A busy 24 hours in Nevada politics

Let's see: Republicans in the legislature are whining, Sen Rhoades is going rogue, Chris G is running for mayor and apparently so is our current mayor Oscar Goodman's wife, Carolyn.

Steve Sebelius' has two blog entries over at Slash Politics on the Las Vegas mayoral race. This kind of stuff only happens in Vegas:

“The more I thought about it, the more there really was no question in my mind,” Carolyn Goodman said in a brief interview this morning.

“We woke up this morning, and Oscar said, ‘Don’t do it.’ And I said, ‘Interesting,’” Carolyn Goodman said. “And I said, ‘I’m doing it,’ so he said, ‘Go for it, girl.’”

[snip]

She joins Clark County Commissioners Larry Brown and Chris Giunchigliani as well as Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross as the front runners in the race.

HPIC Jon Ralston posts a letter from the Republican leadership in the Nevada legislature. Seems like after nearly a full week of Nevadans sharing their budget cut horror stories, our friends on the right are crying uncle, and looking to make someone else the bad guy. Misery loves company.

And speaking of Ralston and #LVMayor, in a tweet he tags Chris G as a favorite, based on what, I have no idea. But it is peculiar considering three months ago he was calling out Chris G for mayor supporters as "suckers".


Andrew Davey, the Nevada Progressive, sees a possible breakthrough on the GOP side of the Nevada Legislature as Sen Rhoades shakes off the zombie Republican "noooo neeeww taxessss" trance:

Dean Rhoads, the state’s senior senator, became the first Republican lawmaker to publicly break with Gov. Brian Sandoval, saying he thinks the state will need to raise taxes to balance the budget.

Rhoads, who is serving his final year in the Legislature because of term limits, told the Sun that cuts in education and social services in Sandoval’s budget are too deep.

“There will have to be deep cuts like Sandoval proposed, and tax and fee increases,” Rhoads said Tuesday. “We’re going to have to do a combination.” [...]

If you care about Nevada politics, Desert Beacon is a daily must-read. This entry breaks down the logical fallacies in a letter penned by Republican leaders in the legislature:

In short, it is the Nevada Republican Party that is calling for the maintenance of the status quo. After all they have a budget proposal that "that forces government to get more out of less rather than one that increases spending, cripples our economy, kills job growth." This is little more than a succinct restatement of the mantras associated with the "Supply Side Hoax," or as George H.W. Bush liked to call it -- Voodoo Economics.

Justin McAffee of The Nevada View calls Nevada Republicans out for claiming (*cough*LYING*cough*) Nevadans pay high taxes:

As the 2011 Nevada Legislative Session begins next week, interest groups and politicians will be arguing over whether Nevada’s taxes are too low or too high. There is a strong segment of local conservatives and Republicans who think that Nevada’s taxes are too high. The evidence and consensus among academics and think tanks (liberal and conservative) say that Nevada’s taxes are among the lowest in the nation.

And, a blog post isn't complete without Nevada Scandalmongers's wonderful photoshops:


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Laura
laurakmmartin@gmail.com