Let’s turn our attention to the upcoming primary elections in Carson City. Early voting is already underway and for many of you I have just two words: DON’T VOTE!
That’s right, don’t vote. While you have a right to vote, there is no obligation to vote. And with rights come responsibilities. Which means if you don’t know the issues or anything about the candidates, do us all a favor and STAY HOME on election day. I don’t want my informed vote cancelled out by some yahoo who goes eenie-meenie-minie-moe in the voting booth. That being said, here are some of my personal recommendations:
Congress: Dean Heller. Supreme Court Justice: Don Chairez or Kris Pickering. State Board of Education: Dave Cook.
Mayor: Bob Crowell. If there is a better qualified, more experienced candidate to lead this city over the next four years, he hasn’t come to my door this campaign cycle. Bob and I haven’t always agreed on every issue, but I’m confident the city will be in good hands under his stewardship.
Supervisor - Ward 4: Molly Walt. If you’re happy with the lack of progress in downtown revitalization; if you’re happy with the lack of recreational activities for kids; if you’re happy with using more tax money for the V&T; if you’re happy with the existing traffic and crime problems; by all means vote for the incumbent. I’m not, so I voted for Molly.
School Trustee – District 2: “None of the Above.” That option doesn’t appear on the ballot, but it ought to. The incumbent, Jim Lemaire, is unopposed - which is a shame. Carson City’s schoolchildren deserve better. Much better.
Remember, I’m not saying you can’t vote if you don’t know anything about the candidates or the issues (which means you’re not reading the Nevada Appeal anywhere near often enough). I’m saying you shouldn’t. If you don’t know what you’re doing, leave the voting to those of us who do.
Posted on July 31st, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Carson City
Chuck, I have personally invited you to visit my website and look at my platform. I also personally e-mailed you. I never received a response whatsoever. I’m confused that you brag about your “informed vote” yet apparently you never even bothered to learn about my candidacy. You most certainly contradict yourself by endorsing Molly Walt for Supervisor and Bob Crowell for Mayor. Mr. Crowell represents the establishment, yet you chose to endorse Ms. Walt, because she doesn’t. Mr. Crowell also has publicly supported more money for the V&T and a large increase in property taxes. As an unabashed financial conservative, how could you support his candidacy? What I have learned in this election, is it really isn’t about your platform, it’s about who you know. I have had many people tell me they would vote for me BUT “my kids went to swim lessons with Bob Crowell’s kids” or “I’ve known Bob forever” or “I was in Kiwanis with Ken Haskins”. It’s too bad you haven’t truly informed yourself on other candidates. Instead, you played “eenie-meenie-minie-moe” and picked the candidate you personally know the best. That’s how the “good old boys” continues to perpetuate. Next time at least have the courtesy to get to know someone else, especially when they invited you twice to do so.
Chuck Muth -
It is VERY presumptuous of you to publish the names of your HORRIBLE
choices for office on the NAppeal editorial page. By being a regular contributor to this page, you hold sway over many dumb and ill informed voters (like yourself, for instance). Dean Heller??? A Bush wanna be!!!!! Dave Cook???? Yer kiddin right??? Those 2 choices in and of themselves make your opinions completely void.
Get a life.
Continue to make your choices known Chuck
I attended the Carson City forum on Wednesday 8/6/08 for the Mayoral and Supervisor candidates. The whole thing was one giant love-in. The only thing missing was Kum Ba Yah playing in the background. Questions to the candidates from the constituents had to be submitted in writing. The reason given by the moderator was that they wanted to group like questions to avoid duplication and they had concerns about time constraints. Each question asked was asked to all of the candidates. I was very disappointed with this format. First, it allowed the moderator to filter the questions. Secondly, it did not allow the electorate to interact, or to ask specific questions directed to a specific candidate. Thirdly, it really did not highlight any significant differences between the candidates. We now know they all love children, puppies, apple pie and the American way. You could have allowed the Carson residents in attendance to ask the question and ask them not to duplicate a question if it had already been asked. This would have alleviated your duplication concerns. This was one of the biggest games of “softball” I have ever seen. No “hardball” questions emerged in my judgement. So as an Independent voter let me say thank you for the social gathering and providing us virtually no more information about the candidates than we had before. On the national political scene questions are permitted from the people in attendance, I would expect no less at the local level. This was nothing more than a beauty contest. ALL SHOW NO SUBSTANCE! Hard questions needed to be asked, i.e. the one below.
The following question needs to be asked, and then answered by Mr. Crowell: In Wednesday’s Aug. 6, 2008 NEVADA APPEAL, there was an article on page 1, regarding campaign contributions. The article indicated the amount, and source of the funds for each of the candidates running for Carson City Mayor. I am a person who is a firm believer in Government “Of the People, By the People and For the People” at all levels of government. The Appeal article raised some red flags for me. Let it be stated at this point that I do not know Mr. Crowell or of his previous public record. However, when I look at the list of contributors it gives me pause for concern. Quoting the Appeal, “Crowell’s contributions came from a wide variety of western Nevada’s most prominent businesses, ranging from casinos to developers and law firms …..”. This now begs the question; why do these business interests support Mr. Crowell? Based on historical data, businesses always operate for their own self-interests. That is the nature of business. These are “for profit” organizations and very rarely are motivated for altruistic reasons. Now that I have framed my concerns, my question to Mr. Crowell is: How do you plan to reassure the residents of Carson City that in the event of a conflict of interests between the business community and the residents that you will support the will of the majority, and not the desires of your supporting minority? It will be the votes of the residents of Carson City that will select the next mayor, not the contributions of “special interests”.
