Why Was He There?

There's a famous quote we're thinking of this morning. It goes like this: "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

It's often wrongly attributed to President Abraham Lincoln, but it certainly applies to the political career of State Senator Michael Roberson (R-Henderson). In 2011, he was "Mr. TEA Party". He eagerly pushed to slash state funding in public education. Even though the final 2011 budget deal included millions in brutal budget cuts, Senator Roberson voted against it because he wanted more budget cuts.

Senator Michael Roberson was the premiere anti-worker, pro-austerity G-O-TEA "rising star" in 2011. So why is he boasting of receiving a "NEA award" in 2014? (NEA refers to the National Education Association, the national teachers' union.)





First off, let's clarify where this award came from. It was from the NEA Pacific Region Republican Educators' Caucus. At Clark County Education Association (CCEA) Headquarters yesterday, CCEA President Vikki Courtney made it clear that even though Senator Roberson and the Republican teachers were doing a press event at CCEA HQ, Roberson was not being awarded or endorsed by CCEA or NSEA (the Nevada State Education Association, the state teachers' union).



So why was Senator Roberson at the CCEA office yesterday? He has a rather long history of attacking their members and slashing school funding in Carson City. Who are these Republican educators behind this award he received?

The Senator had no interest in answering these questions as he dashed inside the building, even as CCEA leaders and a couple of the Republican teachers came outside to speak with teachers and community activists protesting outside.



It wasn't until 2012 when "Mr. TEA Party" suddenly morphed into "Moderate Mike". Out of personal conflicts and political expediency, he flip-flopped. And even then, he only pledged to stand with Governor Brian Sandoval (R) in maintaining the status quo.

So why was he at CCEA HQ yesterday to receive an award from the "NEA Pacific Region Republican Educators' Caucus"? During last year's legislative session, Senator Roberson fought hard against The Education Initiative (TEI). Senator Michael Roberson even introduced a competing initiative two months after the deadline for the Legislature to consider TEI. Remember this. He waited until the final weeks of the 2013 session to introduce his "Education Priorities Initiative", did so without receiving the support of Governor Sandoval and most other Republicans, and did so even though the deadline had already passed for the Legislature to propose an alternative to TEI.







So why was Senator Roberson at CCEA HQ yesterday? Everyone outside was wondering. And there may have been teachers inside the building who were asking the same question.



He fought against teachers. He fought against restoring budget cuts for Nevada schools. He fought against TEI. So why was Senator Roberson at the CCEA office yesterday, especially when CCEA wasn't endorsing him?

So Why Is This in Court? (Because They Don't Want the Voters to Decide?)

So far, "The Education Initiative" has experienced quite the political and legal roller coaster ride this year. And it isn't about to get any smoother. A district court judge in Carson City has just made sure to that.

The Nevada State Education Association and the Nevada State AFL-CIO are in the process of collecting the 72,352 signatures required for their Education Initiative, which proposes to impose a 2 percent margin tax on Nevada businesses with more than $1 million in total revenue.

The tax would raise approximately $800 million annually in new funding for the state's K-12 public schools, the labor unions said.

However, challenging the unions is the Committee to Protect Nevada Jobs, a political action committee that argues the margin tax would hurt businesses. The pro-business PAC filed a complaint seeking injunctive relief and requested that a judge declare the petition invalid on several grounds.

In his ruling Tuesday, Judge James Wilson Jr. agreed with many of the business PAC's arguments, saying the language used to describe the tax's effect to voters was "incomplete, deceptive, misleading, and therefore, invalidates the petition."

NSEA & AFL-CIO are already planning to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, so this dramatic tale is still far from over. It's just amazing how far certain corporate interests will go to silence people's voices. Seriously, do you think they'd be suing like this if they didn't think it was popular?

And as we discussed in June, it's becoming comical to watch "Tea Party, Inc." argue against this initiative simply because it follows the very rule that they have used to kill past tax reform initiatives in court. Basically, they're trying to turn the single subject rule into a constant "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation that kills a tax reform initiative either way! How is this fair at all?

Again, this ruling will be appealed. And the Nevada Supreme Court will have to give some thought about how NSEA & the AFL-CIO have bent over backwards to follow the letter of the law on this... Only to be slapped with a law suit by a group that was formed solely for the purpose of defeating this initiative. Is there truly a legal motivation for this law suit? Or is this just a surreptitious and at least somewhat deceptive effort to put the brakes on a progressive tax reform effort that just might pass (and pass handily) if given to voters?

