(Chuck Muth) – Nevada State Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert (R-Reno) appeared on Sam Shad’s Nevada Newsmakers program on Monday and proceeded to criticize her fellow Republican governor for not raising taxes while making a pre-primary endorsement of one of his opponents.
Gansert threw her support behind former federal judge Brian Sandoval – the man who, as attorney general at the time, sued the Nevada Legislature over the infamous 2003 tax hike which was, at the time, the largest in state history. Gansert said she thinks Sandoval will help the Republican Party attract support from a broader base of voters.
“Our tent needs to be bigger,” Gansert said. “I think that Brian Sandoval really could help motivate people to come to the polls on behalf of Republicans in a future election.”
Gansert said she believes there would be an advantage for a Republican candidate in the general election who appeals to the masses, not just far right conservatives.
“I think there are many Republicans who are looking for a new type of leadership, someone who is a consensus builder, someone who will reach out for solutions, someone who is not going to stand on just one pledge,” she said. “And I think that we have that in Brian Sandoval.”
Got that, fiscal conservatives?
The Republican “leader” in the state Assembly has just declared war on “bad” Republicans who are misguided enough to believe that raising taxes by over a billion dollars in the middle of a recession is wrong.
The GOP leader who voted for a whopping $292 million anti-tourist room tax hike this year thinks those of us who opposed the increase are nothing but “far right conservatives.”
The GOP leader who then went on to vote for some $800 million worth of additional government spending over and above what Gov. Jim Gibbons’ proposed in his budget thinks Republicans need to embrace higher taxes in order to reach out to “the masses.”
The GOP leader who not only consistently voted against her fellow Republican governor in the 2009 session, but compounded the insult and injury by voting to override his vetoes over and over again says Republicans are looking for “a new type of leadership.”
The GOP leader who would rather go-along-to-get-along than fight the opposition on matters of principle and fiscal responsibility says what this state needs isn’t a governor who fights for what he believes, but a governor who caves in to the opposition and builds a “consensus” for bigger government and higher taxes.
Heidi Gansert can’t be seen as anything but an opportunist here.
She was never there when Gov. Gibbons needed her. She worked behind the scenes with Democrat Speaker Buckley to undermine his budget and craft a billion dollars worth of tax hikes instead. And now that she’s seen poll numbers showing that Brian Sandoval enjoys a healthy lead over Gibbons, she throws Gibbons completely under the bus while spitting in the eyes of fiscal “far right” conservatives at the same time.
With moderate Republicans like Heidi Gansert and Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio running the show in Nevada’s Legislature, is it any wonder so many conservatives have left the GOP and “independents” are the fastest-growing voter bloc in the state?
I never in my wildest dreams thought that Heidi “Giveaway” Gansert could be a worse leader than former Minority Leader Garn Mabey.
I was wrong.
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