Is it …Carson City

The Lawyers’ Party

By Bruce Walker

The Democratic Party has become the Lawyers’ Party.  Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton are lawyers.  Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama are lawyers.
John Edwards, the other former Democrat candidate for president, is a lawyer
and so is his wife Elizabeth.  Every Democrat nominee since 1984 went to law
school (although Gore did not graduate.)  Every  Democrat vice presidential
nominee since 1976, except for Lloyd Benson, went to law school.  Look at
the Democrat Party in Congress:  the Majority Leader in each house is a
lawyer.

The Republican Party is different.  President Bush and Vice President Cheney
were not lawyers, but businessmen.  The leaders of the Republican Revolution
were not lawyers.  Newt Gingrich was a history professor;  Tom Delay was an
exterminator; and  Dick Armey was an economist.  House Minority Leader
Boehner was a plastic manufacturer, not a lawyer.  The former Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart surgeon.

Who was the last Republican president who was a lawyer?  Gerald Ford, who
left office thirty-one years ago and who barely won the Republican
nomination as a sitting president, running against Ronald Reagan in 1976.
The Republican Party is made up of real people doing real work.  The
Democratic Party is made up of lawyers.  Democrats mock and scorn men who
create wealth, like Bush and Cheney, or who heal the sick like Frist, or who
immerse themselves in history like Gingrich.

The Lawyers’ Party sees these sorts of people, who provide goods and
services that people want, as the enemies of America.  And so we have seen
the procession of official enemies in the eyes of the Lawyers’ Party grow.
Against whom do Hillary and Obama rail?  Pharmaceutical companies, oil
companies, hospitals, manufacturers, fast food restaurant chains, large
retail businesses, bankers and anyone producing anything of value in our
nation.

This is the natural consequence of viewing everything through the eyes of
lawyers.  Lawyers solve problems by successfully representing their clients,
in this case the American people.  Lawyers seek to have new laws passed,
they seek to win lawsuits, they press appellate courts to overturn
precedent, and lawyers always parse language to favor their side.

Confined to the narrow practice of law, that is fine.  But it is an awful
way to govern a great nation.  When politicians as lawyers begin to view
some Americans as clients and other Americans as opposing parties, then the
role of the legal system in our life becomes all consuming.  Some Americans
become “adverse parties” of our very government.  We are not all litigants
in some vast social class action suit.  We are citizens of a republic which
promises us a great deal of freedom from laws, from courts, and from
lawyers.

Today, we are drowning in laws, we are contorted by judicial decisions, we
are driven to distraction by omnipresent lawyers in all parts of our once
private lives.  America has a place for laws and lawyers, but that place is
modest and reasonable, not vast and unchecked.  When the most important
decision for our next president is whom he will appoint to the Supreme
Court, the role of lawyers and the law in America is too big.  When lawyers
use criminal prosecution as a continuation of politics by other means, as
happened in the lynching of Scooter Libby and Tom Delay, then the power of
lawyers in America is too great.  When House Democrats sue America in order
to hamstring our efforts to learn what our enemies are planning to do to
use, then the role of litigation in America has become crushing.

We cannot expect the  Lawyers’ Party to provide real change, real reform  or
real hope in America.  Most Americans know that a republic in which every
major government action must be blessed by nine unelected judges is not what
Washington intended in 1789.  Most Americans grasp that we cannot fight a
war when ACLU lawsuits snap at the heels of our defenders.  Most Americans
intuit that more lawyers and judges will not restore declining moral values
or spark the spirit of enterprise in our economy.

Perhaps Americans will understand that change cannot be brought to our
nation by those lawyers who already largely dictate American society and
business.  Perhaps Americans will see that hope does not come from the
mouths of lawyers but from personal dreams nourished by hard work.  Perhaps
Americans will embrace the truth that more lawyers with more power will only
make our problems worse.

We have an abundant list of people who would like to be the next mayor, yeah!

We only have the incumbents running for their current supervisors seat. Please, can some one else consider running???? It is not they are that bad or are they? Can you decide if you want4 them to return or maybe you can do a better job?

Oh, yes  we also have a few seats on the school board to fill.

IF YOU ARE SATISFIED WITH THE JOB THEY ARE DOING … SIT BACK AND …

Is Nevada an example of how poorly organized the Republican party is?

It is very sad that an organization as old as it is would not be prepared for and organized group like the Ron Paul people!

How sad to think our country was founded on the rebellious nature of freedom to do as we like but a major political party is not any more capable of dealing with a well organized group like the Paulee’s.

I wonder if the Democratic convention is any more prepared for ….

I get so tired being labeled as a naysayer when I want to plan for the worst case. I think it is nice to be prepared. Why is that so bad???

