So today Nevada’s delegation to the National Republican Convention stole the votes of thousands of Nevada Republicans. Caucus goers were promised that their delegates would honor their votes, and would vote on the floor of the convention in proportion to the vote in the caucuses. The national delegates promised they would “play by the rules” and vote in accordance with the caucus vote. Delegates elected in the caucus meetings themselves either stood silent about their intentions, or lied out loud about what they would do in Tampa if they ultimately went. The national delegates lied about their intentions.
Pursuant to the rules of our caucuses, Romney earned 20 delegate votes, while Ron Paul only garnered eight. And yet when the roll call came, our delegation announced… Ron Paul with 17, Romney with 5, and 5 abstentions.
How embarrassing. How enraging. How destructive to the cause they claim to champion. Why have I been beating this drum for so long? This is why.
Sadly, all is proceeding as I have foreseen.
~~~
Anyone who was looking could see this coming. A few months ago, I wrote a piece called, “Lie, Cheat, and Steal – It’s the Ron Paul Way!” I didn’t even know how right I was. I call them thieves because stealing my vote makes you a thief, and that’s exactly what these folks tried to do in Tampa today.
The “leadership” of the State Republican Party just spit in the face of the caucus-goers by not respecting the will of the people, as expressed in their caucus votes. You don’t like the outcome of a vote, so you just ignore it. Nice. For a bunch of people who scream about being victims of “tyranny” at every occasion, our Ron Paulestinean “leadership” sure does seem awfully comfortable with the methods of tyrants.
~~~
Right now, there are plenty of opportunities for Republicans in Nevada, with all sorts of great local candidates in tight races. We have chances to make real gains in our legislature. But even this is in jeopardy. Down-ballot candidates rely on the national get-out-the-vote money and organization from national parties and national campaigns. The RNC gave our state party $166,000 to get a voter registration effort off the ground, which seems not, so far, to have been spent very effectively. After today, does anyone think the RNC will give one more thin dime? Let’s hope they do, but that they donate directly to campaigns and other, more functional organizations. But if the Romney campaign feels it can’t spend resources here effectively because of resistance from state party members who don’t want him to win, they may spend that money helping down ticket races in other swing states where the state party actually wants to win their own elections.
Thank God our Senate race is so important nationally, which will keep bigger guns in the game here.
State Chair Michael McDonald was not at the convention, due to an illness in his family. To his credit, he seems to share my disdain for these lawless thieves who stole the votes of our fellow Republicans, and I have no doubt he would have cast his vote for Romney had he been there. But he was elected by these Paul folks because they knew he would not and could not stop them. His inability to lead and lack of credibility predictably led to this embarrassment, and the Nevada GOP is dead in the water so long as he stays at the helm.
It will take a long time for the Republican party to recover from this, no matter who leads it. After expecting their votes to matter and having them stolen out from underneath them, why would any rank-and-file Republican go to a caucus again? What would be the point? We’ve lost the caucus as a party building tool for a generation, because 14 losers couldn’t keep the faith with the people they claim to represent, or follow the rules they knew they were expected to be bound by when they volunteered to go to Tampa. And say goodbye to the outsized influence we could have wielded as an early caucus state in any future presidential election.
Some people I respect had heartburn with the RNC’s last minute rule changes to prevent these jackwagons from stealing the votes of their people, but not me. If my own state party can’t honor the overwhelming will of Republican voters, I’m glad someone is. Fortunately, as a result, the actual, recorded votes will be counted properly – the Paulestinean perfidy won’t be rewarded, and at the end of the day it was only an Attempted Larceny.
~~~
Fortunately, the Paul folks have so far failed to disrupt the convention, or embarrass the national party or our new official nominee. To a national audience, Nevada was represented far more by a great speech by our great governor, and the “incorrect” vote was a footnote if it was noticed at all. Good. And for the next few months, I hope the looming threat of another four years of President Obama, this time unburdened with the threat of losing an election, will keep everyone focused and engaged until November. I’m cautiously more and more optimistic that across the nation, this election looks more like 2010 than 2008.
But here in Nevada, I fear that we also will look like 2010, missing the rising conservative tide. If the conservatism that I believe is indeed the majority position in this state is to take root in our policies, there is a lot of work to do.
Our elected official MUST get involved with the state party. It’s not an accident that the best days our party had seen in a long time started when Mark Amodei took the helm. I understand their desire to throw their hands up at the absurdity of it all, but if they care about laying a foundation for a conservative future, our GOP electeds cannot stay away. They must invest their time, money, and credibility into cleaning out and rebuilding a healthy party that can cultivate future leaders and weed out the dishonorable and the self-destructive. And they must not be afraid to call out these buffoons for what they are, without fear that they won’t get the “Ron Paul” vote – they won’t get it anyway, and even if they do, the price is too high. And while doing all this, they must resist the temptation to fall back into a more insular past, where legitimate frustration in the grass roots can fester to these poisonous levels.
And while I hate “purges,” the truly “liberty minded” amongst us must all recognize that people who will lie, cheat, and steal to gain power will be happy to lie, cheat, and steal once they have power. We have to reject these thieves the way the Conservative Movement ridded itself of the familiarly-paranoid and similarly self-destructive John Birch Society. Right-leaning independents in this state cannot be allowed to walk away believing the Ron Paul factions are anything but a rejected fringe, or we’ll lose them for the foreseeable future.
The good news is that in chaos there is opportunity. Here’s hoping Nevada Republicans can take advantage of it.
Update: The chair, vice-chair, and secretary of the state GOP put out a statement disavowing the hijacked vote. Good for them and all, but this was foreseeable and preventable. The time for this was back during the State convention and before. Let’s hope this is “better late than never” vs. “too little too late.”
Orrin, Chuck Muth just put out a piece that says you’re wrong AGAIN! I hope your prevarications work better in a courtroom than they do in the court of public opinion.
Oh, Pete. Muth says lots of things, and oh-so-many of them are just wrong. He helped foment this predictable nonsense (including the election of McDonald), and now he’s CYing his A.
I understand he takes issue with my comments re Chairman McDonald, but I stand by them. The buck stops with the leader, and if you’re the leader of an organization that went and so epically embarrassed itself in front of an international audience, you’re responsible. Either you took part, or you were impotent.
And I’m still waiting for anyone to explain to me how the current party leadership recovers from this in a way that lets them raise money, register voters, influence elected officials to move or remain rightward, or win elections – no matter who you might feel is “at fault” or not.
Peter, I’m tending to agree with Orrin on both the article and his comments in response to you.
