(John Burke | Better Nevada PAC) – With scandal after scandal and three Democrat state legislators forced to leave office due to ethics issues since last year, it’s no secret that there’s a Culture of Corruption in Carson City. With elections barely a month away, the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked every incumbent and candidate one simple question:
“Should the Legislature be subject to the open meeting law and the Nevada Public Records Act? Why or why not?”
Not one Democrat incumbent said yes – in fact – only one even bothered to answer… only to say no. Here are a few examples:
• Speaker SteveYeager, who voted for a bill to benefit his law firm without disclosing his conflict of interest, did not respond.
• Senate Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, who sponsored a bill giving $25 million to her unregistered lobbyist husband’s union client without disclosing it, did not respond.
• The Chair of the Nevada Democrat Party, Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno – who was one of the key enablers of lawmakers’ efforts to funnel taxpayer funds to organizations they had ties to – did not respond.
• Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui, who works for a liberal PR firm and doesn’t disclose her clients – a fact that has raised major ethics concerns, did not respond.
• Assemblywoman Venicia Considine, who voted to funnel millions in public funds to an organization she’s associated with, did not respond.
• Assemblywoman Tracy Brown-May, who was implicated in the same scandal as disgraced Democrat politician Michelle Gorelow, did not respond.
• The only Democrat incumbent who did respond was Assemblywoman Shea Backus… only to hide behind a laundry list of personal excuses that made clear she won’t support this reform. This is the same person who served on the board of an organization that defrauded the state of Nevada and didn’t disclose her role until she got caught.
Those hoping for answers from Democrat candidates seeking to join the legislature will be disappointed. Ryan Hampton, Jennifer Atlas, Sharifa Wahab, and Joe Dalia all refused to answer the question.
We’ve seen scandal after scandal from Democrats in Carson City. Three of their members (Michelle Gorelow, Cameron “C.H.” Miller, and Bea Duran) were forced to leave office because of their conduct over the last session. But none of them will commit to reforms, much less admit there’s even a problem.
“Nevadans are sick of corrupt politicians who profit off public life and put themselves before the people who elected them,” said Better Nevada PAC spokesman John Burke. “Democrats in our legislature won’t change and the candidates they’ve recruited will only continue to service their corrupt status quo. Remember their names. Vote them out.”
