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Mention the phrase “campaign finance reform,” and the NyQuil lobby gets nervous.
Nothing puts folks to sleep faster than this concept, which is exactly what the elected elite wants and exactly why you should pry your eyes open. And Tuesday in the Legislative Building, where such notions go to die a quiet (usually) death, Secretary of State Ross Miller (again) will try to deliver a wake-up call to the Gang of 63.
Miller, like secretaries of state before him (Dean Heller was noteworthy), have...
Welcome to The Weekly Report, where you will get exclusive information and analysis.
This week:
1. The Weekly Insiders Survey: Great stuff from my gaggle this week, as usual. Was Roberson's move smart or dumb? (They lean dumb.) Will an alternative be crafted to the margins tax? (Not much optimism here.) Will the margins tax pass in 2014? (They all, but one, say no.)
2. The truth about the last constitutional amendment to raise mining taxes: It was mining's bill, Marvin Sedway's cross-of-gold...
In rare testimony before lawmakers 24 years ago and in a mostly forgotten bit of history, Steve Wynn broke with the rest of the gaming industry and vehemently assailed lawmakers for keeping mining tax policy inside the Constitution.
Wynn's testimony, which I have attached here, sparked Circus Circus Chairman Bill Bennett to contradict him in a letter to the Legislature five days later asserting Wynn did not speak for the rest of the Strip. Ah, those were the days....
I have already told you...
In 1989, Acting Gov. Bob Miller fulminated against the mining industry in a way that had rarely been heard in the capital.
“The fact is this: mining does not pay its fair share to the state,” Miller railed in his State of the State speech. “A gold mine that would pay a million dollars in state and local taxes in Nevada pays $8 million in Colorado. And you know, that might be tolerable if the mines were taking a renewable resource from the ground. But they’re not. One day, the ore will be gone...
Just got this -- attributed to conservative Keystone Corp. boss John Gibson:
Keystone Opposes Mining Tax Proposal
"We have always rejected industry-specific taxes as bad public policy and detrimental to Nevada's economic development. Just as we opposed Initiatives that were being circulated lasty ear to impose additional taxes on the gaming and mining industries, we reject current proposals to balance the state budget on the back of the mining industry. The budget proposed by the Governor ...
And thus a victory for Senator Dean Heller, who opposed her because of a gun control answer during a campaign, over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who promoted her.
Elissa Cadish's withdrawal letter (attached here), surely solicited by Reid, mentions the need to fill the slot. But this is very simple: Heller blocked her and could never move off that position. He could never explain allowing her to go through if he flip-flopped.
Heller can change his positions on immigration, but on Cadish:...
Beyond all the breathless reaction and inevitable misdirection that accompanied the Dirty Half-Dozen mining tax shocker this week comes a fundamental legal question: What does the word "approval" mean?
That is, what does it mean in Article 19, Section 2 of the Constitution in regards to the disposition of an alternative to the margins tax should one surface once the dreaded levy is ignored by lawmakers:
"If the Legislature rejects such proposed statute or amendment, the Governor may recommend...