While it is true that if Chairman McDonald was also delegation chairman, the farce at the convention wouldn’t have happened, it is also true that McDonald wasn’t able to convince Wayne Terhune not to verbally cast the delegation’s votes against the will of those who voted in the Caucus.
As I read Orrin’s piece, it seemed to me that his point was about McDonald’s ability to lead in general, and not specific to the delegation at the RNC.
In his effort to go after Johnson, Muth completely ignores Orrin’s overall point, and instead focuses on the vote for the delegate chair.
Finally, a State Party chair who was a strong leader should have been able to convince the chairman of the delegation, as well as the rest of the Paul contingent, that they were taking the wrong path, and were risking damage to the entire Nevada Republican party.
Dave,
Chairman McDonald wasn’t there to stop anything. He was 2200 miles away in Las Vegas at his critically ill 87 year-old father’s bedside. He was called back home from Tampa to be with his dad on Sunday, two days before the convention started.
Of course, Orrin knew McDonald wasn’t there but didn’t choose to mention it in his blog. The delegates themselves choose the chairman for the convention. According to Chuck Muth, Mc Donald lost by one vote to Ron Paul zealot, Wayne Terhune. Muth said that Dave Buell, a proclaimed Romney delegate, abstained and Heidi Smith, another Romney delegate, voted for Terhune giving Dr. Terhune in control of the delegation. Furthermore, I’m told that Buell admitted that he and Heidi put Terhune in charge of the delegation. He did this when being interviewed on the Alan Stock show on KDWN radio on 8/29/12.
So, who is to blame for Terhune? The Romney delegates (Buell & Smith) that voted to put Terhune in charge or Michael McDonald who was not in charge of the delegation and was 2200 miles away comforting his ailing father when things went crazy?
Peter,
When I wrote my first comment, I knew that Mr. McDonald wasn’t at the convention due to an illness in the family because Orrin stated this in the ninth paragraph of this article, but did not know until later that the illness was that of the Chairman’s father. I do hope that he gets well soon.
In my opinion, what Buell and Smith did or didn’t do during that election for delegation chair are irrelevant, as it should not have been that close.
As best as I am able to determine, the election of the delegation chairman happened before mid-July.
Whether he was at the RNC or not, Mr. McDonald had over a month to reign-in Terhune and the Ronulans and convince the group to follow the rules set down by the Nevada Republican Party.
Maybe nobody could have gotten them to follow the rules, but as it happened on his watch, the buck stops with Mr. McDonald.
Dave,
Have you ever met Terhune?
What could have McDonald, or any other mortal done to rein-in Terhune?
Buell knows Terhune a heck of a lot better than McDonald since they’re neighbors and have been members in the WCRPCC for years. I think a better question is why did Buell want this Paul zealot to win the chairmanship of the delegation? Why would a Romney delegate want a Paul supporter, and a rabid one to boot, in charge of Nevada’s delegation? Sorry, Dave but it appears to me that Muth has it right. It’s a case of setting-up a disaster to embarras the Nevada Republican Party.
Dave … “Whether he was at the RNC or not, Mr. McDonald had over a month to reign-in Terhune and the Ronulans and convince the group to follow the rules set down by the Nevada Republican Party.”
Are you kidding! Terhune has been a rabid Ron Paul supporter for 8 years, how does one “reign-in” such a dedicated extremist in a month? Prior to the vote all three men stated their intentions as for as the nomination went. McDonald was the only one to say that he would comply with the will of the state and nominate Romney. Terhune made it perfectly clear that he intended to nominate Ron Paul from the floor.
The votes were cast and 14 of the 28 delegates felt the correct choice for their Chairman was Wayne Terhune. Dave Buell, Wayne’s friend and Chairman didn’t even feel the need to vote. Buell’s failure to vote was irresponsible for an average delegate but because he is a County Chairman his abstention was negligent and a complete disservice to his position. The exhaustive regurgitation of his “I’m just here to elect Republicans” speech is complete propaganda. Someone give me an example of what Dave Buell has done to assist the NRP, the State Chairman or the Executive board; that he shouldn’t even be allowed to remain on; in “getting Republicans elected?” His actions since the landslide loss to McDonald have been disruptive, divisive and a complete distraction to the rest of the folks that are actually trying to help.
Orrin … “His inability to lead and lack of credibility predictably led to this embarrassment, and the Nevada GOP is dead in the water so long as he stays at the helm.” Again, are you kidding me? You have some nerve attacking someone who has dedicated so much time and energy into getting this Party on the right track. Chairman McDonald has brought money into the Party; he talks to everyone and has relationships with EVERY faction of our Party. McDonald and his board are on the right track, it’ll take longer than six months to repair the damage that has slowly dismantled the Party for the what is it now, ten years? Your disdain for McDonald is ill conceived and I’m not sure why you always feel it necessary to write badly of him. Have you met him? Have you ever walked up to him and shook his hand? I have, and he’s a great guy! He is very passionate about the Republican Party, its recovery and growth is what interests him. Orrin, what have done to help beside blame McDonald for everything? If you thought he was so inept where were you to run for State Chairman? Do you actually think there is anyone out there that could do better for the Party in its condition? McDonald and his board all work tirelessly to bring forth the unity that will make the Party a titan once more. Stop slamming the Chairman and supporting your buddy Buell and place the blame where it belongs. There were 15 delegates, 9 of which were bound to Romney that felt the correct choice to lead Nevada’s Delegation as their Chairman was a Ron Paul fanatic that clearly stated that he would do exactly what he did.
You people don’t seem to understand that the Ron Paul people are trying to SAVE the FEW freedoms we have left. I will not fly again, I do not feel like being felt up by some TSA agent or Gawked at on an x-ray machine. Nor do I like the thought of an RFID chip soon to be implanted in people.
i will NOT submit to one. The RNC lied & cheated the whole time. So the Nevada delegates did the right thing & stood up for the people some day I hope all you nay sayers will see the light.
@ Peter Kroll
“What could have McDonald, or any other mortal done to rein-in Terhune?”
I’m thinking a Thorazine drip.
Blaming Mike McDonald for Wayne Terhune’s asshattery is silly. McDonald wasn’t elected leader of the delegation. Under the circumstances, I prolly would have liked to be 2000 miles away when the terd hit the fan too.
The fact of the matter….FEDERAL ELECTION LAW supersede state rules and FEL does NOT bind anyone to any candidate…..RON PAUL was the selected candidate at the state and county conventions in NEVADA and there should have been 22 votes for him and NOT 17….Dr. Paul is the one who was cheated….stop spreading FALSE information!
