Officers of the CCRCC.”

She issued this order, by the way, without hearing Law’s side of the story.  That’s scheduled to happen on Monday morning.

The big problem here for Silberkraus is that the Nevada Republican Party has already officially recognized Law and his new officers as the legitimate new leaders of the organization.

In a statement released on August 6, Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald advised…

“Wednesday night, on our monthly Executive Board call, the State Party officially welcomed Chairman Law and congratulated him and the new CCRP Executive Board on their elections. The NVGOP is looking forward to working with them to help us take back Clark County.”

Why a judge would enmesh herself in a contested bylaws dispute of a private political organization is anyone’s guess.  What I do know is that if a judge over-rules the state party’s decision in this matter, it’ll open up a whole new can of worms that really ought to remain sealed.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Silberkraus also sent out letters from a Kremlin-sounding “Election Appeals and Discipline Committee” to the 56 Central Committee members who participated in calling for the resumption of the recessed July 20 meeting on July 28 advising that they’ve been stripped of their membership.

Same thing they tried to do to Law the night before the July 20 meeting.

The letters claim an anonymous (naturally) “ethics” complaint had been filed against these members for “attempting to call a fraudulent meeting” and continued with this bizarre statement…

“This action is tantamount to a coup by those who wish to seize control of our Clark County Republican Party and install their own leadership in violation of our governing documents.  Therefore, you are no longer a member in good standing and will not be allowed at our August meeting.”

A star-chamber verdict and sentence with no trial and no defense.  How…American?

Let’ wrap up by taking a look at the best-case scenario for the Silberkraus side…

The judge rules in their favor Monday morning.  The decision will be appealed.  Long, drawn-out, expensive court fight will commence.

In the meantime, Team Silberkraus will hold its sham elections Tuesday night – virtually, on a Zoom call, by the way – without the Law-supporting members who have been summarily kicked off the committee.

And odds are the stacked deck meeting will vote for Nevada State Sen. Carrie Buck as its new chairman.

At that point, Clark County Republicans will have TWO battling Central Committees, TWO chairs and TWO executive boards.  Nothing will be settled.  And the intra-party war will rage on as the Democrats consolidate against this divided GOP house.

The biggest mystery?

Why Sen. Buck continues to refuse to remove herself from this royal rumble.

No political good can come from her remaining in this fuster-cluck.  Even if she wins…she loses.  This isn’t like trying to herd cats.  This is like trying to herd honey badgers.

I don’t know if it’s bad judgment or bad advice that’s keeping her in this race.

But if Sen. Buck’s to have any chance at rescuing her political future from this debacle, she really needs to withdraw her candidacy before the August 17 meeting and just focus on electing more Republicans to the State Senate.

Let the rank-and-file Lord of the Flies guys battle this one out.

7 Worst Habits of Highly Unelectable People

1. Picking the wrong race
2. Picking the wrong district
3. Picking the wrong issues
4. Picking the wrong time
5. Picking the wrong consultants
6. Picking unnecessary fights with the media
7. Picking door-knocking over fundraising

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FAMOUS LAST WORDS

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“I don’t understand much about politics…” – Blubber-blogger Jon Ralston, 1/2/20

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and blogs at MuthsTruths.com