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.

Early voters are lazy and uninformed. They must be stopped

Last Friday someone told me the Republicans in the Nevada legislature have a bill that would end early voting. I assumed they were kidding.

Nevada covets early voting.

But go to the website, look for assembly bill 311: AN ACT relating to elections; eliminating early voting in elections; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

...yeah.

My friend Andrew over at the Nevada Progressive blogged about the bill first. What blows me is the bill's sponsor, Crescent Hardy R-Mesquite, claiming an unnamed group for unknown reasons asked him for this bill.

The fuck? Is this real life?

Just more evidence of Republicans attacking the least among us.

They know they can't win elections with high turn out. All across the nation Republicans are doing what they can to knock registered voters off the official record and suppress turnout. Remember the voter suppression bill I blogged about early this session? The one where Jodi Stephens whined that the evil Liberals didn't like that she and her Republicans friends wanted to prevent the poor and people of color from voting?

None of these bills will go anywhere. Aren't the Republicans the fiscally responsible ones? This is a huge waste of tax payer money and time. So why bother?

Because they can go back to their districts and toss this red meat at the seal-clapping masses: "I tried, but it was the Liberals and ACORN and SEIU and those illegals who stopped me. I was on your side!"

That's right you lazy, ignorant, good-for-nothing teachers, grandmas, students, single parents and government workers. You've had your fun participating in Democracy, now the Republicans and their allies are going to take those privileges back!

And your little dog too!

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.

Republicans who support education and need a push

Anyone following #Mar21 #NVed and #NVleg on twitter (or following The Sausage Factory's live blog here) knows shit is popping off in Carson City.

A dozen buses packed with students left Las Vegas last night and they were joined in Carson City this morning by 7 buses from Reno and 1 bus from the rural Nevada.

There are Republican legislators who support education and will listen to our pleas to save it.

Here are there contacts. Email, call and if you're in Carson, go to their office. Put a face behind these cuts.

Save our state!

Assembly
Scott Hammond
775-684-8853
office in the legislature: 4111
shammond@asm.state.nv.us


Randy Kirner
775-684-8848
office 3130
rkirner@asm.state.nv.us

Melissa Woodbury
775-684-8503
office 4103
mwoodbury@asm.state.nv.us

Ira Hansen
775-684-8851 (cell: 775-221-2502)
office 3156
ihansen@asm.state.nv.us

Pat Hickey
775-684-8837 (cell: 775-762-8006)
office 4112
phickey@asm.state.nv.us



Senate
Ben Kieckhefer
775-684-1450 (cell: 775-223-9618)
office 2145
bkieckhefer@sen.state.nv.us

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!

Dean Heller announces he's running for Senate; Clark County licks its chops

I have the misfortune of living in Clark County's 2nd congressional district.

I say misfortune because my congressman, Dean Heller, never comes to this part of the district. His Las Vegas district office is rarely open. Yes Nevada, your tax dollars are paying rent on a congressional office that is supposed to provide constituent services that usually sits empty, doors locked. He lost my assembly district in 2010 to challenger Nancy Price (Price had 63% of the vote in my precinct) and the Nevada Democratic Party didn't even try to win this election (no calling, no canvassing). Jill Derby beat Heller in Clark County in 2008 in an election where NV Dems actually put forth a little bit of effort.

I'm not sure this is going to be a cake walk for Heller. This will be the first time he faces the full force of NV Dems and its activists, including an assist from OFA and President Obama at the top of the ticket. And I know I'm not the only CD2-Clark resident who has been saving up Heller's racist anti-immigrant mailers, fact-less constituent letters and tax payer-funded official congressional correspondence that seem to only come out when he's running for re-election and look a lot like a campaign mailer.

But he's decided to run for US Senate anyway.

Here's the email I received today. The opening line is full of lulz.

Also included a screen print so you know the mangled first sentence was in the actual email.

Laura,

Your past support has meant a lot me and for this reason I wanted you to be among the first to know that I am running for the United States Senate.

It is difficult to see so many people hurting in my home state. As many of you know, I grew up in Nevada and my wife Lynne and I have raised our family here. We see the tough choices our friends, neighbors, and family members are making every day and I see how poor decisions in Washington are impacting their lives.

This is not the first time that Nevadans have endured tough times and it won't be the last, but I know that there are better days ahead.

Our strength as a state and a nation is bigger than the troubles of today. However, it is also incumbent upon us to effect change in difficult times to create a better future.

As families across Nevada struggle to pay their bills and fight to keep their homes, Barack Obama and his beltway allies are proposing record spending that will add to America's job-killing debt from a stratospheric $14 trillion to a staggering $20 trillion.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can change the course we are on by taking action today. The choices we make can lead to big changes in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. This is a crossroad that will not only change Nevada, but significantly change the direction of our nation for years to come.

If we are to turn our economy around, we must remove impediments that have caused economic stagnation and the inability of businesses to create new jobs. Not continue with business as usual.

We cannot ignore our nation's very serious fiscal problems and continue to allow Obama's big government job killing agenda to continue.

I have long been an opponent of reckless government spending and continue to support a balanced budget. In 2008, I stood up to former President Bush, then Senator Obama, and Washington special interests and said no to the Wall Street bailout. In fact, I was the only member of the Nevada delegation to vote against the Wall Street bailout, not once but twice. My view then, just as it is now, is that debt fueled bailouts only hurts long-term economic growth and places taxpayers on the hook for the excesses of Wall Street.

Now I want to take this fight to the United States Senate.

Congress can no longer refuse to make tough fiscal decisions and stick our children and grandchildren with the massive debt that has been allowed to accrue for far too long. We must take control of government spending to instill long-term economic growth in our country.

There are those who believe government spending is not the problem and we should simply raise taxes and treat the American public as an ATM. Let me assure you that I believe Washington has a spending problem—not a revenue problem—and that tax increases are not the answer especially in our current economic environment.

Just like many families across our state, Lynne and I sit around the table and discuss the direction of our country, the future of our children, and the needs of the people of our great state who have endured in this struggling economy for far too long.

It is time to move beyond the failed policies of the past and create real economic growth in Nevada.

I know that the tough times are not yet over. However, I also know that there are better times ahead.

Together we can move our country in a new direction, get Nevadans working again, and create a more prosperous future for us and our children.

It has been an honor to serve you and our great state in the House. I hope I can count on your continued support. With your help, we can bring a new conservative majority to the United States Senate.

Sincerely,
Dean
Dean Heller

UPDATE: Updated to correct Price's winning percentage from 62% to 63%

--
Laura
laurakmmartin@gmail.com