Yesterday the family and I drove up to Carson City to be here for the big 150th Anniversary celebration of Nevada’s statehood. On the way we stopped and walked around the Rhyolite Ghost Town before taking a tour of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley. Dinner last night, of course, was at Red’s 395 Grill.
Breakfast this morning at The Crackerbox, where I ran into my longtime friend Rick Arnold. Later today we’ll hit Virginia City for lunch, including a Bloody Mary at the Bucket of Blood Saloon.
Trick-or-treating tonight in the neighborhood surrounding the Governor’s Mansion tonight (I’m going as myself; about the scariest thing imaginable for Gov. Brian Sandoval!).
The annual GOP Pancake Breakfast at the Guv’s Mansion tomorrow morning, then the big Nevada Day Parade, followed by Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki’s Annual Chili Feed at the Nugget and topped off with the Nevada Day Fair at Mills Park.
On Sunday we’ll head down to Lake Tahoe for a hike around Taylor Creek – or as my kids affectionately call it, “Dead Fish Stream.” This is the time of year the Coho Salmon swim upstream out of the lake, spawn and then croak. The stream is littered with dead fish…and one year we saw a bear on the hike. Mother Nature at its finest. Real cool.
And then on Monday…
ORAL ARGUMENTS
Four years ago, my organization, Citizen Outreach, sent out a pair of issue advocacy mailers alerting voters to the voting record of then-Assembly Speaker John Oceguera. Secretary of State Ross Miller, in typical partisan fashion, sued us in an effort to try to get us to disclose the identities of our donors even though we are not required to do so according to IRS rules.
Miller has been on a jihad against so-called “dark money” – which is really nothing more than protected anonymous free speech – and has been selectively prosecuting only conservative organizations over his liberal (what else?) interpretation of the law.
And just why would some people wish to remain anonymous in donating to a conservative (or liberal) causes? Here are 8 darned good reasons, courtesy of Donor’s Trust…
- To avoid becoming a chronic target for other causes
- Religious donors may view anonymous giving as the highest form of charity
- New donors may give anonymously until they have a better feel for the organization
- Professional discretion
- Desire to be seen as a regular community member
- Allows a donor to be flexible and creative in his or her giving
- Avoids personal problems, such as relatives seeking inheritance
- Fear of retribution (personal, political, professional)
That last one, by the way, is deadly serious and the reason why four of our Founding Fathers inked the Federalist Papers anonymously.
In any event, four years later and we finally get to make our case in court. Oral arguments will be presented before the Nevada Supreme Court in Carson City Monday morning.
Keep your fingers crossed that free speech ultimately wins the day!
