TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

• Dan Burns and the Half-Blood Tax Pledge (Chuck Muth) – In a Las Vegas Sun story by reporter David McGrath Schwartz today, Gov. Jim Gibbons’ spokesman, Dan Burns, attempts to parse – OK, rewrite – the Taxpayer Protection Pledge that then-gubernatorial candidate Gibbons made to the voters of Nevada, in writing, back in 2006.

• When a Fee is Not a Fee, but a Tax Hike (Chuck Muth) – It’s a new year, a new election cycle and a lot of new candidates, so let’s revisit this question as to what constitutes a “user” fee – the raising of which might be objectionable, but not a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge – and which fees are actually “taxes by another name” and a clear violation.

• As the Nevada GOP Turns (Chuck Muth) – More details are coming in over this morning’s report that Nevada Republican Party executive director Brent Husson had been “fired” yesterday by the party’s Executive Committee. 

• Montandon’s FAST Track to Half Measures (Mark Noonan) – First off, let me say that I’m impressed by Mike Montandon as a candidate.  I haven’t made my decision on whom I’ll vote for in the primary, but Montandon is high up there in the prospects, as far as I’m concerned.  I state this because I don’t want anyone thinking that I’m against Montandon.  I’m just against his FAST idea regarding our collapsed housing market.

• Politicians’ hypocrisy knows no bounds (Jim Clark) – Headlines and pundits have pronounced the election victory of Senator Scott Brown (R – MA) the death of Obamacare and its stunning deficits.  After that election loss President Obama invited GOP solons to a White House bipartisan summit to be held Feb 23 to craft a health care bill conservatives could support.   

Click here to read these stories at the Nevada News & Views site!

TARK TALES

Another day and yet another press release from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian attacking fellow Republican candidate Sue Lowden with false or misleading information which includes this in the closing paragraph:

“Tarkanian campaign manager Brian Seitchik also commented: “Whether it’s Wall Street banks seeking taxpayer bailouts, or special interests seeking new taxes, Sue Lowden can’t be trusted to stand up for the average Nevada taxpayer.”

Now here’s the thing: In the release Team Tark not only attacked Sue Lowden with misleading information (as usual), but once again dragged me into their mudpit, referring to me as “Sue Lowden’s muthpiece.”  Which, believe you me, is 100 percent fine with me. 

But since Danny’s campaign keeps bringing me into their attacks on Sue, I guess it’s only fair for me to bring this Seitchik sidekick into the fight, as well.  And wait’ll you find out about THIS guy’s past in the days ahead. 

Buckle up….

MUTH’S TRUTHS 

• Tea party activists have now formed an official third party in Nevada.  Read the Tea Party’s constitution, bylaws and core principles HERE (Hat tip: Ralston Flash)

• A representative of the Clark County Republican Party (“Now Open Under New Management!”) this morning called claims by U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle that the party was withholding the results of a January 19 straw poll “a crock.”  According to the party, the reason those results haven’t been published yet, three weeks after the fact, is supposedly because they have to be tabulated by hand.

• Now, THAT’S a crock.  It doesn’t take three weeks to count and tabulate the results of a 35-question straw poll of just a few hundred votes.  And it takes a fraction of that time to tabulate the results of this one important election-related race.

• Indeed, this Clark County straw poll is starting to smell worse than that brouhaha at the state GOP convention in Reno in 2008.  At least the election results for that election were locked in a box until they were counted in public in front of witnesses.  In this case, no one outside a few party insiders apparently knows where the Clark GOP’s straw poll ballots are, who is or has had access to them, whether or not they’ve been tampered with let alone what the results are.

• It seems the malcontents who have taken over the Clark County GOP have become exactly what they were fighting against, doesn’t it?

• Meanwhile, former conservative Republican Carson City Mayor Ray Masayko told me this morning that he was dropping his bid for the Capital state Senate seat.  Conservative Assemblyman James Settelmeyer (R) is also running to replace term-limited state Sen. Mark Amodei (R), who’s running for the U.S. Senate, and Masayko didn’t see any sense in splitting forces and wasting resources in a primary fight.

• Now if only GOP moderates Ben Kieckhefer, Bob Larkin, Dennis Nolan and Joe Hardy would come to the same conclusion, perhaps Republicans would have some hope of not only picking up a seat or two this election cycle, but making the Senate GOP caucus more conservative in the process.

• And finally, reports from the Carson City Lincoln Day dinner indicate Republican Carson City Supervisor Pete Livermore appears ready to jump into the District 40 assembly race to replace retiring Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell (D). 

• He’d likely face off against fellow CC supervisor Robin Williamson who has already been endorsed by the Democrat Assembly caucus….but only if he can come out of a contested GOP primary first.  Republican Jim Wheeler has already announced his intention to run for the seat and already has a campaign and campaign team in place.

SURVEY SAYS!

Do you agree with tea party activists forming a new Tea Party third party or should the tea party activists continue to work to make changes within the Republican and Democrat parties?

·         Yes, they should form their own party and run their own candidates

·         No, they should work within the major parties

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!