Where the heck have we been?

Yuck! I can't believe there hasn't been an update for three months. Might be something to think about when writing out those New Years resolutions.

The last blog was about Governor Brian Sandoval's endorsement of Rick Perry. With the Iowa caucuses just a few days away, that choice still looks like an enormous blunder. Perry has flip-flopped and flapped on abortion, released an anti-gay 30 ad (where he's hilariously wearing the same jacket as Enis, the closest gay cowboy from the movie Brokeback Mountain) and is now battling Rick Santorum--the ex senator from Pennsylvania who lost his reelection in 2006 BY 18 POINTS--for fourth place in Iowa.

That information has nothing to do with the intent of this entry, I just felt like pointing out Sandoval's endorsement failure :)

Anyway, a blog round up is on its way.

Governor 'Sunny' endorses unethical, ineffective governor of Texas

Tonight was supposed to be Mark Amodei's night, but that all changed this afternoon when Governor Brian Sandoval announced he was endorsing Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican presidential primary.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was a little surprised. As the highest ranking Republican in the state, it's kind of bitchy to step on what's supposed to be a fellow Republican's good news night. And many of Nevada's Republican elected officials (and activists) have already glommed onto Mitt Romney.

And no, Sandoval endorsing Perry had nothing to do with Perry being the chair of the Republican Governor's Association because Perry was not chair while Sandoval was running for office in 2010. And even if he was, Mitt Romney was chair of the RGA when Sarah Palin was elected governor of Alaska in 2006. Quite a bit of RGA resources were devoted to the race (some illegally) and Mitt even traveled to Alaska to meet with Palin. How did she repay him? By voting for Mike Huckabee in the 2008 Republican primary and taking several swipes at poor Mittens this go around. Being RGA chair has little to do with loyalty later on.

But what's more important is who exactly has Governor Sandoval just endorsed. The press release Sandoval sent out was full of GOP talking points that would probably get a "pants on fire" from one of those fact-checking websites.

So who is the real Rick Perry? Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington rated Perry as one of 11 governors "who pride their self-interests over their states'." Describing Perry as "unethical" and "incompetent".

What did Perry do that's so bad? Take a look:



[And just a side note, on CREW's list is Haley Barbour and Mark Sanford, RGA co-chairs when Sandoval was ran in 2010, and Sandoval's predecessor Jim Gibbons.]

And another great website, meetrickperry.com gives a rundown of Perry's achievements that Sandoval thought worthy of endorsing:



The insider game of what Sandoval's endorsement means--what it means for Perry, what it means for Nevada and what is means for Romney--is inconsequential. The questions that should be asked are what does Brian Sandoval want for Nevada? His endorsement shows he wants the federal government to make it rain on Nevada. Brian Sandoval wants Nevadans to be employed but only at or slightly above minimum wage jobs with no benefits. Brian Sandoval wants to kill Nevadans who break the law, including juveniles and the mentally disabled. Brian Sandoval wants to force your tween to be vaccinated but won't allow your family to make their own decisions when it comes to family planning.

Brian Sandoval didn't endorse Rick Perry because they're buddies. He endorsed him because he felt his policies and record as governor of Texas would be good for the United States. If that doesn't have you second-guessing the "Governor Sunny" persona, you're hopeless.

--

Yep, I spelled governor wrong

As #NVleg draws to a close, we finally have a budget

Governor Brian Sandoval, surrounded by beaming legislators, announced that a balanced budget exists, the session would end on time. Legislators congratulated each other for being able to work together for a common sense budget, despite not even a week ago it seemed bitter partisan divides would keep this day from happening, and Governor Sandoval threatened to shut the state government down rather than call a special session.

The #Mar21 and #Sandoville activists asked for it: a balanced approached to our state's budget and compromises on taxes and much needed reforms. Thanks to the Nevada Supreme Court, we got it. Legislators did their jobs, worked together and compromised. And I'm sure, everyone will do their best to take credit in some way.

Our friends on the right will try their best to explain that by Governor Sandoval (R-Jones Vargas) raising taxes he is in no way breaking his pledge not to raise taxes.


President Barack Obama takes a sip from a glass of cool, refreshing conservative tears.

