Happy St. Paddy’s Day from Chuck O’Muth. Some political observations as we continue our slide down the razor-blade of political life. Don’t expect them to make you “green” with envy, though…
* Nevada’s acting-GOP Chairman Paul Willis was on NPR’s “State of Nevada” show last week, but the biggest questions surrounding the proposal to move the Republican presidential caucus up to February 7th remain unanswered. Such as, “Why not January 19th like Democrats?” and “Will this caucus even be binding?” and “How can the Executive Committee make this decision without getting approval from the Central Committee?” Perhaps Paul will shed some light on the subject this week, when he’s scheduled to do a podcast interview with me on the subject. Stay tuned, Batfans.
* “In 2004, seven states with a combined population of some 23 million people picked delegates on the first Tuesday in February,” writes Brian Carney in the Wall Street Journal. “In 2008, perhaps 20 states, representing over 126 million Americans, will pick candidates on that day. More states are jumping on the Feb. 5 bandwagon, so that number could still grow.” Caney added, “It is impossible for anyone to campaign effectively before 126 million people in the one week available between the South Carolina primary and Super-Duper Tuesday.” So I wonder how many of them will bother with little ol’ Nevada if its GOP caucus won’t come until two days AFTER Super-Duper Tuesday?
* Every Democrat candidate for president has now been to Nevada at least once this year, and it looks like every one of them will have been in Nevada at least twice by the end of this month. On the other hand, I think Rudy Giuliani is the only Republican candidate for president to come to Nevada so far this year, and that was only to rake in some dough last week in Reno. Hmmmm. January 19th vs. February 7th? I wonder which is better?
* The Democrat presidential forum recently held in Carson City was sponsored by the AFSCME union. A new forum scheduled for next week in Las Vegas will be sponsored by the SEIU. And some people still don’t think the Democrat Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Big Labor?
* Speaking of carrying water for Big Labor, the Democrat majority in Congress pushed a bill last week which included a provision stripping out a requirement that contractors on water projects pay over-inflated union wages. Not surprisingly, Rep. Shelly Berkley (D) voted with Big Labor. Happily, Rep. Dean Heller (R) was one of only 79 Republicans to vote for the free-market and with small, non-union businesses. Disappointingly (again), Rep. Jon Porter (R), sided with Big Labor. On issue after issue, it’s becoming increasing obvious that Porter has “gone native” on us.
* Perhaps everything with that college savings plan was done by the book, just as former state Treasurer Brian Krolicki says. But in politics it’s the perception that counts. And as we noted last year right here in Nevada News & Views, running commercials and other ads for the program featuring Krolicki - who was a well-known candidate for lieutenant governor at the time, even though filing hadn’t been officially opened - didn’t look kosher. The proverbial chickens are now coming home to roost.
* The Democrats have been pushing the notion of a recall of Gov. Jim Gibbons when legally eligible to do so in June - which if successful could leave Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki in the chief executive’s chair. But now Krolicki is under fire as well (see above), leading some to question who would be next in the line of succession. The answer: State Sen. Mark Amodei, Carson City Republican.
* State Sen. Barbara Cegavske (R-Las Vegas) has introduced a bill (SB 158) creating Special Needs Scholarships which would provide government vouchers for abused and neglected children to attend a private school which might do a better job of handling the special needs and circumstances these kids face. It’s an idea modeled after the McKay Scholarships in Florida. It’s an idea LONG overdue. It’s much needed. It’s truly something in the best interest of these children. And it’s pure common sense. So naturally the Clark County School District’s lobbyist and the teachers union are vehemently opposed. Go figure.
* The University Medical Center (UMC) in Las Vegas is a public hospital (mis)managed by the Clark County Commission (led by Harry Reid’s son, Rory, and a solid Democrat majority, including Nevada Democrat Party Chairman Tom Collins) and run by members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). So it should come as no surprise to find out the operation is some $60 million in the hole. The county is now laying plans to take money from building parks, community centers and other projects to bail the hospital out. Wonderful.
* The dirty little secrets behind the UMC bailout, in addition to the mismanagement, is the amount of money it’s costing the hospital to treat illegal aliens without insurance in its emergency room and how much the unionized county employees at the hospital are raking in. Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury says that, “We, the county, maintain staff that’s paid more than at private hospitals.” But I guess it’s easier to just not build a bunch of playgrounds for kids than to address those two sticky problems directly.
* Meanwhile, the city of Las Vegas is putting a hold on any new capital building projects as well, facing “the grim realities of expanding employee costs.” Does anyone else see a pattern here? Are all these government employee contracts with the government employee unions available for review online somewhere so people can see them for themselves? If not, they should be. In fact, there ought to be a law.
* The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) gets about $200 million a year in taxpayer subsidies from the local room tax to lure tourists and conventioneers to Sin City. But so many people are already going to Vegas that the roads and highways are gridlocked. There are estimates that to build the roads needed to relieve the gridlock in Las Vegas will cost…um, about $200 million a year. Hmmm. I have an idea…
Posted on March 17th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
Big Labor? I could only hope, since AFSCME is a public service employees union, meaning hard working americans, the meat and potatoes of the American economy. I think that is what the founding meant by “a government of the people, for the people and by the people.”
Big Labor? I could only hope, since AFSCME is a public service employees union, meaning hard working americans, the meat and potatoes of the American economy. I think that is what the founding fathers meant by “a government of the people, for the people and by the people.”
It should be noted that both Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates were invited to the SEIU forum in Las Vegas. Labor will continue to be attracted to Democrats as long as Republican refuse to speak to their concerns.