(Chuck Muth) – The election for the next Republican Clark County chairman for the 2023-24 election cycle will be held next Tuesday night at the Ahern Hotel in Las Vegas. And the “divided-they-fall” hopes of incumbent chair Jesse Law is no more. As Joe Biden would say, here’s the deal… Jesse ran for chair two years ago against State Sen. Carrie Buck. It was a mess. Multiple screwed-up meetings. Lawsuits. Competing organizations. Situation normal, all fudged up (SNAFU). I supported Jesse in that election and helped him get elected. Also offered to help him with communications, training, and fundraising. But once the smoke cleared and the court battles were over…never heard from him again. Same as with Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald. If you’re not part of their “mean girls” clique, they don’t want to have anything to do with you. All in the pursuit of…unity? I’m so sick of hearing this “unity” crap…as if that should be the party’s objective. Gimme a break. I was county chair way back in 1995, and the party was every bit as divided back then as it is today. But the truth is, you don’t have to like somebody to work with them. Indeed, despite factional infighting back then, we still put together a voter registration program – conceived and implemented at the time by Dan Burdish (who I actually DO like, but don’t tell him I said so) – that made Nevada a Republican-majority state for the first time since Reconstruction. We don’t need “unity.” We need VICTORY! Anyway, despite declaring that he would lead the Clark County GOP independently of McDonald, that turned out to not be the case. Jesse’s been a loyal McDonaldite and answers when he hears the master’s call. Doesn’t bother me. I just work around them to – quoting our Republican governor that our Republican National Committeewoman, Sigal Chattah, despises with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns – get sh*t done. I don’t have time for all the drama, personality conflicts, fights over rules and bylaws, Hatfield & McCoy blood feuds, etc. We have a governor who needs reinforcements in Carson City to stop the californication of Nevada and that’s all I care about. And let me just lay to rest the whispered allegations being made by Chattah, McDonald and Jesse that Gov. Lombardo is “paying” me to go after them. That’s bullshevik. I’ve been fighting these fights for over 28 years now in Nevada. Nobody’s paying me to point out that these “leaders” have now led Nevada Republicans to FOUR straight losing election cycles. I call a spade a spade. Always have; always will. Which brings me to yesterday’s chairman’s debate, hosted by President Dave Gibbs of the Nevada Republican Club, and moderated by former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, at the Ahern Hotel yesterday… Three challengers had announced they were running to unseat Jesse: Jill Douglass, Johnny Bru and Nephi Khaliki. And all three participated in the debate yesterday, along with Jesse. But three days earlier, Donald Trump was in town for a campaign rally. Not sure about Nephi, but Jill and Johnny were staunch Trump supporters in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, and both showed up for the rally. And both were blacklisted and banned from entering the event. According to Jesse, the Trump campaign was afraid they might protest or heckle the former president and were, therefore, denied entrance. But here’s the thing. There is no “Trump campaign” in Nevada. The Nevada Republican Party IS the Trump campaign in Nevada. In fact, the Trump campaign’s new state director is also the Nevada GOP’s executive director. So the decision to kick Jill and Johnny out, no matter how hard they try to deny it, was made by McDonald, Chattah, Jesse and/or their underlings. UNITY! Despite J&J running against each other to unseat Jesse, they snapped this Polaroid together from outside the event after they were blocked from entering.
And the bone-headed decision to kick the two out would come back to bite Jesse in the butt yesterday. During the debate, it was obvious the three challengers were energized, passionate and, dare I say it, “united” in their opposition to giving Jesse another two-year term while extolling their own individual attributes and unique qualifications for the job. Jesse pretty much just went through the motions, talking about “unity” and being on the right “trajectory” to accomplish in 2024 what he failed to accomplish in 2022. He knew that if the anti-Law vote was split three ways, he’d be a shoo-in for re-election. So he just mouthed a lot of platitudes, signifying nothing. Ah, the best laid plans. But rather than give you a play-by-play of the to-and-fro, click here to watch it yourself if you’re so inclined. Because what happened AFTER the debate is FAR more interesting. First, Gibbs and the Club conducted a “straw poll” of attendees immediately after the debate. Here were the official results, released a couple hours after the luncheon…
- Jill Douglass — 45
- Nephi Oliva — 17
- Jesse Law — 16
- John Bruchhagen — 12
- None of the above – 1
Note: These were members of the Nevada Republican Club who attended the debate, not members of the Central Committee who will be voting next Tuesday. But still… When I posted the results in last night’s Muth’s Truths, Jesse responded with a “yawn” emoji. And his vice chair candidate, Pat Casale, referred to the vote as a “farce.” But here’s what they DIDN’T know at the time that I DID know. As I wrote in Muth’s Truths PLUS+ on Sunday… “After the debate, the three challengers should squirrel themselves in a private room and not come out until they agree on the ONE candidate who will go head-to-head with Jesse, one-on-one, on July 18.” And guess what? Jill and Johnny did! And after about three hours of discussion and negotiations behind closed doors, Jill and Johnny came to an agreement: Jill would run for chair and Johnny would run for vice-chair. They then got Nephi on the phone and told him about the deal. Nephi then agreed to drop out of the chairman’s race, as well. Now THAT’S unity!
Will it be enough to oust Jesse next week? We’ll see. But it sure makes it far more doable than if the three had split the anti-Jesse vote. Something tells me Jesse ain’t yawning now. Again, I have nothing personal against Jesse. It’s just that he’s been more of the problem than solution, especially by joining McDonald at the hip. And as my friend Newt Gingrich is wont to say, “Real change requires real change.” And, boy, do we need some real change. So while I try to stay out of these intra-party fights, I’m encouraged by the “unity” Jill, Johnny and Nephi showed yesterday. They set their personal egos aside and united in a common cause: to get a new chairman for the Clark County Republican Party. As such, I’m officially endorsing Jill Douglass as chair of the CCRP and Johnny Bru for co-chair. If Central Committee members want to keep up the petty infighting and suffer a FIFTH straight losing season as the ballot box, they’ll vote for Jesse and Casale. Could they once – JUST ONCE – not blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity? Based on historical precedence, I’m not optimistic. But hope does spring eternal. With Jill and Johnny, Republicans can get unity AND victory. Make it so, Number One. FAMOUS LAST WORDS “I’ve have taken it upon myself to protect the Clark County Republican Party, to free Jesse Law, and to free everyone in here from Michael McDonald, who is the biggest problem in this state. If you elect me, I have the strength to stand up to Michael McDonald. In fact, he’s afraid of me.” – Nephi Khaliki at the GOP chairman’s debate on Tuesday Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.
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