"Non-partisan" Nevada Propaganda Rhetoric Institute will fudge numbers and whine about Florida.

Conservative purity police will have their say.

And some lefties will still be upset with some of the cuts and the damage done to unions.

But like the song says, you can't always get what you want.

In the end, it's Nevada who comes out the winner. Our budget is balanced, some of the cruelest reforms softened, much needed education reforms are agreed on and the sunset taxes passed in 2009, that Nevada's fragile economy has recovered under, have been extended to 2013.

Here's the numbers via the Las Vegas Sun (pdf)

I'll update this entry as more news about the budget comes out.

--

Laura

What actually happened at Sandoville

If a direct action you’ve planned doesn’t go accordingly, you should never admit it. At least not to the press. They will gleefully print your failures and ignore the accomplishments. And, you most likely take away the opportunity for that action to be accomplished in the future.

But as I’m going through the clips of the coverage from our three day camp out on the grounds of the Nevada legislature, I've seen a few mischaracterizations and assumptions (some are just plain "untruths") about what we were planning to do.

I want to take the time to clear a few things up.

A few weeks after the now infamous March 21st student rally in Carson City one of the organizers told me that next time we go to Carson, we’re sleeping outside on the lawn.

But Sandoville wasn’t just a bunch of students. And we didn't go to Carson City demanding Governor Brian Sandoval raise taxes to save education, as many reported. We wanted our legislators to break the gridlock, work together, compromise and come up with a balanced solution to Nevada’s economic crisis.

We know that cuts have to be made. We know that there are needed reforms. We are willing to share the sacrifice. But it’s the wrong approach to only look for cuts while ignoring opportunities to raise revenue. And some cuts are simply too drastic and possibly unnecessary. What does it say about Nevada’s values if we’re willing to take away breakfast from poor children yet maintain extravagant subsidies for foreign mining companies who makes billions every year?

And its also very suspect that the groups bearing the brunt of the cuts (public employees, teachers and Clark County) happen to be the same groups who voted overwhelmingly against Brian Sandoval in the 2010 election.

But I digress.

Here is what Sandoville planned to do:

Originally we planned to stay a full week, but compromised with various agencies involved with the legislature to set up camp Monday and take it down Wednesday.

We identified legislators--Republicans and Democrats---to target with lobbying teams or for individuals to target their own legislators who needed some prodding.

Everyone was asked to give testimony during committee hearings that had to do with revenue and education. Some campers had prepared remarks, others read from statements they typed up on their smart phones and some just spoke from the heart. After committee hearings we stopped legislators in the hall, asking them to come to Sandoville or at least make a one on one appointment.



As for direct actions, we played with several options.

Having been involved in an action that successfully shut down the Las Vegas Strip and resulted in about a dozen arrests last summer, I made the suggestion of shutting down Carson Street.

I saw a report that we were going to block the highway. That’s not only wrong, but would be recklessly dangerous on our part.

The symbolism of shutting down a street was: if legislators are willing to bicker and fight and block progress, we were going to block them from getting to work. We decided not to do that because of the collateral damage (Carson City residents).

We also planned a sit-in at the Governor’s capitol office. It was scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday, but the Governor decided to take a quick trip to Vegas. So we set our sights on Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness instead.

We asked McGinness’ secretary when he’d be in the office (she didn’t know) and then asked for an appointment, which she refused because (she claimed) he has already met with students once this session. I’m sure he meets with lobbyists multiple times a day, I guess students only get one shot. 40 people crammed themselves into the Minority Leader’s office and sat silently on the floor. His secretary, shaking with anger, was taping out emails and calling security. Capitol guards swooped to the office and you could tell by the looks on their faces, they had no clue what to do.



McGinness’ secretary announced that he was in committee and wouldn’t be back in the office for at least an hour. Some people seated on the floor pulled out their laptops and logged onto NELIS to see if he was in committee, a few others went to the committee room. All came to the same conclusion, McGinness was not there. So everyone continued to sit in silence.

A guard pleaded with us to leave. Some people moved into the hallway to allow more room for McGinness’ staff to go in and out of their offices. Eventually, McGinness appeared in committee and the sit-in moved to the committee room.

