The following is a letter to the editor that appeared in today’s Las Vegas Sun. It was written by a school teacher, Jeremy Christensen of Las Vegas. I’m running it here because I agree with what Mr. Christensen writes:

“It’s time to stop whining that education in Nevada doesn’t work because of a lack of funding,” Gov. Jim Gibbons said in his State of the State address last week. “We need to quit throwing money at programs that haven’t worked and don’t work for our children.”

What hasn’t worked and doesn’t work for our children is throwing clichés and ideology at problems.

This question is not as complicated as it seems. What is a reasonable cost to educate a child? Most of the other states in our nation believe that it costs more than what we spend in Nevada. How do these other states pay for the generous investments they make to educate their children?

Forty-five states in our country have an effective state-level corporate tax rate of at least 5 percent. How long have zealous ideologues proclaimed that businesses would flee if we even considered any taxes on corporations? These corporations pay taxes almost everywhere else in the United States. How long have our children suffered some of the largest class sizes in the nation and parades of long-term substitutes in vital courses such as mathematics because of this outrageous lie?

The state of Nevada is not making a good-faith effort to provide quality education for its children. Apparently our children have no voice or heroes to stand up for them and say enough is enough. The greatest sins in Sin City are committed against its children.

Governor “No New Taxes” Gibbons has a duty to those school children to see that their education proceeds with quality and unabated. It is his duty as elected governor whether he wants to raise taxes or not. I personally don’t care whether he gets re-elected or not. I didn’t vote for him to start with. I do care about the education of Nevada’s children.

All my kids are now grown with kids of their own. All still in California, which has its own financial problems. My grand daughter, Joan, will graduate from the University of California-Chico in June. She plans to then attend law school. She works and attends college now, has she has done since she started. One of my grand sons, Aaron, is attending college in California with the objective of obtaining a degree for his future as an accountant. He also works to pay for and attend school. But the financial burden of college tuition and expenses for law school are mammoth to a 22 year old.

Cutting the education budget, again, as proposed by Governor Gibbons, may be expedient to him, but not to those kids trying to get a college education.

Nevada maintains one of the lowest commitments in the nation for education. California is slipping fast, losing it’s once high education status.

I read that Nevada’s mining industry has enjoyed a low rate of taxation for 150 years. The implication being that that industry does not pay its fair share of taxes—a tax status that is unfair to ordinary taxpayers in Nevada.

I, frankly, think it is time that Governor Gibbons begin to realize that his obligation to Nevada taxpayers is higher than his adherence to his “no new taxes” creed. It is time to fairly and evenly raise taxes in Nevada, even if it requires applying a fair tax on the mining industry.

The Nye County Republican Party held a precinct meeting on Valentine’s day at Rosemary Clarke Middle School in Pahrump. 80 members showed up.

A straw vote was taken to ascertain which candidate the Nye County Republicans wanted to run against Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader in Congress.

[Read more →]

2010 Election

A Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll conducted October 6-8 of Nevada voters found that 44 percent of registered Republicans were undecided about whom they would vote for in the party’s primary.

Twenty-three percent said they would support former state party Chairwoman Sue Lowden.

Twenty-one percent said they backed Las Vegas real estate developer Danny Tarkanian.

Sharron Angle came in at 9 percent.

Bill Parson, Robin Titus, Mike Wiley, Chuck Kozak, Mark Amodei, John Chachas all register at 1 percent or below among the primary electorate.

The margin of error was plus or minus 6 percentage points.

Tarkanian and Lowden both lead Democratic Senator Harry Reid in a hypothetical general election contest. Tarkanian by 5 percent and Lowden by 10 percent among registered voters surveyed.

The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percent.

Half of the voters polled said they held a negative opinion of Reid, compared with 38 percent who view him favorably.

I predict the Republican primary will be between Lowden and Tarkanian and that Lowden will win it.

Mason-Dixon also polled registered voters on Republican Senator John Ensign. Nevada voters who want to replace him now outnumber those who want to re-elect him by a 2-to-1 margin. But no Republican has announced to run against Ensign.

I predict Ensign will decide not to run for re-election.

Republican Brian Sandoval would defeat expected Democratic nominee Rory Reid 50 percent to 33 percent.

GOP incumbent Jim Gibbons trails Reid by 12 percentage points, 37 percent to 49 percent.

