10 of '10: Scandaliciousness (& The Solution)

Scandal. We've heard plenty about it this year. How many politicians were caught with their hands in the cookie jar when they weren't supposed to be anywhere near it? How many accusations, true, false, and sometimes downright bizarre, have we heard this year? It's been pure insanity...

But amidst all the usual complaints of "corruption", how often do we hear about actual solutions? Any takers?

Back in August, I wrote this. Let's take another look, and perhaps offer this challenge to anyone claiming to "fight corruption" in 2011. Next time one complains about the problem, one also needs to address real solutions like the one I highlight below.

---

Oh goody, Ralston is back... And he hits hard on the new "scandal" everyone in Carson City is talking about.

I have been ruminating on what the proper reaction is to Steven Horsford’s “Money for Something and Your Access Ain’t Free” fundraising pitch. Or what the proper reaction to the reaction might be. [...]

What Horsford did was crass, heavy-handed and arrogant. But it takes a spectacular naiveté or a willful ignorance — and there is much more of the latter than the former in much of the reaction — not to realize this is just par for a course where membership is reserved only for a closed circle and where the entry fee for influence is often too rich for almost anyone without a Las Vegas Boulevard South address.

Of course, Ralston is talking about State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford (D) sending out a ridiculous letter recently promising special meals with him for big contributions. He even promised meals and extra "quality time" with Committee Chairs, apparently without even asking them if they wanted to do this!

It was pathetic. It was lame. It was dirty... And oh boy, it was clumsy!

So what exactly were the Republicans criticizing?

I smiled when I read of state Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio tut-tutting about Horsford’s solicitation, suggesting his counterpart had been intimidating lobbyists not to contribute to Republicans during the campaign season. This is laugh-out-loud funny, folks.

Raggio is the anti-Horsford, but not in the way he implied. When he was majority leader, Raggio was anything but blunt. A master of finesse, he knew how to inspire fear with a carefully chosen word or two, or perhaps by using someone else to send a message.

Don’t misunderstand: I don’t suggest Raggio ever did anything unethical. But when a consummate insider, a man who served on gaming and managed care boards while being the most powerful legislator in the state for decades, expresses disdain for Horsford’s blunt instrument, I figured he must be muttering, “That young man needs to learn a little subtlety.”

Even better, state GOP Chairman Mark Amodei’s sense of outrage was comically outrageous. “We never operated that way when we were in the majority,” Amodei told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Probably no laws were broken, but it sends a bad sign about the whole process. You need to raise money, but you don’t do that.”

This from the man who, while a state senator, auditioned for a job as the mining association’s top lobbyist and formed a political action committee with business interests he regulated. A sense of irony is always helpful, Mr. Chairman.

So Raggio and Amodei bash Horsford over his clumsy letter and want us to forget everything they did when in the majority? Seriously? And they want us to ignore their newest scandal involving their "Star Senator" Barbara Cegavske?

And if anyone is truly serious in uprooting Carson City corruption, why not discuss possible solutions? Solutions like clean money campaigning?



It's already being implemented in several states, and the results so far have been clear. If we really want to solve this problem, let's get to the root of it.

So what's the real root of this problem? It's MONEY, as in the corporate money that buys access in Carson City. Take the big corporate money out, and none of this has to happen any more. For many decades now, it's been standard operating practice that the "big bid'nis'eez" with the best connected lobbyists, best parties, and biggest campaign contributions get the most access in state government. If we really want to do something about this problem, let's get to the source of it by ridding our election system of all this corporate corruption.

So when will we ever get a serious discussion on clean money campaigns and serious election reform? When will we demand that our elected officials listen to us instead of the big corporate powers that be?

Leg Watch: Sex, Lies, & Corporate Cash

Oh goody, Ralston is back... And he hits hard on the new "scandal" everyone in Carson City is talking about.

I have been ruminating on what the proper reaction is to Steven Horsford’s “Money for Something and Your Access Ain’t Free” fundraising pitch. Or what the proper reaction to the reaction might be. [...]

What Horsford did was crass, heavy-handed and arrogant. But it takes a spectacular naiveté or a willful ignorance — and there is much more of the latter than the former in much of the reaction — not to realize this is just par for a course where membership is reserved only for a closed circle and where the entry fee for influence is often too rich for almost anyone without a Las Vegas Boulevard South address.

Of course, Ralston is talking about State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford (D) sending out a ridiculous letter recently promising special meals with him for big contributions. He even promised meals and extra "quality time" with Committee Chairs, apparently without even asking them if they wanted to do this!

It was pathetic. It was lame. It was dirty... And oh boy, it was clumsy!

So what exactly were the Republicans criticizing?

I smiled when I read of state Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio tut-tutting about Horsford’s solicitation, suggesting his counterpart had been intimidating lobbyists not to contribute to Republicans during the campaign season. This is laugh-out-loud funny, folks.

Raggio is the anti-Horsford, but not in the way he implied. When he was majority leader, Raggio was anything but blunt. A master of finesse, he knew how to inspire fear with a carefully chosen word or two, or perhaps by using someone else to send a message.

Don’t misunderstand: I don’t suggest Raggio ever did anything unethical. But when a consummate insider, a man who served on gaming and managed care boards while being the most powerful legislator in the state for decades, expresses disdain for Horsford’s blunt instrument, I figured he must be muttering, “That young man needs to learn a little subtlety.”

Even better, state GOP Chairman Mark Amodei’s sense of outrage was comically outrageous. “We never operated that way when we were in the majority,” Amodei told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Probably no laws were broken, but it sends a bad sign about the whole process. You need to raise money, but you don’t do that.”