I saw a report that one of our direct actions was cancelled because we didn’t want to get arrested. That is also wrong. People who were willing to be arrested signed up to do so. Several news crews filmed our “Sandoville Schedule” white board and some reporters even tweeted pictures of it. On the schedule was a “peace training” I was going to help lead to explain what would happen when folks got arrested, how to prepare and what to do. We had lawyers on stand-by. We were ready to be arrested in McGinness’ office.



The pressure we put on McGinness resulted in a meeting with him and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford post-committee. We were able to talk about a balanced approach to the budget, asked the two men to work together, communicate and compromise.

After the committee room we headed to other Senator’s offices. Much to his surprise and displeasure, we ran into Senator Gustavson in the hallway. He curtly answered our questions but after about five minutes he’d had enough and briskly walked away.

We walked down the long hallway of senate offices, stopping at each to make an appointment. We eventually sat outside of Senator Barbara Cegavske’s office, waiting for everyone to come back committee, lunch, the bathroom or whatever excuse their secretaries gave us.

What happened next was another first for the Legislature. Senator Michael Roberson brought us Girl Scout cookies then sat on the floor for a debate. He was soon joined by Senator Cegavske and Senator Ben Keickhefer. Senator Elizabeth Halselth and Senator Greg Brower stood and watched but did not participate.



There was a lot of back and forth. Mostly mutual understandings with a few heated moments (and some yelling) sprinkled throughout. Senator Roberson proved he was a text book conservative (blaming public workers for the state’s problems) with endless confidence. He complained that he’s shared more words with us than Senator Horsford. But much like the governor, he’s made himself irrelevant by refusing to compromise.

Then there was the donut summit.

It was mischaracterized as the governor winning over “students” with treats. No one was won over by anything the governor said or did. Sure, some people got in a picture with the Governor, but it was because his staff asked us to. Most of us refused. The Governor did not come to Sandoville to sell his budget, he came there to maintain his brand. Even his staff looks “sunny” and happy. A group of non-threatening people with warm smiles who, like the Governor, look like they were cast for the roles they play.



Governor Sandoval was unable to provide any perspective or answer questions with anything other than useless empty GOP “we hate taxes” rhetoric. And if the whole thing wasn’t ridiculous enough, he was wearing cowboy boots with his suit.

It’s safe to say that donuts are the only thing of substance the Governor will deliver to the people of Nevada this legislative session.

Sandoville is no longer on the lawn of the legislature, but it is not gone. On the bus ride down we were planning out next trip up north. At the end of each day in Sandoville we had checkin-in and planning meetings and a major wrap-up meeting was held Friday once everyone was back home.

We have new friends, a wider network, new targets and better perspective. With less than three weeks to go before the end of the session, and with the Governor threatening to shut down the state government, we have a lot of work to do.

--

Laura

Governor Brian Sandoval welcomes Urban Outfitters and their legacy of racism and anti-semitism

On May 4th Governor Brian Sandoval "proudly tweeted" ("proud to" and "honored to" is Brian Sandoval's "this one time, at band camp" twitter tick) that Urban Outfitter's would be setting up an "internet fulfillment center" in Reno.



The gov claimed the 650 news jobs would come to Reno. But the reality is (Gov seems to have a problem with that) this "internet fulfillment center", aka warehouse, will provide maybe 150 full-time jobs and 650 temporary construction jobs.

150 jobs is better than no jobs. But why is Sandoval happy about gaining 150 when he plans on firing 7,000 teachers?

Also, why is Sandoval proud of a warehouse being built in his hometown by a company known for its racism and anti-semitism?

2003: Ghettopoly: Get your neighborhood addicted to crack, you earn $50. A parody of Monopoly labeled "racist" by the NAACP and African American clergy organizations.

2003: 'Everyone Love a Jewish Girl' t-shirt. Jewish girls are pretty awesome, but a t-shirt with that phrase, coupled with dollar signs caused the Anti-Defamation League to express "outrage and disgust" at this and other incidents of Urban Outfitters insensitivity. The shirts were discontinued.

Read a full list of products that were pulled from Urban Outfitters shelves. The company our governor is so proud of.

Is this what Nevada values?

