Monthly archive

Last time the GOP tried an anti-tax Contract with Nevada: Disaster
In 2004, after what was then the largest tax increase in Nevada history, some Mensa-like GOP strategists thought an anti-tax "Contract with Nevada" would help the Republicans take over the Assembly, then in Democratic control by 23-19. It was a disaster. Democrats picked up three seats despite the anti-tax contract, instead wiping out two of the strongest opponents of the increase, Ron Knecht and Don Gustavson. (Of course, both have been resurrected. Gustvason is now a state senator; Knecht is...
Tax repeal effort to begin; proponents helped by legislative lawyers
A small band of would-be tax erasers are poised to launch their effort next week, aided by a lawmaker and legislative lawyers who helped them draft the petition to overturn Gov. Brian Sandoval’s largest increase in history. Assemblyman Jim Wheeler confirmed this week that Legislative Counsel Bureau lawyers helped him draft possible vehicles to repeal the $1.4 billion tax increase, a use of legislative resources that surely infuriated the governor and key lawyers who pushed for and voted for the...
State regulators to Fiore: Your license to operate could be revoked
After Assemblywoman Michele Fiore twice refused to allow state inspectors into her home health care business records, officials Friday delivered a letter to her outlining her history of noncompliance and putting her on notice that her license to operate could be revoked. As I reported earlier this week, Fiore has taken $6 million in Medicaid payments during the last five years and is subject to unannounced inspections, which she has twice rebuffed this year. In the letter delivered today, a...
So who's on the junket, er, trade mission?
Being nosy, I wondered who were these dozens of people with Gov. Brian Sandoval on his two-weeks-plus trade mission to Ireland, England, Germany and Italy. So I asked. The list, according to the state, is below. Lots of economic development officials, UNLV President Len Jessup and other education officials, a Jewish Federation delegation and honorary consuls. Also along for the painful trip are water officials (Pat Mulroy and John Entsminger) and company executives from some of the governor's...
NV Energy: Solar advocates now complaining about something they agreed to during Legislature
NV Energy will file with state regulators a week from Friday to show it plans to comply with new rooftop solar (so-called net metering) requirements renewable advocates agreed to in the Legislature but are now asserting are unfair. In a filing with the Public Utilities Commission this week, which you can see below, the company rejected assertions made by The Alliance for Solar Choice that it had misled lawmakers during the session about when it would exceed a current cap. Next week's filing...
Regents hire big-name California attorney to probe Klaich
Nevada's university regents have hired a prominent (and expensive) California labor lawyer and his associates to investigate allegations that Chancellor Dan Klaich improperly handled a report critical of the system. The story, first broken by the Review-Journal's Bethany Barnes, involves a study of the community colleges performed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems that was submarined after it questioned the system's leadership amid a debate over who should oversee...
Fiore snubs, threatens state inspectors, could lose home health care license
Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, who received $6 million in Medicaid funding during a five-year period, has refused to allow state inspectors to review her records and could have her license to operate revoked, sources confirmed this week. During the last few weeks, state health inspectors have conducted unannounced visits, as prescribed by regulations, to look at Fiore's records of her home health care businesses. The first time, I'm told, her mother, who helps her run the business, refused to...
Realtors hit two lawmakers on HOA bill vote
The Realtors PAC is starting its campaign season early, going after Democratic Assemblywoman Ellen Spiegel and Republican Glenn Trowbridge for voting against an HOA measure. The mail pieces, which you can see below, refer to AB 359, which the Realtors considered an assault on homeowner rights and gave associations too much power with so-called super-priority liens. Getting rid of an HOA's right to extinguish a first mortgage was a big deal for the group. The pieces are pretty brutal, even...
Democratic poll shows Nevada Senate race a dead heat, Hillary up in the state
The U.S. Senate race in Nevada is a dead heat while every Republican candidate would lose today to Hillary Clinton in Nevada, according to a poll conducted by a Democratic-leaning pollster for a Democratic SuperPAC. The numbers for the Senate Majority PAC actually make sense despite what some will criticize as the source, especially because the partisan breakdown is reasonable (the pollster used the actual 39-34, D-R split, although performance usually favors the GOP to cut into that edge) and...
The money chase in CD4
UPDATE, 7 AM, 7/16/15: I added Rep. Cresent Hardy's report below. he has much more on hand than any of the Democrats, and his advantage is likley to be quite large by June 2016 after the internecine carnage to come. Susie Lee is the decisive winner so far, with $100,000 more than Ruben Kihuen and $200,000 more than Lucy Flores. (John Oceguera announced after the deadline.) I will post all of the FEC reports here as they come in. Kihuen Fecq22015 Draft (1) by Jon Ralston Lee by Jon Ralston...

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