Sincerely,
Gary F. Nigro
On August 7, 2008 I asked the following question, which I would like answered before I place my vote for Mayor. Please read my previous posting on this BLOG for the background information. My question is to Mr. Crowell :” If elected Mayor, how do you plan to reassure the residents of Carson City that in the event of a conflict of interests between the business community and the residents that you will support the will of the majority, and not the desires of your supporting minority?” It will be the votes of the residents of Carson City that will select the next mayor, not the contributions of “special interests”. This question has been forwarded to Mr. Crowell through a third party and it was sent to many other individuals whom I am confident are part of Mr. Crowell’s inner circle. I also sent it to the editor of the Nevada Appeal and seperatly to 2 of its reporters. I was hoping it would appear in the “Your opinion” section on the editorial page as an open letter to Mr. Crowell. It would seem that everyone I sent the letter to is either afraid or unwilling to ask Mr. Crowell the question. The expectation for balanced, professional, fair, unbiased journalistic reporting would dictate that the question be asked. It is beginning to look like Mr. Crowell is the establishments anointed one, and has been deemed untouchable. So much for democracy … what a shame … the appearance is that everyone is in this guys corner including the Nevada Appeal. Someone needs to ask the question. Am I the only one that sees a very real possibility for conflict of interest … Doesn’t anybody care … The article in the Appeal puts the information out there and then does not follow-up. HELLO, is everyone just willing to overlook who is financially supporting this self purported lobbyist who wants to be our Mayor? To put it very simply, I want to know if Mr. Crowell is part of the “Carson City Good Ole Boy Network” and if he will be beholden to the business interests, (which provided his campaigne financial support), potentially at the residents’ expense. I thought that certainly the Nevada Appeal would follow-up and I’m curious as to what the rational is for them not asking him my question. I have neither the platform nor the audience to command a response, but the Appeal does. I have no ax to grind with Mr. Crowell. I am a resident/voter who wants an answer so that I can cast an informed and proper vote.
Shelly Aldean, (Carson City’s expert at bringing people and Ideas together), arranged a meeting between Mayoral Candidate Bob Crowell and myself today, Friday 08/08/08. At our request Supervisor Aldean remained in attendance. My goal was to get my haunting question answered and to get a better feel of Mr. Crowell and what he is about. I was expecting to get “stonewalled”, but much to my surprise I found Mr. Crowell to be very candid and forthright. I immediately brought up my concerns, to which, Mr. Crowell brought out the books and provided full disclosure. After having reviewed all of the donors and the amount of the donations, I can now say very comfortably that my concerns of external influence on Mr. Crowell, should he be elected mayor, have terminated. Giving consideration to the individual sums donated, I do not believe Mr. Crowell, or for that matter, any of the candidates running for mayor would have their votes influenced. My concerns of the casinos, developers and law firms having undue influence in the Mayor’s Office have evaporated. Nobody I know, (and certainly none of the candidates), would compromise their integrity for the individual sums he received. So with that having been said, I must go on record and say my concerns have been appropriately addressed. God bless and God’s speed to all of the candidates and may the best person who can lead this City through some very difficult times, win. To the Nevada Appeal: All of this could have been avoided had you not dropped that bomb in your Aug. 6, 2008 front page article. Mr. Editor teach your cub reporters when they put out information to get it correct and as important, to get it complete. You did not do Mr. Crowell any favors. I’ve learned a lesson, I have to read the Nevada Appeal with a discriminating eye and take your reporting with a grain of salt.
My apologies to all. I try to be truthful and totally honest, but sometimes I get “hood winked” and get sucked into either incomplete or inaccurate information.
Chuck,
I am so incensed at what happened tonight that I have to share this with you and your readers … Let me begin by saying while you and I don’t agree on most issues, I do believe that you love this country and are patriotic with your feelings … we just see things from different perspectives … The “League of Women Voters” was hosting a debate of the candidates for Carson City Supervisors and Mayoral candidates and after a break at 7:30 PM it would continue with the candidates for the School Board … The proceeding began promptly at 6:00 PM with an opening statement by one of the women representing “The League” stating, in short that they are non partisan but do support specific issues … she then handed off the proceedings to the moderator (another “league” member), who after talking about timing allotments for each opening statement of the candidates was about to turn it over to the first candidate for an opening statement … before she got half way through her transfer to the candidate, I interrupted and asked loudly “aren’t we going to say the Pledge of Allegiance” … She replied, “we are the League of Women Voters and we won’t do that here.” I got up and stated “well that does it for me” and proceeded to walk out … half way down the isle on my way out, I stopped, turned around and faced the moderator and repeated, “The League of Women Voter doesn’t do that, what a crime.” … I’m so upset … I simply can’t believe what I heard … What a farce … In my judgement they destroyed any credibility they had … I strongly believe the Carson City Chapter of the League of women voters is Un-American and should be taken to task … “The Pledge” belongs to ALL Americans and it is totally nonpartisan … It is part of our American identity and is the cohesive bond that brings all Americans together … It should recited, or, the “National Anthem” should be played at all functions where the general public is in attendance.
Gary F. Nigro