(Mike Camberlain/The Cranky Hermit) – The self-proclaimed defenders of the downtrodden prove themselves to be anything but.
You may remember the story of “Joan”, the former staffer for conservative Nevada Assemblyman Ed Goedhart. “Joan”, like all legislative attaches, was employed by the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB) and not the representative in whose office she worked. She was fired by the LCB for forwarding an email that instructed legislators in how to avoid those annoying calls from the constituents for whom they work by diverting those calls to the legislative switchboard.
Despite the fact that this email is both outrageous and falls nowhere near the standard for which legislative emails are confidential and that the person who received the forwarded email and published it, Citizen Outreach President Chuck Muth, swore an affidavit that “Joan” was not the person who had sent it to him, “Joan” was not rehired. As a means of righting this wrong Muth hired “Joan” as a consultant for his organization. (Full disclosure: I am the Executive Director of the Nevada Business Coalition, a project of Citizen Outreach but neither NBC nor I were a part of any of the events described in this email.)
What was the response to this injustice from one of Nevada’s most prominent left-wing activist groups? To put politics aside and stand up for a wronged worker? To defend a lowly female staffer who had been victimized by the system?
Well, not exactly. Last week ProgressNow NV filed a complaint with the Nevada Secretary of State against Muth and Citizen Outreach. In addition, they sent out the fundraising email below.
“Koch Brothers”? “Tea Party worker”? Gotta make sure to include the latest liberal bogeymen. Who cares if they’re not true. Never let the truth stand in the way of the pursuit of The Truth.
Actually, it would be easier to identify everything in the letter that was true, rather than trying to correct the falsehoods. “Today we filed our complaint” is true. Other than that…
With the left it’s all about politics – right and left rather than right and wrong. If you’re on their side there is no injustice that cannot be forgiven. When it comes time to stand up for someone who’s been wronged by The Man, ProgressNow NV stands up for The Man.
Text of ProgressNow NV’s fundraising email:
One of the biggest obstacles for progressives in Nevada is Chuck Muth – a right-wing activist who pushes no new tax pledges thanks to his support from the Koch Brothers.
He runs a PAC which funds several lobbyists and has his own Nevada News Bureau which frequently repeats, reposts and “reports” studies by the right-wing think tank, NPRI.
We often go up against him on radio or television shows, but today we are taking the battle to a new level. This morning we filed a fund-raising complaint with the Secretary of State against Muth and the recipient of Muth’s recent calls for donations – Assemblyman Ed Goedhart.
Simply put, legislators are prohibited from receiving donations during a legislative session. It’s spelled out clearly in state law.
Yet Muth recently raised money to put a fired Tea Party worker for Goedhart back on the job after she’d been fired. He did this very publicly and when she returned to work we decided we couldn’t let Muth get away with this illegal activity.
We’re fighting hard every day to rapidly refute those who stand in the way of progress. And this legislative session, Muth is a pillar of the conservative push to protect billion dollar mining and big business corporations from having to pay their fair share.
Today we filed our complaint and we’ll see it through to the end.
These battles require constant vigilance of what the well-funded corporate crowd is up to. We’re up to the task, but we need your help.
Help us fight back against Muth and the entire anti-worker infrastructure he’s organized. Together we can take on those who stand in the way of progress.
Please give $25, or whatever you can, to help us push back against this illegal nonsense. It’s one thing for Muth to hold a pledge over a legislator’s head. It’s quite another to funnel illegal money to one.
Help us fight this today.
Yours in progress,
Erin Neff
Executive Director
ProgressNow Nevada
Way to stand up to The Man!