Sandoval leads Gibbons in a Republican primary, 41 percent to 20 percent, with 4 percent for former North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, says he is “seriously considering running” for governor.

In a three-way race with Sandoval as the GOP nominee, Goodman and Sandoval are in a dead heat at 33 percent each while Reid comes in at 25 percent. If Gibbons is the nominee, Goodman earns 36 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for Reid and 24 percent for the GOP incumbent.

So that’s the way it stacks up at the moment. Don’t have a prediction except that Gibbons won’t win.

[Source: CQ Politics]

The divorce of Governor Jim Gibbons and his wife Dawn to end their 21 year marriage is scheduled for a settlement hearing Oct. 14. If it isn’t settled then the possibility of a five-day trial in November or December has been discussed.

They continue to argue over such things as paying for vet bills and their adult son’s $3,700 class ring, legal fees are piling up and the potential for a high-profile trial threatens to derail the modest progress Jim Gibbons has made to rehabilitate his image with voters.

Dawn Gibbons accused her husband of hiding assets, spending community assets on extramarital activities, using campaign funds for personal expenses, stonewalling requests for documents and failing to help pay veterinary bills.

Both are incurring substantial legal fees in the divorce and have few assets. As of August, Dawn Gibbons owed $107,830 to her lawyer. Jim Gibbons had paid $17,000 to his and was “substantially in arrears,” according to court documents.

Dawn’s only income, $20,904, came from alimony. Gibbons grosses about $5,400 every two weeks from his governor’s salary and also makes money from various pensions.

Together they have $2.3 million in total assets and $313,000 in liabilities, according to court records. The majority of their money, however, is tied up in property. Their Reno home is on the market for $1.1 million, and they own a parcel of land in Lamoille Canyon in Elko County appraised at $575,000. Dawn wants to put the Lamoille property on the market, while Jim Gibbons is resisting.

{Source: Reno Gazette Journal]

Nevada Republican Governor, Jim Gibbons

Governor Jim Gibbons wrote a letter to Senator Harry Reid, D-Nev., asking him to use his influence in Congress to repeal the Nuclear Waste Policy Act that designates Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear dump.

“Sen. Reid should make Nevada safer by working to immediately repeal the NWPA and kill Yucca Mountain once and for all,” Gibbons said in a written statement.

He says that but in 2007, he backed a decision by the state engineer for a monthlong extension allowing the U.S. Department of Energy to use the state’s water to drill bore holes near the mountain. [Breaking News 24/7]

The Las Vegas Sun is reporting that Republican Dean Heller is giving strong hints he will not run against Senator Harry Reid in 2010. [Las Vegas Sun]

It is now being speculated that he might run for Governor of Nevada.

It is unclear how much Heller likes Washington. His wife and children have moved back West after a stint in D.C. Heller told the Sun last year that he sleeps on a cot in his office, which is a badge of honor among some Republican members but also might indicate he is not enamored of Washington.

Trigg and Reeves will be appearing for a campaign event in Pahrump, Nevada on Monday, August 3 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., at Honeysuckle Park. They will each give their campaign speeches and take follow-up questions from Erin Neff, former columnist with the Las Vegas Sun and currently author of Progress Now Nevada.

Like rats deserting a sinking ship, general counsel, Chris Nielsen, submitted his resignation to Governor Jim Gibbons yesterday. [Inside Nevada Politics, Reno Gazette Journal]

Gibbons’ Chief of Staff, Josh Hicks’ last day of work was June 26. Nielsen doesn’t have another job yet.

Gibbons is considered unlikely to be re-elected as Nevada’s governor in 2010. Nothing in it for his staff to remain. They undoubtedly can see Gibbons is washed up.

Does he sit tight in his present position or run against Senator Harry Reid or run for Governor of Nevada or wait and run against Senator John Ensign?

Harry Reid

Still no announcement of a Republican willing to tackle Senator Harry Reid for his Senate seat. Reid has low poll numbers and a target on his back. He is recognized as vulnerable. Yet the Republican Party cannot find a viable candidate to challenge Reid. The national Republican leadership would like nothing more than to boot Senator Reid out of office.

Republican Congressman Heller has been wined and dined by the Republican elite to take on the job. However, Heller has not taken the bait.

Jim Gibbons

Then there sits Republican Governor Jim Gibbons a much weaker and fatter target than Reid. His fellow Republicans would like to get rid of Gibbons so Heller would not risk much running for Governor. At least in the primary.

