Lombardo Enters Lion’s Den; Slays the Two-Headed Hydra

(Chuck Muth) – It was half-time between the Rams-49ers game last night.

And I decided, against my better judgment, to surf over to the Nevada gubernatorial debate which featured Republican candidate Joe Lombardo vs. the tag team of Democrat incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak and his unofficial press secretary, “Stuttering” Jon Ralston, who masqueraded as the moderator.

Ralston’s incessant “uh-uh-uh’s” made it almost unwatchable and reminded everyone why he no longer has a TV show.  He was, in a word, awful.  And as predictively biased as everyone knew he would be; “gotcha” questions galore.

I’m not gonna review the entire debate, other than to say Sisolak’s nose grew six inches after question after question – especially his false claim that he’s never raised taxes.

He has.  He even admitted it – though he said one of his tax hikes, the mining tax, didn’t affect him “personally” since he hasn’t bought any gold bullion.

Oh, and by the way, he’ll raises taxes again if voters are dumb enough to re-elect him.  You can take that to the bank.  But the guy greased his schtick on not raising taxes by inserting the weasel words “on everyday citizens.”

Lombardo nailed him on that; pointing out that tax hikes on corporations and businesses only end up being passed on to “everyday citizens,” a reality the left refuses to acknowledge.

Lombardo then boldly, without weasel words, told Nevadans his position on tax hikes…

“I’m telling you at this point, right here, in front of the audience and public viewers, I will not raise taxes.  Never.”

Never.

Well, Ralston was having none of THAT.  So he posed a hypothetical that “there could be a situation where the state is out of money” and needed to raise taxes.

Talk about a red-herring.  And I hear these doomsday scenarios (“What if there’s a giant earthquake that levels the Strip?”) all the time from candidates – in both parties – who are afraid to take tax hikes off the table the way Lombardo did.

But consider what’s really being said here…

If the state was really ever “out of money,” why would that be?  It’d be because businesses were closing down and citizens had no jobs and, therefore, had no money to pay taxes.

And Sisolak-Ralston’s solution would be to RAISE taxes on them?!!!  Talk about stuck on stupid.

Anyway, Lombardo’s response, as Mona Lisa Vito would say, was dead-on balls accurate (it’s an industry term): “I say we look inside first.”

Exactly.

It’s exactly what Sisolak should have done after he closed some 95,000 Nevada businesses with his draconian “Sisolak Shutdown” and put a quarter-million Nevadans out of work.

Instead of raising taxes on the mining industry and other businesses, Sisolak should have first shut down all non-essential government jobs so both public and private sector workers shared the pain and government spending was reduced.

But he didn’t.

Government workers stayed home and continued to get their full salaries and benefits rather than face the nightmare of applying for unemployment at Sisolak’s dysfunctional DETR (Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation) like us peasants.

Obviously recognizing that Lombardo had gained the upper hand and moral high ground on the tax issue, Stuttering Jon pressed…

“You just said you’d never raise taxes.  If you become governor and, and you raise taxes, would you be willing to resign? That’s a serious question.  You just made a pledge to the voters. If you raised taxes, would you resign?”

Funny how he didn’t ask the same “serious question” of Sisolak.  Nah, no bias there.

Regardless, Lombardo expertly countered this Kobayashi Maru “no win scenario” gotcha question by channeling Capt. James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise and responding: “In my opinion, there’s always another way.”

Exactly.

It’s not like alternatives to tax hikes aren’t there.  What’s missing is a willingness by politicians – of both parties – to make tough spending-cut decisions.  Lombardo is right.  Sisolak-Ralston are wrong.

And speaking of wrong, let’s wrap up by remembering the “accomplishments” of Steve Sisolak over the last four years…

• He’s made the unemployment system worse
• He’s made the DMV worse
• He’s made the public schools worse
• He’s made the workers’ comp system worse
• He’s made crime worse
• He’s made homelessness worse
• He’s made our election system worse
• He’s made the Vegas Golden Knights worse!
• And he’s made inflation worse by recklessly spending the “blue state bailout” money in a way that’d make the proverbial drunken sailors blush

Steve Sisolak: Bad management.  Bad judgment.  Bad for Nevada.  Vote Joe Lombardo for governor.

Mini-Muth’s Truths

Folks, just because I write something favorable about a candidate does NOT mean I’m endorsing them, supporting them or voting for them.

In the last Muth’s Truths, I noted that judicial candidate Anna Albertson did something very, very smart during her presentation at a campaign event last week. And a couple people, having difficulty reading for comprehension, blasted me for it.

Look, the fact that she’s a liberal has nothing whatsoever to do with being a smart campaigner.  My point was simply that “Every conservative candidate on the ballot should ‘swipe’ her idea.”

That’s not an endorsement. That’s not a recommendation.  It’s not even a suggestion that people should vote for her.

It’s merely an observation about an effective political campaign tactic that conservative candidates should incorporate in their own campaigns.

That said, yesterday I DID begin making my list and checking it twice to find out which general election candidates I’ll recommend as naughty or nice.  And since so many races this year are “no brainers,” I’ll release them soon – before early voting begins.

So do me a favor and keep your powder dry until the list is published. THEN you can complain all you want about the recommendations you don’t agree with. 

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“I don’t understand much about politics…” – Liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston, 1/2/20

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