The Nevada Senate Democratic Caucus announced it will back Tammy Peterson in the race for the state Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Barbara Cegavske.

She is, in the view of the Senate leadership, a “gold-plated candidate,” one state Senate insider said.

But she is not the only Democrat running for the state Senate seat. Another Democrat, Mark Brandon, a former college football star who has an insurance business in the district intends to run for the same seat.

I thought the rules precluded the Democratic Party from endorsing a candidate when two Democrats are competing in the primary election. (Note: The Democratic Party is a separate and distinct entity from the Democratic Party. I don’t know if the rules of the Nevada Senate Democratic Caucus prohibits endorsement of a candidate or not.)

For the official Democratic Party to announce it is backing a candidate in the primary phase of the election process makes it darned near impossible for another Democratic to run successfully.

If Democrat A is recruited to run by the NSDP then Democrat B, who wasn’t recruited by the NSDP, wants to run, then B is virtually out of luck, even if B is the more competent candidate. (Note: So far as I know the NSDP (Nevada State Democratic Party) does not endorse a candidate during the primary election.)

The NSDP, having recruited A, will put their resources behind A and ignore B, putting B at a huge disadvantage.

Of all things, the Democratic Party should be democratic, shouldn’t it?

A similar circumstance occurred here in Nye County last spring. The incumbent members of the county Central Committee decided not to run for re-election. Some “grassroots” Democrats, having toiled diligently in the Obama vs. Clinton primary election campaigns and awakened to political activity, wanted to run for seats on the Central Committee. It is a long story, but suffice it to say, the “old” Central Committee blocked the would-be candidates from eligibility to run for the offices, then endorsed for election the current members of the Central Committee who took office last April. Additionally the “old” Central Committee imposed such stringent voting restrictions that hardly any of the 9,000+ grassroots Democrats in Nye County were eligible to vote for new members of the “new” Central Committee.

The result of the actions of the “old” Central Committee has been a deep resentment and split in the Nye County Democratic Party which still persists.

Hardly the way to run an organized political party.

It is a sticky problem, however. Recruiting good, competent candidates for elective office is one of the most difficult goals of organized politics.

Witness the difficulty of the Republican Party trying to find a viable candidate to run against Senator Harry Reid. Or finding someone to run for Governor when Jim Gibbons says he’s going to run for re-election. The Republican Party is stuck with supporting Gibbons, an incompetent, when there are other Republicans intending to run against Gibbons.

The problem doesn’t help the voters, who, theoretically, are interested in electing the best possible and competent people to office. When either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party tie their hands with rules that closes the possibility for good candidates to even run it shrinks the field for voters to pick from.

There is a lot to be said for recruiting candidates but on the other hand there is a lot to be said for letting candidates bubble up on their own. At the same time allowing anyone and their dog to run allows any wingnut to run.

And, considering how poorly voters perform in making their voting picks, it leaves all of us in a precarious position.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Last Sunday I attended the Pahrump Town Hall Meeting at the Pahrump Nugget. Over 200 people attended, 50 of whom arose and spoke about the current health care system, the formation of that system being considered in Congress, or their personal experiences with the health care system.

Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign were invited to attend along with Congressman Dean Heller. Likewise invited were Congresswomen Shelly Berkley and Dina Titus though neither represents Pahrump. None attended or sent a representative. Only two of them even acknowledged their invitations.

Five chairs were set in front of the audience with their pictures appended to represent the Nevada’s Congressional Delegation.

A number of cameras recorded the event.

Dan Schinhofen, my fellow columnist in this newspaper, put the affair together. His idea, and a good one I thought, was to video the event and send copies of the video to each member of the Congressional Delegation. Since none of the Delegation had held their own Town Hall Meeting in Pahrump, or anywhere else in Nye County, residents of Pahrump was afforded no opportunity to discuss health care reform with any of their elected representatives in Congress. To his credit, Dan is seeing that the Delegation will hear from Pahrump whether they like it or not.

I doubt they will like it.

The reaction of the audience upon learning none of the elected Congressional members would attend or be represented by a member of their staff was negative. It was as though the audience felt they were being ignored. I could not escape the feeling that members of the audience can be expected to reciprocate by ignoring the Delegation on their next election day.

Having watched other Town Hall Meetings across the nation on TV I was not sure what to expect from the Pahrump audience. I was billed as being the Progressive liberal, Dan as the Conservative–opposite bookends of the political spectrum. And we are. We both were co-hosts of the event.

Though the event was not a political rally I could not help but scan the audience to see if I could identify any Democrats. Out of the 200+, I saw eight I could recognize.

The audience was well behaved. No banner waving, no orchestrated demonstrations. No AR15’s or handguns in view. As each spoke their allotted two minutes, the audience quietly and respectfully listened to each.

