Why Mitt Romney's Campaign Couldn't Give Their Favorite Nevadan a Shoutout

Yesterday, Mitt Romney's campaign bus finally arrived in Las Vegas. When the bus arrived at the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" Sign, tourists gawked. When the bus arrived at a local Cardenas supermarket, shoppers raised eyebrows. And when Nevada's #1 Mitt Romney fan Joe Heck arrived on the bus, he made sure to get in front of the press corps and offer his "sage campaign advice".

Yet despite the Romney bus' arrival here in Las Vegas, there were no answers on the questions we're all asking about him. There was no mention of Bain Capital. And despite the bus arriving on the Las Vegas Strip, there was no mention of the man who's probably become the most important figure in Mitt Romney's campaign. Oh yes, I'm talking about Sheldon Adelson.

Think about it. The bus was just minutes away from The Venetian & The Palazzo. Adelson recently dropped $10 million in a pro-Romney Super PAC, then gave $5 million to Congressional Republican Super PACs. And Romney's campaign had nothing to say about their #1 money man?

Hmmm, I wonder why. I wonder why.

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There's a reason why Mitt Romney and other Republicans don't want to talk about how Sheldon Adelson makes his money. As we talked about yesterday, it messes with the image of them that they want us to see.

[Steve] Jacobs was fired in July 2010 from his role overseeing the Macau properties. He sued the companies and Adelson three months later.

In the lawsuit, he accuses the company and Adelson of breach of contract and of pushing him into illegal activity in Macau, a former Portugese colony near Hong Kong where Sands has established a strong business presence. The company owns the Venetian Macao and Sands Macao casino resorts, the Plaza Macao hotel, restaurant and shopping complex and the newly opened Sands Cotai Central resort with three hotels and two casinos.

In documents revealed Thursday —including a sworn seven-page declaration that Jacobs submitted along with a summary from his attorneys of problems obtaining documents from Sands —Jacobs describes an effort he launched after arriving in Macau in May 2009 to rid the casino floor of "loan sharks and prostitution."

"This project was met with concern as (company) senior executives informed me that the prior prostitution strategy had been personally approved by Adelson," Jacobs said in the documents.

In his court filing, Jacobs alleges other documents that haven't been turned over include records of misuse of "blue card' work permits and the hiring of illegal workers in Macau; emails and records of Adelson controlling a "Chairman's Club" allowing favored members, including known or suspected organized crime figures, exclusive access to Sands China's most luxurious accommodations; and email requests from Adelson to a Macau lawmaker who Jacobs said was hired as outside counsel after Jacobs was fired.

If you want to know even more of what's been going on behind the scenes at Sheldon Adelson's Macau casinos, I highly recommend this New Yorker article. It will really help explain why these Republican politicians (and their Super PACs) love to take all those big checks from Sheldon Adelson... Yet are afraid to be seen too close to him. Again, the more we know about Adelson's business, the more hypocritical these "family values, America loving, communism hating, tea party" Republicans look for taking Adelson's money.

Sheldon Adelson's Pandora's Box (for Republicans)

What else can I say? I told you so. In February, we first caught a whiff of the skeletons hidden in Nevada G-O-TEA money man Sheldon Adelson's closet. Now, ProPublica is busting down that closet door to dig for those skeletons.

First off, the documents they obtained confirmed the longstanding suspicion of many American gaming regulators that Las Vegas Sands (Sheldon Adelson's global gaming powerhouse) has indeed hired local lobbyists to bribe "influence" the Chinese government to let Las Vegas Sands expand its footprint in Macau. Hiring anyone to influence a foreign government to legislate in favor of one's business violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

But wait, there's more. These documents also confirm the longstanding suspicion that Las Vegas Sands has grown to be quite cozy with key local triad (Chinese mafia) leaders. Nevada law forbids any licensed casino operator from involvement with organized crime.

William Weidner, president of Las Vegas Sands from 1995 to 2009, said he understood from the beginning that opening casinos in Macau meant dealing with "junkets" —companies that arrange gambling trips for high rollers.

Gambling is illegal in mainland China, as is the transfer of large sums of money to Macau. The junkets solve those problems, providing billions of dollars in credit to gamblers. When necessary, they collect gambling debts, a critical function since China's courts are not permitted to force losers to pay up.

Weidner said junkets are a natural result of China's controls on the movement of money out of the country, channeling as much as $3 billion a month from the mainland to Macau.

"To Westerners, the junkets mean money laundering equated with organized crime or drugs," he said. "In China where money is controlled, it's part of doing business."

Weidner resigned from the company after a bitter dispute with Adelson.

Nevada officials are now poring over records of transactions between junkets, Las Vegas Sands and other casinos licensed by the state, people familiar with the inquiry say. Among the junket companies under scrutiny is a concern that records show was financed by Cheung Chi Tai, a Hong Kong businessman.

Cheung was named in a 1992 U.S. Senate report as a leader of a Chinese organized crime gang, or triad. A casino in Macau owned by Las Vegas Sands granted tens of millions of dollars in credit to a junket backed by Cheung, documents show. Cheung did not respond to requests for comment.

