Back in August, when asked why he was running for lieutenant governor instead of attorney general – a position for which he’d clearly expressed an interest and has rock solid experience and background (he’s a lawyer) – Republican candidate Mark Hutchison said the AG’s job was a full-time job that would require him to leave his law practice while the LG’s job was just part-time.
But last week Sue Lowden entered the race and said that if elected, she’d be a full-time lieutenant governor. That resulted in Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius writing on Friday that Hutchison “reiterated that he’d spend as much time as necessary to do the job, even putting his law practice on hold if necessary.”
Which begs the question…
If he’s willing and able to put his law practice on hold in order to be a full-time lieutenant governor, why can’t he put his law practice on hold to be a full-time attorney general – the job he is better qualified for and actually wanted?
Here’s why: That’s not what advertising behemoth R&R Partners wants.
Indeed, my sources tell me that Pete Ernaut – R&R Partners co-owner, nominal Republican and Gov. Brian Sandoval’s “brain” – wants Democrat Ross Miller in the attorney general’s office. So any GOP candidate for AG next year will get lip-service support at best, including from Sandoval.
Thus, Ernaut reportedly talked Hutchison out of the AG’s race and into the LG’s race.
Which would have been fine and dandy for the powers-that-be…if Lowden hadn’t screwed up their plans by jumping into the LG’s race – a decision Ernaut and friends thought they could squelch by spreading negative information about Lowden to media mouthpieces – especially Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger, Jon Ralston (R&R-Partners) – over the summer.
Ah, the best laid plans.