In a spleen-venting, p*ss-and-vinegar letter-to-the-editor complaining about my Kirner Tax column published in the Nevada Appeal, Gumby Assemblyman Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner (R-Kirner Tax), father of the Kirner Tax (www.KirnerTax.com), wrote…
“Bottom-line, his (Chuck Muth’s) opinion page missive is political and lacks respect for the legislative process, my colleagues, myself and most especially you the reader as he tries to bully us with his political agenda.”
Well, um, duh. My weekly Nevada Appeal column is a political column. I don’t write about travel, food or sports; I write about politics. That’s what makes it, um, political.
Secondly, I have a lot of respect for the legislative process. Problem is, Kirner attempted to circumvent the will of the people themselves by passing the buck and kicking the can with his scheme to get the members of the Washoe County Commission to approve a tax hike instead of getting 2/3 of the Legislature to pass it.
Thirdly, if by “colleagues” Kirner is referring to his gaggle of moderate Republicans who regularly wipe their feet on the Republican Party platform and sell us out to the Democrats for a handful of magic beans because they’re too afraid or too incompetent to act like a true opposition party…then, yeah, guilty as charged.
And I’m sorry Mr. Kirner has such a problem with citizens voicing their opinions which don’t comport with his own. What he calls “bullying” for a political agenda the Founders called “free speech” and the right to petition government for redress. If Mr. Kirner doesn’t like it, maybe he should run in Kabul instead of Reno.