Another document says that a Las Vegas Sands subsidiary did business with Charles Heung, a well-known Hong Kong film producer who was identified as an office holder in the Sun Yee On triad in the same 1992 Senate report. Heung, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in organized crime, did not return phone calls.

Funny enough, it was none other than former Republican Presidential Nominee and current US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) who went on PBS NewsHour last month to warn his fellow Republicans about Sheldon Adelson and his "funny money". The good stuff starts at 7:30 on the video below.

Watch Sen. John McCain: 'There Will Be Scandals' in Campaigns on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

I'm now reminded of the Ancient Greek tale of Pandora's Box. In this case, Sheldon Adelson and his shady Macau money are the box, Mitt Romney and Congressional Republicans are Pandora, and the Citizens United era Supreme Court is Zeus. As The New Yorker has recently reported, Sheldon Adelson has dipped his hands into quite the unsavory business practices in Macau. And now, Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans are gladly taking his campaign checks. This is now their problem.

Sheldon Adelson is the casino mogul and philanthropist whose ten-million-dollar donation last month to a Super PAC supporting Romney was “by far the biggest gift to date,” according to Forbes. Then, two weeks ago, Adelson reportedly pledged ten million more, this time to 2012 campaign efforts involving the Koch brothers, “cementing a potent alliance of two of the biggest spending forces in conservative politics,” Politico reported.

The end of that week brought a less glamorous headline: “Sheldon Adelson Denies Greenlighting A ‘Prostitution Strategy’ At His Macau Casinos.” That was a recap of the latest in a lawsuit working its way through Nevada courts, in which the former head of Adelson’s Macau operation has saddled Adelson with a range of lurid allegations involving Chinese triads, bribery, and criminal activity. (As I described in the magazine in May, those accusations have prompted the S.E.C. and Justice Department to investigate Adelson’s company.)

On June 28th, the former employee making the accusations, Steve Jacobs, dropped a list of new charges into a sworn declaration, including that he wanted to rid the casino of “loan sharks and prostitution” but was stymied when “senior executives informed me that the prior prostitution strategy had been personally approved by Adelson.” That is all it says, so it’s unclear if the plan purportedly “approved by Adelson” was intended to preserve or prevent prostitution. (Local police reportedly arrested more than a hundred prostitutes and twenty-two syndicate leaders in a 2010 operation at Adelson’s Venetian Macau.) The filing also accused Adelson of allegedly hiring illegal workers, and controlling a “Chairman’s Club” that permitted “favored members, including known or suspected organized crime figures.”

Yep, this is how Sheldon Adelson reaps in his billions. And this is how Mitt Romney and the outside "Tea Party, Inc." front groups coming into Nevada to help Romney, Dean Heller, and Joe Heck intend to fuel their campaigns. Remember this. Especially remember this whenever these Republicans try to lecture us on "corruption", "family values", and/or "personal responsibility".

What I Mean by "Penny Wise, Pound Foolish"

Congratulations, Nevada. We rank at the bottom of yet another list (that we shouldn't be at the bottom of). This time, Ball State University gave us a "D" in logistics. And surprise, surprise, the reason why is our lack of proper public infrastructure.

Jim New, TMCC’s dean of applied industrial technology, said, “Obviously the most important thing is to have the workforce in place. We regularly hear that we just don’t have the entry level workforce in the community to support the needs of the industries that want to move here. Just recently, I heard this from a company in the food manufacturers industry.”

At least Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) and UNR have been developing programs to educate future logistics industry workers (although UNR's program is now on the chopping block, so progress there may not last long). And while that's a start, we clearly need more. We need more education, and we need better transportation infrastructure.

New said, “Whenever you look at any system, there’s always room for improvement and given the impact of the recession on the state, we’ve certainly slowed down on infrastructure upgrades but I don’t think we’ve truly lost ground like the report represented it.

“We’ve probably held steady and I would hope that as the economy recovers, we turn to improving the infrastructure, which increases jobs and improves infrastructure for all industries. We need to be able to attract more air service to the community and that in turn will attract more support business. And we need a road system that can handle increased traffic and we need support for the rail system.”

Actually, we have lost ground. Contrary to what the folks interviewed by the RGJ want to admit, the state overall doesn't have enough of the infrastructure necessary to become a complete logistics powerhouse. Again, Northern Nevada hasn't felt it quite as much. They can thank the late Bill Raggio for that.

But come here to Southern Nevada, and it's painfully obvious that we've fallen far behind. Our roads are inadequate, and so are our educational offerings. And this brings us back to what we discussed in January.

What makes this even worse is that over many years and many legislative sessions, "the powers that be" in this state have mostly looked the other way despite all the growing evidence pointing to these serious problems. "The Great 2000s Real Estate Bubble" was always doomed to burst, but hardly anyone in Carson City wanted to talk about how to get past it until it was too late. Of course, they probably didn't want to talk about it because the bulk of the state's budget was built upon the bubble, and that everything from fire stations in Tonopah to community centers in Eureka to freeway projects in and around Reno depended on tourist dollars from the Las Vegas Strip. And even as the state had been able to fund some public infrastructure in Central and Northern Nevada thanks to "bubble" money from the last decade, Clark County still lacks sufficient higher ed opportunities at UNLV, sufficient health care, and plenty other areas of infrastructure that are critical to a successful community. Strangely enough, money from the primary economic engine of Nevada (Clark County) hasn't been used to properly maintain that engine. And because that engine has been neglected, the entire vehicle (Nevada) is in trouble.

