NFL & NBA Lockouts Show Dark Side of Collective Bargaining Process »
(David Mansdoerfer) – With the NBA set to join the NFL in shutting down operations tonight due to the expiration of their collective bargaining agreements, we are again reminded of how disconnected the CBA process is from reality. Now, to make it clear, the NFL and NBA are vastly different organizations than the American Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union. Yet, when it comes to the negotiating table, each organization is equally capable [...]
City Of North Las Vegas: Oceguera Double-Dipped »
(Victor Joecks/NPRI) – The City of North Las Vegas Fire Department yesterday confirmed in a news release that Assembly Speaker and NLV Assistant Fire Chief John Oceguera drew both his legislative and firefighting salaries during the 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions. The fire department produced unsigned agreements stating that Oceguera worked 18 hours a week for the fire department during the 2009 legislative session and nine hours a week for the fire department during the [...]
Was Speaker Oceguera Double-Dipping In Carson City? »
(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – NPRI’s Nevada Journal released a report [yesterday] that appears to indicate Assembly Speaker John Oceguera (D-Las Vegas) may have been “double-dipping”, or collecting pay from two taxpayer-paid positions for the same time. Records obtained by Nevada Journal show Oceguera being paid for his North Las Vegas Fire Department position during the time he was serving in the Legislature. At the very least, Oceguera and the NLVFD are guilty of sloppy [...]
$4,200: Cost To Each Nevada Taxpayer To Fund Public Employee Benefits »
(Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – Nevada has the 18th lowest taxpayer burden to cover unfunded public employee pension and health care costs among the states, but policy makers are still failing to adequately address the shortfall, a national organization reported in a new comprehensive analysis. Nevada’s burden totals nearly $3.6 billion in liabilities for these benefits, which works out to $4,200 per taxpayer, according to the 50-state analysis by the Chicago-based Institute for Truth in [...]
The Tide Is Turning Against Bonuses For Teachers With Advanced Degrees »
(Steve Gunn/EAG Communications) – Could the Los Angeles Unified School District erase its financial problems with one bold policy change? The district is currently grappling with a $408 million budget deficit, according to media reports. And it spends more than $519 million per year on bonuses for teachers who taken additional college courses, despite evidence that they are no more effective than teachers with basic bachelor’s degrees. As one blogger put it, “that money could [...]
When Looking At Budget Facts, Look At All The Facts »
(Chuck Muth) – In a column critical of NPRI’s 2011 ratings of Nevada legislators today, Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston wrote about the conservative think tank’s “disgust” with the budget deal, “as if there were some massive expansion of government that occurred.” “I repeat the facts,” Jon writes. ”In 2009, lawmakers approved a $6.9 billion general fund budget; in 2011, they approved a $6.2 billion general fund budget.” But that simultaneously is half the [...]
Is Smoked Bear Smarter Than Smokey? And The Feds? »
(Fred Weinberg/The Penny Press) – I have a friend in Elko who many of our readers also know. His name is Grant Gerber and, in addition to being an extraordinarily skilled lawyer, he is willing to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to East-coast yuppies telling us Nevadans how to live. About 92% of this state is controlled by the Federal Departments of the Interior and Agriculture in the form of [...]
Fighting For A Balanced Budget »
(Senator Dean Heller, R-NV) – In a little more than a month from today, the federal government is going reach the federal debt limit and run out of money that it can borrow to fuel the trillion dollar deficits President Obama and his allies in Congress have handed our country. Democrats have done nothing to stop the federal spending spree, and they’re so out of touch that their deficit reduction plan is to spend more [...]
SOS Miller’s Magic Pen »
(Thomas Mitchell/4thSt8) – No matter how much a passel of salivating Democrats and their lapdog pundits may wish it, Secretary of State Ross Miller should not be able to wave his magic pen and make the major political parties disappear while preserving the minor ones. The state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of Nevada State Democratic Party v. Nevada Republican Party. Some of the questions from the bench to the attorneys for [...]
Nevada Supreme Court Hears Special Election Arguments Today »
(Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – Attorneys for the state Democrat and Republican parties argued their cases Tuesday before the Nevada Supreme Court over whether they should pick their candidates for the special election to fill the vacant 2nd Congressional District seat, or whether it should be a “ballot royale.” The Democrat Party and Secretary of State Ross Miller, himself a Democrat, are asking the court to rule by July 6 that any and all comers [...]
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