{"id":35104,"date":"2016-11-06T14:19:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-06T21:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=35104"},"modified":"2016-11-11T03:48:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T10:48:19","slug":"election-16-some-democrats-im-supporting-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/election-16-some-democrats-im-supporting-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"ELECTION \u201916: Some Democrats I\u2019m Supporting and Why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/lvn-editorial-clean-break-needed-from-harry-send-heck-to-the-senate\/2016election-logo-2-325x140\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35102\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35102\" src=\"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/2016Election-logo-2-325x140.jpg\" alt=\"2016election-logo-2-325x140\" width=\"325\" height=\"140\" srcset=\"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/2016Election-logo-2-325x140.jpg 325w, http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/2016Election-logo-2-325x140-300x129.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>(Chuck Muth)<\/strong><\/em> &#8211;\u00a0It took six years for <strong>Theo Epstein<\/strong>, the Chicago Cubs\u2019 president for baseball operations, to win the World Series and break that 108 year curse.<\/p>\n<p>And guess what?\u00a0 They\u2019re going to have to start all over again from scratch next spring.\u00a0 That\u2019s the nature of the sport.\u00a0 There\u2019s always next season.<\/p>\n<p>Epstein knew and said that building a winning club would take time.\u00a0 Rome wasn\u2019t built in day, and neither are world championships.\u00a0 His objective was to get stronger season after season.\u00a0 And in the process, losing some seasons in the short-term, as painful as they were, was necessary to move towards success in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>Which is the same way conservatives need to think in politics.<\/p>\n<p>No matter what happens on Tuesday, there will be all new elections in 2018.\u00a0 And 2020.\u00a0 And 2022.\u00a0 And\u2026<\/p>\n<p>However, in some cases an individual loss this cycle could be devastating for the long term.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if Republican <strong>Joe Heck<\/strong> loses to Democrat <strong>Catherine Cortez Masto-Reid<\/strong>, that not only would saddle Nevada with Reid-in-a-Pantsuit for six years, but could saddle the nation with <strong>Chuck Schumer<\/strong> as Senate Majority Leader for a decade or more.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, there\u2019s the Nevada Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>Voters elected a Republican majority for both houses in 2014.\u00a0 However, they didn\u2019t elect a <u>CONSERVATIVE<\/u> majority in either GOP caucus.\u00a0 And so we got screwed.<\/p>\n<p>In the Senate it was 9 RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and 2 conservatives.\u00a0 In the Assembly, it was 13 RINOs vs. 12 conservatives.<\/p>\n<p>As such, it was Republicans, led by a RINO governor, who gave us the largest tax hike in Nevada history.<\/p>\n<p>Reminding us once again that it\u2019s not enough to just elect more Republicans; you need to elect better ones as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So the question before Nevada conservatives is this\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do you want to reward this betrayal of GOP principles by re-electing bait-and-switch Republicans who stabbed us in the back\u2026or look at the long-term and set a precedent NOW that clearly demonstrates that such traitorous actions won\u2019t be tolerated and will have serious consequences in the future?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been in this game full-time for over 20 years.\u00a0 And God willing will still be in it for another 20.\u00a0 So I\u2019m playing for the long term.\u00a0 As such, this question is easy for me.<\/p>\n<p>Screw the RINOs.<\/p>\n<p>Make no mistake: That attitude could well put the Democrats back in the majority for the 2017 session.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, how much more damage could they do than the Republicans did to us in 2015?<\/p>\n<p>In fact, had it been a Democrat governor proposing that $1.4 billion tax hike, most Republicans never would have gone along with it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So let\u2019s take a look at the Nevada State Senate\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Control of the State Senate, currently split 11-10 in favor of Republicans, depends on the outcomes of three races\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Senate District 5:\u00a0 Republican <strong>Carrie Buck<\/strong> vs. Democrat Sen. <strong>Joyce Woodhouse<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Senate District 6: Republican <strong>Victoria Seaman<\/strong> vs. Democrat <strong>Nicole Cannizzaro<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Senate District 15:\u00a0 Republican <strong>Heidi Gansert<\/strong> vs. Democrat <strong>Devon Reese<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If Republicans lose two of these three, Democrats will regain the majority \u2013 and all three are close.<\/p>\n<p>None of the Republicans are incumbents who voted for the tax hike, so I\u2019m not out to \u201cget\u201d them in their individual races.