And this brings us back to our #1 problem. As long as we fail to invest in our infrastructure, we can't really fix our economic woes. Even though Northern Nevada has gotten by with a little more "help from friends", Southern Nevada has been bled to dry because our state's "leaders" have refused to let us break free from our overdependence on tourism and artificial "growth".

But as long as we continue to starve public education, shortchange transportation, and fail to invest in the rest of our public infrastructure, we'll never have the economy we need for future survival. It's bad enough that the future of UNR's logistics program is endangered while TNCC must beg for the private sector to bail out its program. It's even worse that we have nothing of this sort in Clark County. And if we don't fix this soon, we'll all suffer the consequences. And that won't be pretty.

NPRI Wants Bailout to Continue Harrassing Teachers

Apparently, having CCSD Administration provide them with the district's email program to contact teachers earlier this month isn't enough for NPRI. They're still on their mission to bust the teachers' union. And despite their lack of success, they refuse to relent.

Last month, the Nevada Policy Research Institute launched a multifaceted initiative to inform Clark County School District teachers of their right to drop their union membership between July 1 and July 15. Nevada is a right-to-work state, which means teachers cannot be compelled to join the union as a condition for employment.

NPRI representatives distributed pre-written opt-out letters and pre-stamped envelopes at two School Board meetings; gave radio, TV and newspaper interviews; and even sent two emails to 12,000 teachers through the district’s email system.

Yet despite all that hypocritical teabagger bullshit, CCEA union membership has barely budged. Gosh, I wonder why. Could it perhaps be that teachers are too smart to fall for NPRI's nonsensical song and dance routine? Could it perhaps be that teachers can already sense what CCSD Administration would do if no one was around to tell them no?

But wait, there's more! Apparently, it's not good enough for NPRI that CCSD bosses gave them access to their secure network that's only supposed to be for official school business. Oh no, they want more! And they intend to throw a temper tantrum in Carson City next year over it!

Although the opt-out period ends Sunday, NPRI’s official campaign will not, [NPRI spin doctor Victor] Joecks said.

NPRI plans to lobby legislators during the 2013 session to get rid of opt-out periods altogether, Joecks said. The campaign will also expand to Washoe County teachers and perhaps other collective bargaining units, he added.

Give me a break! So because their CCSD union busting campaign isn't quite going as planned, they want to "NPR-whine" to the Legislature and bully them into aiding and abetting their union busting campaign? Are they fucking serious?!

I hope legislators will have enough spine to tell these hypocrites where they can shove their anti-worker nonsense. It's already hard enough for workers to form and maintain a union in this state. And teachers are already getting enough grief from overzealous administrators who would rather cooperate with crazed anti-education radical right ideologues than negotiate in good faith with the teachers.

Enough is enough. Teachers have already had to fight just to prevent CCSD bosses from stealing away promised salary step increases and education bonuses (that had already been approved for the previous contract!). They're already overworked and underpaid as is. And now, the Legislature will have to consider helping NPRI bust their union just so administrators can keep wasting the very few funds our schools have on iPads, "administrative support staff", and fancy all expenses paid by us the taxpayers vacations "recruitment trips"?

Get real, NPRI! No more bailouts for you! Before you chide anyone else one more time on "relying on government handouts", you need to start practicing what you preach.

Romney Sends Perry to Nevada. Sorry, But We'd Rather Have the Truth.

Today, none other than Rick Perry will be returning to Nevada to open Mitt Romney's new Elko campaign office! Remember him? Oh yes, Rick Perry really made his BFF Brian Sandoval proud!

And now, Perry is set to appear in Elko to speak up for his new BFF, Mitt Romney. Remember what Perry said about Romney earlier this year? I don't think he wants you to.

Why? See for yourself.

Apparently, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry committed "the unforgivable sin": They "released the kraken" that is Mitt Romney's dirtiest secret, and the GOP establishment is demanding they stuff that genie back in the bottle and toss it out to sea. Too bad for them that genies like this one really can't be recaptured and contained. This one will indeed be coming back to haunt the G-O-TEA this fall. [...]

It also speaks volumes that the RNC is begging its own not to mention Mitt Romney's stint at Bain Capital, and that Romney himself says that matters of economic injustice are only allowed to be discussed "in quiet rooms". [...]

Again, the contrast couldn't be any greater. Romney profits off government sponsored corporate welfare, then he says discussions of economic inequality are all "about envy". Romney lies about President Obama's economic record, then his GOP establishment surrogates throw a temper tantrum when anyone tries to tell the truth about Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital. And we're supposed to believe he can boost job creation as US President?

Romney is clearly angry that this election may very well be decided on matters of economic inequality... Especially since he's the one who stands to lose the most from it.

Oh, dear. I had a hunch this story wouldn't die in January. But my goodness, I didn't know my words from then would turn out to be this prophetic.



