First Principles

So – Chuck Muth helped run Senator Elizabeth Halseth out of the Legislature by dragging her through the worst kind of tabloid mud on his various media outlets, and in doing so, made it orders of magnitude more difficult for the Republicans to take a majority in the state Senate.  Oh, and then he brags about it.  If this is conservative activism, then Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and the Democrats in the State Legislature must be some hard core conservatives.

God - it's depressing how many times this image is useful in the context of Chuck Muth in this state.

I’m just trying to figure out why Muth has such a bug up his hooha about Halseth, such that the potential loss of control of the State Senate is worth it to him to slag her so relentlessly.  It can’t be because he cares a whit about the personal morals (or lack thereof) in his politicians – he’s a huge Gingrich supporter, and Newt writes his wedding vows on dry erase boards.

No – it has to be something personal.  What it is, who can say.  Maybe he just hates women.  Maybe she wouldn’t donate money to that “Mt. Reagan” scam of his (the banner ads for that now go to a 404 error page).  Maybe he made a pass, and she rebuffed him – you have to be suspicious of any guy who is that creepily obsessed with any woman’s personal life.  But no matter what it is, remember this – Chuck Muth is the kind of guy who gets his rocks off of publicly abusing a young woman (and her children) going through what is clearly an incredibly difficult divorce.  That alone makes him a piece of trash of a human being (and I’m being generous with both terms).

But it’s worse than just that, because he’s willing to harm you and me and everyone else in the state for his own selfish reasons.  Getting those rocks off is more important to him than whether or not taxes get raised, spending goes up, or regulations get more stifling. Either he’s too stupid to see these consequences, or he’s too selfish to care.  Either way, it remains beyond my power to comprehend why any candidate, elected official, activist, or even just someone seeking information about Nevada Politics gives this guy the time of day.

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Halseth was not the best legislator in Carson City, but she was far from the worst.  She had a lot yet to learn, but her philosophical instincts were in the right place.  She was always willing to listen to me when I had an issue to discuss, even if she didn’t agree with me on it.  She had energy and a sense of humor, and she was willing to fight hard on legislative issues that were important to her.

And perhaps most importantly, she voted correctly (in a conservative’s view) on most issues.

But even if one believes she was irredeemably terrible as a legislator, numbers matter.  With Halseth in office, Republicans only needed to flip a single seat to alter the entire balance of a body that is currently 11-10 in the Democrats’ favor.  The party in the majority determines the agenda, the committee assignments, and the bills that are even allowed to be heard.

Her absence in an off-year in what is now a Democrat leaning district now makes it much more likely that we could be stuck with Debbie Smith chairing Finance instead of Greg Brower, Ruben Kihuen chairing Judiciary instead of Mike Roberson, or Mo Denis chairing Heath and Human Services instead of Ben Kiekhefer.  (I generally like those Dem legislators I mentioned personally, but their politics are not my politics, and I think their policy ideas would be terrible for my family and our state.)

And if Muth’s 260-Part Series on Halseth isn’t responsible (at least in part) for her leaving (as I’m sure he will claim), why did he write  it?  No other blogger or journalist –  left, right, or center – wallowed in that dirt.  I guess Chuck likes to explore and speculate about the most intimate and tragic aspects of peoples’ personal lives just for giggles.  No one with a shred of dignity or respect for their fellow human beings would do that to another person.  No one worthy of ANY other person’s trust or respect (do you hear me, Republican candidates or party activists thinking of working with Chuck Muth?) acts in this manner.

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I don’t care any more about Elizabeth Halseth’s personal life than I cared about Herman Cain’s, Ronald Reagan’s, or Bill Clinton’s for that matter.  I do care about conservative policy.

Halseth’s resignation makes it less likely that conservative policy will get sent to Governor Sandoval’s desk.  Muth’s unrelenting, brutal attacks on Halseth helped lead to her resignation.  If the Democrats pick up her seat in November, and the Senate stays in Democratic hands as a result for the 2013 session, we will all have Chuck Muth to thank, at least in part.

Somewhere, one might even speculate that a check from a Mo Denis surrogate is being quietly deposited in a Citizen Outreach subsidiary account…  Well, probably not – Judas at least had enough self respect to demand payment for his perfidy, and I’m not sure one can say the same of Muth.  But if it were the case, it’s hard to figure what Chuck would have done any differently.

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As for Elizabeth Halseth, I hope the best for her wherever she lands.  She’s learned some painful and expensive lessons in the last few years – hopefully they lead to wisdom for the future.  May she and her entire family – particularly her children – find peace.