Politics
Politics
Honor, Courage and the Order of Law
July 12th, 2012
Ralph Denton died July 6 at age 86. He was one of the greatest people I’ve ever known—not just because he took political risks like standing up for civil rights and defending unpopular clients and causes, or loved politics for the great game it should be, but because he lived a life so full of joy, love, principle and decency. Read more »
Politics
For Higher Education, a Fix That Kills?
June 28th, 2012
Since I labor at the College of Southern Nevada, any discussion of the politics of higher education here may seem self-serving. But Nevada’s economic recovery depends on improving education. The question is whether the cures are worse than the disease. This conclusion emerges from a set of recent events that passed by quietly in the mainstream media: the meeting of the legislative committee on funding higher education, and a discussion among Republicans that could make the funding issue moot by gutting Nevada’s higher education system. Read more »
Politics
Price-Fighting Politicians
June 14th, 2012
We recently got a lesson in how money corrupts politics, courtesy of a governor in a state where corporate cash is tipping a historical balance. And this column isn’t even about Wisconsin, where Sheldon Adelson put himself on the winning side for once by ponying up $25,000 to Gov. Scott Walker. Read more »
Carolyn and the Continuity of Change
June 7th, 2012
Carolyn Goodman is nearing the end of her first full year as mayor of Las Vegas. Few have noticed. That may be both significant and good. Read more »
Politics
Touring the GOP’s Divided House
May 31st, 2012
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran for the Senate in Illinois and, invoking a Bible he had carefully read and often disputed, declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He was talking about slavery, but he may as well have been previewing the Republican Party in 2012—in the Silver State and beyond. Read more »
Politics
Nevada’s Hollow Apple
May 17th, 2012
More than a century ago, legendary editor William Allen White asked, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” A couple of recent events beg the question, “What’s the matter with Nevada?” The answer is both simpler and more complex. Read more »
About Town
A Party by Any Other Name
The Libertarians gathered in Las Vegas—and sounded a lot like Republicans
May 10th, 2012
From May 3-6, hundreds of Libertarians from across the nation gathered in Las Vegas, a good-enough symbolic home of the mind-your-own-business streak, to select their presidential candidate and wear T-shirts that said, “Happy, Free, Alive” and “Socially tolerant, fiscally conservative.” At least one man wore a powdered wig. Another wore hot pants and a halter top—because he could! Read more »
Politics
Now, That’s a Party!
May 3rd, 2012
If your political leanings include axing taxes, legalizing drugs, dismantling federal agencies, returning to the gold standard, letting gay people marry and bringing the troops home, you may want to pay attention to this little soiree: The Libertarian Party National Convention is coming to Red Rock Resort from May 3-6. Read more »
Politics
Economic Development, On the Rails
April 26th, 2012
Gov. Brian Sandoval recently spoke before the Keystone Corp., which calls itself “a political action organization for the Nevada Conservative,” of whom there presumably is more than one. His topic was economic development, which he said he considers “a contact sport.” Read more »
Politics
It’s Time for an Annual Legislature
April 12th, 2012
State Sen. Richard “Tick” Segerblom is the fourth generation of his family to serve in the Nevada Legislature, and thus the fourth generation to meet every other year in Carson City. He says that needs to change: We need annual sessions. Wait. It’s not more government he’s looking for; it’s better government. And he’s already working on a way to make it a reality. Read more »