The GESTAPO PARTY is the one that needs to be reigned in….they are taking away the people’s voice….they rigged almost every state primary and caucus against Dr. Paul…..Dr. Paul is the REAL WINNER and just the fact that they did so much to keep him off the ballot should tell every AMERICAN who cares about this country that the NWO GANG is STILL in control and taking away our freedoms on a daily basis!!!
The reason Michael McDonald lost the election as delegation chairman is because he wouldn’t lie. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot more respect for a chairman that is up front and follows the rules than for the delegation that had absolutely no intention of following the rules, regardless of what the RNC said or did.
The Ron Paul campaign, along with every other campaign, agreed with convention rules set out over a year ago. When they didn’t like the results, they tried to change them. I respect Michael for insisting that it is the job of the delegation chairman to vote the way of the people, even to his own detriment.
I hope last week is the end of the anti-Republican stands by Ron Paul supporters, but, if not, I have every hope that candidates can get the job done in spite of them.
THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT
AN ACT To enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes.
[The remainder of Ms. Smith’s comment here and a bit later was a cut-and-paste from the Federal Voting Rights Act, which can be read in its entirety here, if one is so inclined. None of it has anything to do with what happened at the RNC, though, so I’ve deleted it for a) space and b) being ridiculous.
A little background on WHY she posted this, though, for the curious – a group of Ron Paul delegates actually sued in federal court, alleging a violation of the VRA. Their case went nowhere, but the order dismissing the case is worth reading for its entertainment value alone. Bottom line – placing conditions on a would-be-delegate is NOT a violation of the VRA, and is, in fact, a practice protected by the Republican Party’s First Amendment rights to freely associate. (Again – if you’re going to waive the Constitution around, please have some idea what’s actually in it.) My favorite part, though, is the judge pointing out that Ron Paul actually voted against re-authorizing the VRA the last time it came up.
As for the rest of Ms. Smith’s comments, well, they do more to harm her “movement” than anything I could write. And because I believe the Ron Paul movement, as it’s currently behaving, is a detriment to restoring any sort of liberty or fiscal sanity in Nevada or anywhere else, I’m happy to have her keep opening her mouth and removing all doubt, as it were. –OJ]
You are wrong STEPH….there is NO binding…PERIOD!
Read the FEDERAL LAW…..state rules do NOT apply!
[Deleted – simply cutting and pasting statutes wastes time and space. Please see comment 13 above. –OJ]
I must apologize Orrin … Didn’t know JS, would clog up your site with her nonsense.
[Meh – no worries. She’s doing more harm to the Paulestinean movement than anything I could ever say. –OJ]
DEAR IGNORANT JOHN……SPOKEN like a TRUE ZOMBIE who wants to IGNORE the DEAD ELEPHANT in the room! Your GESTAPO PARTY is GOING NO where but into extinction…in case you haven’t noticed…..REAL AMERICANS are simply FED UP with your CORRUPT PARTY NONSENSE!! That goes for BOTH parties I might add!
I think Ron Paul has a lot of sound ideas. His best idea to to close down the Federal Reserve System or central bank. The Fed keeps printing money backed by nothing which in turn devalues the purchasing power of the dollar and in turn makes us lose money on our savings accounts. I agree with Ron that we need to shut down the Fed and return to a gold & silver backed currency.
However, I also think that the delegates that were bound to Mitt Romney but abstained or voted for Paul should be kicked out of the Republican Party. The Nevada Party agreed to these rules and those representing the Party who failed to adhere to same should be kicked out.
RNC just committed a massive crime? Federal Law in regards to “Election Fraud”… Read the code here
?”Intimidation, threats, or coercion. ?No person, whether acting under color of
law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose,…
http://www.dailypaul.com/252404/rnc-just-committed-a-massive-crime-federal-law-in-regards-to-election-fraud-read-the-code-here
The NEVADA party did NOT agree to anything….that is misinformation…one person in the name of Carl Bunce made that statement which was totally out of line and against the FEDERAL LAW….time to wake up ZOMBIES!
John,
I didn’t say McDonald should have physically held Terhune down. And I don’t blame him for being home with his family – no one would have expected anything less. But the Captain of the ship is responsible when his ship runs aground, even if the Captain is on emergency leave to be at an ailing father’s bedside. Why? Because they either created or allowed the conditions that led to the ship running aground. That’s leadership.
I’ve never met McDonald, except in passing. It’s not personal – it’s not like he kicked my dog or anything. The reason I don’t like him is that a) his actions while in government and now smell of corruption to me, and b) he’s extraordinarily bad at his job. “Working hard” and “having relationships throughout the state” isn’t accomplishing anything. This isn’t modern, lefty Little League where we give out participation points and don’t keep score. We’re getting crushed by the Dems in terms of statewide party fundraising (getting money from the RNC isn’t “raising” money – the money’s already been raised, he was just entrusted to use it well, which he hasn’t) and voter registration in a year where given our economy and Obama’s failures, registering Republicans should be as easy as farming sagebrush.
Was Terhune’s attempted theft McDonald’s fault? Maybe, maybe not. But he’s unquestionably responsible. For example, during the state convention, knowing the Paul folks were out in force, he should have been coordinating with them (they’re his people, after all) to build a delegate slate that could be trusted. Instead, he either simply sat by and let things happen around him, or he was pushed out of the way even then by people who purposely elected a weak leader so they could get away with stuff like this. He can’t blame Buell or anyone else for that.
And my point remains about his leadership keeping the GOP DITW. Even if McDonald is the best guy in the world with the purest heart, right now he looks, at best, impotent. Who would give him money? Which elected officials will listen to him when he tries to influence policy as the “voice of the base”? What rank and file Nevada Republican, or independent conservative thinking about getting involved with the party looks at the state of things and says, “I want to be involved with that!”
John, you ask “what I’ve done”. Start with the caucuses, which I’m proud to say ran very smoothy here in Washoe. One of the reasons I’m so angry about this whole affair is that I feel like the hundreds of hours I spent on that were thrown away in an instant of Terhune’s snit fit.
A shakeup in leadership would be pointless until after the election. I just hope he stays out of the way and lets the competent folks run the show via Team Nevada and the Washoe RP until the election, where he should accept the responsibility and accountability he sought and resign.