Now, Mitt Romney is backtracking and claiming these are all just pesky lies. It's too bad for Mittens that Mitt Romney himself has confirmed his role at Bain Capital early last decade. And not only that, but Romney still had an active role at Bain!

If you're still wondering why this is such a big deal, remember that Romney wants to be absolved of any and all responsibility for Bain's more unsavory business practices, such as the gutting of American companies that had created American jobs, as well as the outsourcing of those jobs overseas. If Romney indeed was still CEO and sole stockholder in Bain Capital all the way to 2002, as SEC documents now show, then he has to take responsibility for those unsavory business practices that now threaten his Presidential Campaign.

And here's why this is his worst nightmare: It's all too deja vu for Mittens.

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And especially since none other than Rick Perry was alluding to this during the G-O-TEA primary season, he won't have an easy time shrugging this off in Elko today. Again, remember that Rick Perry himself denounced Mitt Romney's vulture capitalism! Are we all supposed to forget that now? I think not.

Great Timing, CCSD.

For some time, CCSD Administrators have cried that they're just too poor to keep all those horribly mean & expensive teachers on the job. Never mind that they always seem to find the money pay Dwight Jones a cool $282,571 (!!!) salary, fly him to fancy vacations conferences and recruitment sessions, and shower him with all the "support staff" and iPads he could ever desire. But now, we may finally see a bit of a reprieve as the feds are coming to the rescue.

The Clark County School District might be able to temporarily rehire about half of the 419 teachers it laid off last month after the School Board approved on Thursday the use of federal funding to serve the district’s most disadvantaged students.

The School District will receive nearly $82 million next school year through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of Title I, which grants federal dollars to public and private schools with high numbers of students from low-income families.

Each of these “Title I” schools will receive an additional $100 to $375 on top of the district’s per-pupil funding. The goal of the program is to lower the achievement gap between rich and poor students.

Nearly half — or $43 million — of this federal money will fund 199 additional teachers for one year at “Title I” schools. District officials maintained this federal money could not be used to restore lost teacher positions throughout the district, but only to fill “high-need” positions for one year at the 224 schools receiving “Title I” funding.

More than 1,000 teaching positions — including 419 current teachers — were eliminated from the district last month to help plug a $64 million budget deficit next fiscal year.

In order to qualify for federal Title I funding, schools must have at least 40% of students qualifying for free and reduced price school lunches. It's funny how these vultures administrators have no desire to feed kids from working poor families until it serves their political interests. I'd be laughing if we weren't talking about real life.

And in case that isn't disgusting enough, CCSD won't even commit to rehiring the teachers they just pink-slipped for no good reason. Oh no, they're already flirting with finding cheaper replacements. While it's often great to bring in new blood and fresh energy, it's egregiously offensive to ignominiously dump veteran teachers after threatening to bankrupt them, then refuse to hire them back after getting bailed out by the federal government in order to hire teachers!

I wish I could say I was truly surprised by this, but I'm not. After embracing the crazed anti-education teabaggers at NPRI, CCSD bosses truly have jumped the shark. They really seem to care more about boosting their own egos than doing what's right for local teachers and students.

Can Nevada G-O-TEA Afford to Keep Denying Reality?

On Monday, we discussed the mounting evidence pointing to a very real climate crisis in dire need of bold solutions. Apparently, some in DC are finally waking up and smelling reality. And funny enough, these CONSERVATIVES are leading a new effort for not just any climate solution... But a carbon tax!



And really, it makes sense. A tax on carbon emissions is much simpler to implement than a cap-and-trade system, and it can even be made revenue neutral. With less bureaucracy and less in net tax payments, why shouldn't conservatives love this?

Apparently, it's because of the usual "tea party" suspects badmouthing any and every attempt by even conservatives to start an honest discussion on climate change! For some time now, the G-O-TEA troops have been thumbing their noses at proven science. They even forced Mitt Romney to renounce his belief in sound science and buy his membership in "The New Flat Earth Society".

However, it's still been an open question as to how far Nevada Republicans will follow Mitt Romney off that cliff of climate denying idiocy. After all, there's strong bipartisan support here in Nevada for renewable energy investment that's proven to benefit our economy. It's not as if we have to go far to see the impact green energy is making here.



And in fact, we may have been UNDERESTIMATING our ability to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The capacity, the technology, and the economic incentives for America to take action on climate change are already here. And of course, current events should be a powerful motivating force as well.



I understand Dean Heller is looking for something to make him seem altruistic and heroic. And I understand Joe Heck is looking for issues to make him look like he's doing something to create more Nevada jobs. So why not step up now and take the lead on creating solutions to climate change while also bringing more green jobs to our state? Come on, even conservatives are coming on board (again)! Do they really want to follow the dinosaurs, the wooly mammoths, and Sharron Angle on the path to (political) extinction?

Why Harry Reid Busted Mitt Romney

There he goes again. When Harry Reid gets badass, the Beltway press corps have to pay attention. So of course, he's making them pay attention to this.

“[Mitt Romney] not only couldn’t be confirmed as a cabinet secretary, he couldn’t be confirmed as dog catcher,” Reid told reporters at a Capitol press briefing, in response to a question from TPM. “Because a dog catcher, you’re at least going to want to look at his income tax returns.”

