Because this paper will hit the press in the wee hours of Tuesday, the Tribune will scoop most of the western world about the transit strike that’s going to hit today.
Just before deadline on Monday, almost all unionized employees of the Washoe bus system voted down the foreign contractor/employer’s deal with 9 out of 10 workers voting no.
The foreign contractor wanted the workers to take a three-year pay cut by voting for a below-inflation pay “raise.” See you on the picket lines, dudes.
The blame lies squarely with the taxpayer-paid officials who always pull a Pontius Pilate and walk away. Contact and order them to protect the health, safety and livelihoods of their constituents. These bus bosses have refused to enforce mask mandates for two years. Dozens of workers and passengers have been sickened.
“This superspreader corporate virus has infected this community far too long in too many ways,” Teamsters Union Local 533 President Gary Watson said.
RTC Washoe Contact Information
• delgadoo@reno.gov (Reno Councilmember Oscar Delgado-D),
• vhartung@washoecounty.us (Washoe County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung-R),
• jardonn@reno.gov (Reno Councilmember/RTC Chair Neoma Jardon-R),
• elawson@cityofsparks.us (Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson-R),
• blucey@washoecounty.us (County Commissioner Bob Lucey-R),
• bthomas@rtcwashoe.com (RTC Executive Director Bill Thomas),
• rtcpubliccomments@rtcwashoe.com (RTC board e-mail),
BARBWIRE DINGBATS. As many of you know, my Italian fantasy Machine Gun Michele Fiori, R-Gomorrah South, is running for governor. She has now joined Assemblymember Jill Dickman, R-Sparks, in pimping anti-masking as a fundraising tool. She just touted that she was kicked off the Assembly floor for playing Superspreader. She may not know it, be we are kindred. I got kicked out because someone told a lie to security and males could not wear hats in the gallery. Won the Barbwire a first-place Nevada Press Association honor. I don’t think Ms. Dickman’s gonna score any honors but many misbegotten miscreants will send her their hard-earned money.
Hey, the sky is falling! Haven’t you heard? Speaking of fall guys…
WHEELING AND DEALING. Am I psychic or what? Last week’s column, which I sent to the newspaper on Monday, Nov. 1, accurately predicted that someone would want to give a Nevada Senate seat to a seat-warmer. Faith & begorrah, Washoe County Commission Chairman Bob Lucey advocated exactly that on TV-4/TV-11 on Tuesday, Nov. 2, in an interview with reporter Ben Margiott.
Mr. Lucey said he favors a “placeholder until the 2022 election” as Washoe County’s next state senator. Huh? A placeholder is somebody who takes your place in line to get concert tickets.
This isn’t a buffet line and Nevada doesn’t need a placeholder. We need a senator. A placeholder who has sworn not to seek election has no accountability to the public for the next year and will never have to face the voters. The new senator will have to hit the ground running not only at the redistricting special session which starts Friday but also by serving on important interim committees which will require participation in and reporting to the 2023 legislative session.
It is a sophistry upon the public to assert that whomever is chosen must commit to not seek election to a full term next year. That’s a constitutional right and constitutional rights cannot be waived just to become a placeholder. It’s rather morally obtuse to promise to waive a constitutional right when you can’t be legally bound by the promise anyway.
I correctly called the two frontrunners. Long-retired three-term (1974-1980) Assemblymember Bob Weise, R-Washoe Valley, is now a Carson City resident. His home address won the non-binding support of Capital City officialdom last week.
Assemblymember Lisa Krasner, R-Reno, announced for the senate before Sen. Ben Kieckhefer resigned to join the Nevada Gaming Commission.
They go into Tuesday’s Washoe County Commission vote as the favorites. (The new senator who will fill the vacancy will be chosen Wednesday.) This paper will hit the streets as the selection process is underway. Stay tuned to NevadaLabor.com/
I warned last week that flaming racist Jim “I’d vote for slavery if my constituents wanted me to” Wheeler, D-Douglas County put his secretary’s son into the race.
His name is Don Tatro, a Reno resident from an old Carson family. Nevada politics can be so incestuous.
Wheeler is running for senate in his Alabaster Bastion bailywick and controlling the Carson-Washoe senator next door will make this troll mega-powerful for the next dozen years.
Stay tuned. Be very afraid
Take care of each other and be careful out there.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 52-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
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