{"id":42289,"date":"2020-06-06T13:20:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T20:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=42289"},"modified":"2020-06-08T09:14:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T16:14:13","slug":"playing-nevada-whack-a-mole-with-another-california-transplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/playing-nevada-whack-a-mole-with-another-california-transplant\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing Nevada Whack-a-Mole with Another California Transplant"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Chuck Muth)<\/em>\u00a0– On Thursday I received a rather whiny and confrontational voicemail from Ricky Ortega, a recent California transplant (hasn\u2019t even lived in the state for two years yet) and candidate for Lyon County Commission District 5.<\/p>\n

This is not going to end well for Mr. Ortega.\u00a0 Sometimes you should just let sleeping dogs lie.\u00a0 But since he decided to pop his head up and pop off, time once again for a little whack-a-mole\u2026<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week I added the name of his GOP opponent, Dave Hockaday, to my list of recommendations.\u00a0 The truth is – just as many refer to my recommendations for races where you have limited knowledge of the candidates – I, too, sometimes rely on the opinions of folks whose judgment I trust.<\/p>\n

And my contacts in Lyon County unanimously told me Mr. Hockaday is the better candidate.\u00a0 So I recommended him.<\/p>\n

Well, when he found out, Mr. Ortega got his knickers in a knot.\u00a0 Complained that I never talked to him, which is true.\u00a0 Never talked to Mr. Hockaday either.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Mr. Ortega never reached out to\u00a0ME<\/u>.\u00a0 Lesson for candidates: It\u2019s not the job of those who issue endorsements to reach out to candidates.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to candidates who want such endorsements to reach out to the endorsers.<\/p>\n

In addition, in an interview with the Mason Valley News, Mr. Ortega boo-hoo\u2019ed that \u201cNot even the Lyon County Republicans have reached out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently, this newcomer believes he\u2019s God\u2019s gift to Lyon County politics and the rest of us should be lining up to bask in his reflected glory.\u00a0 How lucky we are that Mr. California is willing to share his magnificence and save us Nevada rubes! \u00a0All hail, Ricky!<\/p>\n

That aside, because Mr. Ortega pitched a fit, I looked into the two candidates a little closer.\u00a0 And after that research I\u2019m even more solidly in Mr. Hockaday\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n

In addition to the voicemail he left me, Mr. Ortega spouted off in a series of Facebook posts that were quite revealing of his personality.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say it appears he hasn\u2019t read \u201cHow to Win Friends and Influence People.\u201d \u00a0Not a good thing for someone running for public office.<\/p>\n

After being asked why he was running in rural Lyon County while he still works in California, Mr. Ortega\u2019s smarmy response was\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI reside in this county and I have for years. It\u2019s called \u2018Tele-work.\u2019 Get used to the concept. It\u2019s here to stay. It\u2019s the hottest thing in Real Estate Sales.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Apparently, there\u2019s no real estate to sell in Lyon County.\u00a0 But, whatever.<\/p>\n

And again, he hasn\u2019t lived in Lyon County for \u201cyears.\u201d\u00a0 He bought his tele-home in the county in July 2018 \u2013 less than two years ago.<\/p>\n

Later in the thread it was revealed by Lyon County Commissioner Ken Gray (District 3)\u00a0that Mr. Ortega\u2019s wife \u2013 Kathleen Ortega, who still isn\u2019t registered to vote in Lyon County \u2013 had been writing pro-Ricky posts on Facebook using a fake name and not disclosing her relationship with the candidate.<\/p>\n

And for simply exposing that deception, Mr. Ortega ridiculously accused the commissioner of \u201cbullying women,\u201d claimed his wife had been \u201cdisgraced by you,\u201d and called Mr. Gray a \u201cjerk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorry, that dog won\u2019t hunt.<\/p>\n

Mr. California later added\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI hope all women drive by the Bunny Ranch (brothel) and see your electronic banner. I guess Prostitution is ok for you and you brought it to this County despite push back from the Church. I hope women and good folks realize what your morale compass points too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, now he really done gone and did it!<\/p>\n

First, Commissioner Gray didn\u2019t bring legal brothels to Lyon county.\u00a0 Apparently, this recent California transplant doesn\u2019t know legal brothels have been here, I believe, since 1971\u2026almost 50 years.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the electronic billboard isn\u2019t a \u201cBunny Ranch\u201d brothel sign; it\u2019s a sign owned by the business park where the Bunny Ranch is located.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, we live in a representative democracy, not a theocracy.\u00a0 \u201cThe Church\u201d doesn\u2019t dictate public policy.\u00a0 And here\u2019s an inconvenient truth\u2026<\/p>\n