Here’s another thing. Muth’s claim cites two anonymous “inside sources” who told him Buell and Smith voted for Terhune. McDonald was on the radio up here in Reno on Thursday afternoon, I believe, and made that claim – citing Muth’s blog as HIS source, too. (That interview did nothing, BTW, to enhance my impression of our good Chairman. He sounded nothing so much as Obama blaming Bush for his administration’s failures.)
That’s highly suggestive that the vote for delegate chair was secret – if it was in the open, there would be no need for “inside sources,” certainly not from McDonald who would have been present for a voice/roll call vote. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
If Buell and Smith really did vote for Terhune, shame on them. But assuming the ballot WAS secret, which all the evidence currently points to, and given Muth’s penchant for a) reporting things that turn out not to be true, and b) supporting people who pay him (or might in the future pay him) on his blog without actually disclosing the relationship, I’m going to suggest taking this “blame Buell” bit with a HUGE grain of salt.
Every time I see a Native American imagery/towns with Native American names, I can’t help but recall in American history how we obliterated the Native American population, stole from them and all they got in return was a few measly territories.
Every time I see Soup Plantation, Aunt Jemima and like images, I can’t help but recall how we took human lives and used them as currency, dividing up families and treating them as cattle.
Think about it.
Orrin,
Buell ADMITTED he abstained from the vote for delegation chairman on the Alan Stock Radio Talk Show (KDWN 720 AM) on 8/29/2012. So, take it from there!
blame verb, blamed, blam•ing, noun 1. to hold responsible; find fault with; censure: I don’t blame you for leaving him. 2. to place the responsibility for (a fault, error, etc.) (usually followed by on ): I blame the accident on her. 3. Informal . blast; damn (used as a mild curse): Blame the rotten luck. noun 4. an act of attributing fault; censure; reproof: The judge said he found nothing to justify blame in the accident. 5. responsibility for anything deserving of censure: We must all share the blame for this deplorable condition.
re•spon•si•ble adjective 1. answerable or accountable, as for something within one’s power, control, or management (often followed by to or for ): He is responsible to the president for his decisions.2. involving accountability or responsibility: a responsible position. 3. chargeable with being the author, cause, or occasion of something (usually followed by for ): Termites were responsible for the damage. 4. having a capacity for moral decisions and therefore accountable; capable of rational thought or action: The defendant is not responsible for his actions. 5. able to discharge obligations or pay debts
So, if I have read your comments properly; you think that Chairman McDonald is “responsible” for the actions of all 28 delegates and in your opinion he “created” the situation of the Ron Paul hijacking of the State meeting, is that right?
The Paul movement has been festering like an infection within the NRP for at least four years.
You have a group of people that had their minds set on getting their candidate (who was soundly defeated during our caucus) nominated. Their leader (?) a dyed in the wool, Paul supporter marched his cohorts onto a National Stage and flipped Nevada the bird. (Didn’t Carducci do that for real? Super classy!)
The 28 delegates that were elected to vote wishes of the state were allowed to vote for their delegation Chairman. The delegation that is in place clearly had an agenda belonging to Ron Paul. But, your deduction is that it is the “responsibility” is on the Chairman? I have to call B*llsh*t on that one Orrin.
Your opinion of McDonald is so clouded by your personal opinion of a man you have never talked to that you neglect to see cold hard facts.
The State Convention was a farce, at best. The Romney folks were told to show up, they did, and then … they left. The Ron Paul faction stayed and made sure to elect their delegates to ensure that they would have the opportunity to elect their guy from the floor.
It seems to have escaped the people that there was more at stake than their precious Paul getting to speak or show up at the National convention. They liken our nominee to being no better than Obama. I have to wonder, if that’s how they feel, why stay?
Why are you here? Why have you come and infiltrated the party to insist that this anarchist be nominated? They dug in their heels and caused all kinds of hell, pissed off an entire state and now what? Will they stay in their positions of power or will they just quit for fear of the rest of the NRP wanting their heads?
The delegates that hold any positions in the NRP can’t be voted out or recalled before the election is over so how is the Chairman and the e-board supposed to go to donors for anything? You slam McDonald for not being able to raise money. A) Fund raising also fell on the outgoing National Committeeman and woman. When was the last time either of them brought in a dollar? McDonald and the Romney campaign work together for voter registration and the money that has come through the NRP from the NRC is being used for that. All those fancy Team Nevada emails you get, have you ever noticed who paid for them? That would be the Nevada Republican Party. That negates your missive of McDonald being “extraordinarily bad at his job.” I would love to know what you would do if you were in his shoes. Shooting the figure head of a flailing/broken Party in order to appease the appetite of your readers is lame.
I am positive that you are intelligent enough to see past the smoke and mirrors to see the truth. McDonald sought the reins of a sinking ship to bring order to chaos. Problem, the jerks that were causing said chaos weren’t done. It’s easy to “blame” or place “responsibility” on the Chairman. You should know better; I read your blog, while I don’t always agree with you and I may have a different view than you, I do always seek the truth prior to placing judgment.
Dave Buell and his abstention (due to friendship, that he admitted when pressed by Alan Stock) and the following backstab from other Romney bound delegates voting for a Paul supporter caused this mess. How dare you and how could you blame/make responsible for the disaster that followed.
For you, a respected blogger to charge the State Chairman with any fault is irresponsible. Would you have done the same to our last Chair? Amy Tarkanian was at the helm when all of this was happening around her. She did NOTHING to stop or squelch this, why is she not being charged so harshly by you?
The registration effort that you charge “should be so easy” is nearly impossible considering the fact that TRUE Republicans are running from the Party due to the fact that these RP people exist.
How about you get off your soap box and help in that effort. Stop defending the great Dave Buell who actually does have fault in this entire fiasco by his abstention and help the State Party. You, like so many Washoe residents blindly follow the moron that leads your County.
Washoe residents, to their credit, “are in it to win it.” Their downfall is in the fact that they have an angry nihilist at the helm. He is so focused on damning the Party that did not allow him to be Chairman that he is compromising the end game by the sanctioning of his own agenda. His selfishness is inexcusable.
I can pick apart your response all day, the fact of the matter is this; you have never made the effort to speak to the Chairman and or his board to get a clear picture of what the truth actually is. You choose instead to sit behind a keyboard, blindly accusing the Party (which you supposedly support ) of malfeasance. I’m sad that you feel the need to regurgitate the opinion of others in your charges of “corruption.” Being that you are a blogger, it is your duty to have done even an ounce of research to back your opinion. Had you done your research you would have found that no one n the state of Nevada has been more vetted than the State Chairman of the NRP.
