If you have not received your sample ballot, press the panic button and call the Washoe registrar of voters at (775) 328-3670. NOW. Nevada Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske has employed Kansas SOS Chris Kobach’s bounced-postcard disqualification scam. Cegavske was the queen of voter suppression when she served in the state senate. She has not changed.
International investigative journalist Greg Palast reports that 90,000 Nevadans have had their registrations nuked because Cegavske used Kobach’s horrendously flawed database. Great way to keep blacks, browns and seniors from voting. Cegavske is in serious need of purging by Democrat Nelson Araujo.
BALLOT BOXING. As usual, some readers have demonstrated very questionable judgment asking me for guidance. Here are pointers upon which I will greatly expand at NevadaLabor.com/
BALLOT QUESTIONS: Q1-NO. It’s not a victims rights measure. It will enrich lawyers and the bail bond and for-profit prison industries. It was proposed so that Republican legislators could have another tough-on-crime brochure bullet point.
Q2-YES. Exempts feminine hygiene products from sales tax.
Q3-NO. As I have noted, it’s a clash of rapacious billionaires. It was foisted upon us by Sheldon Adelson and his casino mogul buds who want to forever saddle small ratepayers with their electrical transmission costs. On the other side is NVEnergy monopolist Warren Buffet who destroyed the rooftop solar industry. We must stick with the devil we know and push for much stronger regulation of NVEnergy and a greatly expanded consumer advocate’s office.
Q4-YES. Exempts medical devices from sales and use taxes. Long overdue.
Q5-YES. Automatic voter registration via the Dept. of Motor Vehicles unless you opt out. Vote-suppression types hate this sort of thing.
Q6-YES. Requires 50 percent alternative energy by 2030. A great insurance policy should Q3 pass (heaven forfend). Because of all the media confusion, Q3 might take Q6 down with it.
WC1-YES. Tax increase for flood control.
I am incensed that people who don’t subscribe to the Reno Gazette-Journal or have a computer have no way to get copies of the full texts of the ballot questions. You can’t trust the TV commercials. Greg Palast, call your office.
TIGHT RACES: I’m supporting non-partisan Heidi Howe for sheriff against Republican Darin Balaam whose principal qualification is that his daddy held the job for one term. Go to KTVN.com, watch their recent debate and judge for yourself.
BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS ME. Organized labor mistakenly endorsed two Republicans, Balaam and school board candidate Andrew Caudill.
Caudill can’t have it both ways, telling unions what they want to hear then doing the same with Sharron Angle’s hyper-conservative Nevada Republican Assembly outfit which is both anti-union and anti-public education. (I have written about them since 1998.)
Caudill’s opponent is incumbent Dr. Debra Feemster, an old friend and my only professional relationship in this election. She has paid me a total of $1,000 over the past two years to maintain her website and occasionally consult. This is no contest where qualifications are concerned. Mr. Caudill is a recent UNR grad and assistant to the athletic director.
As with Mr. Balaam, he is beloved of the jockocracy and the good ole boys. In the school board at-large race, novice Jacqueline Calvert is worth the nod over education destroyer Jeff Church.
STATE ASSEMBLY. If I could, I’d vote for my old friend and union brother Richard “Skip” Daly, D-Sparks.
FOUR HORSEMEN. The Rail City version of the Addams Family has fielded four candidates in various races, most prominently former Tribune columnist Ira Hansen, an overt racist. You will find my huge archive of smoking gun proof linked to the web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/
STATEWIDE. I’ve worked for and supported a few good Republicans in my checkered 50-year career. Not this year. Although the top of the ticket is somewhat weaker than it could have been, lower office candidates Clint Koble, Kate Marshall, Aaron Ford, Catherine Byrne, Zack Conine and Araujo are worth consideration.
PROPS. Washoe Assessor Mike Clark is a charlatan, winning election in 2014 by strongly hinting that he could cut property taxes. No assessor can. Support Chip Evans.
SUING: Sean Laughlin’s 18-day wrongful imprisonment in Lyon and Nye counties caused him to lose his career as a cruise ship entertainer. He’s represented by Terri Keyser-Cooper, well known to Sparks and Yerington city halls. She recently dismantled the Lyon County School District and Yerington PD in federal court for overt, endemic racism. Laughlin is the son of Nevada talk radio legend and Tribune columnist Travus T. Hipp (1937-2012).
SWAN SONG. This year not only brought my 30th anniversary with the Tribune but also Dr. Martina Young’s 30th in Nevada. I’m not going anywhere, but the internationally recognized ballerina, choreographer, author and educator presents her last Nevada work this Thursday. She then tiptoes into the sunset toward Italia or perhaps Australia. (Aussies need all the cultural help they can get.)
“Black Swans, An Opera Poem” with Young and six interdisciplinary artists has its last performance at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at Riverside Artist Loft 502 in downtown Reno. Limited seating. Tickets: $64 at APoeticBody.com/updates/
SWAN SONGS SUNG. Died: Union legend Stanley P. Jones, 95, former Nevada labor commissioner under Govs. Laxalt and O’Callaghan and 2011 César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Famer. Details as they arrive at NevadaLabor.com…Jamal Khashoggi, 59, employment terminated with extreme prejudice by the Saudi royal family in Istanbul. Anybody know if he was related to wealthy movie producer and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (1935-2017) who resided in a Lake Tahoe mansion for many years? Adnan and former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos were acquitted of racketeering and fraud by a Manhattan federal jury in 1990.
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 50-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com and BallotBoxing.US/ E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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