Results of our reader poll

Sausage Factory readers voted for their favorite Nevada journo who covers the legislature (#nvleg) full time:

Here are the results:



Congrats to Andrew Doughman for taking first place!


Side note: I'm gonna guess that our readers either 1. Don't care about polls 2. Don't care about journos covering #nvleg or 3. Don't live in Nevada

A few hundred people visited the blog in the past 12 hours, but as you can see, only 36 people voted in our poll.

I was going to do a post with several polling questions (best #nvleg tweeter, best #nvleg analysis, etc...) but it looks like TSF readers aren't really into polls.

What are your thoughts?

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.

#OscarsWife doesn't know anything

Maybe the title is a a little unfair, but it seems that every time Carolyn "Oscar's Wife" Goodman is asked a question the response is either I don't know (re: DREAM Act) or some strange off-topic answer.



Carolyn Goodman is not good with details or facts. Perhaps she was too busy molding the young minds of the elite class' offspring to pick up a newspaper or watch the news and actually learn something about the outside world and how it might affect the city she now wants to be mayor of.

Local journalist Steve Friess was one of the first to expose her staggering ignorance. Despite claiming to be an educator and friend to Las Vegas' Latino community, she had no clue what the DREAM Act was and had no official position (and seemed to have no knowledge of) Las Vegas' Domestic Partnership law or gay marriage in general.

And now #OscarsWife has inserted her foot in her mouth once again.

Given a chance by Univision to clarify her DREAM Act remarks, she claims that students can find a pathway to citizenship by participating in the Teach for America program.



Teach for America does not provide you with a pathway to citizenship. Right now, the only way a non-US citizen can became a "legal" citizen is by going through the US' archaic, drawn out citizenship process.

From Teach for America's website:

About Us

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors and career interests who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity.

Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort. Learn more about who we are looking for.

In the short run, our corps members work relentlessly to ensure that more students growing up today in our country's lowest-income communities are given the educational opportunities they deserve. In the long run, our alumni are a powerful force of leaders working from inside education and from every other sector to effect the fundamental changes needed to ensure that all children have an equal chance in life. Learn more about our impact.

Nothing about citizenship. At all.

I attended almost all of the mayoral debates during the primary, and I noticed whenever Chris Giunchigliani talked about legislation or ordinances she worked on, #OscarsWife would roll her eyes or pass a look to her staff as if to say "Now here she goes with all those facts and shit"

Why the hate from OscarsWife?

Every time Chris G talks about her experience, OscarsWife if forced to admit that she has none. Every time Chris G describes in detail a bill, proposed legislation or policy, OscarsWife is exposed as not just a political neophyte, but a Sarah Palineqsue character who has no knowledge of current events and no ability to articulate any of the little knowledge she does have.

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