The responsibility of this fiasco lies at the feet of people that will NEVER take responsibility for it. Dave Buell, was bound to Romney but abstained, Heidi Smith (who was bound to Romney) was pissed that she lost to Orrack at the State convention and decided to show her rear end to the entire Party and voted for Terhune , and the other Romney bound delegates that inconceivably voted to have a Paul fanatic lead OUR delegation.
Orrin, do the state the service of telling the truth.
Great comment, John. Thanks 🙂
John,
It turns out that McDonald, in fact, has been fibbing about the vote count. The vote was 14-12-1-1, one abstention, one vote for Carducci (a Paul guy who was reportedly going to drop out and throw his weight behind Terhune). The balloting was secret, which means no one actually knows how Heidi Smith voted unless she announced it somewhere. Buell knew the headcount, and knew his vote for McDonald would change nothing, but thought an abstention would keep the peace. I think that was probably naive, but neither his vote nor Heidi’s (even assuming she voted for Terhune) would have changed the outcome.
McDonald knew this, because he was privy to the final vote tally. So – as usual, Muth got his facts wrong, and McDonald, WHO KNEW THIS, still went around citing Muth’s blog as gospel. Are you seeing now why I’m unimpressed with McDonald’s ethics?
Go back and re-read my linked post on McDonald. There are plenty of facts. You can read the original ethics opinion finding he’d committed wrongdoing. You can read the “plead the Fifth” transcripts, and the reasons why – in my professional opinion – they are so damning. And perhaps you can explain some legitimate reason why someone would leverage political connections to get free land and $4 million of Other People’s Money to build housing in a city where the single largest economic problem is too much empty housing, because I simply can’t. I have yet to read a substantive defense of McDonald’s actions – you have certainly not provided one here.
Those are the facts. That’s the truth – it’s just not what you want to hear, but you can bet it’s clear to Republican elected officials and major donors. You think far too much of my influence if you think that’s MY doing – they know the facts about McDonald as well as I do. No amount of “charm” on McDonald’s part is going to change that. And all I see now in McDonald is a guy dishonestly trying to blame everyone and anyone for his failings, and charming just enough good people to defend him (I have enough of that with the current POTUS, thank you, I don’t need it in my own party chair). Please look at the facts again – McDonald is simply indefensible. Even NPRI was disgusted with McDonald’s “land deal” actions.
And without the RNC or Team Nevada propping up the state party, it would be doing nothing – no credit on the bottom of E-mails, no “paid for my” on mailers asking for money. Whatever its accomplishing is in spite of McDonald, not because of him. When the election is over, and those organizations feel no need to keep up a ground game in Nevada, you can count on the State Party drifting in the wind, bankrupt, up until they have a change in leadership.
Clearly, your definitions of leadership and the responsibility that comes with that are different than mine. To me, the buck stops with the guy at the top. I think it’s unfortunate that this is at all controversial.
Orrin, you got a problem with McDonald’s ethics. We all get that, okay? Whether that’s honest or dishonest kinda depends on your understanding of city politics. The way I see it, the guy seen his opportunities and he took ’em.
Trying to connect the dots here and blame him for the convention brouhaha? Come on. The blame rests with Wayne Terhune and the crazies that got him in the delegation in the first place.
Mike, I don’t dispute that the RP folks are both responsible and are to blame. I’m just also saying that McDonald, as head of the organization, also bears responsibility. Remember – without those “crazies,” McDonald never would have been the state party chair in the first place.
And I’m sorry, but I just don’t belong to the, “Everyone’s doing it, so I might as well get mine” school of government ethics, particularly at a cost of $4 mil to the taxpayers. “City Politics” in Vegas is not exactly Change I Can Believe In. Besides – past ethical lapses suggest future ones, as evidenced by his most recent tale of the delegate chair vote count.
And please answer this question, which I’ve been asking in every other comment now without getting a response – do you honestly believe McDonald will have any credibility with R elected officials or donors from now forward? Maybe he’s the greatest guy in the world, but if he can’t keep the crazies in line, how can he effectively manage the organization, or use it to elect Republicans?
McDonald’s credibility will likely depend on whether he gets behind Houghtelling’s call for resignations or tries to play the middle.
He’s given the Paultards enough rope to hang themselves. Now would be a good time to finish it. In my opinion, that is.
Mike, we’re in full agreement on the Paulestineans and their rope. We’ll see if McDonald not only “gets behind” that call, but if he can LEAD it to fruition.
If he can manage it, I’ll be happy to give him credit. But he’s got a long road to overcome his overall credibility gap, and his most recent attempt to falsely blame Buell for the Terhune fiasco isn’t helping.
Here’s hoping I’m wrong.
Whether you’re wrong or not, I can’t say. Either way, I think we agree, somebody owes Dave Buell an apology.
“Remember – without those “crazies,” McDonald never would have been the state party chair in the first place.”
Orrin, your comment above is pure cow manure. Mc Donald won the state chair by 182 to 90 on April 22nd. The secretary of the WCRP claims Buell got 46 votes from Washoe! That means that Buell didn’t get squat in the other 16 counties. McDonald cleaned up in Clark and the Rurals by a four to one margin.
So, it wasn’t just the Paul backers (there are only a handful in the Rurals anyway) in the counties outside Washoe that voted for McDonald because the call for the vote for the April 22nd meeting didn’t even include the many newly elected NvRCC members. So, it was just about everyone else (178 to 44 after Washoe). Sadly, the loser Buell then decided to try to win control by trashing the NRP at every opportunity and having shills like you print unverified information to back him up. Shame on you! And even more shame on Dave Buell!
What’s unverified? I saw the original E-mail with the original vote, which was cast by secret ballot, which means no one ought to know who voted for who unless that delegate chose to reveal their vote (any source of this information otherwise would be acting highly unethically, which of course impacts the level of trust you should put in the info). 14 votes were for Terhune, 1 for another Paul backer any head counter would have counted on as a Terhune vote, leaving only 13 remaining votes. Buell’s vote would have made no difference, he knew it, so he abstained to try to keep the peace. You can debate whether that was the right call, but it’s hardly evidence of a grand conspiracy. And the fact remains that both Muth and McDonald were misrepresenting the numbers and trafficking in truly unverifiable conspiracy theories. Even if Muth’s original math was correct, the assumption of some Machiavellian plot is revealing only in the sense that people usually project their own predilections on to other people’s actions.
(Whatever Heidi Smith did, I certainly can’t say, but I won’t defend a vote for Terhune.)
