Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity. And here we go again. Let me set the stage:
After Democrats failed to obtain enough votes to suspend the rules and bring up the Hollywood Handout bill yesterday, Republican Assemblyman Brian Hibbetts and Republican Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama fled the capital last night.
Rumor is they both have vacation plans – not some kind of “emergency” – and opted to duck their jobs and responsibility to represent of their constituents in this weekend’s special session.
But since both SUPPORT the Hollywood Handout, Democrat Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager declared that both could use the COVID-era option of voting remotely – meaning they could vote from a cruise ship if they wanted to.
It’s wrong. Just plain wrong. If you want to vote, you should vote in person. Period.
Now get this: Democrat Assemblywoman Selena Torres-Fossett agrees. So she made a motion from the floor calling for a vote to override Yeager’s decision.
Overriding a decision of the Speaker requires a simple majority vote. And since the motion directly affected Kasama and Hibbetts, they couldn’t vote on the motion.
There are 42 members of the Assembly. Without Kasama and Hibbetts, that means 21 “yes” votes were needed to override Yeager’s decision.
But Democrats only had 16 votes to do so!
So as long as fewer that five Republicans voted with Yeager, the Hollywood Handout would have been killed this morning in the Assembly.
Of course, you know what happened next.
Exactly five Republicans voted with Yeager – who, by the way, has blocked every effort to include a school choice component to the bill – giving him the 21 votes he needed to move the bill forward with Kasama and Hibbetts being allowed to vote remotely.
The sell-out five were: Lisa Cole, Rich DeLong, Danielle Gallant, P.K. O’Neill, and Jason Patchett.
Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow and opportunity.
So the bill moved forward for a vote after brief remarks for and against the bill by members – including a very strong opposition statement by conservative Assemblywoman Jill Dickman.
In the end, the bill passed 22-20 – with six GOP “Hall of Shame” sell-out votes, including Kasama and Hibbetts. The others were: Cole, DeLong, O’Neill, and Patchett.
Now read that list again. Notice anything truly head-scratching? Here it is…
Assemblywoman Gallant voted AGAINST the Hollywood Handout after voting WITH Yeager and the Democrat majority to allow Kasama and Hibbetts to vote remotely.
WTF?
That means she single-handedly could have KILLED the Hollywood Handout – which she voted AGAINST – if she only would have voted against Yeager’s decision to allow remote voting.
Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.
Another Hall of Shame inductee is P.K. – who, by the way, also voted for the largest tax hike in Nevada history back in 2015.
Earlier in the week P.K. proposed adding a modest school choice proposal to the bill in return for his support – which simply would have removed the funding cap on Opportunity Scholarships.
But Democrat Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauergui – author of the Hollywood Handout bill – told him to pound sand.
So what did he do?
He voted for the freaking bill anyway!
Had he stuck to his guns, the bill would have been killed. But apparently that spine-removal procedure he underwent on Friday was successful.
Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.
Cole? Huge disappointment. She’s gone from Rising Star to Fallen Star in six short months.
DeLong – a man who claims to be a conservative but who’s consistently broken his Taxpayer Protection Pledge to his constituents while in office – should be smeared in BBQ sauce and delivered to Rosie O’Donnell’s doorstep.
And then there’s Patchett, who was hand-picked and appointed to fill the seat of Toby Yurek who resigned several weeks ago.
That district, Assembly District 19, has a 2-1 Republican majority. As of November 1, 2025, there were 24,229 active registered Republicans and only 12,019 Democrats in an area that primarily covers Henderson and Mesquite.
Patchett clearly voted for the powers-that-be who engineered his anointment rather than the voters of the district he was anointed to represent.
And if he chooses to run next year for a full term, you can bet he’s gonna draw a strong GOP primary opponent – possibly by conservative firebrand Annie Black who held the seat previous to Yurek and could run for it again if she chooses.
Hibbetts also (mis)represents a GOP-majority district.
There are around 18,500 active registered Republicans in AD13 vs. just under 16,000 Democrats. He also should be GOP primary bait next year.
As for Kasama – another huge disappointment.
She’s leaving the Legislature to run for a seat on the Clark County Commission where she’ll face an extremely strong primary opponent, Albert Mack, who has deep pockets ($1 million reportedly raised already) and a wide network of political connections.
Kasama may have just stuck a dagger into the heart of her campaign with her remote vote for a bill her constituents overwhelmingly and vocally oppose.
So now the Hollywood Handout moves over to the Senate where, from what I’m hearing, there are 10 votes for and 10 votes against.
The whole thing appears to fall on how Republican Sen. Jeff Stone votes.
He’s said to be on the fence and hasn’t made up his mind yet. So here’s his contact info if you can pull yourself away from the Sunday football games to fire off one last appeal RESPECTFULLY urging him to do the right thing:
Sen. Jeff Stone
Carson City Phone: (775) 684-1481
Jeff.Stone@sen.state.nv.us
By the way, have I mentioned lately that Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity?
