(Robb Archie) – Last Friday, I was quietly enjoying coffee with my wife when the phone rang and a friend reminded me that the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group would be meeting for the first time. I mentioned that I was planning to watch the proceedings over the Internet until I discovered they were not being broadcast for some unknown reason.
Ah-ha, the group should be renamed the “Secret Stakeholders” (something I heard).
Despite a multi-million dollar expense by the Nevada Taxpayer specifically for the purpose of broadcasting legislative meetings, something as important as this meeting should’ve been available for every Nevadan to see. Today, I am calling on the leaders of the Nevada Legislature to DISMISS the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group. If they are not willing to make their deliberations available to everyone, then they do not have the legitimate right to be crafting the next tax increase for Nevada.
The Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group is operating without “legitimate” authority. The original legislation drew a eto from the Governor, and there was never another vote in the legislature. The Interim Finance Committee, using “discretionary funds” got approval from the Board of Examiners, with only Democrats approving. The Stakeholders Group may be legal, however, it is not “legitimate”.
It seems odd that no one in Nevada really knows who the Chair of the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group is? Has he ever lived in Nevada? Voted in Nevada? Paid property taxes? What was the thinking when they put him in charge? A person no one really knows, and this is the man who will lead the way to a tax increase, that’s not really representative of Nevada.
So many members of the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group benefit from taxation in Nevada, an astounding 76% of the membership, and there are 14 public employees (or former employees), which make up 53% of the membership. Do they really expect the citizens of Nevada to take this exercise seriously? I’m sure we will when they try to send us the bill, it simply makes any recommendation that emerges from the group completely biased.
With government budgets reduced and staff levels cut, how did so many members of those same organizations find time to belong to the Vision Stakeholders Group? Who’s doing the work back at the office? How many members of the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group are public employees making more than the Governor of Nevada, and is that how we are going broke? These are fair questions for those that would so eagerly increase everyone else’s taxes.
It is beyond common sense that over 76% of the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group benefit directly from taxation in Nevada. If we are going to assign a group of people the job of developing a quality of life for Nevada, the majority of those members should be people who create jobs in the private sector. This is the common sense approach that was obviously lacking when the Democratic majority came up with this “Secret Stakeholders Group” that has been given the job of writing a tax increase, most likely a gross receipts tax or income tax.
What makes me and so many other Nevadans slightly emotional about all this is the disgraceful waste of over $250,000. We are in a major recession, people are losing their jobs, their homes, their businesses, and the Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group needs to hold these meetings to tell us what? Politicians are afraid to raise taxes because they know it’s the wrong direction to go, so they got the Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group to provide an academic cover?
It only takes common sense to figure out that spending more money than we can afford is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place. The Nevada Vision Stakeholders Group should be dismissed, and $250,000 should be returned to the Nevada Taxpayer.
(Mr. Archie is a Republican candidate for Assembly District 26. For more information visit www.RobbArchie.com)
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