I understand, BTW, that Muth send out an E-mail today suggesting I was somehow unqualified to criticize the chair of my party because a) my hundreds of volunteer hours are insignificant, and b) because I’ve never run for State Chair. “Don’t question your higher ranking political masters, Plebeian!” is an interesting standard for broad political participation for a “conservative” to adopt. But I’m sure President Obama, Harry Reid, and Brian Sandoval will be pleased that Muth has now disqualified himself from every criticizing THEM, as, to my knowledge, Ol’ Chuck has never run for Governor, US Senate, or President of the United States. Such a position is so fundamentally dumb that one can only conclude that his judgment is fatally impaired by Li’l Ol’ Me’s rent free residence in his head. That’s worth keeping in mind the next time you’re deciding just how many pounds of salt you should take his various “reporting” with.
“I saw the original E-mail with the original vote, which was cast by secret ballot, which means no one ought to know who voted for who unless that delegate chose to reveal their vote (any source of this information otherwise would be acting highly unethically, which of course impacts the level of trust you should put in the info)”
So, your “unethical” source combined with your
inability to do simple math then combined again with the failure to comprehend things that are clearly above your pay grade equals a very biased point of view and the blind loyalty that you have for Dave Buell and Washoe County.
It was your opinion that the vote for Carducci, which was not even cast by Carducci, would be counted as a vote for Terhune. That is a lie; a vote for Carducci was a vote for Carducci period. The conspiracy theorist can bat this around all day to say that Carducci had no chance and his one vote was actually cast to mar the process.
Now, if I use your logic and assign that vote to McDonald, you still have a 14/13 split. If Buell wasn’t such a coward he would have put on his big boy britches and voted in accordance with his position. This single act would have exhibited a desire for the unity that the Chairman and the board (on which Buell sits) have been striving for. But, because he chose to avoid his duties as a Chairman it further illustrates his divisiveness and the need for retribution for losing (badly) to McDonald for a position that he clearly covets above all else, including any degree of loyalty to the Party he supposedly wants to lead . Awesome job Dave!! Your County should be ashamed of you and your actions; you don’t deserve a position that requires some manner backbone when it comes to making a (hard?) decision. You, obviously, have none.
(FYI, had a tie occurred the alternates would have been tapped to break it. The alternates were ALL Romney backers. Collusion to ensure that Terhune would lead the delegation was deceitful and caused immeasurable damage to our State and Party.)
You claim that you can’t say what Heidi Smith did or didn’t do, well you stated that you have the vote so you know for a fact that she voted for Terhune.
Now, that said for those of you that are following along at home, it was the responsibility of Heidi Smith, Dave Buell and the other SEVEN elected delegates who were in fact bound to Romney to vote for McDonald who was the only committed Romney supporter. Dave is the Chairman of Washoe County and Heidi was the outgoing Committeewoman, it is truly disgraceful that they and the other Nevada Republicans couldn’t do right the people and Party that elected them into those positions. The willful disregard and the total disrespect for the Republican Party should shame then into hiding for a decade. But, I know that narcissism will outweigh the embarrassment that all nine delegates SHOULD feel.
The abstentions from the floor, the fact that the alternates were never asked to vote in the stead of those that were voting against their binding or simply abstaining in protest in conjunction with the deliverance of the wishes of the delegation chairman was a mutiny against the NRP itself. This has never happened before; there is no penalty for such things in the State bylaws and I have looked! Willfully violating the wishes of our State by not announcing the nomination in accordance with the caucus results at our National convention was dishonorable to the position and the Party. I’m positive the people that authored our bylaws never thought that something this heinous would ever occur therefore never needing to pen a punishment section.
The finger pointing and accusations by you and people like you needs to stop. If you really want to know who screwed the entire state, ask your County Chairman/woman. The County that you live in was probably represented by a delegate that was chosen at the State convention. Their binding is public information and we all have the right to know exactly who we need to hold accountable.
Once you have been educated in who is actually at fault, you need to get involved! If you are not an active member of the Republican Party, now is a perfect opportunity to become active again. The Party is going to need all the help that it can get now. The leadership that is place at the State level is solid and working hard to get the Party back on track. It is the duty of every elected official at any level of leadership to get involved and get the word out that we all need to support our Presidential Candidate and all of our Republican candidates.
It’s time for the backbiting and grandstanding to stop so that we can move forward. All Republicans need to get onboard to come up with a plan to ensure that the idiocy that occurred in Tampa will never happen again.
Orrin, there isn’t enough salt in the Dead Sea to swallow the garbage that you serving just to aide your spineless Chairman buddy up there in Washoe.
Orrin, what happened? The NRP E-Board censured Terhune for his actions as delegation chair at the Tampa convention. I thought you said that the NRP was in the control of the “crazies?” Could you be mistaken?
http://www.muthstruths.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Terhune-Censure.pdf
Well, John, there are just some things we disagree on – again, the nature of leadership, and the nature of the responsibility that comes with it. When you start trafficking in Grand Conspiracy Theories about some nefarious Buell-Smith-Terhune-Johnson axis, there’s simply no credibility. (I only have the recorded OUTCOME of the vote, BTW, not who cast which vote.)
You have plenty of things to say that are correct – following Muth down his various rabbit holes helps no one – certainly not the Republican party, as I’ve documented on this blog many times. As for my level of involvement, clearly, you are new to the blog and unaware just how active in the Republican Party I’ve been over the years, so please, look around for awhile. You’ll probably learn that we agree on more than we disagree on, and that my opinions on the state of the state party and its leadership are rooted far more deeply in fact and experience than in some desire to “aid” my “buddy”. I sincerely look forward to your future input.
I think we can probably let things go at that.
And Pete, good to hear about the censure. I think Terhune’s actions sobered up a lot of people. Let’s hope that sobriety takes root and maintains, because since about October last year, it’s been sorely lacking.
In October of last year, Amy Tarkanian was re-elected as GOP Chair and remained there for four months. We must assume that your malcontent extends into Mrs. Tark’s tenure since you stated herein that ” since about October last year, [Sobriety has] been sorely lacking.” As we both know McDonald hasn’t been chairman for five (5) months yet but all your criticisms are directed at him. Because of this, it appears to many that you just can’t accept the decision of 80% of the NRCC members that don’t live in Washoe County. In that respect, you’re just as “crazy” as the Paulites that you regularly bash.
Pete, majorities don’t always get things right. And my opinions (and the underlying reasoning) back in October (I was at that meeting) were published back then in detail. You don’t have to guess – I have an archive and a search box on this blog for a reason.
