Rookie Nevada Senate leaders not exactly distinguishing selves

(Chuck Muth) – Rookie “Republican” Senate Majority Leader Tax Hike Mike Roberson – water boy for the Sandoval administration’s tax hikes this session – attempted to pass SB 483 on Friday, the bill to make the “temporary” tax hikes of 2009 permanent.

Thanks to the Gibbons Tax Restraint law – put in the Constitution by the man who, as governor in 2009, VETOED those “temporary” tax hikes, only to be overridden by liberal legislative Republicans – SB 483 required 14 votes to pass in the Senate.

And Roberson only has 11 Republicans, not all of whom will walk off the tax-hike cliff with or for him.

As such, the tax hike bill was shot down when it failed to get enough Democrat votes on Friday

This led to another patented Roberson hissy fit, articulated in the following press statement…

“Governor Sandoval laid out a bold agenda to better fund and reform our education system in Nevada.  Senate Bill 483 is an important piece of this plan and has been part of our budget for years.  Many of the same Democrats who voted against this bill have voted for a nearly identical bill in previous sessions.  Democrats are bringing Washington-style politics to Nevada by opposing a bill they had previously supported.  The Democrats are taking their historic electoral defeat out on the children of Nevada and they should be embarrassed.”

Roberson is such a horse’s ass.

HE’S the one who should be embarrassed.

First, there’s nothing “bold” about throwing more of somebody else’s money at our education problems.

Secondly, the tax hikes have only been part of the state’s budget “for years” because Sandoval and the Legislature have broken their word to Nevada’s citizens by twice extending those “temporary” tax hikes that we were promised would expire in 2011.

Third, for Roberson to complain about Democrats now voting against the “sunsets” after having voted for them in the past is rich considering he’s now voting for extending them after initially voting against extending them.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Fourth, they are NOT “nearly identical.  The votes in the past were to extend the temporary taxes temporarily.  Roberson and Sandoval now want to make them permanent.  That’s a HUGE difference.

Fifth, for Roberson, a self-proclaimed Republican, to use the discredited, tired, old liberal tactic of wrapping every policy disagreement in “the children” is stomach-churning.

For his part, rookie Democrat Senate Minority Leader Aaron Ford responded with an equally embarrassing statement, claiming that “For a decade, only one party in the Senate has cared enough for Nevada’s children to support raising revenue for schools.”

What a load of crap.

I’m sick and tired of these people claiming that Republicans and conservatives don’t care about children or education simply because we refuse to concede the notion that more money alone will fix the problem rather than increased competition through school choice – including vouchers and education savings accounts.

Democrats who continue to make this false accusation that Republicans and conservatives don’t “care” about children over a difference of opinion on methods just to score cheap political points should be ashamed of themselves.

Apparently, both Roberson and Ford have no shame.

What a pity for “the children.”

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and the publisher of www.NevadaNewsandViews.com. He personally blogs at www.MuthsTruths.com.