“The long report that we have in the Boston Globe today indicates that, as one of his own employees said, it doesn’t make sense,” Reid continued. “He said he left Bain to go to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and stopped any association with Bain. But his SEC filings indicated that he was Chief Executive Officer, sole stockholder, and ran the corporation for at least 3 more years. And that’s why people who say there’s been advertisements where businesses were closed, people laid off - and he says oh I wasn’t there, I left in 1999. As his own operative said, it doesn’t make sense. And it doesn’t.”

Reid said the issue is important because Bain was accused of being involved with outsourcing jobs in those ensuing years, and Romney’s campaign has argued that he had left by then.

Senator Reid was talking about this explosive Boston Globe story debunking Mitt Romney's claim that he wasn't in charge of Bain Capital when his company began massive layoffs early last decade. While Romney claimed he left Bain in 1999, the documents Bain Capital filed with the SEC listed Romney as 100% owner and CEO, and that Romney earned a $100,000 annual salary in 2001 and 2002 on top of his Bain investment earnings.

So why does this matter? Here's why.



Need more details? Read this from Kevin Drum.

SEC documents show that he was CEO and owner of the firm between 1999 and 2002. In a political context, there's just no way to weasel your way around that, and Romney is going to look increasingly weaselly if he tries. Your average Joe sees a multi-gazillionaire trying to claim that he was only technically CEO and isn't reponsible for what happened during his technical CEO-ship. That's like a Mafia don taking the Fifth. It's not going to fly, especially from a guy who's constantly yammering away about personal reponsibility and accountability.

So Romney has a problem, and he'd better figure out a better way of dealing with it than releasing increasingly tortured explanations of the definition of "CEO." Voters want a president who takes responsibility, not one who tries to blame other people when something goes wrong.

And while we're on the subject, check out David [Corn's] latest piece on Bain's investment in a Chinese manufacturing company that "depended on US outsourcing for its profits—and that explicitly stated that such outsourcing was crucial to its success." This happened in 1998, when Romney was unequivocally in charge. This stuff is piling up, and it doesn't look very salt-of-the-earth to those independent blue-collar voters Romney is so anxious to court. He'd better figure out an answer.

And speaking of David Corn's explosive Mother Jones article, it reveals even more lurid details on what Mitt Romney was doing at Bain Capital... And another outfit that's just starting to make headlines.

On April 17, 1998, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, a Bain Capital affiliate, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission noting that it had acquired 6.13 percent of Hong Kong-based Global-Tech Appliances, which manufactured household appliances in a production facility in the industrial city of Dongguan, China. That August, according to another SEC filing,Brookside upped its interest in Global-Tech to 10.3 percent. Both SEC filings identified Romney as the person in control of this investment: "Mr. W. Mitt Romney is the sole shareholder, sole director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookside Inc. and thus is the controlling person of Brookside Inc." Each of these documents was signed by Domenic Ferrante, a managing director of Brookside and Bain. [...]

At the time Romney was acquiring shares in Global-Tech, the firm publicly acknowledged that its strategy was to profit from prominent US companies outsourcing production abroad. On September 4, 1998, Global-Tech issued a press release announcing it was postponing completion of a $30 million expansion of its Dongguan facility because Sunbeam, a prominent American consumer products company and a major client of Global-Tech, was cutting back on outsourcing as part of an overall consolidation. But John C.K. Sham, Global-Tech's president and CEO, said, "Although it appears that customers such as Sunbeam are not outsourcing their manufacturing as quickly as we had anticipated, we still believe that the long-term trend toward outsourcing will continue." Global-Tech, which in mid-1998 announced fiscal year sales of $118.3 million (an increase of 89 percent over the previous year), also manufactured household appliances for Hamilton Beach, Mr. Coffee, Proctor-Silex, Revlon, and Vidal Sassoon, and its chief exec was hoping for more outsourcing from these and other American firms.

And in case that isn't damning enough...

Brookside downsized its Global-Tech holdings later in 1998. An SEC filing submitted on December 21, 1998, reported that the Bain affiliate now controlled only 4.63 percent of the company's shares. But Brookside was sharing its stake in Global-Tech with Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors LTD—a Bermuda-based corporation of which Romney was the "the sole shareholder, a director, and President." That is, Romney had split his Global-Tech holdings between two of his various business entities. (The SEC filing doesn't indicate why he did that.)

Sankaty is a story in itself. It was recently the focus of an Associated Press investigation that reported that Sankaty "is among several Romney holdings that have not been fully disclosed" and that there is a "mystery surrounding" Sankaty. Reporting on this Romney entity, Vanity Fair noted that "investments in tax havens such as Bermuda raise many questions, because they are in 'jurisdictions where there is virtually no tax and virtually no compliance,' as one Miami-based offshore lawyer put it." With Sankaty, Romney was using a mysterious Bermuda-based entity to invest in a Chinese firm that thrived on US outsourcing.

Wow. This is even worse than I had originally thought. I just knew that Mitt Romney was/is a vulture capitalist who profited from destroying American jobs. Now we know he's caused even more damage to our economy by outsourcing formerly American jobs to China AND by hiding his money in offshore Bermuda based investments!