The voters of Lyon County in 2018, by a whopping margin of 80-20, crushed a ballot initiative that would have shut the county\u2019s legal brothels down.<\/p>\n

That means a\u00a0LOT<\/u>\u00a0of good, church-goers \u2013 including women – voted to live-and-let-live.\u00a0 You know, \u201cthe Nevada way.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I guess what Mr. California is saying is that 80% of Lyon County\u2019s voters have a faulty \u201cmorale\u201d (he meant \u201cmoral\u201d) compass.\u00a0 How insulting.<\/p>\n

And let me just share a little bit of inside background info on Commissioner Gray as it relates to that ballot referendum, since I was directly involved with it as late Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof\u2019s campaign manager.<\/p>\n

Ken Gray is a deeply religious man; a church-goer with a solid moral compass who caught a lot of undeserved grief from the handful of holier-than-thou moralists behind the referendum.<\/p>\n

Personally, he\u2019s no fan of prostitution, legal or illegal.\u00a0 However, he was responsible enough as an elected official to attend a series of public forums I moderated on the ballot question throughout Lyon County.<\/p>\n

He also met with and discussed the issue with some of the women who work in the brothels and, while he didn\u2019t agree personally with their choice, respected the fact that they were grown adults who chose this line of work of their own free will.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Gray also respected the right of the voters of Lyon County to make their own choice on whether the legal brothels should stay of go.\u00a0 And, um, they overwhelmingly voted to keep \u2018em.\u00a0 You know, live-and-let-live.\u00a0 The Nevada way.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Gray took exactly the right position on this difficult issue despite his personal beliefs.\u00a0 He trusted the voters to make the decision. Indeed, Mr. California\u2019s accusation that Commissioner Gray was \u201cok\u201d with prostitution is simply an outright lie.<\/p>\n

And as Lisa Scott added in a comment on the Facebook post\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cOrtega wants to change rural Nevada! He doesn’t care that the people voted and by a landslide said what WE wanted. He is here to turn us into California! He doesn’t care to learn Nevada history or what the people want, he is just a muppet for the church.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, a little about his opponent\u2026<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know this at the time I made my original recommendation, but there\u2019s a special place in heaven for Mr. Hockaday.<\/p>\n

You see, he once served as the voluntary chairman of the Lyon County Republican Party.\u00a0 And as a former county party chairman myself \u2013 one of the most thankless jobs in the universe \u2013 that earns Mr. Hockaday bonus points in my book.<\/p>\n

In fact, Mr. Hockaday has been an extremely involved grassroot GOP activist in Lyon County for many years \u2013 long before Mr. California bought a tele-commuting rest stop there.<\/p>\n

In addition, I checked the Secretary of State\u2019s website and discovered that Mr. Hockaday has made over 50 donations – totaling over $7,500 – to various local GOP candidates and organizations over the past seven years.<\/p>\n

Did the same search for Mr. Ortega.<\/p>\n

Bupkis.\u00a0 Nada.\u00a0 Zilch.\u00a0 Goose egg.\u00a0 Zero financial support.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0LAST<\/u>\u00a0thing we need\u00a0in Nevada are more California evangelists moving here and telling us how we should be doing things.\u00a0 You wanna fix something?\u00a0\u00a0FIX CALIFORNIA<\/u>!<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m sticking with Dave Hockaday for Lyon County Commission District 5.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: 2020 Personal Candidate Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please note: My recommendations are based on if I was voting TODAY\u2026which I\u2019m not. \u00a0Running, up-to-date list here:\u00a0muthstruths.com\/election2020<\/a><\/p>\n

Note<\/u>: Been having some server problems with my sites over last few days.\u00a0 If the site is down when you go there, try again a little later.\u00a0 I\u2019m working on it.<\/p>\n

FAMOUS LAST WORDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo say the marches and occasional riots in Las Vegas and Reno violated social distancing and mask advice is putting it mildly. But rather than stop or criticize these demonstrations over the health dangers, (Nevada Gov. Steve) Sisolak encouraged them. \u2026 Either Sisolak misled Nevadans about the continued necessity of lockdowns \u2013 while destroying the state\u2019s economy to boot \u2013 or he\u2019s hypocritically allowing large gatherings when he approves the cause.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Columnist Victor Joecks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Chuck Muth)\u00a0– On Thursday I received a rather whiny and confrontational voicemail from Ricky Ortega, a recent California transplant (hasn\u2019t even lived in the state for two years yet) and candidate for Lyon County Commission District 5. This is not going to end well for Mr. Ortega.\u00a0 Sometimes you should just let sleeping dogs lie.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42289"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42290,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42289\/revisions\/42290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}