When he first ran for the state Assembly, Speaker-of-the-Weak John Hambrick – I believe under advice from his political genius consultant Nathan “Anything for a Buck” Emens – refused to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Two years later, when facing a serious primary challenge from a conservative who signed the Pledge, Hambrick pulled a “me, too.”
And for the most part, he’s honored his promise to the citizens of Nevada to “oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes” over the last two legislative sessions, including votes against extending the “temporary” tax hikes known as the “sunsets.”
Then Hambrick maneuvered himself into the top dog position as Speaker-designate at a meeting of the Republican Assembly Caucus in December.
The very next night, he did an interview on a little-watched public affairs TV show – since cancelled – and declared that he might break his promise and vote for Gov. Brian Sandoval’s (R&R-Advertising), at the time not-yet-announced, tax hike and said he’d take the hit for breaking his word.
A couple weeks later, Hambrick appeared on the Alan Stock radio program and said he only intended to honor his Tax Pledge to his constituents “by and large.”
Then some of those constituents recently began organizing a recall campaign against Hambrick for not only waffling on his signed Taxpayer Protection Pledge, but for his decision to remove conservative Assemblywoman Michele Fiore as chair of the Taxation Committee.
And lo and behold, on Tuesday Hambrick told Associated Press reporter Riley Snyder, “I signed the no-tax pledge, and I’ll live up to that.”
If only we could believe him.
The man just waffles too much. He’ll probably change his tune yet again after Sandoval puts the strong-arm on him…if he hasn’t already.
Nevertheless, just the threat of a possible citizen recall apparently has Mr. Hambrick, at least for the moment, thinking “right” again.
As Ronald Reagan said, if you want them to see the light, you have to make them feel the heat.