Orrin, while I agree that this is a discussion to be had after the election (as to not disenfranchise even more Republicans with the idiocy of “infighting” for the world to see). I do ask for your input as to what you think should happen from here. The (Washoe County) Chairman’s actions have been so divisive and insulting – at best; and the “rouge” delegates have caused a degeneration of faith in our State Party. You have pointed some pretty strong words at the Chairman and his board. I wonder what you would have done. You know that State bylaws do not govern the delegation, you know that the binding laws exist, you know that there was a very defined path that SHOULD have been taken that was clearly ignored by most of the participants in Florida and you also know (because you said that you have the original email/vote) who voted and how.
While I appreciate the banter and your thoughts, I wonder, will you be at YOUR County’s next Central Committee meeting seeking retribution for your stolen vote?
I will be.
For those that do no t watch FB …
Orrin, I’m so disappointed that the greater good of the Party as a whole has escaped you completely. For a moment I respected you as an equal and then, you stepped in it again! You and your Chairman friend have this need to continue the stupidity of the North/South divide. “Insulating/firewalling” oneself from an imaginary dysfunction is not leadership. Buell has done ZERO to assist the Party on a State level. What he has illustrated is the desire to “divorce” the State Party and by consequence separate a County that is a great example to the other what, 16 Counties, of what hard work can achieve.
I have met Dave, I do not like him, I don’t like the way he runs his meetings/County. I think he’s a loud mouth bully that takes advantage of those that refuse to stand up to him. He may be the Chair but … he didn’t create the strength of the entity that is the Washoe Republican Central Committee, other people did that. His inability to lead effectively was shown by his admittance to abstaining on a crucial vote that would have aided the actual State Chair. The shame!
Foresight has little effect when you have someone like Dave thwarting your every move from within. He should take his lumps (loss) like a man and shake the hand of the Chairman and get on board to help rather than hinder.
OK, rudder amidships, brother. I’m all about the mission of electing Republicans, we’re just disagreeing on the route to accomplishing that mission, and quite frankly, I think your understanding of the battlespace here is just plain incorr
ect. I’m not calling you a McDoanld shill or any other such nonsense – I think you motives and intentions are good and right, but that your aim is off. I don’t mind if you think I’m wrong as well, but how ’bout let’s not assume nefarious motives where none exists. Not only is it not true, but then you’re just wasting our time.
It’s not a north/south divide, it’s a competence divide. Dave isn’t “charming,” but he’s not there to charm you, he’s there to get results. I like that – I have enough result-less charm and pleas to give good grades “for effort” from POTUS. Dave’s been very effective (again, see our county convention v Clark’s or the State’s, our caucuses, our voter registration numbers, etc.), and he earned my respect with results. I’m not alone, as evidenced by the nearly unanimous Washoe support for him, and the regular attendance at our party events from our elected officials (and Buell at candidate events). And having been a WCCC member since 2008, and while I’ve really liked our past chairs personally, I can tell you that the WCCC has been orders of magnitude stronger as an organization since Dave took the helm – he did, in fact, “build that.”
Again, the fact of the matter is that Clark County routinely passes resolutions denouncing folks they hope to influence and whose help they need, like Reince Prebus and Gov. Sandoval. The state convention was an unmitigated debacle that convinced NO ONE to entrust Republicans with their tax dollars or their futures. That’s dysfunctional, and it is in NO way imaginary. Fair or not, McDonald is closely associated with those folks in the public perception. Fair or not (and I think it’s fair), McDonald is WIDELY seen as unethical and untrustworthy (and has been for years, which is why voters booted him off the LV City Council), which means donors, politicians, and rank and file folks stay away from him and anyone else they feel is under his control or might share in that lack of ethics. (For example, can you imagine the Berkely ads that would run non-stop if Dean Heller hung out regularly with McDonald?) EVEN IF THIS IS UNTRUE OR UNFAIR, perception is reality, and it then becomes necessary to distance other GOP orgs from that perception FOR THE GOOD OF THE MISSION (electing Republicans) as a whole.
Again, fair or not, you operate in the political terrain you have, not the terrain you wish you had. In this terrain, embracing the wider state party, which is associated with Clark County’s GOP, would be harmful, not helpful, to the mission at hand. That’s the terrain that I think you don’t see that I do, which explains the different conclusions we’re coming to. If you think I’m wrong on some fact, by all means point it out So far, you’ve failed to do that (which explains resorting to conspiracy theories about my (and Dave’s) motives).
Orrin,
I’m flattered that you think my intentions are good and right but, you contend that my aim is off? I think you’re letting your relationship with your friend get in the way of a total lack of truthful knowledge about a man that you admittedly have never met.
I live in Clark County and I’ve watched McDonald’s career for years, years Orrin… he’s dedicated his entire adult life to his family and community. He has accomplished more good than anyone (in the media) will ever give him credit for. Those “reporters” put McDonald (a rising star in politics at the time) in their crosshairs and started firing. Fair, unfair, true or untrue mattered not, anything and everything was done to defrock the newest power house in Nevada. To his credit, he never backed down.
I’ll start with the obvious, blaming the “unmitigated debacle” of the State Convention on the guy who held office for exactly 6 days prior to its start is idiotic. The Party has been through countless Chairs, all leaving for their own higher ambitions or in Mrs. Tarkanians case, to assist her husband’s aspirations. (Although, she continues to publicly state that she was pushed out, funny I remember that “I’m stepping down speech”.)
On McDonald being “closely associated” with CCRP and all of the nonsense that happens within their hierarchy is asinine. McDonald lives in Clark, I often see him at the CCRP meetings. How can you, with a straight face blame him for resolutions that he had no part in writing?
The resolution that was being attempted at the State Convention to censure Gov. Sandoval and Reince Priebus was in fact killed by McDonald before it could ever be presented. Get your facts straight before you put it in writing, slander is a bad thing and it has cost many people in Nevada millions of dollars.
I agree with the dysfunction that exists. But, attempting to place all the dysfunction on the Chairman is foolish. There struggle between the North and South has been there for decades. The actions of individual Counties and their Central Committees can be influenced by but NOT controlled by the State Party. Case in point, the FEC filing in Washoe and the Clark County resolutions of which you speak.