John Ensign

The fall from grace by Senator John Ensign has not helped matters. The following week’s escapade by South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford poured more salt into the Republican wounds. But Ensign’s office doesn’t open up until 2012. A lot can happen before then.

The Playing Field

The political playing field keeps shifting. His base is eroding away. Between April 1 and May 31, a total of 4,306 voters registered in Nevada. Of those new voters, only 148 registered as Republicans; 2,065 as Democrats; the remainder in other minor parties. The Democrats hold a 100,000-voter advantage. But, on the other hand, the rurals of Nevada comprising much of his Congressional District #2 are still quite red with conservatism.

On top of it all is a group called “Republicans for Reid,” with some Republican heavyweights in membership, including Sig Rogich and Dawn Gibbons. And this group has money and considerable political influence. Republican voters seem to be flying the coop.

Heller must note that the exodus of his Republican base. The scarlet letter “R” is tarnished. He must be thinking now is not the time for him to risk his House Ways and Means Committee seat in the House of Representatives and strike out against Reid. Like Ensign, Heller has a chummy relationship with Reid. Additionally, Reid has all that campaign money to run on.

Even Chuck Muth throws cold water on the idea, blaming Senator Ensign for costing the Republican Party of “any chance of anyone getting elected to replace Harry Reid.” Muth recognizes “They’re (Republicans) in a world of hurt and trouble.”

The Timing

The timing is not right for Heller to make a bold run against anyone. The Republican Party has regressed from their beloved Ronald Reagan days. They have now become Herbert Hoover Republicans. Heller is still a lightweight, short on experience. The country is in the throes of historic change and evolution. A contest between “two philosophies of government,” as Hoover described it.  Heller, like Hoover, believes in small government and letting the free market operate. He is on the wrong side of history. As a senator from Nevada he cannot hope to match or supersede Senator Reid’s contributions to Nevada. He may have a better chance to exceed Governor Gibbons’ contribution, but doubtful.

His best chance to rise higher in the Republican Party is to remain patient and see how it looks when Senator Ensign is up for re-election.

Sherman Frederick, (See photo to the left, taken from the RJ website)publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, writes:

…it’s plain that the decision already has been made over at the Las Vegas Sun to do everything possible, journalism be damned, to elect Rory Reid next governor of Nevada.

Every morning I get the Review-Journal on my doorstep. Neatly tucked inside is the Las Vegas Sun.

Mr. Frederick is an outspoken man of the Republican view who isn’t bashful about presenting his opinion. Good for him, I like that.

Mr. Frederick accuses the Sun of touting the election of Rory Reid (photo-right) as Nevada’s next Governor.

The Sun article presents some criticism of Nevada Assembly Speaker’s, Barbara Buckley’s performance in the last legislation session. It also points out some positive accomplishments of Mr. Reid.

Mrs. Buckley’s defense of the legislative accomplishments are also covered.

Mr. Sherman’s indication is that Rory Reid, son of Senator Harry Reid, is the “insider” candidate of the Democratic Party.

The overall view of the Buckley-Reid potential contest for the Democratic Party’s candidate for Governor of Nevada appears accurate to me. Neither Reid nor Buckley have formally announced their candidacy, but it can be expected in the future, when each of them are ready to declare. So far no Republican has formally announced they are running for the office. Governor Gibbons may re-run, though he is toast. Either Reid or Buckley would be an improvement over Gibbons.

Dawn Hardina notified me that the Nye County Democratic Party’s Central Committee is holding a pancake breakfast!

Where: Pahrump Senior Center, 1370 West Basin Avenue, Pahrump, NV.

When: Sunday, June 14, 2009 between 8-11:00 a.m.

How Much: $5 per ticket.

So, Sunday Morning, June 14, before you go on to church, go have some pancakes. Take the wife and kids too.

Give the Nye County Democratic Party a hand in this fundraiser. It takes money to keep things going. It takes the support of all rank and file Democrats to accomplish anything. It would be a shame to waste all that effort to elect Barack Obama then throw all that away by becoming inert. Help prevent the Republican political virus of the likes of Governor Jim Gibbons, Congressman Dean Heller, State Senator Mike McGuiness, and Assemblyman Ed Goedhart. Support your party. Yes, you can! I’ve got my ticket—got yours?