\u00a0 However, all three are under the control of GOP Senate Majority Leader <strong>Tax Hike Mike Roberson<\/strong> \u2013 the Prince of RINOs (Gov. <strong>Brian Sandoval<\/strong> is the King).<\/p>\n<p>Seaman, in particular, is a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Although she voted against the $1.4 billion tax hike as an assemblywoman last year, she broke her Taxpayer Protection Pledge nine times on other bills, has refused to re-sign it, and has gone completely over to the Dark Side by pledging fealty to Darth Roberson.<\/p>\n<p>For her part, Gansert was a GOP establishment shill when she was in the Assembly and would also be a rubber stamp for Sandoval\/Roberson next year.<\/p>\n<p>As for Buck, I know her and like her a lot\u2026but she, too, will owe her election to Roberson since Roberson has been her main funder for the campaign.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s a pretty crappy situation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In these cases, I can\u2019t bring myself to support any of the Democrat candidates.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, I have no desire to reward Roberson for his treachery by returning him as majority leader.\u00a0 Indeed, if the GOP loses its majority Tuesday night I won\u2019t lose minute of sleep.<\/p>\n<p>That said, if I lived in Buck\u2019s district, I\u2019d vote for Buck and hope for the best.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s never served in office, so we don\u2019t know for sure how she\u2019d vote.\u00a0 Yes, she\u2019ll be highly influenced by Roberson, but she\u2019s a pretty strong-willed woman.\u00a0 She deserves the benefit of the doubt until\/unless proved otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, history has shown that Gansert and Seaman will sell out conservatives and stab them in the back at the drop of a hat.\u00a0 Knowing this, I couldn\u2019t vote for either.<\/p>\n<p>So in the Seaman race I\u2019d symbolically vote for \u201cnone of the above\u201d by simply leaving that race blank on my ballot.\u00a0 (The actual \u201cNone of the Above\u201d option only appears on ballots for statewide races.)<\/p>\n<p>And in the Gansert race, I\u2019d vote for the Libertarian candidate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><u>SIDEBAR<\/u><em>: Which reminds me: None of the Supreme Court or Appeals Court justices drew opponents.\u00a0 That\u2019s not right.\u00a0 They also killed ESA\u2019s.\u00a0 So I\u2019m symbolically voting \u201cNone of the Above\u201d in each of those races, as well.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>One last Senate race: District 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The incumbent is Democrat Sen. <strong>Tick Segerblom<\/strong>, my favorite unapologetic liberal.<\/p>\n<p>His challengers \u2013 one Republican and one Libertarian \u2013 have been all but invisible on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n<p>Segerblom, on the other hand, is <u>THE<\/u> legislative champion of the marijuana industry.\u00a0 If you oppose legalizing marijuana, vote against Tick.\u00a0 But as everyone knows, I don\u2019t.\u00a0 And regardless of what happens with Question 2 on Tuesday, marijuana advocates will <u>NEED<\/u> Tick in the Legislature next session.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve also, surprisingly, found common ground with Tick on a number of other issues, such as criminal justice reform.\u00a0 Plus, he doesn\u2019t seem to care for Tax Hike Mike any more than I do.\u00a0 So even though he and I disagree on 95 out of 100 issues\u2026he\u2019s my guy in this race.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Now on to the State Assembly\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There were 13 RINO turncoats who voted for the largest tax hike in Nevada history.<\/p>\n<p>Four of them were scared to death of facing their betrayed constituents in a re-election battle and quit.\u00a0 Two others were defeated in primary challenges.\u00a0 And five now face viable general election opponents.<\/p>\n<p>One of these races is easy for conservatives\u2026<\/p>\n<p>RINO Assemblyman <strong>James Oscarson<\/strong> in District 36 is facing Libertarian challenger <strong>Dennis Hof<\/strong> &#8211; with no Democrat in the race.\u00a0 Hof has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.\u00a0 So there\u2019s no downside for conservatives to replace Oscarson with Hof. (Disclaimer: I\u2019m a paid consultant to Hof\u2019s campaign.)<\/p>\n<p>Next there\u2019s RINO Assembly Speaker-of-the-Weak <strong>John Hambrick<\/strong>.\u00a0 His sell-out of conservatives stretches <u>FAR<\/u> beyond voting for the largest tax hike in history.\u00a0 The list is way too extensive to detail here.\u00a0 Just take my word on this one.<\/p>\n<p>His Democrat opponent, small businessman <strong>Owen Carver<\/strong>, was not the D\u2019s preferred candidate in this year\u2019s primary and his party actively worked against him.\u00a0 He defied them and the odds.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, the GOP voter registration advantage in the district is considerable.\u00a0 Carver\u2019s only shot is if a large number of #NeverRINO conservatives vote for Carver\u2026which is exactly what I\u2019d do if I lived in that district.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hambrick screwed us royally\u2026so screw Hambrick!