Governor Creeper

It appears Governor Brian Sandoval has been placed under the same trance as Michelle Bachmann.

Pitiful performances like this are why I roll my eyes and laugh when people call Governor Sandoval a "strong leader". He obviously has many people orbiting around him (painfully apparent that Michelle Rhee and/or her staff had a hand in crafting this speech) helping herd his doggies in line and outside groups are more than willing to kick the asses of Nevada's weak GOP legislators.



Watch for yourself, Governor Sandoval's speech where he tries to convince us he cares about education, but instead, through forced smiles and wandering eyes, shows us that he just might be Nevada's #1 Creeper



Side note: It's painfully obvious he's reading from a teleprompter, so why is he shuffling papers? More pomp and showmanship from our creeper gov.

Brian Sandoval's trained dogs

My mom used to cover the cops beat for our local paper. I was in elementary school at the time and she would drag me to many different ceremonial police activities. One of the most festive events was the graduating class of the police K9 unit.

German shepherds who were trained to perform were paraded in front of the adoring public and given their diplomas. The crowd would “ooh” and “aww” and clap as the dogs were taken through a few training exercises to show off to the crowd.

I thought the whole thing was sad.



These dogs were so convinced that they had no role in life but to do whatever their trainers said, they’d whine and squirm while anxiously waiting for the next command. Some would even pee on the floor in anticipation for the next order.


Legislative Republicans remind of those dogs.

Some are eager to please, like Senator Michael Roberson who yelps “GOV REC!” whenever asked about the budget. Or Mark Sherwood, who when given the challenge of thinking for himself and providing his opinion for all who are upset with cuts to education, simply replies “WE DON’T CARE! *ROO-ROO-ROOH*”

If anyone gets out of line, if someone wants to tax groceries to raise revenue or admits the truth that we must raise our almost non-existent taxes to meet our budgetary needs and keep the state running, if Governor Sandoval’s persistent phone banking of the Republican caucus (the other thing he does when he’s not reading to children), there’s always someone who will yank that choke chain. Sending the wounded legislator, whimpering and broken, back to their caucus. Eagerly awaiting their next chance to prove how well they've been trained.

--

Laura

You won't have John Ensign to kick around anymore

I saw a tweet from Roll Call's Shira Toeplitzi, and Senator Ensign made it official on his website:

Press Releases
Media
April 21, 2011
ENSIGN TO RESIGN FROM OFFICE

Washington, D.C. - Senator John Ensign today announced his resignation as the 24th United States Senator from the state of Nevada. In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden tomorrow, Senator Ensign will state that his resignation from office is effective as of May 3, 2011.

"It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years," said Ensign. "The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada. I can honestly say that being a United States Senator has been the honor of my life.

So now Governor Brian Sandoval has to appoint someone (re: Dean Heller) to that open Senate seat and a special election for the the now open congressional district 2 seat must be called in 180 days.

Why did this all happen, when only a month ago Senator Ensign said he'd finish his term? No one knows for sure. Ensign says it was to protect his family, but if he really cared for his family, he would've never cheated on his wife then given money and jobs to his mistress and her family.

Maybe Ensign knew the ethics investigation would not go well. If he's no longer a senator, there is no investigation.

Maybe Ensign was pressured by Governor Sandoval (side note: When Harry Reid involves himself in state politics he's called a meddler; when Brian Sandoval does it, he's a strong leader. I hate Nevada politics sometimes.) to get out because Dean Heller knows he can not defeat Congresswoman Shelley Berkley on his own merits. Being an incumbent adds some panache to your campaign, I'm told. Don't know if I believe that.

Now, who will run for #NV02? Sheila Leslie is the best option in my very humble opinion. I hear Debbie Smith is interested. And Jill Derby (two-time #NV02 loser) has been popping up at party events lately. She might want it too.

So much drama.

My dear friend Rhett sums it all up. I hope the Dems are smart enough to use this:

John Ensign resigning is a political stunt for Republicans to try to retain his Senate seat! First you cheat on your wife, now you cheat on Nevadans!

--

Laura

Diversity fail

The Assembly republicans have a blog, and for some reason they decided to post a picture, featured right at the top, of all their GOP assembly members.

Reminding everyone that the NV GOP is a Grand ol Party of old white men.

