SMELLS LIKE…VICTORY!
I gotta tell you, I was pretty darned depressed yesterday.
But today I kinda feel like that zombie cat in Florida…back
from the dead!
In case you missed Sean
Whaley’s story in this morning’s Las
Vegas Review-Journal, we were informed yesterday that the Nevada Supreme
Court had rejected our appeal of a lower court decision which ruled that our
organization, Citizen Outreach, had violated campaign finance laws related to a
pair of issue mailers we did about then-Assembly Speaker John Oceguera in 2010.
That decision, by the way, was reached by First Judicial
District Court Judge James Wilson
without even giving us a day in court to present our case and arguments. He just issued a “summary judgment” against
us and in favor of former Secretary of State Ross Miller, who brought the suit.
Judge Wilson’s decision resulted in a fine of $10,000 and
several thousands more in court costs and government attorney fees. But more troubling, we would have required us to
disclose the names of our donors even though the mailers were for protected "issue
advocacy" and not "express advocacy" for the defeat of a candidate.
You can read the story by clicking
here
However, in reading the Supreme Court’s 5-2 decision on Tuesday,
we noticed that something wasn’t right.
The “dissenting” opinion of the two justices who supposedly wrote in our
favor was word-for-word identical to the majority opinion declaring that we’d
lost our appeal.
So while we resolved our loss to ourselves and pondered our
next move, we nonetheless questioned why the dissenting opinion mirrored the
majority opinion. Indeed, it seemed
clear a mistake had been made in posting the dissenting opinion and obviously
we wanted to know what the justices had to say who it appeared had taken our
side.
Indeed the Court announced this morning that a clerical
error had been made and the Clerk was ordered to expunge the decision that had
been posted. But when the new decision
was posted, we discovered that the error wasn’t in publishing the dissenting
opinion, but in the majority opinion. As
it turned out…
WE WON!
“Because it is undisputed that Citizen Outreach's flyers do not contain magic words of express advocacy, the flyers were not subject to regulation under Nevada's campaign practices statutes that were effective in 2010,” the five Justices in the majority wrote. “Accordingly, we ORDER the judgment of the district court REVERSED.”
Amen and hallelujah!
You can read the full Court decision reversing Judge Wilson’s
decision by clicking
here
Of course, we would have been thrilled if we had simply won
the case.
But to have found out we won after we
*thought* we’d lost – especially in light of all
the Snoopy Dances people like liberal blogger Jon Ralston were doing at our supposed defeat – well, it’s that much sweeter.
Indeed, Oceguera himself gloated in the RJ story, telling
Whaley he was happy with the decision. “You
just can’t skirt the law,” he said.
And now he and everyone else knows…
WE DIDN’T!
I can’t thank our attorney, Craig Mueller of Mueller Hinds & Associates in Las Vegas enough
for taking on this case. And Allen
Dickerson of the Center for Competitive Politics in Washington, DC who
handled the appeal. We never would have
been able to successfully fight this fight without their help and support.
And special thanks to Citizen Outreach CEO, Dan Burdish, who actually did all of
the legal legwork for Citizen Outreach in preparing both our original case and
our appeal.
I know this is coming out late, however, Mr. Mueller, Mr.
Burdish and I will be celebrating this huge victory for free speech at Mundo
Restaurant in the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas (directly across
from the soccer stadium that will never be built!) at 5:30 pm TONIGHT.
Please stop by and join us if you’re in the ‘hood!
WIRE-GATE UPDATE
In his Flasher Report on Monday, Jon Ralston, Nevada’s #2 liberal blogger-without-a-TV-show trashed
longtime Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith, who wrote a column on Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal” Edwards and
“Wiregate”…
“Today in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a columnist who knows little about politics wrote a column about politics. In it, he not so cleverly slimed Assemblyman Chris Edwards and left out a lot of facts, which is not unusual for him.”
First, how do you slime a slimeball?
And secondly, when it comes to writing about things you know
nothing about, Ralston’s the expert.
And thirdly, as far as leaving out a lot of facts, that’s actually Ralston's claim to fame.
Which is
surely a reason why Smith still writes a column for the state’s largest
newspaper and Ralston is just a liberal blogger without a TV show.
* *
* * *
Another Ralston tid-bit...
On Tuesday His Haughtiness wrote about those being investigated in
Wiregate: “All these folks need to do is keep talking and Metro won’t
even need what they already have on tape.”
On Wednesday, the Las
Vegas Review-Journal quoted Assemblyman Chris “Let’s Make a Deal Edwards as saying, “The more these guys
talk, the deeper the hole they’re in.”
I wonder which of the two is feeding their talking points to
the other? Or are they both getting
their talking points from Li’l Nate
Emens?
* * *
* *
So there’s a blogger named Andrew Davey writing at Let’s Talk Nevada. And I gotta tell you, I’m impressed with the
guy.
And not just because he’s not
afraid to publish under his real name rather than anonymously, like so many
trolls on both sides of the aisle (yes, Mark “Sure Would,” that includes you).
Yes, Andrew writes from the left side of the aisle giving a
liberal perspective to the goings-on. But
he’s covering this legislative session is a very comprehensive, day-by-day,
hour-by-hour way that is not being duplicated by anyone from our side of the
aisle. Wish it were otherwise.
In any event, while Andrew and I certainly see the proper
role of government and other issues differently, we both agree when it comes to
our opinion that Assemblyman Chris "Let's Make a Deal" Edwards is weasel.
Here’s what Andrew posted Wednesday morning…
“All I’ll add to the debate over Edwards’ character (or lack thereof) is what I documented during his 2012 Congressional campaign. He shamelessly tried to spark ethnic conflict in NV-01. He tried every trick in the book to pit Latin@ communities against Dina Titus (D-Paradise). And he ultimately misrepresented himself to NV-01 voters. In the end, he was walloped by Titus…”
Again, this Edwards inspired Wiregate mess has almost
nothing to do with political philosophy, but character. And no matter what side of the aisle you sit
on, conservative or liberal, Edwards comes up seriously lacking in that
department.
And Andrew nicely encapsulates what this whole brouhaha is
all about…
“The big question here is when ‘politics as usual’ becomes criminal. Oh, and why have we developed such a high tolerance for ‘politics as usual’? Nevada has become notorious for the prevalence of dirty money throughout state politics. Yet every time another campaign finance scandal arises, tongues wag about ‘the optics’ while finger point at each other. And in the end, very little changes. Wake me up when the Nevada Legislature actually decides to address the root cause of this latest scandal.”
What he said.
MY BRUSH WITH TARK THE SHARK
On this sad day of Jerry
Tarkanian’s passing, I remember the first time I met him.
It was in early 1995.
I was the new Clark County Republican Party chairman. And Jerry was thinking of running for mayor
of Las Vegas after UNLV cut him loose as its basketball coach.
Someone arranged for me to have dinner with Tark the Shark at the
restaurant his son, Danny Tarkanian,
co-owned at the time somewhere off West Spring Mountain.
What a treat as a newbie politico to have dinner with one of
the greatest college basketball coaches of all time and discuss his possible
candidacy as a Republican for mayor!
Of course, Jerry wisely opted not to pursue a new career in
politics and went on to continue his basketball career in greener pastures.
One side note: After our dinner, a young Democrat I’d never
met before who clearly had political aspirations joined the Coach and I for desert and an
after-dinner drink…
Dario Herrera.
And the rest is history.
What a night.
R.I.P., Coach.
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