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Next is Assembly District 21 between tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman <strong>Derek Armstrong<\/strong> and Democrat challenger <strong>Ozzie Fumo<\/strong>.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already detailed why I\u2019d vote for Fumo in that race in a separate blog post.\u00a0 <strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/why-rino-assemblyman-derek-armstrong-stinks-on-ice\/\">You can read it here<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A similar situation exists in District 9 between tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman <strong>David Gardner<\/strong> and Democrat challenger <strong>Steve Yeager<\/strong>.\u00a0 But unlike Fumo, I don\u2019t know Yeager or anything about him.<\/p>\n<p>So in that race I might be tempted to symbolically vote \u201cnone of the above\u201d by leaving it blank on my ballot.\u00a0 If Gardner is going to win, let him win with RINO votes, not conservative ones.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, when the time came to actually cast my ballot if I lived in this district, I\u2019d probably vote for the Democrat.\u00a0 Gardner lied to and screwed conservatives royally\u2026so screw him, too.<\/p>\n<p>Ditto Assembly District 29 between tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman <strong>Steve Silberkraus<\/strong> vs. Democrat <strong>Lesley Cohen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Silberkraus is both a weasel and a weenie.\u00a0 He posts the most asinine tweets I\u2019ve ever seen from a political candidate.\u00a0 Indeed, I seriously think reading them kills brain cells.\u00a0 As such, I stopped \u201cfollowing\u201d him months ago.<\/p>\n<p>He also lied through his teeth in a recent newspaper by claiming he wasn\u2019t detained and placed in handcuffs by Metro for stalking his GOP primary opponent &#8211; and lied through his teeth about her in primary mailers.<\/p>\n<p>Silberkraus is a tax-hiking RINO and a pathological liar.\u00a0 He screwed conservatives royally\u2026so screw him.\u00a0 As a conservative looking at the big picture, I\u2019d vote for the Democrat in this race this time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Now, here\u2019s the silver lining\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If these RINOs lose their seats and the GOP loses its majority, it\u2019ll be their own fault for stabbing conservatives and taxpayers in the back.\u00a0 Again, I won\u2019t lose minute\u2019s sleep over it.\u00a0 But there could be a big benefit for conservatives as a result.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The worst of the Assembly RINOs were the RINO leaders: Speaker-of-the-Weak Hambrick and Majority Leader <strong>Paul Anderson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Those two guided and engineered the tax hike in the Assembly.\u00a0 And even though both are likely to win re-election, that does not necessarily mean they\u2019ll retain their leadership positions.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, depending on how some other races turn out, if Oscarson, Armstrong, Gardner and Silberkraus lose and the GOP ends up back in the minority, it\u2019s possible that conservatives could gain the majority of the minority.<\/p>\n<p>And that would mean Hambrick and Anderson could be ousted from leadership, just as tax-hiking RINO Assemblyman Minority Leader <strong>Pat \u201cThe Appeaser\u201d Hickey<\/strong> (more on this clown below) was ousted immediately after the 2014 elections.<\/p>\n<p>A Republican minority under conservative leadership would be <u>FAR<\/u> better than the Republican majority under RINO leadership that shoved the largest tax hike in Nevada history down our throats in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s something conservative could build on for the 2018 election season.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes you just have to take one step back in order to take two steps forward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Democrats I like\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In my own Assembly District 12, I\u2019m supporting Democrat Assemblyman <strong>James Ohrenschall<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know his Republican opponent and have never heard from him.\u00a0 No mailers or even any yard signs.\u00a0 Hard to take candidates seriously who don\u2019t take running a campaign seriously.<\/p>\n<p>But more importantly, I haven\u2019t forgotten that Ohrenschall was one of only two Democrats two sessions ago who defied his party\u2019s gun-grabbing leadership and voted for that year\u2019s campus carry bill.\u00a0 That took guts.<\/p>\n<p>The other Democrat who stood tall for gun rights was Assemblyman <strong>Richard Carrillo<\/strong> in District 18.<\/p>\n<p>This one\u2019s a bit more problematic for me because I know and like his Republican opponent, <strong>Christine DeCorte<\/strong>.\u00a0 However\u2026<\/p>\n<p>While Carrillo got an \u201cA-\u201d rating by the National Rifle Association, DeCorte chalked up a \u201cC.\u201d\u00a0 What kind of conservative only gets a \u201cC\u201d from the NRA?<\/p>\n<p>I also found it extremely distasteful that DeCorte did a mailer against Carrillo over his arrest last year for DUI\u2026even though he was passed out in his car and not actually driving.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not that DeCorte used the arrest in her campaign.\u00a0 That\u2019s fair game.