I saw the entire event as a classic example of grassroots democracy in action. The audience was attentive and engaged. I commend them for that.

The comments were a wide-ranging smorgasbord of views held by those that spoke. It displayed the intensity and seriousness with which they viewed the state of the current health care system and of their views of proposed reforms.

One man told of an experience with his wife who experienced cardiac emergency. He took her to Desert View hospital, learned there was no cardiologist to attend her. She had to be taken by helicopter to Desert Springs hospital in Las Vegas. He related the helicopter transport cost $16-18,000 and her stay at the Las Vegas cost another $26,000.

Two others shared their experiences in Canada’s health care system with ill loved ones in which they were told to take them home to die peacefully.

Distrust of government seemed to me to be the common theme throughout the audience. Fear of “socialized medicine,” intercession of government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors, inability of government to conduct any program successfully.

Only two of the number of bills wending their way through Congress were mentioned–HR 3200 and HR 676. Several speakers would refer to “the bill” without identifying which bill they were speaking. One of the problems, it seems to me to be prevalent, is that there has yet to be a single bill to arise for the public to address. There are several more, each from multiple Senate and House Committees. For example, the S 703 bill was not mentioned Sunday.

Until all the pending bills are digested into a single bill, it is almost impossible to evaluate the impact of health care reform.

The final item I would like to mention here is about the influence of special interest money on Congress’ treatment of healthcare reform.

I am nagged by the thought that perhaps one of the reasons, if not the reason, none of the Nevada Congressional Delegation appeared is that the actual constituents of the delegation is the health care insurance companies who feed so much money to members of Congress. Congress seems to be controlled and directed by those corporate interests, rather than ordinary citizens such as attended the Pahrump Town Hall Meeting. Perhaps that 200+ were forgotten the day after election.

Update: September 3, 2009. The Pahrump Valley Times stories about the Town Hall Meeting. Emotions vivid at health care forum and Obama proposal compared with Canadian health system.

Yesterday, August 24, the conservatives and progressives of Pahrump met outside the Town Office of Pahrump while the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met inside with Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo.

I was told that the conservative demonstrators outnumbered the progressives 3-1.

I didn’t see see any firearms nor fights. I could hear some loud arguing going on, but other than that there was no breach of the peace observed. I saw no cops. The two groups kept a respectable separation from each other.

The conservative group obviously doesn’t like Harry Reid or healthcare reform.

[Read more →]

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., will be in Pahrump Monday, spokesman Justin Barasky announced this week.

Reid will meet with local officials, Barasky said, but disclosed only that he will meet with the Nye County Sheriff’s Department. Reid will be available for questions by the media for a halfhour Monday afternoon.

The senator’s office will also be hosting a conference call next Friday on health care reform. Nevadans who want to phone in their comments must first log onto http://reid.senate.gov/.

Reid’s office expects 50,000 Nevadans may call in to comment on the hotly-debated plan by the Obama administration. [Pahrump Valley Times]

Democrats are being asked to rally and demonstrate in support of Senator Reid and healthcare reform to counter the demonstrating Tea Baggers.

Prepare your signs to carry in support of Senator Reid and healthcare reform. Contact Margery Behrens at (775) 910-9159 or via e-mail at margerykaybehrens@msn.com and let her know you intend to participate in the counter-demonstration. You may want to wear an Obama T-shirt or other clothing showing your support for President Obama, Senator Reid and healthcare reform at the demonstration. It is recommended you be on your best behavior at the demonstration. Show the Tea Baggers you are mature, intelligent adults capable of expressing your support in a peaceable manner. Don’t forget some bottled water and a hat to ward off the sun.

Now is the time for all good Democrats to come to the aid of their party.

Dan Schinhofen

Received a phone call from my friend Dan Schinhofen this morning. Dan is a conservative and writes a weekly column in the Pahrump Mirror. He espouses the conservatives view of politics.

Jack Wood

I am a progressive Democrat. I also write a weekly column in the Pahrump Mirror. I espouse the progressive view of politics.

Dan and I can take different views and argue about them without either of us having a handgun strapped to our waists or an AR-15 slung over our shoulders.

Dan phoned me this morning to inform me that since no one else in Pahrump has done so, he has arranged with the Pahrump Nugget to hold a Pahrump Town Hall Meeting on the timely question of Healthcare Reform, here in Pahrump, Nye County, Nevada.

Nye County, for those of you who don’t live in the county or the state of Nevada, is a bright red county, as opposed to blue. The Republican Party owns it, runs it, and holds the political power.

It is as good a place as any for our own Town Hall Meeting. I tip my hat to Dan for getting it set up. The Democrats sure didn’t.

Here are the details:

When: Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 3:00 – 5 p.m.

