However, no less than current Republican legislative leaders are telling people that I was the governor.

Little ole me.

They have been blaming "the governor" for ordering the Reno-Sparks NAACP to demand that Assembly Speaker-designee Ira Hansen step down because of his documented record of bigotry and overt racism. See BallotBoxing.US/ira.html

So, following the fallible logic of the classic three-part syllogism (or "sillygism" if you please), I was the guv because (1) "the governor" ordered the NAACP to perform the hit; (2) I was the NAACP insider who actually came up with the idea and engineered it, so (3) I was thus the governor of Nevada in 2014.

The guys pushing this story could go to work for the Trump administration's PR department.

I shared this editorial page with Ira for 17 years and kept a separate file of his most egregious rants. I built two websites and broke the story in this newspaper and on Sam Shad's Nevada Newsmakers TV show later that morning (November 18, 2014). In one of his last acts just before he died, civil rights legend Julian Bond endorsed our call.

With the approval of the Reno-Sparks NAACP leadership, I uploaded a press release calling for Ira to step down.

The evidence was damning because he had shot himself in the foot and inserted it in his mouth so often.

My story came back to me verbatim all of 51 minutes later via the Las Vegas Review-Journal news service. It hit media from the Maui News to The NYTimes, The New Yorker, Washington Post and The Guardian of London.

I included a promo for ex-Tribunite Dennis Myers' well-researched summary in the Reno News & Review. Journalist Myers is thorough to a fault and spent an eternity reviewing Ira's old Tribune columns and other depredations. God, that had to hurt. His piece went viral and was quoted internationally.

The Reno-Sparks NAACP honored Mr. Myers and the RNR staff with its inaugural Eddie Scott/Bertha Woodard Human Rights Advocacy Award "for their internationally recognized work on police-involved homicides (Fatal Encounters), their viral exposé of Nevada State Assembly Speaker-designate Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, and When Hate Comes to Town, a history of area hate crimes."

Ira and his cousin, Janine, are bright, articulate and excellent writers. Northern Nevada voters just elevated Ira to the Nevada State Senate and his wife, Alexis, won his former Sparks state assembly seat.

As longtime readers will remember, Ira and I actually agree on a few issues, especially our disdain for Nevada's profligate corporate welfare giveaways to billionaire corporations that don't need tax breaks, subsidies or other freebies.

Other than Ira not sending me so much as a thank-you note (beer and roses optional) for scoring him a quarter-page with a photo in The New York Times, my criticisms are not personal. (I do, however, wish he'd become a union-signatory plumbing company.)

I just have a hard time understanding how sentient, intelligent human beings in our information-saturated society can still be blinded by immutable dogma.

Nonetheless, thanks for promoting me to the governor's office for one brief shining moment, folks. My mother would be so proud.

Another fun legislative session started this week. The game's afoot.

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT. Traffic safety officials are having to warn dumbass teens not to drive blindfolded while trying to record sensational videos. If they survive, they may one day become Republican candidates.

OUTTA HERE. Last month, I put out an NAACP press release and got a chilling auto-reply from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It was closed due to Trump's hissy fit. (See below.)

THIS PHILISTINE INVADES ACADEMIA. At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12, I will share the podium at a "Racism in America" discussion at the Incline Village Library. My co-panelists will be Sierra Nevada College Prof. Christina M. Frederick, PhD, and Prof. Precious D. Hall, PhD, of Truckee Meadows Community College.

The library is located at 845 Alder Ave. More info with the expanded web edition of this column at Barbwire.US. I promise to be on my legendary best behavior as a model of grace and decorum. Just ask Sen. Hansen.

UPDATE 2-11-2019: Due to impending weather conditions threatening treacherous roads , I will not participate. My Feb. 13 Tribune column will summarize much of my prepared remarks which will be available in writing at the event. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

REAL NEWS DEPT. Last month, Culinary Union Local 226 defeated an attempt by Circus Circus-Reno to decertify (terminate) the union's representation of its workers. No word on whether management plans to appeal the result to the National Labor Relations Board which was recently put out of business and may soon be again. Thank you, Czar Donaldov.

RE-MARK YOUR CALENDAR. Nevada César Chávez Celebration XVII will take place on Wednesday evening, March 27, at the Grand Sierra-Reno. Please change your schedule if you highlighted another date. I apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks for your patience. Monitor CesarChavezNevada.com for updates.

Be well. Raise hell.
Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (And my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)

Andrew Barbano is a 50-year Nevadan, executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, superannuated labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor ofNevadaLabor.com and BallotBoxing.US and SenJoeNeal.org and DoctorLawyerWatch.com/ As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988 and received its ninth Nevada Press Association award (6th first-place) at the 29 Sept. 2018 NPA annual convention in Las Vegas. (Such ephemera and about six bucks will get you a Latte Mocha Cotsafracas Chingade at just about any Starbux worldwide, guaranteed.)

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