But really, should we be surprised? This truly is the Mitt Romney way. He makes money while American workers suffer.Desert Beacon warned us back in May. His voodoo economics, as well as his embrace of just plain voodoo emanating from Donald Trump's ass, should have been enough of a warning for us.

And this is why Harry Reid said what he said this morning. Mitt Romney can't be trusted to speak the truth on his own financial records. Mitt Romney can't be trusted to protect American jobs. Mitt Romney can't be trusted to stick to the same position on anything. Is there anything Mitt Romney can be trusted on?

Where's the Scandal, Dean Heller?

Much has been said about the horrifying "SCANDAL!!!" that Shelley Berkley has been caught in. It's just so gruesomely awful, I tell you! It's... It's...

To all the national pundits who immediately decided to write off Dem Rep. Shelley Berkley's chances in the wake of the House Ethics Committee deciding to continue an investigation into her efforts to save Nevada's only kidney transplant center, I can tell you that the DSCC didn't just reserve $2.3 million in fall ad time to make you look foolish. But it does mean they think you are very wrong in your assessment.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller immediately pounced, though, with a new ad attacking Berkley over these ethics issues. But as commenter DCCyclone astutely observes, the spot is more notable for what it doesn't say. Heller doesn't utter a word about the actual underlying issue—it just vaguely tosses around a claim of corruption—because the transplant center is popular, and rescuing it is a positive for Berkley, even if her nephrologist husband did happen to benefit. As DCC says, "Heller's own ad implicitly admits you can't talk about the issue itself without disarming the attack." What's more, Heller himself tried to save the program, too, so he's not well-situated to make an issue of this.

Oh, so that's what it is. Dean Heller may be pounding his chest while he's doing a victory lap, but he really looks foolish in doing so. For goodness sake, he joined with Shelley Berkley to save UMC's kidney transplant program!

And my gawd, when did saving Nevada's only kidney transplant program become such a "SCANDAL!!!"? And if she's in so much trouble for preventing dialysis patients on Medicare from losing their treatment, then I'll be damned. Even considering that her husband is a nephrologist, there's no evidence proving any wrongdoing.

So why is Dean Heller pounding his chest and doing a victory lap? Even though there's no evidence of wrongdoing, Heller is using this story to paint Berkley as "corrupt" and damage her poll numbers. Oh, and running against a "corrupt" opponent is much easier than running on one's own record, especially if that one is Dean Heller.



After all, he was appointed to the US Senate by Brian Sandoval in a craven attempt to keep John Ensign's Senate seat in Republican hands. As soon as he was appointed, he immediately chose cheap political theater over helping Nevada's working families. He then doubled down on killing Medicare, and he even threatened to destroy the federal government AND the world economy if he didn't see enough middle class families suffer under the debt deal.




But wait, there's more! Dean Heller didn't bother listening to the constituents outside his office demanding he stop bailing out the fossil fuel industry at the expense of working families. He didn't even bother asking his constituents about his unbalanced nonsense plan to throw America into another Great Depression. Oh, and he didn't even bother apologizing to Nevada Latinos for farting in their faces while demanding their votes. And to add even more insult to injury, Dean Heller also went out of his way to wage war against Nevada's women while also managing to demean LGBTQ families.

Perhaps Dean Heller truly thinks we'll just eat up all his "moderate" baloney while slapping Shelley Berkley with a bunch of trumped up charges. I think he's in for a very rude awakening. And I'm seeing past the hyped up "scandal" and noticing the real dirty deed here.

What Got Accomplished Today in Congress (Nothing)

Congratulations, @RepJoeHeck. You succeeded in another vote on another attempt to replace good policy with slimy politics. Today's vote was Congressional Republicans' 33rd attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

What's really hilarious about this is that Heck and other "TEA" fueled Republicans claim the Affordable Care Act is unprecedented "SOESHULIZZZM!!!!!!!" No, really. Never mind that it's largely based upon the REPUBLICAN alternative to Bill Clinton's 1994 health care plan and the Massachusetts health care reform that MITT ROMNEY signed into law. That always gives me a good chuckle. When did Republicans start calling their own proposals "SOESHULIZZZM!!!!!!!!!!"?

And again, why must this keep happening over and over again? Steve Benen reminds us of the true insanity of today's House schedule.

But it's the sheer repetition that really rankles. While House Republicans haven't even voted on any major jobs bills this entire Congress, today marked the 33rd time the House GOP felt compelled to try to gut "Obamacare," apparently because votes 1 through 32 were too subtle. Jamison Foser pointed to this great scene from "A Few Good Men," which helped summarize the problem.

As for the policy, let's also not forget that literally House Republican today voted to take away health coverage for young adults staying on their family plans, raise prescription drug prices for seniors, end protections for those with pre-existing conditions, reinstate lifetime insurance caps, scrap tax breaks for small businesses, raise the deficit, and take benefits away from 30 million Americans, all as part of a repeal crusade they can't pass.

There has to be better uses for Congress' time.

So what's being done on job creation? What's being done on immigration reform? What's being done on climate change? What's being done on the multitude of other important issues facing our country now? Why are Republicans in Congress wasting so much time on f*cking up health care? And why are Nevada Republicans applauding Joe Heck, Mark Amodei, and Dean Heller for doing this? How does this benefit anyone?

