Las Vegas Chamber, NFIB Shiv Gov. Lombardo

* Some in Nevada’s business community have a death wish.

* If Democrats get a super-majority in both the State Senate and State Assembly, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo will essentially become a lame duck.

* Which means Democrats will be free to override any and all of his vetoes and they’ll have the 2/3 majority they need to pass new tax hikes on businesses.

* Knowing this, Lombardo has stuck his neck WAY out to prevent such a catastrophe for Nevada’s business community – especially small businesses.

* He’s put his name, reputation, and resources behind some exceptional, PRO-BUSINESS Republican candidates running this cycle against incumbent Democrats.

* In fact, he’s personally endorsed 15 candidates running to either hold an incumbent GOP seat or to flip a Democrat incumbent seat.

* You’d think the Nevada biz community – with a political gun pointed at their heads – would back the governor up.

* And you’d be wrong.

* The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce – perhaps the most ANTI-small business group in the state – has endorsed a number of Democrats running against Lombardo’s endorsed candidates.

* They’ve endorsed two radical, left-wing, anti-business Democrat candidates in Senate District 6 (Nicole Cannizzaro/former government employee) and Senate District 15 (Angie Taylor/government employee) over the guv’s endorsed candidates, Jill Douglass (businesswoman) and Mike Ginsberg (businessman) respectively.

* So much for standing on principle.

* In the Assembly, it’s even worse.  The Chamber has endorsed…

* Democrat Duy Nguyen over guv-endorsed Republican Kelly Chapman in AD8.

* Democrat Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager over Republican guv-endorsed Erica Neely in AD9.

* Democrat Elaine Marzola over Republican guv-endorsed April Arndt in AD21.

* Democrat Joe Dalia over Republican guv-endorsed Annette Dawson Owens in AD29.

* Democrat Shea Backus over Republican guv-endorsed David Brog in AD37.

* And Democrat Sandra Jauregui over Republican guv-endorsed Rafael Arroyo in AD41.

* Worse, Chapman, Neely, and Arroyo are all SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS!

* And just as a reminder, the Chamber also endorsed Democrat Steve Sisolak – the guy who shut all of Nevada’s “non-essential” businesses down during COVID – over Republican Lombardo in the 2022 gubernatorial race.

* What the hell are these morons thinking?

* Unfortunately, the Chamber isn’t alone.

* NFIB PAC – which touts itself as “Nevada’s leading small business association” – decided to throw a number of Gov. Lombardo’s endorsed candidates under the bus, as well.

* NFIB has endorsed Nguyen over Chapman, Yeager over Neely, Marzola over Arndt, Backus over Brog, and Jauregui over Arroyo.

* Good grief.

* At the very least, why didn’t they just stay neutral in these races where the governor is fighting for his political life like they did in so many others?

* NFIB used to be a lot more principled in supporting true pro-business candidates.  Now they’re just “playing the game” like the Chamber.  So sad.

* In reality, the only TRUE pro-business group actively advocating for Nevada’s small businesses over recent years has been the Latin Chamber of Commerce.

* Its endorsements should be coming out in the next week or two.  It’ll be interesting to see if they “play both sides” and “sell out” like the Las Vegas Chamber and NFIB have done in the key races Gov. Lombardo has weighed in on.

* For the sake of Nevada’s business community, I sure hope it stands its ground on principle and doesn’t cave to the political pressure from anti-business legislative Democrats who would slit their throat in a heartbeat if given super-majority power.

* And I hope the governor is taking names.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and blogs at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.