(Chuck Muth) – Daddy-Daughter road trip adventure update…
Jenna and I finally made it back to Nevada and laid up at the Motel 6 in Sparks last night where we grabbed dinner and a couple of adult beverages with two of my fav conservatives in politics: Assemblywoman Jill Dickman and her hubby, Tom.
But lemme start today’s final edition of “Winners & Losers” with a shoutout to Neil Campbell.
As noted in yesterday morning’s Muth’s Truths, Jenna and I pulled off a mountain road on the west side of the Grand Tetons to watch the final two minutes of the Golden Knights championship game on my cell phone in a gas station in a VERY small, remote town, Swan Valley, ID (population, 254).
Now get this email from Mr. Campbell I received later in the day…
“Wish I had known that you were in the area. I’ve got a hideout about a quarter mile from the Swan Valley store and would have loved to have you and yours. The game was great and just the way a championship should be won ‘walking away.’ Sorry I haven’t gotten to know you better. I’ve been reading your newsletter forever it seems. Thank you. I appreciate all that you do.”
Wow. What are the odds?
Kinda reminds me of Humphrey Bogart’s classic quote from Casablanca: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
Thank you, Neil. Very kind of you to write. Sorry we missed you. Catch ya on the flip-side.
Alright, let’s wrap up this series…
There were many losers and not many winners in the 2023 session of the Nevada Legislature. But there were some, and they portend good things to come in the 2024 election cycle and 2025 legislative session.
Let’s start today with three winners in the State Assembly: Assistant Minority Leader Jill Dickman, Co-Deputy Minority Leader South Danielle Gallant, and Assemblyman Ken Gray.
Had caucus members chosen Dickman as the actual Minority Leader back in November, this would have been a very different session. Leader PK O’Neill is not only a mushy-moderate, but a pushover as well. His reputation in Carson City is that “he’ll do whatever he’s told.”
After this session, caucus members ought to tell him to take a hike. If he’s in charge of getting more conservative Republicans elected to the lower house to get them out of their super-minority status next year, we’re in big trouble.
Jill is a veteran legislator who understands the Three P’s: Policy, Process & Politics.
She has a consistent conservative voting record, understands how to maneuver the sausage-making gears, and gets how legislation needs to be structured – especially in the minority – to create campaign issues in future elections.
It’s time for PK to step aside and hand Jill the wheel before it’s too late.
Gallant, in her freshman session, proved to be the un-PK. No shrinking violet is she. She’s more like Mel Gibson in Braveheart…
“Where ya goin’, Danielle?”
“To pick a fight.”
That’s what we need in Carson City. A fighter, not a lover. Someone who embraces being the opposition party, not the minority party. Someone who’s not afraid to speak up for fear of not being liked by opponents hellbent on wiping out conservative Republicans.
She and I had one tactical disagreement towards the end of the session, but that’s between she and I (or is it her and me?).
Overall, she’s solid and will only get better as she learns the ropes. Regardless of who’s the caucus leader going into the campaign season, she should be put in charge of Assembly races in southern Nevada.
Assemblyman Gray is one of my favorite people in politics. He’s kinda like a coconut: hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Definitely a “people person.” Tough not to like (unless you’re a liberal), but no pushover and a solid conservative.
Interesting side note: As a Lyon County commissioner in 2021, Ken led the effort to rename the county’s justice center after former President Donald Trump. He was joined by Commissioners Vida Keller and Dave Hockaday in the 3-2 vote.
Another interesting side note: On the Assembly “Christmas Tree” bill – larded up with pork, including millions for anti-conservative “non-profit” organizations – only three Republicans voted “no.”
Yep. Dickman, Gallant & Gray. Winners, all.
The other winners of the session are all outside conservative citizen activists who engaged in the process this year like nothing I’ve seen before. Action alerts, social media posts, news interviews, strategy conference calls, etc.
Topping this list is the incomparable Janine Hansen of Nevada Families for Freedom. She’s been an unpaid citizen lobbyist for conservatives for over 50 years, dating back to the Nixon administration.
Here email alerts are the gold standard for citizen activism. She finds “poison pills” in bills like nobody’s business, explains issues in layman’s terms, including why conservatives should be engaged on them, and provides contact info for legislators to make it easy for the average voter to participate in the process.
Other grassroots activists followed Janine’s lead and provided the same kinds of information for their supporters. This ragtag team of conservative champions includes…
- Valeria Gurr of the Nevada School Choice Coalition
- Erin Phillips of the Power2Parent Union
- Melissa Clement of Nevada Right-to-Life
- Randy Mackie of the Nevada Firearms Coalition
- Marcos Lopez of Nevada Policy Research Institute
- Pauline Lee and Courtney Holland of the Keystone Corporation
- Dave Gibbs of the Nevada Republican Club
These folks picked up the ball that the Nevada Republican Party dropped and ran with it. You can bet they’re loaded for bear in the upcoming election cycle and will be back in Carson City in 2025 bigger, badder, and better organized than ever.
True heroes of the 2023 session of the Nevada Legislature in which Republicans were outgunned, outmanned, and outnumbered. But like the defenders of the Alamo, they never gave up against impossible odds.
Conservatives owe all a huge debt of gratitude.
One more winner to wrap this up: Megan Barth.
Megan is the editor of the Nevada Globe, the conservative alternative to liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston’s Nevada Co-Dependent. If you’re a conservative and not yet following her on Twitter (@NevadaGlobe), you should.
Megan actually moved full-time from Las Vegas to Reno for this session and covered stories and issues professionally and objectively from the conservative perspective. She ran stories no one in the “mainstream media” dared to touch. A true warrior.
Can’t wait to see what she and Globe do during the upcoming election cycle.
And boom, I’m outta here. Jenna and I are heading out to have lunch with Aunt Dema Guinn before heading into Carson City to assess the political storm damage…
…and mount up for the next season. Thanks for reading!
7 Worst Habits of Highly Unelectable People
- Picking the wrong race
- Picking the wrong district
- Picking the wrong issues
- Picking the wrong time
- Picking the wrong consultants
- Picking unnecessary fights with the media
- Picking door-knocking over fundraising
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“I don’t understand much about politics…” – Liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston, 1/2/20
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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