This from the man who, while a state senator, auditioned for a job as the mining association’s top lobbyist and formed a political action committee with business interests he regulated. A sense of irony is always helpful, Mr. Chairman.

So Raggio and Amodei bash Horsford over his clumsy letter and want us to forget everything they did when in the majority? Seriously? And they want us to ignore their newest scandal involving their "Star Senator" Barbara Cegavske?

And if anyone is truly serious in uprooting Carson City corruption, why not discuss possible solutions? Solutions like clean money campaigning?



It's already being implemented in several states, and the results so far have been clear. If we really want to solve this problem, let's get to the root of it.

So what's the real root of this problem? It's MONEY, as in the corporate money that buys access in Carson City. Take the big corporate money out, and none of this has to happen any more For many decades now, it's been standard operating practice that the "big bid'nis'eez" with the best connected lobbyists, best parties, and biggest campaign contributions get the most access in state government. If we really want to do something about this problem, let's get to the source of it by ridding our election system of all this corporate corruption.

So when will we ever get a serious discussion on clean money campaigns and serious election reform? When will we demand that our elected officials listen to us instead of the big corporate powers that be?

When Did the GOP Become a Madhouse? Hint: It's NOT Just Sharron Angle.

It's nice to see more and more of our fellow Nevadans, even (perhaps especially!) Republicans, reject the kind of insane extremism Sharron Angle represents. In fact, I feel quite sorry for my Republican friends, family, and neighbors these days. Think about it. When did their party cease to represent smart conservative thought? And when did this party become "The Party of Batshit Crazy"?



And now, it's going beyond Obtuse Angle. Joe Heck is increasingly toeing the "tea party" line and agreeing with Sharrontology's crazy on eliminating women's reproductive rights, destroying Social Security and Medicare, and denying the federal government has any role in job creation (actually, it does).



The same is happening to Brian Sandoval. In order to beat Jim Gibbons, he's essentially had to become Gibbons... At least policy wise. Even as REPUBLICAN leaders in the legislature have realized we need to talk realistic about the budget and tax policy, Sandoval refuses to acknowledge reality.



And he has no problem flip-flopping! Wherever he goes, he'll have a different answer ready for you.



So when did the party of Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Goldwater get reduced to this? This isn't conservatism. This is MADNESS.

It takes me back to last month, when Former Governor Kenny Guinn so tragically passed away. Would there be room for him in today's Republican Party? Hell, would there be room for Barry Goldwater and his support for LGBTQ equality? Would there be room for Dwight Eisenhower and his support for Social Security and massive federal infrastructure projects? Would there be room for Teddy Roosevelt and his passion to save our planet? Would there be room for Abraham Lincoln and his support for civil rights?

What happened? For the sake of all of us, our entire state, and our entire country, the Republican Party needs to do some more soul searching and ponder whether this "tea party invasion" is really working in their favor.

Leg Watch: Anonymous Hit Piece... Hits GOoPer in the You-Know-What

(By the way, welcome to Leg Watch! Next time the legislature is in session, I'll keep an eye on important legislation floating around Carson City. But for now, you can stop here to check up on the state legislature campaigns that are sometimes forgotten in the midst of the national campaign at our doorstep... But never dull!)



I first caught this on Saturday, when I was walking a neighborhood less than one mile from me in Green Valley. My Assembly Member, Ellen Spiegel, was the intended victim of this anonymous hit piece... A hit piece likely to have come from her Republican opponent or one of his allies. But whomever is responsible for it, they were too cowardly to own up to it...

And too stupid to do it smartly! For one, this was dropped in front of doors, bundled with ads for taco shops and pizzerias. Basically, it was bundled with "junk mail so crappy, it can't even go in the mailbox" and distributed as such. Usually for a hit piece like this, a campaign targets who they want to see it. I figured this would go to Independents and Republicans, but I found this in front of everyone's door. Do you really think any thinking Democrat would give this the time of day?

And even worse, this hit piece was not even going to all the right homes... As this was also being sent OUT OF DISTRICT! Yes, you heard me right. I saw more of these this morning when walking a neighborhood near Maryland & Pebble... An area FAR outside Assembly District 21! So not only did the perpetrator clumsily agree to send this out with junk ads for tacos and tires, but they couldn't even manage to send it entirely to people in the district!

And worse yet, this hit piece couldn't even get the facts right. Never did Ellen Spiegel vote to double her salary and/or "make taxpayers pay for it". Nope, that vote was actually a consideration of allowing for annual sessions of the legislature... You know, enabling our legislators to actually work for us more! (Plus there were many more things in AJR 6, nothing saying anything about raising lawmakers' salaries.)

So yet again, a group of Nevada Republicans (whoever they may actually be) got dirty... But couldn't be smart about their dirt. It was sent to the wrong houses, likely tossed directly into the garbage bin by many recipients, and contained outright lies that just took a little bit of research to debunk.

And worse yet, this may really backfire on them. Most of the neighbors I've spoken with don't even remember it. (It must have taken all of ten seconds for this to go from doorstep to trash can.) And of the ones that did remember it, they REALLY didn't like it. Again, a campaign needs to be smart when going negative... And this hit piece was anything but smart.

Oh, and by the way, did they really have to stoop so low as to find the most unflattering photo of Ellen they could find? Here's how she really looks.



Fools. I pity them sometimes. And this week, their botched attack on Ellen Spiegel is simply pitiful.