What a fiasco.
The special session of the Nevada Legislature has jumped the tracks over the Hollywood Handout and what a trainwreck. Some thoughts.
Let’s start with this: I still see merit in the project for a lot of reasons. But as I tweeted during the Raiders embarrassing loss on Monday Night Football last night, not THIS proposal at THIS time by THESE Democrat “leaders.”
I have always maintained that, at the very least, approval of this project should be contingent on Democrats giving up something big on school choice. At the very least, funding for Opportunity Scholarships needs to be restored.
But Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jaueregui – author of the bill – rejected a proposal by Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill to include such funding in addition to funding for pre-K day care.
Then again, why would she? O’Neill ended up giving her his vote anyway. Republicans in the Assembly couldn’t negotiate a raise in their 4-year-old’s allowance.
But the fault really lies in the fact that proponents of the project chose not to include conservatives in the negotiations leading up to the session. I’m not talking about wishy-washy Republicans who claim to be conservatives. I mean real ones.
In fact, I’d argue the only real, principled conservative that you can count on in the Assembly is Assemblywoman Jill Dickman.
And not only wasn’t Dickman consulted with in drafting the bill, the Democrats kicked her off the committee that heard the bill and inserted a guy who got appointed to his seat just a couple weeks ago.
In any event, the bill got out of the Assembly, 22-20, and the ONLY reason it advanced was because “Republican” Assemblymember Danielle Gallant voted for the Hollywood Handout . . . before she voted against it.
Gallant, inexplicably, voted to approve Speaker Steve Yeager’s decision to allow two pro-studio Republicans – Heidi Kasama and Brian Hibbetts – to vote remotely even though both fled Carson City for vacations, not any kind of “emergency.”
It was revealed yesterday – after Kasama and Hibbetts completely missed an important vote on another bill – that Kasama is in Cabo and Hibbetts is in Europe rather than being in Carson City doing the jobs they were elected to do.
So everyone still stuck in Carson City can thank Assemblymember Gallant for dragging this thing out. She single-handedly could have stopped the Hollywood Handout cold in its tracks but instead enabled its passage.
So now the bill is in the Senate where Majority Leader Nicole Cannibizzaro – the Geno Smith of the Legislature – is scrambling to find the votes to put a bow on the studio package.
As of last night, it’s believed that there are 12 votes against and 9 votes for. And that’s after a blizzard of wild rumors that legislators are being “bribed” – they call it “horse trading” – to secure their votes.
One such rumor is that Republican Sen. John Ellison was offered some $1.5 million for the airport in Elko, combined with threats to put an opponent up against him in the next election.
There was also another wild rumor that a Democrat senator was offered a multi-million dollar donation to the charity of their choice if they’d switch their vote and vote for the Hollywood Handout.
And there was another report that Gallant – of all people – was lobbying Republican Sen. Carrie Buck to switch her vote to a “yes” even though Gallant already voted “no.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Still, the “bribery” and “extortion” will remain fast-and-furious unless/until Cannibizzaro sees the writing on the wall and pulls the plug.
But there’s no sign of that happening. Instead, word on the street in Carson City is that she might hold everyone in the special session for the full 20 days – meaning through the Thanksgiving holidays.
If so, everyone can again thank Assemblymember Gallant.
And I’ll wrap up with this final note before hitting the road to Palm Springs for an annual conference of CONSERVATIVE leaders from across the country…
The only reason this fiasco is still alive in the Senate is because two Republican senators are still saying “yes” to the Hollywood Handout: Sen. Lisa Krasner of Reno and Sen. John Steinbeck of Las Vegas.
If they vote “no,” this whole mess goes away, legislators can get back to their daily lives, and we come back to renegotiate and debate this project in the next regular session – where, if proponents are smart, they’ll include conservatives in the discussion.
By the way, your calls and emails to legislators have been EXTREMELY effective. Without naming names, I’ve been told by some that your messages caused them to change their minds and vote “no.”
So while I’m on the road this morning, here’s your homework:
Sen. Lisa Krasner
Lisa.Krasner@sen.state.nv.us
(775) 684-1450
Sen. John Steinbeck
John.Steinbeck@sen.state.nv.us
(775) 684-1442
The two could end this fiasco today. But right now they’re still in the grips of the lobbyists and powers-that-be. They need to hear from you. So light up the phones!
And I’ll leave you with this . . .
To all the Nevada legislators who are being offered what-will-it-take to get your vote “bribes” on the Hollywood Handout, remember this quote famously attributed to former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards:
“I take their money, and then I vote against them.”
P.S. Now this is HILARIOUS.
Liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston held an event last week at a non-union hotel because it was cheaper than holding it at a union hotel.
And because of that, three prominent Democrats – Sen. “Wacky” Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Nevada Attorney General A-ron Ford and California Rep. Ro Khanna – backed out for fear of ticking off the Culinary Union.
Which resulted in Crybaby Jon inking a whiny, woe-is-me blog post yesterday kvetching about the boycott. Karma, baby. Karma.