Where: Pahrump Nugget, intersection of Highways 160 and 372

Moderators: Dan Schinhofen and Jack Wood

Master of Ceremonies: Yet to be determined

Everyone is invited to attend and participate. Dan has undertaken to invite Senators Harry Reid, John Ensign, Congresswomen Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus and Congressman Dean Heller.

The event will be televised on Pahrump local TV channel 30.

Show your support for a Clean Energy Plan

Let our elected officials know we need green jobs.

Host: Nevada State Democratic Party

Type: Meetings – Informational Meeting

Date: Monday, August 10, 2009

Time: 8:30am – 10:00am

Location: Steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus

Street: UNLV campus at Tropicana and Swenson

City/Town: Las Vegas, NV

View Map

Email: kirsten@nvgreenvote.org

Description

Friends,

Last year, Americans voted overwhelmingly for change, including an energy policy for the 21st Century.

Members of Congress are working to jumpstart our economy and create new, green jobs in Nevada by passing a historic Clean Energy Plan. Unfortunately, big oil and gas companies are using scare tactics to stall this work and are organizing a protest Monday against any sensible reform to our nation’s outdated energy policy.

PLEASE JOIN US — Monday, August 10, at 8:30 a.m. on the steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus — to let our elected officials know we need green jobs and a Clean Energy Plan now! It’s important that we show our support for a Clean Energy Plan.

Join other Nevadans to send a public “thank you” to Sen. Harry Reid for the work he is doing to support a Clean Energy Plan in Congress and call on other senators to vote in favor of jobs that can’t be exported overseas. Sen. Reid recognizes that we must harness Nevada’s vast solar, wind and geothermal energy potential to stabilize our energy costs and create much-needed jobs!

Free parking is available in the Cox Pavilion parking lot on the UNLV campus at Swenson and Tropicana. For more information, please go to www.rebuildnevada.org. To RSVP, please email kirsten@nvgreenvote.org.

The GOP is not letting any grass grow under it’s feet. It is busily identifying freshman and sophomore members of Congress it will target and seek to oust from their elected office. [Blue Jersey]

One of those targeted by the GOP is Representative Dina Titus who represents Nevada’s Congressional District #3. Titus isn’t alone, there are 70 on the targeted list. Republicans are working together in their grassroots organizations. The following statement from the GOP says:

Hi friends, Below you will find a list of 70 districts that the NRCC is targeting this cycle. As Chairman Sessions stated earlier this week at a pen and pad briefing, “There are people proactively coming to us. We are doing far less recruiting and more catching.” With that said we have the opportunity to focus on many more districts and some unusual districts that haven’t been targeted in a long time. We are very excited about our prospects in 2010 and look forward to having your support! If you have questions about a particular district please shoot me a note.

Here in Nye County, Nevada in Congressional District #2. The only grassroots endeavor I am aware of that is working to unseat Republican incumbent Dean Heller (ProjectVoteSmart) is the national Organizing for America organization. I’ve heard of no such local grassroot effort being mounted by the Nye County Democratic Party.

Cindy Trigg, a Democrat, in Northern Nevada had announced she was a candidate for District #2, but dropped out about a month later.

Paul Reeves, of Pahrump, announced he is a Democratic candidate for District #2 last Monday, August 3 at an event sponsored by the Pahrump Chapter of Democracy for America.

Jack Schofield, of Las Vegas, has indicated he is also a Democratic candidate for District #2, and is expected to publicly announce his candidacy soon.

So far as I know both Reeves and Schofield are running on their own without encouragement or assistance of the Nevada State Democratic Party or the Nye County or Clark County Democratic Parties. Nor have I heard of any recruitment efforts by the state or local Democratic organizations to find a competent, viable and electable candidate to run against Dean Heller.

Heller, being the incumbent, has the full GOP organization behind him. Makes it very lonely and difficult for a Democratic Candidate.

I follow Dean Heller on Twitter. He follows 679 people. He is followed by 497 people.

Just today he has issued five tweets to his followers. They are:

• CBO just admitted that its 250 professional economists have yet to figure out the full cost of the bill the committee is marking up today.
• This is a massive unfunded mandate that will increase billions in new taxes on working Americans.
• Approximately 114 million Americans will lose their health insurance under the Democrats’ plan.
• The proposed government run health care program is estimated at $1.5 trillion or greater.
• Government run health care will result in fewer choices and the rationing of health care. [Read more →]

I just took a look at the Washoe County Democratic Party’s website. Really an outstanding site. I invite you to look it over as well, particularly if you live in Nye County.

If you go there notice the Navigation section in the upper left corner of their Home page. Click each one and see what they have inside their site. I was particularly pleased to see they have a way for rank and file Washoe Democrats to express their opinions.

I don’t have any idea when Nye County will get their website up or whether it will provide a means for Nye County Democrats to communicate with the Nye County Democratic Central Committee or not. But I hope so. Communications within the Nye County Democratic Party are sorely lacking.