You are saying that “fair of unfair” perception is reality? Perception is perception and without actual facts to back up said perception – it’s simply propaganda. Your last response is perpetuating the lie that McDonald is unethical. The ethics complaints in question; one was dismissed by the City and the other went to district court that found no evidence of wrong doing. So although both were in fact dismissed the damage done with the media dragging him through the mud made him a target in the court of public opinion. I find it odd that the complaints that were filed against him were brought by Millerites and Democrats that were directly tied to Harry Reid. I also find it odd that “people” continue to point the “guilty” finger at McDonald who was turned inside out by every three letter bureau on earth to try and find guilt where there was none. “They” investigated accusations made by angry people that were trying to get political justice because they lost to him on one level or another. Hmmm, sounds a lot like what is going on now with Buell.
That said, repeating the half truths and outright lies that were printed and reprinted by McDonald’s critics can only be considered as plagiarism and sadly makes you look bad to your readers. Being WIDELY seen as ANYTHING doesn’t make it true. You are WIDELY seen (in the South) as a “public defender blogger hack.” While I don’t agree with that label and think that it is incredible harsh, I have to ask, is there truth to it because people have said it?
I’ll add just a little more truth to this response with the following; McDonald was not “booted” off the LV City Council. He lost an election to a political neophyte that was indicted almost immediately after her election. There is STILL serious buyer’s remorse for that here in Clark. One issue back then was that McDonald’s constituents adored him but many of them didn’t bother to vote because they thought he had it won. The second issue, (which was later admitted by both during a Grand Jury hearing) Steve Miller and Bob Stupak had done some pretty underhanded things to ensure McDonald’s loss to Stupak’s girlfriend.
You come dangerously close to insinuating that the Chairman step-down for the good of the Party because of situations that were not created by him. The erroneous reporting skills of people like you, continually blaming such things on a single person is incredibly irresponsible.
Fair or unfair, true or untrue, I remember Buell saying that same thing on Ralston when he was running. You both have done nothing to seek truth when it comes to McDonald. You, as a blogger/reporter are bound by ETHICS to seek the truth. I wonder, will you show up at the CCRP meeting to add to your blog with Paul fallout and will you introduce yourself to the Chairman of the Nevada Republican Party?
You have been very quiet as of late. But I wondered with the silence after our last exchange if you had done any digging. I was sent this piece that I had long forgotten and figured you might enjoy it.
It’s a fwd fromSteve Miller …
“I guess Obama is the better liar, he has my vote.”
A subscriber just responded to my most recent E-Briefs about body language, saying, “I guess Obama is the better liar, he has my vote.”
My response was to refer him to the following 2007 Las Vegas CityLife article about local political campaigns, and their propensity to tell a few fibs in order to be successful — something we’re suffering through in both current presidential campaigns.
SM
Off the deep end
PHOTO BY BILL HUGHES
Steve Miller’s obsession with Ward 1 has taken him to uncharted depths.
How Steve Miller’s quest for Ward 1 turned a moral crusade into an ethical morass
by ANDREW KIRALY
August 16, 2007
Stupak’s wager, says Miller: I bet you can get my girlfriend elected. Now’s your chance to use every dirty campaign trick that was ever used against you — every sleazy ad rank with innuendo, every badly photocopied mailer that made you look like a buffoon — and turn them against the two-term incumbent you couldn’t beat.
Says Miller: “Bob said, ‘Do you think you could use those same tricks to get a yellow dog elected if you wanted to? I say yes. ‘Well, I’ll pay you $25,000 to get my girlfriend elected in Michael McDonald’s seat.’ I said, ‘Janet?’ He says, ‘Yeah, I bet you can do it.'”
Miller said she doesn’t live in the city.
Bob: We’ll move into the city.
Miller: She never voted in her life.
Bob: You can handle that. You’re a spin doctor!
Miller: I’ll be up against a million-dollar campaign.
Bob: Don’t you worry. There’ll be plenty of money.
“She had a DUI, she never voted in her life,” says Miller. “She was just an unqualified person as could be.”
But there would be a price to pay.
“Now, I had to lie through my teeth,” Miller adds. His rationale is suspiciously simple: “Because that’s what campaign managers do.” The moral crusader for Ward 1 had wandered far afield indeed.
The victory of Janet Moncrief over McDonald on June 3, 2003 was a story of the triumph of fresh blood, appealing naivete — hope, really — over an entrenched incumbent laboring under a cloud of ethics woes and an FBI probe. Political newbie Moncrief took 58 percent of the vote, overcoming numerous political handicaps to oust McDonald.
Several Ward 1 voters quoted in news reports didn’t mind Moncrief’s minuses — a DUI arrest, nonresident in the ward. They just wanted a fresh start, “somebody new in politics who isn’t a politician,” one Ward 1 resident told the Review-Journal. But behind the scenes was a Machiavellian political vet who had successfully unleashed every hound in the pack. Miller, along with colleague Peter “Chris” Christoff, had chipped away at McDonald with fliers that flirted with bad taste, if not violations of election law. “Every trick in the book that’s been played not only on me but on other candidates, I decided I’m going to go ahead and put them all together in one package and we’re gonna play them on Michael McDonald,” Miller says. “And I’m gonna say with a straight face that I’m having nothing to do with this.”
With Miller’s master plan to retake Ward 1 in shambles, Moncrief was indicted in August 2004 on five counts of fraud. She eventually pleaded guilty to civil campaign finance violations and agreed to pay a $5,000 fine. She was ousted in a January 2005 recall election by longtime Southern Nevadan Tarkanian.
Miller winces at the memory of lying to certain journalists whose trust he once enjoyed. But for the most part, he chalks up the freaky escapade to the unique moral landscape of Las Vegas — a variation of the “What happens here, stays here” ethos in which politicians, just like the tourists, are granted a bit more license in Sin City.
“Las Vegas is a place where you can play tricks and have fun, and it’s a place where a lot of times the tricks you play turn out to be the right thing,” says Miller. “My methods are questionable, but my motives are pure. If you get your goal accomplished — closing the Crazy Horse Too, I don’t care what it is — if it means you had to resort to some trickery, I don’t see any harm in it, as long as you’re not hurting anybody, not breaking the law, and not dishonest.”
FULL ARTICLE: http://archives.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2007/08/17/news/cover/iq_16042937.txt
John, I’ve made my case on McDonald. You’ve made your case for him, which incidentally (and tellingly) addresses not one of my issues with the State Chair (- 70K in voter reg, image, attempted bilking of $4 mil on behalf of the taxpayers, etc.). I promise cutting and pasting articles about Miller (who I wouldn’t want to be the state chair either) isn’t going to change my mind.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – I hope I’m wrong on McDonald. Until then, the field is set, and there’s a little event coming up in early November I’m now more focused on, hence the fact that I’ve been “quiet” on this topic for the time being.