Why Is Nevada's "School Czar" Speaking at Anti-Education "Tea Party" Event?

So Nevada's Superintendent of Public Instruction will be in town soon. And he isn't just coming to enjoy the lovely summer heat. Rather, he will be here for a NPRI event.

No, I'm not kidding. And really, we shouldn't be surprised at all.

John L. Smith warned us back in March. James Guthrie has stated before that he does NOT support fully funding public education. He came here to Nevada from a right-wing think tank. And his appointment by Governor Brian Sandoval was praised... By none other than NPRI. Oh sure, there's nothing to see here.

But really, there is. After all, Guthrie is speaking at NPRI just as they are attacking Clark County teachers and pushing CCSD Administration to attack local teachers as well. In fact, CCSD Administrators have even gone out of their way to waste money on other items so they can have an excuse to pink slip teachers and continue on their union busting mission!

And Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction James Guthrie is coming here to speak to NPRI.

What's really going on here? Guthrie is certainly coming at an interesting time. I wonder what kind of "words of encouragement" he will offer to NPRI. It's just the kind of funky timing that I can't ignore.

So why is Nevada's "Education Czar" talking public education at an event being held by an organization thats dedicated to destroying public education? And why is he speaking to them right when they're waging war on Southern Nevada's teachers as they aim to bust their union? I smell something fishy here.

Why Joe Heck STILL Wants to Take Away Your Health Care

So the day has finally arrived. Why does it feel so familiar. Oh yes, that's it.

“To date, 32 Floor votes have been taken to repeal, defund, or dismantle ObamaCare. Tomorrow’s vote to repeal ObamaCare will be the 33rd,” read an advisory from the office of Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

The vote, which follows the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, signals that the conservative base’s visceral opposition to the law remains strong. Republicans are set for another unanimous show of resistance to President Obama’s signature law, despite some hedging from politically vulnerable members, and will probably pick off a handful of vulnerable Democrats. [...]

For Democrats, it was an opportunity to highlight the benefits in the law, such as guaranteed coverage for people with preexisting conditions and the ability to remain on a parent’s insurance policy until 26. Democrats also bragged that the measure was pioneered by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, and echoed his defense of the mandate as an anti-free-rider provision.

“The Republicans are glorifying freeloaders,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (WA), the only physician in the Democratic caucus. “People who say they don’t want to pay if they can.”

And of course, no one is more excited about today than Joe Heck. He was absolutely giddy last week as we was counting House votes for repeal. Just don't tell him about the vote count in the Senate.

And don't even try telling him about the reality of the Affordable Care Act. It's actually set to save middle class families an average of $5,210 by giving them tax credits to participate in the new health insurance exchange. And in reworking the health care system to benefit consumers, costs will fall for everyone.

Now contrast this with what happens if Joe Heck gets his way and the ACA is repealed. It isn't a pretty picture. Here's the damage in full.

1) Millions without coverage. A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the GOP’s repeal measure from 2011 found that “32 million fewer nonelderly people would have health insurance in 2019, leaving a total of about 54 million nonelderly people uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, compared with a projected share of 94 percent under current law (and 83 percent currently).”

2) Health insurance costs increase. The same analysis concluded that “many people would end up paying more for health insurance— because under current law, the majority of enrollees purchasing coverage in that market would receive subsidies via the insurance exchanges, and [repeal] would eliminate those subsidies.” What’s more, “Premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through large employers would be slightly higher.”

3) Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose access to coverage. Republicans have said that they would not replace the Affordable Care Act’s federal rules prohibiting insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. Instead, they would encourage states to form expensive high-risk pools to cover the sick or, alternatively, leave them to find their own coverage in the individual market —where many will likely go uninsured.

4) Medicare in disarray. Approximately 100 million Medicare claims are processed each month using a formula that was altered by the Affordable Care Act. Should the law be repealed, new rates could not be calculated under the old, pre-ACA formula until after a rulemaking process that can take months before is completed. The result would be that Medicare would not be able to pay doctors for what could be many months.

5) Deficits increase by billions. The CBO predicts that “as a result of changes in direct spending and revenues is likely to be an increase in the vicinity of $230 billion.” Repeal would also “increase federal deficits in the decade after 2019 by an amount that is in a broad range around one-half percent of GDP.”

Yes, it's really that bad. If the Affordable Care Act is done away with, health care costs increase as fewer people are covered. And yes, it even means the budget deficit increases as we revert to the failed status quo.

So why again is Joe Heck so excited about today's vote? Basically, this is just a political stunt meant to please teabaggers while sowing doubt among the rest of us about ACA's future. Yet again, House Republicans are putting crass politics above good policy. And they have to resort to meaningless political posturing because it's their only weapon they can use to counter the truth about what the Affordable Care Act really does.

Oh, and they need something to distract from Mitt Romney's world of chaos. Romney can't even decide what the individual mandate is! Since his health care plan was the basis for the ACA, he's especially caught between a rock and a hard place.

So there you have it. Apparently, Joe Heck values Mitt Romney's political career more than delivering better health care for Nevada's working families. Talk about crazy priorities.