And Melissa Woodbury



Does Nevada's GOP even try to recruit candidates of color? Or is Brian "my kids don't look hispanic" Sandoval enough for them?

I wonder how many LCB staff or Republican attaches up in Carson are people of color.

We're still keeping an eye on this

Collective bargaining back in the news in Nevada (see TSF blog here):

Fight over collective bargaining looming in Legislature

But Sandoval’s newly unveiled education reform package might bring the collective bargaining fight to him.

Under the legislation, teachers unions couldn’t bargain for higher pay based on educational attainment or years of service. They would also be limited in bargaining on the processes for layoffs, other workforce reductions and termination.

The Nevada State Education Association sees Sandoval’s bill, Assembly Bill 555, as an end run around its collective bargaining rights.

“We certainly didn’t take the governor at his word that he was not going to mess with collective bargaining,” association President Lynn Warne said. “He said he wasn’t going to move to eliminate collective bargaining, but there’s lots of mischief to be made within the statute of 288. And he’s picked on two very important issues to us.”

I wonder why no mention of Legislative Republicans issuing a list of demands, including derailing collective bargaining.

Is it due to lack of resources or lack of will that no one is pointing out what Governor Sandoval and legislative Republicans are doing in Carson is happening in Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and other states?

Conservative think-tanks and news services have been slithering around Carson for almost two months as part of a string of "non profit" franchise-type operations that have popped up in states with new Republican governors.

This is not all just a coincidence.

Oh, the irony

I've long complained that I have no congressman.

I live in Clark County but have the misfortune of living in Congressional District 2, the seat currently held by Dean Heller.

A CD2 resident since 2008, I've met my congressman exactly zero times. In the past three plus years I've gone to Washington, DC at least a dozen times and each request I've sent to his office to meet with him or to receive gallery passes has been ignored. Going to his constituent office in Las Vegas renders similar results. Usually no one is there. Just a locked office, lights off. Your tax dollars hard at work.

Today I caught Jane Ann Morrison's column in the Las Vegas Review Journal where Heller defends himself against the notion that he's become more conservative and less accessible.

The timing couldn't be more perfect.

I planned on going to Heller's office this morning with some seniors to ask him to stop threatening to kill the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, medicare protections and benefits with it. His office must know this column is coming out today. They surely had a staffer there so as not to prove the columnist's point. Or so I thought.

Waiting at security of Alan Bible building, I browsed the wall of the world's most evil terrorists (why isn't Bin Laden up there anymore?) and I could hear the security guard picking up the phone, dialing, waiting, hanging up, dialing, waiting...for almost a full minute. Finally, he said no one was in the office, so no one was going upstairs.

I really wish I knew who else was in the building so I could have told a little white lie, gone up and taken a picture outside his darkened office, on a weekday, at 10am.

Granted, Ms Morrison was mostly referring to accessibility of Heller to the press (more important than constituent accessibility, right?) in her column, but as I said above, as a constituent, no matter how hard I tried, I've had absolutely no access to my congressman.

Heller says he has a lot of work to do in Clark County if he wants to win Ensign's newly vacated seat (what happens if Ensign retires early and Sandoval appoints himself to that seat? No more election or Heller?) so far, he's off to a really bad start.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Mar 21: Students March on Carson City

A few months ago organizer Michael Flores told me he wanted to fill up buses with students and send them to Carson City to lobby the legislature.

Tonight I watched as hundreds of students piled into a dozen buses and headed north. And I have never been more proud.

Governor Brian Sandoval has pushed the students of Nevada too far. "Death by a thousands cuts" is what you often hear. But these kids aren't going to take it anymore.

Watch the events of the day unfold live right here:

Brian Sandoval vs. the American Dream

While our press corps is distracted and Governor Brian Sandoval manages to avoid scrutiny with his nice smile and non-threatening hair cut, activists in Nevada and across the country are organizing and working to hold Sandoval accountable for the damage he is attempting to do to our great state.

The cuts are not a shared sacrifice. Like other republican governors across the nation, Sandoval's cuts target the least among us.

