Monthly archive

In 2011, Democrats came into the session planning to propose a tax increase. But with their two leaders intending to run for Congress and with courage taking its biennial 120-day holiday from the capital, they hid the ball until it was too late. So a bold, even visionary plan suffocated in the legislative womb, stillborn. A wasted opportunity for a real discussion about the most important issue confronting Nevada, as it has been for the last quarter-century: How should the state tax and spend...
If I told you 25 years ago that a political fundraiser featuring Oscar Goodman would one day be held at a place called The Mob Museum, you would have called me crazy. If I told you that today, you would say: Of course! And that's what's happening Jan. 23 as Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross isn't taking any chances as he seeks another term, coralling The Family Goodman, every major lobbyist and many others for early money. Who's on the list? Who isn't? From the invite:   Tom Arlt, Ryan...
For years, the complaint has been whispered or bellowed in Southern Nevada: Give us our fair share. The loudest voices have been the likes of Jim Bilbray, first as a regent and then as a state senator, and Dina Titus, the longtime upper house minority leader now in the House. The math would puzzle an outsider: The South has had a near supermajority in both houses for decades, yet the North has always had its way, or so it seemed. That was mostly thanks to the late Bill Raggio, the Sentinel of...
UPDATED WITH QUOTE FROM REID, DCCC AND TEAM TITUS BELOW. Democratic National Committeewoman Erin Bilbray will meet next week with Rep. Steve Israel, who leads the party's House campaign committee, to discuss running against GOP Rep. Joe Heck in Nevada's swing district.  (UPDATE: Bilbray now says meeting is first with staff a week from Friday and then following week with Israel.) Bilbray, who will be in DC for the inauguration, confirmed the meeting with Israel. "Steve Israel called me," she...
"But what he likes doing most of all, apparently, is insulting people." That is Real Clear Politics DC bureau chief Carl Cannon's assessment this morning of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a piece in which he allowed me to bloviate about my views on Reid's behavior and view of the media and catalogued some of Reid's "greatest" hits in the wake of his latest -- the unfortunate hurricanes comparison. Cannon gave me a chance to synthesize some of my thoughts about Reid and the media. The...
Secretary of State Ross Miller has yet to formally announce his campaign for attorney general, but there is no mystery here: He's in. And last night at the delicious Craftsteak at the MGM Grand, Miller attracted an electic crowd for his first major fundraiser-- and an estimated six figures. The event was hosted by MGM Resorts boss Jim Murren and many other gaming executives, as well as other familiar names, were invited. Besides Murren and his better half, Heather, other casino operatvies there...
Here's my rant about what Gov. Kenny Guinn's son and his lawyer continue to try to do to my producer, Dana Gentry, held up now by a possible settlement in the overarching case:    
There was supposed to be a Supreme Court hearing today in my "Ralston Reports" producer Dana Gentry's case, one of the most egregious attempts to intimidate a journalist I have seen. But the oral argument was vacated pending a settlement of the main case involving Aspen Financial Services, leaving in limbo owner Jeff Guinn's grotesque maneuver, though his counsel, John Bailey, to stifle Gentry's reporting. New evidence also has surfaced indicating that Guinn has little more than what his wife,...
There may be more embarrassing or childish moments in political history than what we witnessed at today’s Clark County Commission meeting. But not many. Commissioners voting against a new chairman even thought they knew he would win? Yes. That happened. And for no good reason. And commissioners, like three-year-olds, squabbling about where they should sit up on the dais? Yes. That happened. And for no good reason. What a pathetic spectacle. And these folks are on the most powerful local...

Pages