Conservative Assembly Majority Leader-in-Exile Michele Fiore (R-Las Vegas) published a letter to Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick yesterday, disputing his authority to remove her from her elected leadership post unilaterally without a vote of the full caucus, as well as “appoint” liberal Assemblyman Paul Anderson as her replacement.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has the story here
The Las Vegas Sun has it here
The Reno Gazette-Journal here
And the Elko Daily Free Press has my explanatory column on Fiore’s tax liens here, and you can also access it here in the Reno Gazette-Journal.
OSCARSON “PULLS A HICKEY”
Meanwhile, Team Anderson back-bencher Assemblyman James Oscarson of Nye County mistakenly sent a sarcastic email relating to Fiore’s letter to Hambrick that appears to have been intended for Anderson and/or Hambrick to…Fiore! It reads…
“It means she is again trying to draw attention to something she perceives is an issue. She should resign and put this behind us and allow the caucus to do the work we were elected to do.”
Now I know you Pahrumpians like this guy, but he’s nothing more than an establishment tool who’s in the tank for Anderson and the Sandoval tax hike. And you’re all gonna wake up and realize it before the end of this session…after it’s too late. I guarantee it.
In his email Oscarson unintentionally admits that Fiore IS still the legitimate Majority Leader. Otherwise, why else would he so desperately want her to “resign”?
And if she IS still the legitimate Majority Leader, why in the world wouldn’t she consider that an “issue”?
And since Fiore IS the legitimately elected Majority Leader, why should SHE “put this behind us” rather than Oscarson and Anderson?
Plus, if the desired course of action now is to do the work “we were elected to do,” then shouldn’t he be supporting letting Fiore do the work she was elected to do since she, not Anderson, was elected as Majority Leader?
Hypocrisy you can cut with the knife.
In fact, if Hambrick had only sacked Fiore as Taxation Committee chairman and not tried to ham-handedly undo her election as Majority Leader, none of this would be happening. The Speaker-of-the-Weak overstepped his authority and it’s he & Anderson who need to back down and let everyone get to the work they “were elected to do.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
CHAOS CAUCUS TO MEET AGAIN AFTER ALL
I hear that Majority Whip Jim Wheeler has obtained a ruling by a number of rules experts, all in agreement that Hambrick doesn’t have the authority do what Hambrick tried to do – including unilaterally replacing Fiore as Majority Leader with Anderson – without a new vote of the caucus members.
Wheeler wrote in an email yesterday that…
“(I)t is the opinion of all of the experts I contacted that the Speaker Designate does not have the unilateral power to remove someone from office if that person was elected by the body. This would cause havoc and is not permissible under either Roberts, NRS, or Mason’s (rules).”
In other words, Fiore is, in fact, still the duly elected Majority Leader, not Anderson.
In addition, although Hambrick hath decreed that there shalt be no further caucus meetings between now and the start of the session, Wheeler reportedly has obtained the 13 votes of caucus members necessary to call their own official meeting…with or without Hambrick…on Monday after all.
Adding fuel to an already explosive situation, I also hear a couple of Team Anderson players have challenged Wheeler as to whether or not he really has obtained the 13 votes needed to call the meeting; essentially calling Wheeler a liar.
I’m guessing that’s not exactly what Dale Carnegie had in mind in his “How to Win Friends” book.
I’m also guessing that one of the doubting Thomases is Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards, who reportedly has been shopping his vote for Monday’s caucus meeting to the highest bidder in a desperate effort pay off some $40,000+ in campaign debt I hear he’s still carrying.
And finally in a related unrelated story – and in the age-old spirit of rats deserting a sinking ship – Republican Assembly Caucus director Justin Harrison is rumored to have taken another job and will not be returning to Carson City when the Legislature convenes in February.
I understand Hambrick is hoping to raise from the dead Clyde Beatty to take the job.
