Barbwire by Barbano: Strike 3

Strike 3: Washoe transit workers walk off again
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-9 & 11-10-2021 / Expansions in blue

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TOP SECRET— HushHush!

Because this paper will hit the press in the wee hours of Tuesday, the Tribune will scoop most of the western world about the transit strike that's going to hit today.

Just before deadline on Monday, almost all unionized employees of the Washoe bus system voted down the foreign contractor/employer's deal with 9 out of 10 workers voting no.

The foreign contractor wanted the workers to take a three-year pay cut by voting for a below-inflation pay "raise." See you on the picket lines, dudes.

The blame lies squarely with the taxpayer-paid officials who always pull a Pontius Pilate and walk away. Contact and order them to protect the health, safety and livelihoods of their constituents. These bus bosses have refused to enforce mask mandates for two years. Dozens of workers and passengers have been sickened.

"This superspreader corporate virus has infected this community far too long in too many ways," Teamsters Union Local 533 President Gary Watson said.

"Keolis has been operating with a blank check authorized by RTC Executive Director Bill Thomas <bthomas@rtcwashoe.com>, which they kept secret until a few months ago," Watson added. "Their contract calls for substantial cash penalties for not providing service. For instance, $1,000 daily for every cancelled route. Acting on his own, Mr. Thomas secretly waived all penalties. How many people would hold their jobs if they didn't show up for work? Keolis can go fishing and still get paid. And they do, every day — at the expense of passengers, workers and taxpayers.

"We ask residents and transit system users to contact the responsible taxpayer-paid officials and order them to protect the health, safety and livelihoods of their constituents,. This superspreader corporate virus has infected this community far too long in too many ways," Watson concluded.

RTC Washoe Contact Information

The Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County is comprised of Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson (R), Washoe County Commissioners Vaughn Hartung (R) and Bob Lucey (R); Reno City Councilmembers Oscar Delgado (D) and Neoma Jardon, (R), board chair. RTC board e-mail <rtcpubliccomments@rtcwashoe.com>

COPY AND PASTE
delgadoo@reno.gov (Reno Councilmember Oscar Delgado-D),
vhartung@washoecounty.us (Washoe County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung-R),
jardonn@reno.gov (Reno Councilmember/RTC Chair Neoma Jardon-R),
elawson@cityofsparks.us (Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson-R),
blucey@washoecounty.us (County Commissioner Bob Lucey-R),
bthomas@rtcwashoe.com (RTC Executive Director Bill Thomas),
rtcpubliccomments@rtcwashoe.com (RTC board e-mail),

The United Labor Agency of Nevada has helped arrange a strike fund. Please send checks to United Labor Agency of Nevada, 1201 N. Decatur Blvd. Suite 106,
Las Vegas, NV 89108; Attn: Teamsters Keolis Strike.

The Teamsters International Union has launched a new website in support of Keolis workers in Nevada, nationwide and worldwide: French4Failure.com/

BARBWIRE DINGBATS. As many of you know, my Italian fantasy Machine Gun Michele Fiori, R-Gomorrah South, is running for governor. She has now joined Assemblymember Jill Dickman, R-Sparks, in pimping anti-masking as a fundraising tool. In a fundraising appeal to lesser lights, Ms. Dickman, just touted that she was kicked off the Assembly floor for playing Superspreader. She may not know it, be we are kindred. I got kicked out because someone told a lie to security that males could not wear hats in the gallery. Won the Barbwire a first-place Nevada Press Association honor. I don't think Ms. Dickman's gonna score any honors but many misbegotten miscreants will send her their hard-earned money.

Hey, the sky is falling! Haven't you heard? Speaking of fall guys...

WHEELING AND DEALING. Am I psychic or what? Last week's column, which I sent to the newspaper on Monday, Nov. 1, accurately predicted that someone would want to give a Nevada Senate seat to a seat-warmer. Faith & begorrah, Washoe County Commission Chairman Bob Lucey advocated exactly that on TV-4/TV-11 on Tuesday, Nov. 2, in an interview with reporter Ben Margiott.

Mr. Lucey said he favors a "placeholder until the 2022 election" as Washoe County's next state senator. Huh? A placeholder is somebody who takes your place in line to get concert tickets.

