Props to Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve for her new TV commercial, a wet t-shirt contest starring herself.
It’s all sweetness and light, including computer effects that miraculously turn the mucky Truckee into a shallow Sea of Galilee. Her Honor walks on water, pulls a Jonah and submerges, followed by quick pix of municipal achievement rah-rah.
In the concluding scene, she pulls a Venus, rising from the depths, wet and slightly bedraggled but nonetheless in proper executive posture.
Standing half underwater with downtown Reno in the background, she asks for your vote. Next stop, a hair dryer.
Did some ad agency, itching to use new computer software, convince her that this is a cute way to cut thru media clutter to create buzz?
Probably.
Send that producer wilted flowers because, for the first time in decades, Reno City Hall has told the truth, albeit quite unintentionally. The irony is deliciously unavoidable to those of us who’ve lived awhile in these parts. Both Reno and Sparks are financially underwater and have been for half a century, the result of blowing billions on corporate welfare tax giveaways since 1973. (See for yourself at the NevadaLabor.com corporate welfare archive. The Barbwire never forgets.)
Officeholders and their apparatchiks have refined cosmetic coverups to a fine art. By the mid-1990s, the list of Nevada corporate welfare queens took up a dozen legal-size pages of fine print. A decade later, the state had to expand it to a half-inch thick bound book. If you wonder why we always come up short in so many areas including health, parks, schools, roads, first responder, police and fire protection, look no further.
In their zeal for buzzy TV, Mlle. Mayor and her media minions have stumbled onto the truth and are spending big bucks advertising it.
Bueno.
Now come the new Washoe County school superintendent and UNR President Brian Sandoval to pour salt into the old wounds. School boss Susan Enfield has treaded lightly, noting that Nevada schools need new sources of revenue. Former Nevada Gov. Sandoval needs no such circumspection.
Last week, he dared to say he wants his institution’s budget restored to pre-pandemic levels and then some.
Dream on, my precious snowflakes. The only way to properly fund education in a state that has topped fastest-growing lists for decades is to raise mining and gambling taxes. All the rest is cheap talk.
Then again, if our elected officials refuse to spend tax money wisely, why should the two major industries in this company town of a state want to ante in their fair share? Let the little people subsidize the greed of other companies. Gamblers and miners stand pat, clip their coupons and dare any dumb candidate to say otherwise.
Mlle. Mayor, a vote of thanks for showing us what we are.
PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS DEPT. Is somebody putting truth serum into our drinking water? Eldorado/Caesars Palace heiress Cindy Carano last week said “we have given the Democrats a chance for the last two years to turn this country around. They failed.”
Hmmm…Exactly who left the country in need of all that salvation two years ago?
She really needs to hire better political consultants.
We’ve never met, but I herewith take this opportunity to express belated thanks for her support after she reportedly complimented my founding of the None of the Above for Governor Political Action Committee (NAGPAC) in 1982.
GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE DEPT. On the PBS News Hour a few days ago, megabucks Melinda French Gates said the answer to our problems lies with putting women into positions of power. Same thing I’ve been saying for 40 years or so. Welcome aboard.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. I am revolted by the U.S. Army’s new media campaign attempting to allay the fears of fathers who oppose their teenage daughters’ enlistment. Army recruitment goals recently fell far short. They obviously have market research which shows that fathers are the biggest impediment to acquisition of fresh female cannon fodder. The new TV spots are soooo heartwarmingly and disarmingly cute.
They mask the military’s abominable record of sexual exploitation and abuse with impunity. The Pentagon goes from scandal to scandal but little changes.
GASOLINE ALLEY. As always, major media have missed the mark regarding exorbitantly expensive western U.S. gasoline. For four decades, we have all been victims of an ingenious BigOil price fixing scheme, hidden in plain sight on every gas station readerboard. I’ve built a whole website proving it. See the NevadaLabor.com Oilogopoly Archive. How do they get away with it? The monopolists hire better lawyers with humongously bigger budgets than government “regulators.” Alas, much of what they do remains legal.
PEERLESS PREDIXION. BigOil wants deregulation-minded Republicans elected. Gasoline prices will thus begin a steep decline starting around Nov. 9.
HEAVY HEARTS FOR HEAVYWEIGHTS. Nevada has lost a gathering of giants this year. Now add radio legend Bruce Van Dyke, 69, and former federal judge David Hagen, 90. Mr. Hagen’s memorial service happens at 11:00 a.m. this Saturday at Our Lady of Snows. My condolences to his lovely wife, Peggy, and his family. Obituaries linked to the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/ Adios, brave warriors.
IT COMES IN THREES: MIKE GUERRA, 1956-2022. The longtime union activist and RTCRide transit operator died at 65 on August 31 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. That didn’t stop him from frontline picket duty, helping win all three of last year’s Hat Trick strikes.
Thanks to all who have responded to help his family. Please go to gofund.me/c1fed539/ or send checks or money orders payable to Mike’s mother, Olivia Baker, addressed to her attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive No. 100, Reno 89512. Formal obituary at NevadaLabor.com/
Rest in peace, my brave guerrero union brother.
Stay safe and pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
Leave a Reply