Halseth seeks to deny voters access to elected officials by banning them from public hearings

Over 1,000 parents, students, administrators, staff and teachers made their way to Green Valley High School in Henderson to testify in front of their elected officials about Nevada's education budget. This did not please freshman senator Elizabeth Halseth: she has called for all Nevadans without student identification to be banned from future public hearings.



In Halseth's defense, she might not have actually authored that tweet herself. As seen in her Face to Face interview, she is usually not that coherent, and its widely known that the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity chapter of Nevada assists with her blog and sends her questions to ask and comments to make during her committee hearings in Carson City.

Despite who was behind the tweet, Halseth or AFP Nevada, you have to wonder why they were so upset by the testimony they heard that they feel government must step in and prevent voters from speaking and having access to their elected officials.

Was it the 3rd grader with type 1 diabetes who didn't want his school nurse to be fired because he'd have no one to give him his insulin shot? The bus driver who faithfully performed her duties for Clark County School District for 30 years? The young man from Nevada Policy Research Institute who said Nevada's education system didn't need more money, the money we have needs to be spent wisely? Or the mother of three who wanted her kids education to mean something when they graduate and go out into the world?

And to further darken an otherwise uplifting evening of civic engagement and parental involvement, Halseth and freshman assemblyman Scott Hammond lied via their twitter accounts by claiming parents were shut out of the public hearing because the auditorium was full of union members.





Anyone who actually attended the open hearing knows there was not one person wearing union paraphernalia in attendance. This may be news to Halseth and Hammond: members of Nevada's labor unions have children who attend public schools, and they care about the budget too.

Halseth and Hammond are the types to be first in line to lie about and demonize members of Nevada's labor unions then whine and cry that those same union members they want to ban from public hearings overwhelmingly support Democrats.

I doubt little Christopher Hughes, the 3rd grader with diabetes, is a union member, but Halseth and Hammond have dismissed his testimony just the same. They have to look past their conservative talking points and push politics to the side to help children in CCSD like Christopher.

All people who provided testimony had great ideas. Lets hope their words didn't fall or deaf, or even worse, partisan ears.

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Laura