This was sent by MoveOn.org today:

Dear Nevada MoveOn member,

The battle of Wisconsin has awakened a sleeping giant—millions of people standing together to save the American Dream from severe budget cuts and attacks on the rights of working people.

We need to keep that momentum going here in Nevada, where a huge fight is brewing in Carson City over the state's budget.

Governor Brian Sandoval has proposed a budget that cuts public education, Medicaid, public safety and more—all while allowing corporations and the wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.1

Wisconsin showed that the people are not going to let corporations and their allies on the right trample the American Dream without a fight. Now we have to send that same message in Nevada.

Click here to sign the petition to Gov. Brian Sandoval and your state legislators.

Here's what the petition says: "Nevada's budget has already been cut to the bone. Corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share for quality schools, police, health care, and other vital public services."

After you sign, be sure to share this petition on Facebook and email it to your friends and neighbors in Henderson and around the state.

This is about the budget, but it's also about something bigger. We need to make this the moment when regular people stand up and say "no" to the corporations and right-wing politicians who want to strangle the public investments needed to keep the American Dream alive.

Please take a moment to add your name to the petition, and we'll deliver it to Gov. Brian Sandoval and your state legislators by the end of this week.

Click here to sign the petition to Gov. Brian Sandoval and your state legislators.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Marika, Stephen, Adam Q., and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Governors are Proposing Further Deep Cuts in Services, Likely Harming Their Economies," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 3, 2011
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3389

After signing the petition, here is the email MoveOn will send to contacts of your choosing:

Subject: Nevada Budget Cuts vs. the American Dream

Hi,

Governor Brian Sandoval has proposed a budget that cuts public
education, Medicaid, public safety and more--all while allowing
corporations and the wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.

I signed a petition to the governor and my state legislators opposing
these cuts. Can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/nvbudget/?r_by=-5547254-wcBvX1x&rc=mailto

Thanks!

Revisiting SB41

By far the most controversial blog on The Sausage Factory was this one about holes in Governor Brian Sandoval's position on collective bargaining and lack of reporting on SB41. It's always funny to hear that people are calling around just to tattle on you over a blog. Man up!



This is a brief update/basic timeline:

Feb 4: Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval's adviser Dale Erquiaga says the Gov wants nothing to do with former Governor Jim Gibbons bill that would eliminate collective bargaining.

Feb 7: SB41, a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining in Nevada, finds its way to the state senate. Other bills left over from the Gibbons administration have yet to see the light of day. Somehow, despite the Governor's supposed lack of interest, SB41 is drafted and makes it to committee.

Feb 11: Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin introduces his budget that includes eliminating collective bargaining for public employees.

Feb 14: In Wisconsin, Labor Unions and members of the public begin to protest Governor Walker's union-busting budget.

Feb 19: In Wisconsin almost 70,000 people protest Governor Walker's union-busting budget.

Feb 21: Governor Sandoval attends the Churchill County Central Republican Committee's Lincoln Day Dinner and tells attendees he has Governor Walker's back
“We are all working together,” Sandoval told Walker. “No one is going to buckle, no one is going to blink.”

Feb 22: Governor Walker falls for a prank phone call and tells "David Koch" that Governor Sandoval says there is support for what Walker is doing in WI (busting unions) in the state of NV.

Feb 23: Republican governors in Ohio and Florida back off of collective bargaining.

Feb 24: Governor Sandoval tells the Las Vegas Sun “In regard to collective bargaining, there may be a bill,” Sandoval said. “I’ve not seen that bill. I’m watching the progress of such bills and waiting to see if they arrive here at the Capitol.”

Feb 27: The Las Vegas Review Journal reports there is no push by Governor Sandoval or Nevada Republicans to bother collective bargaining.

Mar 2: Assembly Republicans issue a list of demands, including "Strengthen management’s position in public employee collective bargaining rules."


updated to add gif, fix sentence
--
Laura
laurakmmartin@gmail.com

Governor Sandoval supports his Koch-head friend in Wisconsin

Oliver Willis has the audio and transcript up on his blog as the original source, Buffalo Beast, appears to be down. Hopefully due to traffic.

