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It will last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour Thursday evening. And States of the State are usually like States of the Union: Laundry lists of programs sandwiched between rhetoric meant to be soaring. And always, always too long. So here is some friendly advice: Have alcohol at your side as you watch (not in the chambers, if you are there) and take a drink every time these words are said: EDUCATION CHILDREN FUTURE REFORM BIPARTISAN TESLA SUCCESS COMEBACK FEE (If he says the word "tax," it's...
UPDATED, 6:40 PM: SEIU has corrected the ad, replaced it with the one below and a spokesman tells me: "Former Rep. Steven Horsford is a champion for immigrant and working families. We are grateful for his years of service and support for hard-working people in Nevada and across our nation. The digital ad with his name and pictures was a mistake and was pulled down as soon as the error was discovered. The correct ad featuring the intended target, Rep. Cresent Hardy, ran starting at 10 a.m. ...
I acknowledge that I had low hopes for Monday morning’s Las Vegas Metro Chamber/Las Vegas Review-Journal forum with the four legislative leaders. I expected evasions, platitudes and mush. News? Not a chance. I was wrong. Oh, make no mistake: The lawmakers committed all the above rhetorical crimes. And there was the requisite and quixotic southern jingoism – UNLV will get its medical school, by gum, or at least some funding, even though we have no idea how much! But the lawmakers also made news...
"Libelous personal attacks shouldn’t be part of politics" That's the headline on a piece that the Las Vegas Review-Journal published today by Assemblywoman Michele Fiore. I assume the RJ doesn't let its "special" contributors write their own headlines, so the use of the word "libelous" by a news organization is puzzling, to say the least. Fiore seems upset about coverage of her tax liens, which has been widepsread, including in the RJ, which has published reports of what it labeled "1 million"...
Those were Assembly Non-Majority Leader Michele Fiore's words to rightie talk-radio host Alan Stock Friday morning after showing him an installment agreement that mandates she pay the IRS $3,000 a month to pay off tax liens. I tuned in late because I was listening to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on KNPR -- I know, where are my priorities? But Stock vouched for the agreement, which her accountant helped explain and claimed some of the $1 million in liens were duplicates. Nevertheless, Fiore...
After more than a year of meetings, a coalition of elected and busienss leaders from Southern Nevada will meet Friday morning to finalize priorities for Session '15. In all my years of covering politics and the endless stream of sectional rhetoric, I don't recall this much sustained organization, this "Southern Nevada Forum" effort organized by Marilyn Kirkpatrick, the presumed speaker turned minority leader. The question remains, though: The South has all of the legislative leaders and...
We sort of knew it in 2014, as the governor and his men, not to mention Sheldon Adelson, worked around the ninnies running the state Republican Party. But end-of-year financial reports confirm what we already recognized: The NV GOP is a zero. As in raising no money. And having no money. And, yes, being an embarrassment to GOP officials and the national Republicans. The state report was filed a week early. And why not? Once again, the party raised nothing. That takes....talent. The party's...
Remember when Hillary Clinton came to Las Vegas last October to give an anodyne speech, collect $225,000 for it and raise money for the state Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid? I wondered who actually showed up for that political fundraiser, so I checked and found a major contributor to the California anti-gay marriage proposition and a developer once convicted of obstructing justice were on the list of donors. The full state party report is here -- the end-of-year for Reid is not...
With due apologies to Caesar, Crassus and Pompey, the Nevada triumvirate of Michele Fiore, Ira Hansen and Jim Wheeler, allies in trying to rule the new Assembly GOP majority, is slowly and embarassingly dissolving. Fiore had promised Friday to hold a meeting to get herself reinstated as majority leader, insisting that it would be held Monday at 3:30 PM in the caucus room at the Legislative Building after the inaugural ceremonies. It did not happen, just as Madame Tax Lien's serving in...

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