BARBWIRE
Contents
by
ANDREW BARBANO
From the 10-25-98 Daily Sparks, Nev., Tribune
"In
Nevada, you put an 'R' behind your name and the devil himself could
get elected. We've seen that in a number of cases in our state."
I didn't say that.
A Nevada Christian conservative Republican did at a local meeting. I
taped the program when it ran on Sierra Nevada Community Access Television
last Feb. 22.
|
Ayatollahs
are always with us |
It was a formative session of the Nevada Republican Assembly, a Silver State affiliate of an outfit I first warned of last January 25:
"AYATOLLAH NEVADA. According to Mother Jones Magazine's MoJo Wire, an outfit tamely called the California Federation of Republican Assemblies has an active Nevada chapter. They've taken over the California GOP and advocate replacement of democracy with a Bible-based theocracy. Am I scared? Hell, yes," I wrote.
If
you websurf to the MoJo site, you will find links to the California and
national organizations. The Nevada contact listed is longtime GOP activist
Mike Weber of Reno.
The Feb. 22 meeting was
most interesting when the camera turned to politicians who showed up asking
support: State Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks-Reno, Assemblyman Don
Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, and GOP Assembly District 29 candidate Sharron
Angle.
Moderator Mike Weber
checked off a list of candidates particularly worthy of the group's endorsement,
including Washington, Gustavson and Rep. John Ensign, R-Las Vegas, who
is running against incumbent U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
"They are 100% believers
of everything we're doing as far as our principles are concerned," he
noted.
Those principles can
be found on the Republican Assembly websites linked to the MoJo story.
Here's a sampling: "We
believe that God is the source of eternal truth and law as revealed in
Holy Scripture...We hold to principles over politics...All human rights
are granted by God, not government...the Constitution was written by wise
men under the inspiration of God...to govern a moral and religious people
and it is being destroyed by those who are neither...the forces of socialism
and international communism are at present, and continue to be, the greatest
threats to our freedom...the Unites (sic) States should stress victory
over, rather than co-existence with, or containment of, communism; and
its citizens should feel and express the will to win...Only men, not women,
will serve in combat." (See addendum)
Sen. Washington offered
to contribute money to the organization.
SPOO V. WASHINGTON.
The Sparks area senate race will most probably decide which party controls
Nevada's upper house next year. Democrat Jim Spoo, the former Sparks mayor,
started a negative TV spot last week accusing Sen. Washington of opposing
affirmative action while having benefited from it years ago.
Spoo's assertion is correct,
although Mr. Washington may not have been aware of the facts at the time.
In the early 1980s, Sen. Washington trained as an electrician in a union
apprenticeship program. Since 1966, all such training has required affirmative
outreach to minority applicants.
Affirmative action does
not mean quotas. Once someone applies, he or she must meet all the criteria
to qualify for a limited number of slots.
Mr. Washington apparently
had the right stuff to gain entrance to a very desirable course which
has had an affirmative action component for decades. He has not returned
my phone call of several weeks ago.
MORE HILTON HIJINX.
A Libertarian friend asked about the story (first broken here last Sunday)
regarding the latest victory of the Reno Hilton's illegally fired security
guards.
"Wasn't it a major blunder
to accept a contract that gave up job security for higher wages? Wasn't
it predictable that once Hilton was contractually allowed to fire the
guards, they would?"
The security guards indeed
made a deal with the devil, but that was not the key issue in the National
Labor Relations Board finding that they had been illegally fired.
Basically, no matter
what the contract says, the hotel can't break the law. The NLRB uncovered
clear evidence that the guards were fired solely for union activity, which
has been protected by federal statute since 1935.
NLRB investigators found
that Hilton had essentially conducted the business equivalent of a double-blind
study on the issue. On two previous occasions, the company had reviewed
subcontracting and decided it would just not maintain Hilton-style service.
The NLRB found that the
only condition which had changed between the two rejections and the reversal
of policy was the presence of a union. Smoking gun. Slam dunk. Guilty
as charged.
Hilton has announced
that it will appeal the case, as usual, opting to pay expensive lawyers
rather than faithful workers.
DIRTY FOLLYTIX ALERT.
Teamsters and other union members have been complaining about anonymous
phone calls "from your union...We're taking a poll. We need to know how
you're going to vote."
The caller refuses to
identify herself and gets very surly when people won't cooperate. Like
any voters, the union members were insulted by such old-Chicago machine
tactics. Which seems to be the point.
No such "poll" is being
taken by any union organization. It looks like a campaign dirty trick
to try to counter organized labor's extensive efforts to motivate members
to vote.
Such tactics, including
smear-question "push polls," have been used extensively in Nevada. The
first one I ever wrote about (27 Sept. 1992), was conducted by Assemblyman
Peter Ernaut, R-Reno. His smear tactics got him through a hotly contested
primary against better known Republicans.
This year, Ernaut is
running the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Kenny Guinn. I'd like
to hear from anyone getting such a call.
RAILROAD JOB.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of this Wednesday's Tribune which
will include the annual "Looking to the 21st Century" special section.
Trust me.
NAMEPHREAK ALERT.
The webmaster of the Nevada Republican Party Internet site is an outfit
called Retro-Media. A marriage made in heaven.
Be well. Raise hell.
-30-
Copyright ©
1998, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018 Andrew
Barbano