Here is what Buffalo Beast had on their website to describe the call, before the site went down:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker answers his master’s call

“David Koch”: We’ll back you any way we can. What we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that—because we thought about that…

***

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS IS REAL. NO NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT. THERE ARE NO INNOCENT.
-MURPHY

***

“He’s just hard-lined—will not talk, will not communicate, will not return phone calls.”
-Wisconsin state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D) on Gov. Walker (source)

Carpenter’s quote made me wonder: who could get through to Gov. Walker? Well, what do we know about Walker and his proposed union-busting, no-bid budget? The obvious candidate was David Koch.

I first called at 11:30 am CST, and eventually got through to a young, male receptionist who, upon hearing the magic name Koch, immediately transferred me to Executive Assistant Governor Dorothy Moore.

“We’ve met before, Dorothy,” I nudged. “I really need to talk to Scott—Governor Walker.” She said that, yes, she thought she had met Koch, and that the name was “familiar.” But she insisted that Walker was detained in a meeting and couldn’t get away. She asked about the nature of my call. I balked, “I just needed to speak with the Governor. He knows what this is about,” I said. She told me to call back at noon, and she’d have a better idea of when he would be free.

I called at noon and was quickly transferred to Moore, who then transferred me to Walker’s Chief of Staff Keith Gilkes. He was “expecting my call.”

“David!” he said with an audible smile.

I politely said hello, not knowing how friendly Gilkes and Koch may be. He was eager to help. “I was really hoping to talk directly to Scott,” I said. He said that could be arranged and that I should just leave my number. I explained to Gilkes, “My goddamn maid, Maria, put my phone in the washer. I’d have her deported, but she works for next to nothing.” Gilkes found this amusing. “I’m calling from the VOID—with the VOID, or whatever it’s called. You know, the Snype!”

“Gotcha,” Gilkes said. “Let me check the schedule here…OK, there’s an opening at 2 o’clock Central Standard Time. Just call this same number and we’ll put you through.”

Could it really be that easy? Yes. What follows is a rushed, abridged transcript of my—I mean, David Koch’s conversation with Gov. Walker.

Here is the portion about Nevada's governor Brian Sandoval:

Walker: [blah about his press conferences, attacking Obama, and all the great press he's getting.] Brian [Sadoval], the new Governor of Nevada, called me the last night he said—he was out in the Lincoln Day Circuit in the last two weekends and he was kidding me, he said, “Scott, don’t come to Nevada because I’d be afraid you beat me running for governor.” That’s all they want to talk about is what are you doing to help the governor of Wisconsin. I talk to Kasich every day—John’s gotta stand firm in Ohio. I think we could do the same thing with Vic Scott in Florida. I think, uh, Snyder—if he got a little more support—probably could do that in Michigan. You start going down the list there’s a lot of us new governors that got elected to do something big.

Koch: You’re the first domino.

Walker: Yep. This is our moment.

Koch: Now what else could we do for you down there?

Walker: Well the biggest thing would be—and your guy on the ground [Americans For Prosperity president Tim Phillips] is probably seeing this [stuff about all the people protesting, and some of them flip him off].

Audio starts at 1:15


UPDATE:
Governor Walker's office confirms, that's him on this call talking about union-busting to a fake David Koch

State of the State Round Up

Last night was an experience. Nevadans had the misfortune of discovering our new governor is a mouth breathing zombie republican.

Here's some reaction from across Nevada:

Launce Rake of PLAN:

But of course, the governor eloquently spoke to the necessity of firing school teachers - he told us, among other things, that having fancy-pants college degrees aren't important here in the Silver State when teaching kids who probably won't graduate anyway - and kicking disabled people to the curb. But don't worry! While one might think that Sandoval's entire program consists of three words starting with "no" and ending with "taxes," one would be wrong.

