Monthly archive

Resolving underwater mortgages through eminent domain? The plan comes to Southern Nevada
A controversial method to help underwater homeowners by deploying eminent domain is coming to Southern Nevada. The effort is being pitched to local municipalities and will be on the North Las Vegas council agenda next week. The agenda item asks the council to approve an agreement with a national group called Mortgage Resolution Partners. For months, local business folks now affiliated with MRP have been briefing elected officials and others about the plan, which has been embraced in some small...
Even when a bill is good and the cause is just, politicians will be....politicians
UPDATE: A couple of folks reminded me of the 2009 battle over a similar provision, which closes the loop because it was an attempt by Republicans to try to affect then-Speaker Barbara Buckley's potential gubernatorial run. The measure flew out of the Senate (thanks to Sir Bill of Reno) but was entombed in the Democratic-controlled Assembly. As I say below, all politics is personal. Here are some hearing minutes and I have attached some more above. ----- This is the Legislature -- or any...
Club for Growth once called Heller a liberal, but now he's one of the group's main men
It seems like yesterday. The year was 2006. A maverick secretary of state named Dean Heller was seeking a vacant congressional seat as incumbent Jim Gibbons sought the governorship. Heller was the anointed choice, but there were two obstacles: Gibbons' wife, Dawn, and a backbencher assemblywoman named Sharron Angle filed against him in the primary for the guaranteed GOP seat. Heller would have won easily except for one factor: The Club for Growth spent a million bucks against him, calling him a...
A couple of North Las Vegas muni race nuggets
Nugget No. 1 -- So Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins' effort to take over his turf in North Las Vegas by promoting his community liaison's candidacy took a bizarre turn as he put out a piece -- see it at right -- paid for by his campaign to make sure everyone knows he has not endorsed incumbent Anita Wood. Love the boldface words almost as much as the vitriol in the mail piece designed to help Janice Ridondo. I guess Collins really wants a voice on that city's council. Nugget No. 2 -- My...
Democrats have plan to improve education, but no way to pay for it
For any good fantasy to work, you have to suspend your disbelief for a time. So when I heard – again – Monday that legislative Democrats are discussing (they do know how to discuss!) a revenue plan for education, I wanted to believe. Truly. I do. After all, there they all were , 15 of them arrayed behind state Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, a few of them rotely reading prepared statements about education enhancements. It was a forced scene, as they all are, with the Democrats earnestly trying...
Poll: Margins tax has huge support, as does gay marriage and education reform
Despite opposition among business groups and in the Legislature, the public widely supports the margins tax, according to a new poll by the Retailers Association of Nevada. The survey, by well-known national pollster Glen Bolger, was conducted February 16-18, 2013, among 500 likely voters, with 125 cell phone interviews, and has a margin of error of +4.38%. Among the findings, which crossed a wide spectrum of issues (and you can see details in the attachment here): Margins tax: 58-39, support (...
Adelson: Hagel nomination is "shameful"
Sheldon Adelson, the Republican Party’s main money man, said today the nomination (and likely confiirmation) of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary is “shameful” because of his "associations" and because he is “anti-Semitic.” When I asked Las Vegas Sands Chairman Adelson, whom I had an impromptu chat with at his office this afternoon before lunching with a friend of his, how upset he was that the Hagel nomination is moving forward, he replied with one word: “Very.” He then...
Harry unplugged: On a Sandoval challenge, NV Energy, federal web poker failure and more
After his speech to the Legislature this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met briefly with reporters and made some interesting comments. Some of them have been reported, but the full extent of his remarks are below in a transcript I have obtained and lightly edited. My favorites: ----Classic Reid in exchange over the possibility Gov. Brian Sandoval may run against him: Reporter: Do you think Governor Sandoval is going to run against you 2016? Senator Harry Reid: Oh, I don’t know. You...
Ralston Retorts segment: The rush to pass web poker legislation
Here's the video version of this.  
Was the rush really needed on web poker?
Now that lawmakers have passed a web poker bill faster than pocket Aces can get cracked, they can move just as quickly to tax fast food and ban smokers from working in hospitals. Surely, I jest. But when lawmakers work as quickly as they did Thursday – both houses passed the measure within an hour – and the governor immediately signs the bill, should anyone stop to ponder: What’s the big rush? I could wonder why they can't even muster a serious public discussion of the state's antiquated tax...

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