This isn't a buffet line and Nevada doesn't need a placeholder. We need a senator. A placeholder who has sworn not to seek election has no accountability to the public for the next year and will never have to face the voters. The new senator will have to hit the ground running not only at the redistricting special session which starts Friday but also by serving on important interim committees which will require participation in and reporting to the 2023 legislative session.

It is a sophistry upon the public to assert that whomever is chosen must commit to not seek election to a full term next year. That's a constitutional right and constitutional rights cannot be waived just to become a placeholder. It's rather morally obtuse to promise to waive a constitutional right when you can't be legally bound by the promise anyway.

I correctly called the two frontrunners. Long-retired three-term (1974-1980) Assemblymember Bob Weise, R-Washoe Valley, is now a Carson City resident. His home address won the non-binding support of Capital City officialdom last week.

Assemblymember Lisa Krasner, R-Reno, announced for the senate before Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, resigned to join the Nevada Gaming Commission.

They go into Tuesday's Washoe County Commission vote as the favorites. (The new senator who will fill the vacancy will be chosen Wednesday.) This paper will hit the streets as the selection process is underway. Stay tuned to NevadaLabor.com/

UPDATE: 2:08 P.M. PST 9 NOV. 2021— Wheeler's boy wins 4-1. Only Commissioner Jeanne Herman, who supported Melissa Clement, went against the grain in the first balloting. Commissioners Lucey, Hartung, Jung and Hill supported Don Tatro, son of Mr. Wheeler's longtime legislative secretary. The final vote was unanimous for Mr. Tatro. Because state law makes Washoe's vote pre-eminent based on population, Mr. Tatro can now start calling himself senator. Cowabunga.

I warned last week that flaming racist Jim "I'd vote for slavery if my constituents wanted me to" Wheeler, D-Douglas County, put his secretary's son into the race.

His name is Don Tatro, a Reno resident from an old Carson family. Nevada politics can be so incestuous.

Wheeler is running for senate in his Alabaster Bastion bailiwick and controlling the Carson-Washoe senator next door will make this troll mega-powerful for the next dozen years.

Stay tuned. Be very afraid.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.

¡Sí se puede!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.)
Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)
___________________
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 52-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, BallotBoxing.US, ConsumerCoalitionv.com, Rentvolution.org, MIssissippiWestNV.org and CesarChavezNevada.com among others. He is a longtime member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Assemblymember Krasner is also a member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

Pitchforks, torches, mensches, tar & feathers
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-3-2021
Updated 11-4 & 11-9-2021 GMT / Expansions in blue

BREAKING NEWS: Am I psychic or what? The following column, which I sent to the newspaper on Monday, Nov. 1, accurately predicted that someone would want to give a vacant Nevada Senate seat to a seat-warmer. Faith & begorrah, Washoe County Commission Chairman Bob Lucey advocated exactly that on TV-4/TV-11 the very next day, Tuesday, Nov. 2, in an interview with reporter Ben Margiott.

Mr. Lucey said he favors a "placeholder until the 2022 election" as Washoe County's next state senator. Huh? A placeholder is somebody who takes your place in line to get concert tickets.

This isn't a buffet line and Nevada doesn't need a placeholder. We need a senator. A placeholder who has sworn not to seek election has no accountability to the public for the next year and will never have to face the voters. The new senator will have to hit the ground running not only at the imminent special session but also by serving on important interim committees which will require participation in, and reporting to, the 2023 legislative session.

It is a sophistry upon the public to assert that whomever is chosen must commit to not seek election to a full term next year. That's a constitutional right and constitutional rights cannot be waived just to become a placeholder. It's rather morally obtuse to promise to waive a constitutional right when you can't be legally bound by the promise anyway.

Placeholders need not apply. Now to my Monday prediction and more important matters facing 10 public officials, from today's Sparks Tribune:

Moonhowlers on Steroids

If you'd like to see Assemblyman Jim Wheeler controlling 10 percent of the Nevada State Senate for the next dozen years, your fondest dreams are a major step closer to coming true. (OK, so it's not quite 10 percent, just 9.52381, two senators out of 21. But hey, we're talking government where rounding off is an art form.)