No Wonder Why "Tea Party, Inc." Is So Scared.

NSEA recently paid for a poll testing the corporate margin tax it's backing alongside Nevada AFL-CIO. They must have been smiling after seeing this. So far, respondents are answering favorably. In fact, the initiative is leading 59-32 among voters!

And funny enough, the only two demographic groups it's losing are Republicans and conservatives. Among everyone else, it's leading solidly. It's leading 59-30 in the Vegas media market, and it's even leading 59-36 in the Reno media market!

However you want to look at it, it's a blowout in the making. And it explains why Brian Sandoval has been so afraid of our state having an honest conversation on "The T Word".

It looks like most Nevadans are finally reaching their breaking point. They're getting sick and tired of seeing our kids suffer under third world conditions at our public schools while out of state multinational corporations enjoy first class tax evasion. Something's got to give.

And perhaps, it finally will. After all, can our state afford to take more of the same?

It's Back! NSEA Walking Back to AFL-CIO Tax Initiative

Apparently, NSEA Chief Lynn Warne was in the mood to "make news" on "The Agenda" today. Last month, the state teachers' union walked away from the AFL-CIO tax reform initiative. Now, they look to be walking back to it.



I guess teachers are finally getting sick and tired of being spat upon, treated like crap, and blamed for the problems that are actually caused by certain politicians in Carson City playing the usual political games. Perhaps after the last month of turmoil at CCSD & WCSD along with Brian Sandoval's "moderate" denial of reality, NSEA leadership are now realizing this may be progressives' one best opportunity to finally begin changing Nevada's tax code for the better and funding public education at a more appropriate level.

So yet again, we see major twists and turns on the path to meaningful tax reform in The Silver State. But this time, this turn of events may lead to more justice for the 99% and a healthier path forward for the state's economy.

Still Wondering Why We Need Tax Reform?

Just today, we've seen plenty of scary headlines. CCSD is fighting the local teachers' union over salary step and education increases that the district once promised to teachers.



Meanwhile on the actual infrastructure side of things, some heavy hitters have emerged to help CCSD survive that.

As the Clark County School District contemplates a new, $5.3 billion capital program, four former Nevada first ladies filed paperwork Tuesday to form a political action committee to support the potential ballot initiative.

With the 1998 bond program comes to a close, the School District is likely to seek public approval for a new capital campaign, which may raise property taxes as much as $74 a year on a $100,000 home. The district estimates it will need to issue $5.3 billion in school construction bonds to repair and modernize its aging school buildings over the next decade. Voter approval is needed for the School District to increase its debt limit.

Former first lady Sandy Miller filed paperwork with the Nevada Secretary of State's Office to form a PAC to help get the vote out for the potential school bond program.

Sandy Miller, Secretary of State Ron Miller's mother, will chair the PAC, according to the PAC filing. Other members of the PAC include former first ladies Bonnie Bryan, Dawn Gibbons and Dema Guinn. [...]

If the new capital bond program were approved, the majority of the money - about $3.4 billion - would go toward renovating and replacing old schools. About $1 billion would go to new technology and equipment for schools. The rest of the bond money would help build new schools in growing regions of the valley, and help the district strive for "educational equity" among its schools.

Especially since "The Great Recession" hit, Nevada's K-12 schools have been hurting. Yet even before the recession hit, Southern Nevada schools especially had a hard time keeping up with rampant population growth. And for some time now, local teachers have been hit hard by the cuts and the continued denial of once promised benefits that help them survive. And of course, the students here have probably suffered the most as their future career opportunities have been limited by the poor state of public education in Nevada.

So now, CCSD and the teachers have to fight over a budget that's been slashed to the bone, and four former Nevada First Ladies are stepping up to rescue a school bond measure that should be a "no-brainer" (except for the fact that it will be paid for by raising property taxes). This is really looking pathetic.

Perhaps this explains why the state teachers' union at least looks to be having some change of heart after initially turning down the AFL-CIO's business tax initiative.

Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association [NSEA], welcomes the attention all three tax initiatives are bringing to the state's need for new sources of revenue. In terms of education, Warne says, Nevada classrooms are operating with less funding than was allocated in 2003.

"We've gone backwards in funding for nearly a decade in the state. The initiative efforts demonstrate the frustration on the part of voters and parents that the legislature hasn't done right by our kids and schools, so they are taking it right to the voters."