Reno to Briefly Take Center of World Stage (& Presidential Campaign)

In case today's festivities here in Vegas aren't exciting enough for you, get ready for even more excitement later this month. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney are confirmed to speak at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno at the end of the month. And in a departure from the constant focus on domestic issues, foreign policy may finally take center stage as they speak.

Oh, and did I mention this will be happening in Reno?

We all now know what President Obama has done on foreign policy. He's gotten rid of Osama bin Laden and weakened al-Qaeda. He provided a key supportive role in aiding "The Arab Spring" uprisings that allowed the people of the Middle East to claim democracy for their own society. He's moved to bring together the world community in taking on Iran's desire for nuclear weapons. He's ended the Iraq War. And he's moved us beyond the "Cold War" in bringing agreement to cut in half the number of American and Russian missle launchers.

That's quite a lot. Mitt Romney will have a tough act to follow, since his biggest "accomplishment" so far is talking up WAR with Iran and taking advice from the same people who urged George W. Bush to go to war in Iraq. Even worse, Romney's foreign policy department is a total clusterf**k. Some Republicans are now breaking away from Romney on climate change and demanding that conservatives cut the "flat earth" cap and engage with the rest of the world in dealing with reality. All in all, it's so bad that world leaders fear Romney's lack of knowledge and bombastic rhetoric could cause a global crisis.

Whoa. That's bad. And did I mention that Romney and Obama will be speaking in Reno later this month? Who would have guessed that Reno would be center stage in what should be a telling week on the campaign trail as Mitt Romney will have to elaborate on his foreign policy while President Obama talks about what he's already done.

Bienvenidos, Biden. (& Ay Yay Yay, Romney.)

In case you were wondering what all the hubbub at Mandalay Bay has been about, it's because the National Council of La Raza (the largest Latin@ civil rights group in the nation) has been in in town since last weekend. And today, they will be receiving a very special guest with a very important message.

“Mitt Romney wants you to show your papers,” [Vice President Joe] Biden plans to say, according to prepared remarks. “But he won’t show us his.” [...]

Biden also plans to tell the Hispanic civil rights advocates gathered that the election is a battle between those who want Hispanics to be a part of America and those who want to keep them at a distance.

“There are voices among us who fear your inclusion. This is not new,” Biden says in the remarks. “There have always been fights between the voices of inclusion and the voices of exclusion.”

It’s clear from the speech which side Biden thinks Romney’s on.

"Imagine what the Supreme Court will look like after four years of Governor Romney. Imagine what it will act like. Imagine what it will mean for civil rights, voting rights, and so much we have fought so hard for. Imagine a Justice Department that supports, rather than challenges, continued efforts to suppress the right to vote. Because that’s what will happen if they win."

This is the two pronged argument we discussed back in April. It's bad enough that Mitt Romney wants to end Medicare as we know it, slash Pell Grants and other college financial aid to death, and do even more to destroy the social safety net that's helped build and protect America's middle class. It's even worse that Romney has embraced ugly xenophobia and used it to further his political career.

After all, this just happened earlier this year!



And as we discussed yesterday, this is why Republicans are especially in trouble here in Nevada. Our population isn't just growing, but it's also transforming. We're becoming a more diverse state, especially as Latino and Asian-American communities are fueling the growth here.

So if you're wondering why Joe Biden is here in Vegas today, now you know.

Who Are the Real Job Creators?

We've heard plenty this year about "job creators" and why we shouldn't "punish" them. But really, who are these "job creators"? What's the engine that gets this economy moving?

Seattle based venture capitalist Nick Hanauer provides a surprising answer. He says we've had it all wrong in the past three decades. If we really want to boost "job creators", then we must look beyond Wall Street and take a closer look at Main Street.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"This idea is a way of completely misunderstanding how economies truly work," Hanauer said on The Last Word Monday. "The people who create jobs is the middle class. When a middle class consumer buys something from a company, that is what creates jobs. And that's why it doesn't matter very much if rich people pay higher rates of tax, because the true engine of job creation is a thriving middle class."

"A businessperson calling themselves a job creator is like a school claiming to have created evolution," Hanauer added. "It's just not true."

The notion that the rich are "job creators" is at the core of Mitt Romney's economic platform. Like the rest of his party, Romney opposes raising taxes even on the richest 2 percent of Americans, arguing that doing so would stymie job growth.

Think about it. Who buys the bulk of the shiny new electronic gadgets at Fry's? Who buys most of the groceries at Trader Joe's? Who does most of the stocking up at yet another Macy's summer sale? We do! The middle class truly is the engine that drives our economy. We buy most of the consumer goods and services, and that's what fuels job growth.

And in case that wasn't convincing enough for you, Desert Beacon has more facts and figures showing how "trickle down economics" fail to fuel job growth. Since middle class families are the biggest chunk of the population and make most of the consumer purchases, then it makes the most sense to ensure they have money to spend. They need the tax cuts. The super rich don't.

Really, one need not look further than Mitt Romney to see why this doesn't work. Despite all the tax breaks he gets, he's been busy destroying American jobs and hiding his money in offshore bank accounts. If that isn't enough evidence to prove that we've had it all wrong on "job creators", then I don't know what is.