Independent American state senate candidate Janine Hansen revealed in a press release on Monday that her GOP opponent, Assemblyman Pete “Tax My Meat” Goicoechea, received $674,591 for “Wildhorse/Burro Control Services” from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from the years 2000-03.
The release calls on Goicoechea to disclose any and all other payments he may have received, or continues to receive, from any and all government agencies
Hansen also noted that Goicoechea “sponsored a bill in the last legislative session, AB 329, that, according to an Associated Press story, he introduced because he believes the 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act means ‘the BLM should take care of’ wild horses and burros.”
So Tax My Meat Pete sponsored a bill that might have forced the BLM to provide the same kinds of services for wild horses that the BLM appears to have paid Goicoechea six-figures to provide in the past?
As Hansen notes, how can Goicoechea advocate against the BLM on behalf of his rural constituents when he’s on the BLM’s payroll? Talk about a major conflict of interest.
Oh, and one more item that wasn’t mentioned in Hansen’s release: Goicoechea claims to have introduced AB 329 on behalf of rural cattlemen. And guess who’s president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association? JJ Goicoechea, the Assemblyman’s son.
This whole thing stinks worse than Tax My Meat Pete’s barn!
UPDATE: The Elko Daily Free Press reported on this story this morning. Click here