Kieckhefer: Let Non-Republicans Vote in GOP Primaries

(Chuck Muth) – Nevada State Sen. Ben “Blue Dog” Kieckhefer (Reno-RINO) has come up with a lot of dumb ideas during his time in the Legislature, but none so stupid as his new proposal to turn Nevada elections into California-style elections.

Kieckhefer is the poster child for RINOs – Republicans in Name Only.  He was one of the back-stabbing sell-outs who voted for the largest tax hike in state history in 2015.

He’s also not above wasting the Legislature’s time with frivolous matters.

Back in 2013 he proposed a bill to make the Blue Weinmaraner the official state dog of Nevada.  That was the same year his Conservative Rating from the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) was a pathetic 46.12%.

Heck, even Democrat Sen. Joyce Woodhouse scored better than him!

Kieckhefer has always been a liberal Republican more interested in garnering the adulation of Democrats and liberal “fake news” peddlers like Jon Ralston than adhering to basic GOP principles.

But his latest proposal would effectively castrate the Nevada Republican Party.  From a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday…

“Primary elections in Nevada could be open to all candidates and voters regardless of party under a new initiative petition submitted last week.

“The proposal, which was submitted to the Nevada secretary of state’s office Friday by state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, would create a blanket primary system for partisan races in which all candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, would appear on the ballot.”

You know, just like “jungle primary” in California where only the top two primary candidates, regardless of party, go to the general election.

This is stuck-on-stupid on steroids.

Why should people who aren’t Republicans be allowed to vote on who the Republican nominees for office should be?  That’d be like letting members of the KKK vote in elections for the NAACP!

Kieckhefer justified this monumental stupidity by telling the Nevada Independent that his bird-brain idea “gives all voters in the state of Nevada the right to choose who represents them in the government.”

Um, duh.  ALL voters in the state ALREADY have the right to choose who represents them in government.  It’s called “general elections.”  They happen in November.  In fact, we have one coming up THIS November.

No, what Sen. Blue Dog wants to do is allow voters who are not registered as Republicans to vote in Republican PRIMARIES and have a say in who the GOP nominees are.  Worse, if two Dems end up being in the top two there won’t be ANY Republican on the general election ballot!

Now, to be fair, he does have one point.  The primary elections for Democrats and Republicans are funded by taxpayers.  And that’s not right.  Indeed, I’ve argued against that for years.

If Republicans and Democrats want to choose who represents them on the ballot, they should do so the same way the Libertarian Party (LP) and the Independent American Party (IAP) do it – via party-funded nominating conventions or caucuses.

But to let non-members of an organization decide who represents the organization would be political suicide for Republicans, especially conservative Republicans.

Instead of the party’s base picking their champions for the general election, people who have no philosophical moorings – or worse, who are openly hostile to the concept of limited government – would help nominate the most wishy-washy, pablum-spewing, stand-for-nothing, fall-for-anything candidates.

Which means Kieckhefer isn’t just a RINO, he’s a cancer.  A useful idiot.  An Alfred E. Newman.

And by the way, Sen. Blue Dog’s proposal doesn’t just screw over conservatives in the GOP.  It’s a gigantic middle finger to all of Nevada’s third-party and non-partisan candidates who often bring intellectual vigor and independent voices to campaigns.

Restricting general elections to just the “top two” candidates who come out of the primaries would mean the LP, IAP and non-partisan candidates will almost ALWAYS be kept off the general election ballot.

Republicans have looked the other way as Kieckhefer voted with Democrats over and over and over again for the last ten years.  But if they look the other way on this, they should hide their heads in shame.

Kieckhefer should be immediately censured, kicked off the party’s Central Committee, tarred-and-feathered and run out of town on a rail to San Francisco where he can hang out with his political soulmate, Nancy Pelosi.