Holding the line

An open letter to the incoming, both newly elected and returning, members of the Nevada Legislature’s Republican caucus:

With the 81st session of the Legislature set to open on February 1st, 2021, it is important for the incoming Republican caucus to understand what is expected by the voters who are sending them to Carson City. That the Republican caucus has a mandate, and a responsibility to the voters who elected them is undeniable. If they fail to live up to that responsibility, Nevada is almost certainly doomed to the same spiral of government excess, taxation and crushing regulation that has become the norm next door in California.

It is worth reviewing where we are and how we got here. The recent general election saw, despite being a loss on the presidential ticket, the Republicans flip three seats away from the Democrats in the Assembly, and took an open seat in the Senate where the Democrat incumbent was termed out. They also scared the incumbent majority leader of the Senate pretty badly. There is a strong suspicion that enough votes were ‘found’ for Senator Nicole Cannizzaro (who is so disliked she faced a recall effort in her first term, which led the majority to revise the recall rules in the 2019 session to make it even harder for the people to remove tyrants in office) to hold onto her seat just barely, but that is a story best left to another time. Suffice to say, that when the results were certified the balance of power went from 13 D and 8 R in the Senate to 12 D and 9 R. In the Assembly the Democrats retained their majority but, most importantly, they lost the supermajority they held in the lower chamber.

But what does all that mean, you ask? Quite simply, the Democrats are going to have a bit harder time of forcing Nevada farther down the road to the socialist utopia they seem to desire. But the Republican caucus is going to have to get off its ass and stand tall for some things.

Taxes: In the 2019 session, the governor and the majority committed the state to a program of spending so unsustainable that even the Wall Street Journal noticed, and editorialized that the state had been put on the pathway to a personal income tax. I wrote on some of it as it happened; here, there, and elsewhere.

Since that flurry of largesse we’ve had a pandemic and much of the state’s economy has been put into a recession by order of the governor. The confluence of events and spending means the state needs to come up with a bunch of money without, necessarily, the ability to do so. Without the benefit of a supermajority in either house, and under the requirements of the Nevada Constitution, the Democrats will not be able to pass any new taxes, or extend any which are sun setting, without Republican votes. If the Republican caucus cannot hold the line and force the governor to roll back his shopping list the transformation of Nevada into Eastern California will likely be assured.

The mantra for the Republican caucus in the upcoming session must be strong, and united… no new taxes.

Spending: So goes tax revenue, so goes spending. If the Legislature rubber stamps the governor’s budget request without the means to pay for it, then the state is going to have to borrow the money someplace. For a small population state like Nevada, with limited revenue streams, unmitigated borrowing would rapidly devolve into an economic death spiral. It is going to be incumbent on all the legislators, but the Republican caucus in particular, to get state spending back within its means. The budget committees are going to need to go through the budget request with a fine toothed comb. Government in Nevada cannot continue to grow in the current conditions. If anything it needs to be reduced in size and scope so that it can focus on its actual mandates; public safety, the administration of justice and ensuring our transportation infrastructure is maintained…. and no, a high speed rail line between California and Las Vegas, let alone one between the northern part of the state and the southern part, is not necessary to our transportation needs and the taxpayers should not be paying for it.

One effective place to start would be to zero in on various boards or commissions which are redundant or unnecessary. A favorite trick of progressive politicians is the creation of oversight entities as a refuge for termed out legislators and local officials looking for a regional base of power, as well as a way to grow public employee headcount… hence grow the elected official’s base of power. The Legislature and the governor did a few in the last session; this is but one example. These all need to be means tested and should be eliminated if duplicative of already established local governance. Start with disestablishing the high speed rail authority, as but one example.

Emergency powers: One thing the Covid-19 emergency has shown clearly in Nevada is that a governor who is granted near dictatorial powers without any manner of oversight is a very dangerous thing. The governor has, in the name of trying to save the village, largely destroyed it. His own rank hypocrisy, on more than one occasion, coupled with him and many of his staff testing positive after months of “face coverings and social distancing” expose the kabuki of his actions for exactly what it is. We are, as I write this, within a couple months of a year devoted to “fifteen days to flatten the curve”. Lives and businesses up and down the state have been destroyed to no good purpose and with no end to it realistically in sight.

In a number of states there is legislative oversight built into the laws concerning a governor’s emergency powers. A system of checks and balances is, after all, what this nation’s government at all levels was founded upon. The Republican caucus needs to bring forward and pass meaningful reforms of Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 414 which would require the governor to seek legislative approval and fully justify his actions concerning ongoing responses to emergencies that last longer than thirty days. The Legislature, as the people’s representative, must have a seat at the table moving forward.

Election reform: There is ample physical evidence that many thousands of people who were not entitled to cast ballots in the primary and general elections in 2020 did so. Two races for state senate turned on mere handfuls of votes. The Secretary of State’s office appears unwilling or unable to do anything about it and throws the ball over to the county registrars who also appear, particularly in the case of Clark County, unwilling to buck the status quo. The fix is in proles, seems to be what they are telling us, so go about your business.

If the people cannot be reasonably assured that elections are fairly conducted and that shenanigans are being scrutinized closely and dealt with in a meaningful way, confidence in government will continue to erode and our state will quickly devolve down to something akin to a banana republic driven by an elitist oligarchy… kind of like that state immediately to the west.

Ballot harvesting, enacted in special session last year, needs to be repealed. The Secretary of State must be given a clear and unmistakable mandate from the Legislature to ferret out, expose and prosecute election malfeasance. The Secretary of State’s office must also be held to account, strictly, and given the authority to hold county registrars to account for what happens in their offices. If you can pass it, and the governor vetoes it than that puts one more tic mark on the con side of his ledger for which he will have to answer at the next general election.

Civil rights: One thing is certain… the assault on the civil rights of citizens in the name of Covid-19 has been egregious. But this year’s session is certain to bring a flurry of new bill proposals for further restrictions on the rights enuerated in the Second Amendment and in Article 1, Section 11 of the Nevada Constitution. We saw the first wave in the 2019 session, and given everything that has transpired since then it is certain that the shills for Everytown for Gun Safety have already sharpened their pencils and lined up their rent a mobs. I expect we will see bills to restrict or outlaw open carry, additional restrictions on purchasing firearms and ammunition, another attempt at rolling back state pre-emption… the list goes on and on.

There can be no give and take when it comes to civil rights… because everything you give, the progressive majority will take and use against you. Work hard to kill these types of bad bills and, if you can’t muster enough votes, then start playing the parliamentary game. If all else fails, denying them a quorum when these types of bills come up is a valid tactic, and worked well in Oregon during 2020.

At the end of the day, the Democrat majority is going to have exactly zero interest in doing any of these things, no matter how much common sense might dictate they are the right thing to do. That makes it all the more vital for the Republican caucus to lead the charge on these, and other, issues. The Republicans need to stand up and fight for what is right and not be willing to walk away empty handed under the umbrella of ‘business as usual’. If the Republicans cannot, or will not, assert themselves in a meaningful way they will have completely abrogated any semblance of right to govern or speak for their constituency, and we will make them pay for it at the ballot box.

Nevada is counting on you, and Nevada is going to be watching.