Proposals are also being floated to raise taxes on mining and gaming in Nevada, but Warne says only the AFL-CIO initiative specifically targets dollars for education. Backers of the business profits tax have until mid-November to gather enough signatures to send the issue to lawmakers, and if they refuse to act, it goes on the ballot in 2014.

While NSEA still won't commit to endorsing the AFL-CIO tax initiative now, they're also not ruling out endorsing the initiative later this year. I guess they're realizing that Nevada AFL-CIO is determined to collect signatures this year, the workers have a powerful message of economic justice behind them, and some badly needed $1 billion a year in public school funding is at stake. Oh yes, and they must be realizing that our problems won't ever be solved if we keep delaying tax reform.

And that's really at the center of this. For far too long, Nevada has ignored the trouble in our tax code and the woes in our public schools. Now that we're just emerging out of the greatest recession experienced since "The Greatest Generation" were youngsters, we're really feeling the pain. Brian Sandoval may continue to try to spin it all away by showing us a pretty "sunset", but at the end of the day we must realize we have to prepare for tomorrow. We'll never really be ready for the challenges that lie ahead if we keep denying that they even exist.

Wither Tax Reform (Again)?

Just as I was getting hopeful again, we're now seeing this.

“We have some concern regarding language,” Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said of the proposed ballot initiative. “As of now, we’re not signed on.”

Warne said she supports in concept the effort by AFL-CIO head Danny Thompson to raise money for schools. But her position highlights growing uncertainty about the fate of the tax effort.

“There was a deadlocked certainty there’d be an initiative two or three months ago,” said one political operative. “Now, not so much.” [...]

Representatives of the gaming and mining industries, which are both being targeted with industry-specific tax initiatives authored by a conservative businessman, would not comment for this story.

Gov. Brian Sandoval’s announcement last month that he would support extending $620 million in taxes set to expire in 2013 appears to have dulled the sense of urgency behind the tax-related ballot initiatives.

The teachers union’s unwillingness so far to sign on to the AFL-CIO initiative presents two significant problems for the effort to get the tax passed. First, teachers are among the most visible, sympathetic faces of government services. Second, and most important at this stage, the teachers union has a reserve of cash that could be used to gather signatures.

If proponents of the initiative collect signatures, it would first go to the Legislature, which would have 40 days to pass it. If the measure doesn’t pass, it would be placed before voters in 2014.

This was one of the top goals of Brian Sandoval's "shift to the center" and sudden embrace of the sunset taxes. In addition to making himself look "moderate" and encouraging Republican Legislature candidates in tough races to do the same, Sandoval also hoped this would blunt momentum for progressive tax reform that had been building since last year. Yet even as Sandoval may be hitting a snag on the former (thanks to Chuck Muth's "tea party temper tantrum" causing some G-O-TEA primary mayhem), he still seems to be reaping some success on the latter. But then again, just blunting momentum for tax reform may be enough to boost Sandoval, setting him up for the best possible negotiating position with a (still) Democratic controlled Legislature and a prime opportunity to campaign as a "bipartisan uniter" when he runs for reelection in 2014.

And now, the Nevada AFL-CIO and the state's top teachers' union look to be playing right into Brian Sandoval's hands. Early on, the business margin tax promised to be the most viable tax initiative, as it had the most potential to attract strong financial backing. But now that NSEA is threatening to join the Nevada Resort Association on the sidelines, it's unclear how Danny Thompson can mount an ongoing and hard hitting tax campaign for the next two years. Even if he can get the signatures this year, the initiative must still go to the Legislature next year. And if the Legislature can't muster the 2/3 super-majority to pass this tax, then it must go to the voters in 2014.

Oddly enough, progressives' best hope for serious tax reform may lie with none other than conservative activist Monte Miller. His campaign for mining tax reform is looking increasingly serious. Even Republican pollster Glen Bolger has shown strong support for mining tax reform, and legal eagle Maggie McLetchie has so far found success in turning back mining industry efforts to block the initiative in court. And since Miller's mining tax initiative is a constitutional amendment, it will go directly to the voters this year and in 2014.

So maybe tax reform isn't entirely dead yet, but it's certainly in a precarious position overall. At this point, it all depends on how committed Monte Miller is to his mining tax initiative as well as whether the AFL-CIO and NSEA can work out differences on the margin tax. However, at this point it also looks like Brian Sandoval has gained some more breathing room on the budget.