By: Chuck Muth
Nevada News and Views

TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

  • Reid health care plan helps Nebraska, will bankrupt Nevada (Office of Gov. Jim Gibbons) – Just in time for Christmas, Senator Harry Reid once again plans to put his national political ambitions ahead of Nevada, this time on Christmas Eve.
  • Who Got the Gold Mines While Nevada Got the Shaft? (Republican Study Committee) – Just when you thought secret deals with the industry, closed-door meetings and Chicago-style backroom politics couldn’t get any worse…they did.
  • The Six Key Issues the House Must Cave On Before Obamacare Becomes Law (Heritage Foundation) – This morning at around 8 AM, the Senate passed, again on a straight party-line vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment to the Senate’s version of Obamacare. This keeps the Senate on pace to pass the bill at 9 PM on Christmas Eve despite the fact that Americans overwhelmingly opposed the legislation.
  • Gibbons, Lawmakers Discuss Budget in First “Open Door” Session (Sean Whaley/Nevada News Bureau) – Gov. Jim Gibbons and nine state lawmakers from both political parties spent about an hour today informally discussing potential solutions to the state’s budget shortfall, including a discussion of state employee furloughs versus pay reductions.
  • ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: Two Modern Day Variations

Click here to read these stories at the Nevada News & Views site!

SURVEY SAYS!

Do you think Harry Reid is a strong leader or a weak leader?

  • Strong
  • Weak
  • He’s not a leader at all

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

MUTHS TRUTHS

  • Mike Wiley sent out an email this week indicating he might not run for the United States Senate in the Nevada GOP primary after all. NO!!!! Every court needs a jester. Every party needs a pooper. Every village needs an idiot. And this race needs you, Mike Wiley! Suck it up, son.
  • Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Amodei unveiled his new-and-improved campaign website over the weekend. You can access it at http://www.amodei4nevada.com. (BTW, using the “4” in your campaign domain name instead of “for” is about one of the worst things you can do.)
  • If having Sen. Harry Reid as the Senate Majority Leader is so great and beneficial to our state, why then did Louisiana and Nebraska get sweeter deals on the health care bill than Nevada?
  • Gov. Jim Gibbons criticized Sen. Harry Reid’s “Screw Nevada II” health care reform bill yesterday. Reid mouthpiece Jon Summers responded by saying Gibbons should read the bill first. Great. Except Reid has kept it hidden from even his own Democrat colleagues. Now that it’s finally been released, he’s intent on ramming it up our collective wazoos before we even has a chance to read it, let alone understand it. In the immortal words of Jay Sherman, “It stinks!”
  • Just hours after buying the 60th vote he needed to pass his health care bill, Harry Reid sent out an email fundraising appeal touting his success. Talk about crass political opportunism.
  • The LVRJ reports today that 11 employees at the heavily-subsidized Springs Preserve attraction run by Clark County’s water monopoly were laid off. So? Private companies have been laying off thousands of employees for the last two years thanks to the recession. Why does it seem that public sector layoffs get more attention from the media than private sector layoffs?
  • The American Cancer Society is suing the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority over a law passed last session which allows smoking in some convention areas. The American Cancer Society is quickly going the way of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers – a good organization which started out doing a good thing, but ultimately not knowing when to stop and going too far.
  • Blogger Mike Zahara is on the Left. I’m on the Right. And we both agree that all campaign donations should be posted on the Internet within 48 hours. And even though there’s no law COMPELLING candidates touting ethics reform and transparency (hello, Rory Reid!) to post all of their contributions on a public website on a regular basis, there’s also nothing PREVENTING them from leading by example and doing so voluntarily. Any takers?
  • Sources confirm that former Nevada state Controller Steve Martin (R) has all but officially decided to run for state Treasurer next year. Good news, because there are 50 million good reasons to replace incumbent Treasurer Kate Marshall – that being the $50 million she lost for Nevada over that Lehman Brothers debacle. Expect an announcement shortly after the holidays.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Harry Reid’s bill significantly increases taxes. It increases the already staggering deficit. It increases government control over our daily lives. It increases health care costs. It raids our seniors’ Medicare funding. It unfairly benefits other states by increasing the cost on Nevadans. It saddles our kids and grandkids with more debt. And, it requires all of us – every Nevada taxpayer – to fund abortion with our money.”

– Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden