(Mark Ciavola) – Well, it has finally happened: Democrats in Southern Nevada have gone too far, and are now embarrassing themselves daily for the entire world to watch.
It all began on November 2, 2010 when Dr. Joe Heck was elected to Congress over Dina Titus, the darling of the liberal activist community in Las Vegas. Democrats began attacking Heck across various media, for not creating the jobs he promised – a promise he never made in the first place. Congressman Heck has always maintained that government cannot create jobs, something President Obama has yet to figure out. He has, however, made it clear that government needs to create an environment favorable for the private sector to create jobs.
Although many liberals never heard his entire view on this issue, because Dina Titus routinely cut it out of her attack ads to make it seem as though Heck felt Congress had no role in putting people back to work.
Now being a sore loser is nothing new for the devoted liberal activist, but since then they have taken their activism to a whole new level – outright lies.
These activists are now claiming that Rep. Joe Heck charges constituents to see him, requires a fee for them to ask him questions, and refuses to hold a public town hall. They’ve even gone so far as to use the term “Pay-Per-View Congress” when referring to the cost to enter private events where Joe Heck is speaking.
One of the outfits spearheading this nonsense is The Nevada View, a Vegas-based “non-partisan” news website run by 32-year old President of the CSN “Young” Democrats, Justin McAffee, and contributed to by a whole host of liberal/progressive politicos. One such progressive is Andrew Davey, of the Nevada Stonewall Democrats, who wrote that members attending a private luncheon with Rep. Heck were “human shields.”
This is absolutely ridiculous, even for Democrats.
There is no doubt that Nevadans are suffering, and many cannot find work. Many have been out of work for years. For these activists to politicize that suffering, for ideological gain, is embarrassing.
The reality is that Rep. Heck has held numerous public town halls and other public events where constituents can hear him speak, ask him questions, and interact with him. And like any high-profile individual – elected official or otherwise – he also appears as a special guests at various private events.
When a Republican club has their monthly luncheon, and attendees are required to pay $25 to cover the cost of their meal, it is a private luncheon for their members. They invite high-profile speakers – including elected officials – and Democrats do the same thing.
When a band of screeching liberal hyenas show up to disrupt the event, they are told they must pay the $25 to attend the luncheon. The activists have now claimed that this practice boils down to Rep. Heck charging constituents to ask him questions.
This is absurd, and a patently false allegation. In fact, these “constituents” are purposefully exploiting an innocent practice as something heinous. It is disingenuous.
When the Lambda Business Association – Las Vegas’ LGBT Chamber of Commerce and heavily Democratic audience – holds its monthly $15 luncheon, they also require attendees to pay. Does anyone believe a group of Republican activists, wishing to disrupt a speech by a high-profile Democrat, would be allowed to enter without paying for the meal? Nor should they! It’s a private luncheon, and the organization has gone to great lengths to invite high-profile speakers for the benefit of their members – and need to cover their costs.
These liberal activists are attempting to turn this narrative into a legitimate news story, and KTNV-TV, Channel 13 in Las Vegas, was happy to oblige when protestors descended on another private event featuring guest speaker Rep. Joe Heck.
In the video, activists repeated their Democratic talking points:
“Where are the jobs he said he was going to produce?”
“He’s willing to vote for continued tax breaks for million- and billionaires, but he’s not willing to put any money into creating jobs.”
However, at no time did Joe Heck ever promise to “produce” jobs, unless they’re talking about his own small business – which he had to shelf when he became a Congressman.
The government cannot create jobs. Private industry must do so, and government needs to create a favorable environment to do so – or get the hell out of the way.
Period.
Joe Heck understands that, as someone who has actually created jobs in the private sector. How many of these activists have created jobs?
As for voting for continued tax breaks for the rich, this particular bullet point proves the speaker is not informed on the issue. For example, the Bush Tax Cuts – which Democrats want eliminated for “the rich” – provided a 4.6% cut for the highest income bracket in America, from 39.6% to 35%. However, it provided a much larger cut for the lowest income bracket, from 15% to 10% – and increased the standard deduction enough so that many in the lowest income bracket pay no federal incomes taxes at all.
Democrats continue to say the Bush Tax Cuts for “for the rich,” but the “rich” got 1/3 the cut the “working poor” got. The narrative simply does not hold up in the presence of facts.
As for tax policy, Rep. Heck voted for legislation in the House that would get rid of many deductions, subsidies, and loopholes.
In fact, during Congressman Heck’s visit to “Face to Face” with Jon Ralston last week he said, “We’ve sent [the Senate] 14 jobs bills from the House and all but one are sitting in a pile collecting dust.”
Are these liberal activists aware that the Harry Reid-controlled Democratic U.S. Senate has blocked a myriad of bills that the Republican House has passed? Of course they are, but you won’t see that on TV. In fact, they wouldn’t have it any other way, since they favor Harry Reid’s policies – not Joe Heck’s.
But “dozens” of protestors (It looked like one dozen to me) in a district of over 1,000,000 Nevadans, is hardly representative of a district-wide opinion.
What these liberals fail to realize is that Las Vegas relies very heavily on tourist dollars – funds that are in short supply due to this prolonged economic malaise. This recession ended two years ago, yet no one has seen anything close to a recovery.
Increasing government spending and raising taxes on those who are surviving this crisis will only result in LESS disposable income flowing into the Nevadan economy.
Piling on thousands of new regulations on business, and delaying the implementation of costly legislation, like Obamacare, creates uncertainty – which stifles expansion and hiring.
Think about it: If you still owned a profitable business in this economic climate, would you be quick to hire if you had no idea how much that employee will cost you in Obamacare compliance three years from now? Or how much in payroll taxes you’ll have to pay the next time the Democrats in the Nevada legislature decide to DOUBLE it as they did during the recession in 2009?
Of course not. Business owners aren’t stupid. If they were, their business would have failed long ago.
Perhaps these liberal activists should be calling the White House and asking President Obama: “Where are the jobs?”
It is President Obama who claimed unemployment would not exceed 8% if his $787 billion stimulus package was passed. Yet unemployment stands at 9.1% (14% in Las Vegas), and ZERO net jobs were created in August – an event that hasn’t happened since 1945.
It is President Obama who promised to cut the budget deficit in half, yet he has quadrupled it – adding more than a trillion dollars to our already sky-high national debt each year.
It is President Obama whose Party controls the White House and U.S. Senate – and refuses to support legislation passed by the Republican House.
It is President Obama who twice told businesses and individuals not to “blow a bunch of cash” on Vegas.
In the meantime, here’s a great video of Senator Harry Reid’s people turning away the public from private events – including turning away a UNLV student from attending a pizza party for UNLV students.
Yep, that happened.
(Mark Ciavola is a student at UNLV, where he is president of the UNLV College Republicans.)
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