I guess I missed the class were the word organization became a bad word.

It is a great thing to have the participation to be greater  then expected. The Nevada Republican party seems to under estimated participation of its members. This happened at the caucus and now again at the convention in Reno. But to help contain this problem, they suspended the meeting here in Reno and will reconvene in Las Vegas.

Are they hoping the people in Reno do not know their way to Las Vegas? Were they too tired to carry on in Reno to elect the convention delegates? What do you think?

They had no trouble with the parties but electing delegates seems to have overwhelmed the leadership. Great planning!

We have three people running for the office of mayor. Now we have one of the incumbents has thrown her hat in the ring for Carson City supervisor.

The bottom line is, are happy the way the city/county are being managed? If you are not pleased with the decisions the supervisors have made in the past then sit back and watch the candidates tell you why they would do things better.

This would indicate you are happy!

Now is the time to evaluate all the candidates and to remember what they are saying. It will change as time goes on. The truth is that the public has a very short memory. Please, remember!

The local candidates will soon be showing their faces so; remember what they say. Now compare what they say and what you would like them to do. It is your state, and city. Oh yes, your nation too.

Please, think because the whos that are elected are because of our votes or lack of voting.

The least we can do is pray, oops that is really the most we can do.

The board of supervisors have used their knowledge and experience to by pass the community’s right to vote on increased safety for our community.

The sheriff and the fire chief backed by a committee, of prominent citizens, appointed to review the needs of our community in regards to public safety has turned in a report that says both departments are falling farther and farther behind.

“New training requirements associated with disaster mitigation and response have been mandated by the Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). If the minimum training of City personnel does not occur and a declared emergency takes place, Carson City will not qualify for disaster mitigation funds. Carson City has suffered 3 declared emergencies in the past four years - the Waterfall fire (2004), The New Years flood 2005/2006, and the snow event of 20006. With all three of these declared emergencies, the City was able to obtain mitigation funds from FEMA. … With todays mandates, if minimum training is not provided to City personnel, reimbursement will not be available.” A potential sizable cost to the City for being short sighted.

Was our City short sighted in our water costs and sewer costs? How much was the water and sewers raised this year for not looking down the road and spreading out the costs?

According to this “Citizens Ad Hoc Committee to Study Public Safety Services” report; we are already behind. IF the supervisors had allowed this to go on the November ballot and it had passed; it would take another year or more to implement it. So when it is next put on the ballot (2010?) the departments will be 2008, 2009, 2010 + behind to try to play catch up. Naturally the costs will increase and probably at least one “disaster” will rear its ugly head. And how much more will be needed by then. For example, you put off repairing your roof and it leaks, how much more damage are you looking at, insurance only covers so much. And you still have a roof to replace; those patches never last very long.

“In terms of manpower, the number of law enforcement officers per 1000 residents are lower in Carson City than the statewide ratio. ” Only Lyon county has a lower ratio than Carson City. There are 5 dedicated full time deputies in the traffic division, some of us may think this a good because our driving habits need improving. They are backed up by the NHP on certain ’state roadways’ (395, Long, etc) but when these transferred to Carson City the patrol of these roads will increase the coverage these officers will be expected to over see.

Do you as a resident believe we have a gang problem? It appears that is not true if the board of supervisors is correct. The graffiti is used by the gangs to stake out their territory and to market their gangs. And you thought that ‘art work’ was there to stimulate your blood pressure before your coffee.From 2003 to 2007 the graffiti has more then tripled (210 to 779) . But we do not have a gang problem! There is no formal gang unit because we do not have a gang problem and it is not needed, RIGHT? Gang arrests have also almost tripled (115 to 327) from 2005 to 2007.

All the quotes are from the Citizens Ad Hoc Committee to study Safety Services. Ask your supervisor for a copy and then ask why it was not important enough for you to decide if we need more public safety services.

But the VT 1/8 cent sales tax proposition will be on the ballot. Doesn’t that make you feel better?

How is our tax money spent and is it watched over or is it just given away?

When was the Burlington Coat Factory supposed to open? Wasn’t the money the redevelopment asked for for the old walmart store so they could be open sooner? Will they open or will the land lord just remodel his building with our tax money? Is there a better renter out there for our land lord?

Need some extra money? Buy  a building in Carson City and give the redevelopment department a sad story; well you might have to make it look like you are doing something or have a potential renter on the hook. Make sure you have a good lawyer to write a nice safe contract for you.

Mark Kruger is running for judge in Carson and Storey county. He is having a fund raiser at Divines in Carson City on Stewart and Musser this Friday at 5:30 pm.

Meet and greet and you will be properly impressed.