\u00a0 But what she did was show a photo of a guy passed out in the bushes\u2026but the photo was <u>NOT<\/u> of Carrillo.\u00a0 It was a stock photo of some other guy!<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s a foul even in the blood sport of politics.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To tell you the truth, I\u2019m not sure how I would vote in this race.\u00a0 Probably end up flipping a coin in the voting booth.<\/p>\n<p>In the Clark County Commission Race for District A, I support incumbent Democrat <strong>Steve Sisolak<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The guy has a strong pro-business background, was the most active, inquisitive and responsible member of the Southern Nevada Tourism and Infrastructure Committee, and had the cojones to stand up to the firefighters union thugs a couple years ago.<\/p>\n<p>And if he runs against a tax-hiking RINO for governor in 2016, I could very well end up backing him in that race, as well.\u00a0 Never again will I vote for a \u201cSandoval Republican,\u201d including Lt. Gov. <strong>Mark Hutchison<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One more for the road\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For Nevada State Board of Education, District 2: <strong>David Carter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>From his bio, Carter says he \u201cretired as the Executive Director of Fiscal Services, at Capistrano Unified School District (Orange County, California), a district of 53,000 students, in 2012. My service totaled thirty-three years in accounting\/budgeting; including twenty-five in California school districts. My service included working at small districts (2,000 students) and large (53,000 students), and financially strapped as well as wealthy school districts. My time included working with school budgets, school construction accounting, and projecting future school housing needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also opposed last year\u2019s tax hikes by the Nevada Legislature.\u00a0 Sounds highly qualified and fiscally conservative enough regardless of who his opponent is.\u00a0 However\u2026<\/p>\n<p>His opponent is <strong>Pat \u201cThe Appeaser\u201d Hickey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Hickey was once a RINO state assemblyman.\u00a0 In fact, until after the 2014 elections he was the Republican Assembly Minority Leader who never met a tax he didn\u2019t hike \u2013 including voting for the largest tax hike in Nevada history last year.<\/p>\n<p>Scared to death of facing voters after that vote, Hickey quit and decided not to run again for re-election \u2013 which he would have lost in a landslide.<\/p>\n<p>But as a payoff for his tax vote, Gov. <strong>Brian \u201cWorst Governor in America\u201d Sandoval<\/strong> appointed Hickey to fill a vacancy on the Board of Education.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is Hickey a back-stabbing tax-hiking RINO, he also has a spine made of Jell-O and is one of the smarmiest politicians in the state.\u00a0 Voters everywhere should cheer if he\u2019s knocked off by Carver.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In conclusion\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t expect all of you to agree with me on all of these.\u00a0 And that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n<p>But I can\u2019t support any Republican who not only voted for that $1.4 billion tax hike, but also voted to screw Nevada businesses and job-creators with that new business income tax that\u2019s very much like the one 80 percent of Nevada voters rejected at the polls in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and created a new \u201cNevada IRS\u201d that even businesses that don\u2019t have to pay the tax must report to.<\/p>\n<p>I will not reward Republicans for this betrayal simply because they have an \u201cR\u201d next to their name, even if it means the GOP loses their majorities.\u00a0 If they do, it\u2019s their own fault, not mine.\u00a0 Screw them.<\/p>\n<p>And after all, if establishment Republicans aren\u2019t bound by party loyalty \u2013 remember \u201cRepublicans for Reid\u201d and \u201cNever Trump\u201d? \u2013 why should conservatives?<\/p>\n<p>#NeverRINOs<\/p>\n<p>Cheers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Professor of Psephology (homeschooled)<br \/>\n<\/em>Nevada\u2019s #1 Irritator of Liberals and RINOs<\/p>\n<p>P.S. The Las Vegas Raiders take on defending Denver Broncos Super Bowl champs in tonight\u2019s Sunday Night Football game.\u00a0 And, hey, if the Cubs can win the World Series\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>Mr. Muth is\u00a0president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of Nevada News &amp; Views. \u00a0His opinions are his and his only.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Chuck Muth) &#8211;\u00a0It took six years for Theo Epstein, the Chicago Cubs\u2019 president for baseball operations, to win the World Series and break that 108 year curse. And guess what?\u00a0 They\u2019re going to have to start all over again from scratch next spring.\u00a0 That\u2019s the nature of the sport.\u00a0 There\u2019s always next season. Epstein knew [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35104"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35104"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35113,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35104\/revisions\/35113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}