Not one, but two great pieces from Desert Beacon

So, in the State of the State Address our new Governor wants to end a teacher tenure system the state doesn't have, wants to hold teachers and administrators "accountable" just like the way we do it in NRS 385 already, and wants more money for "merit" pay and private school vouchers even if Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Mineral, Pershing, Storey, and White Pine Counties wouldn't see any benefit? [DB]

Governor Sandoval gave an interesting State of the State speech...but a person would be excused from wondering what state he thought he was in?

and

In order for a voucher plan to be realistic there has to be a school available, with space available, with tuition rates such than a voucher would be generous enough to make the difference between private and public educational services. How generous would a voucher have to be? Las Vegas Day School charges $8,100 per year for grades K-8. The Meadows School charges $9,500 for K-5 instruction, $10,700 for instruction in grades 6-8, and $12,950 per year for grades 9-12. There is a $50 testing fee, and a waiting list. Bishop Gorman High School charges non-Catholic parents $6,550 per year, and Catholic parents $5,600 annually. Faith Lutheran charges $5,850 in annual tuition. [LHLV] Tuition at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno is $8,750 annually. There is a $450 parish affiliation discount. [BMHS] In other words, vouchers would be useful only to those parents who can already afford to pay most of the price tags referenced above.

Andrew Davey experienced some deja vu

I've seen this train leave the station so many times before in California. I've seen the devastating cuts that do nothing to help, and actually hurt economic recovery. I've seen the teabaggers (and their ideological predecessors) hold the budget hostage as they propose no realistic solutions. What I saw from Brian Sandoval in Carson City last night didn't seem all that different from what I experienced when Arnold Schwarzenegger ruled Sacramento. And I've seen far too many instances of legislators taking the easy road of toying with ridiculous budgetary gimmicks (moving money from this fund to that fund, calling taxes something else, playing games with bonds, stealing local funds to pay state bills, etc.) instead of solving the actual problems at hand. And funny enough, it's often the teabaggers here whining about "Nevada becoming California".

Sharron Angle pens a guest blog with this kids over at The Nevada View

Aristotle believed that some people are, by nature, meant to be slaves. It is the duty of the superior class of people (wealthy + white + Christian) to contain these other “heathen” people. So why waste money educating them? Just put them to work in our factories at extremely low wages, and America will regain its number one status in the world. It is the outsourcing of jobs to third world countries that has caused most of our problems. Blame unions and these lower class organizers who have a sense of entitlement who are to blame.

And lastly, Steve Sebelius' take. Possibly the last inclusion in the blog round up as he and Slash Politics move over to the RJ...and we all know how the RJ feels about sharing their content

That must be why Assembly Speaker John Oceguera‘s Democratic response seemed to contain more vision and more big-picture, long-range thinking than did the governor’s. It was Oceguera, not Sandoval, who said the state’s tax system obviously needs changing. It was Oceguera, not Sandoval, who reminded us we’ve already taken deep cuts. And it was Oceguera, not Sandoval, who noted the obvious: While money isn’t the only factor, you certainly can’t get to the top in education by funding at the bottom.

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Laura
laurakmmartin@gmail.com

Nevada's pathetic state

Residents of Nevada watched (some of us in horror) for nearly an hour as new Governor Brian Sandoval giggled and grunted his way through his first Sate of the State address.

Much will be said within the next 24 hours about the speech. Numbers crunched, facts checked, soundbites and rebuttals broadcast. I quickly want to get out what bothered me the most about the speech (and I want time to do more research on Michelle Rhee who was at the address and is apparently going to help fix our education system. I worry that our press corps will not accurately represent her body of work in DC. I've already seen some fuckery on facebook and twitter).

Okay, so....Governor Sandoval said in his State of the State address that government is not the answer to our problems. That is a generic, bumper sticker slogan intended for the base to react with seal-like clapping. If the Governor truly believed that, he wouldn't have worked in government his entire adult life. He would've started his own private business and helped the state that way.

Governor Sandoval said he will terminate 20 (TWENTY!!!) government agencies. Who knows how many more unemployed people that means, or what Nevadans will be forced to give up. However, by the end of the speech, Governor Sandoval announced the creation of three (3) new government agencies.

I know, right?

Government is not the answer and can not solve our problems, so I will expand government to help solve our problems.

*sigh*

For a re-cap of live-tweets and live-chat, go here: http://laurakmm.coverpage.coveritlive.com

We have some funny people on Twitter in Nevada. Thought it was interesting there weren't very many right wing tweet.

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Laura
laurakmmartin@gmail.com

Nevada State of the State

Trying something new: live-blogging the state of the state.

Cover It Live will bring all tweets related to the NVSOS to one spot you can keep your eye on

I hope this works!



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Laura