Mr. Wheeler, R-Douglas/Lyon/Storey, gained international infamy in 2013 by stating he'd vote for slavery if his constituents wanted him to do so. He's now running for state senate.

UPDATE: 2:08 P.M. PST 9 NOV. 2021— Wheeler's boy wins 4-1. Only Commissioner Jeanne Herman, who supported Melissa Clement, went against the grain in the first balloting. Commissioners Lucey, Hartung, Jung and Hill supported Don Tatro, son of Mr. Wheeler's longtime legislative secretary. The final vote was unanimous for Mr. Tatro. Because state law makes Washoe's vote pre-eminent based on population, Mr. Tatro can now start calling himself senator. Cowabunga.

He said he was just kidding when he found that his remarks to a small Storey County gathering went viral on YouTube.

Many, including Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, apparently didn't get the joke. Stephen Colbert and a whole lotta national media certainly found a lot of material with that new installment in a long line of dubious Silver State public relations coups.

Didn't hurt Jim politically. He ran unopposed in 2016 and got elected head of the Assembly Republican Caucus for the 2017 legislative session.

The Alabaster Bastion which he calls home has always been quite forgiving of political anachronisms.

Former Nevada Assembly Speaker and State Senator Lawrence "Jake" Jacobsen (1921-2006), R-Gardnerville, had a real talent for saying the wrong thing.

In 1980, when asked by a visiting delegation from Africa about why there were so few black people in northern Nevada, Jake matter-of-factly stated "it's too cold for them up here."

Nevada's greatest lawmaker, African-American Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, was quite forgiving. My friend Joe (1935-2020) was a mensch with a great sense of humor and irony.

"I like Jake," he said. But that didn't stop Joe from lampooning him in the 1981 "Third House" lawmakers' roast. (I was there and sat near Jake. He smiled and laughed and took the barbs like a gentleman.)

Jake was a nice guy, just a man out of his time. He had no malice in him. Can't say the same for Mr. Wheeler.

Republican Sen. James Settelmeyer, who now holds the seat in the current version of Jake's district, is term limited. Wheeler has announced his candidacy for it .

But one seat's not enough. He also has designs on controlling the seat next door. He has already found a MAGA moonhowler to run and also has an ante into the current round of replacement roulette.

Term-limited Sen. Ben Kieckhefer. R-Washoe/Carson, just resigned to accept a seat on the Nevada Gaming Commission. The Carson City Board of Supervisors and the Washoe County Commission will caucus to name a successor who will hold the seat through next year's general election.

Assemblymember Lisa Krasner, R-Reno, announced for the senate before Kieckhefer resigned.

Wheeler's like another flaming racist, Democratic President Andrew Jackson. (Why-oh-why did the only presidents named Andrew have to be such moonhowlers?)

Jackson, like his biggest fan Donald Trump, made everything personal. He destroyed the Bank of the United States, which crippled the U.S. economy for decades afterward, because the bank had once refused him a loan for his slave plantation.

Wheeler was flamingly miffed when Assemblymember Dr. Robin Titus, R-Churchill/Lyon, beat him for minority leader in this year's session. (She will run against him for senate.)

UPDATE: 2:08 P.M. PST 9 NOV. 2021— Wheeler's boy wins 4-1. Only Commissioner Jeanne Herman, who supported Melissa Clement, went against the grain in the first balloting. Commissioners Lucey, Hartung, Jung and Hill supported Don Tatro, son of Mr. Wheeler's longtime legislative secretary. The final vote was unanimous for Mr. Tatro. Because state law makes Washoe's vote pre-eminent based on population, Mr. Tatro can now start calling himself senator. Cowabunga.

Mrs. Krasner supported Dr. Titus so Mr. Wheeler wants his revenge. His MAGA moonhowler is apparently so unqualified that she did not dare apply to fill out the remainder of Kieckhefer's term. So Wheeler (I am not making this up) had the son of his longtime legislative secretary apply.

The lucky 13 applicants will be interviewed by the Carson pols on November 4 and the Washoeites on Nov. 9. (Contact info below.) They will meet jointly to select a senator on Nov. 10. (Kieckhefer's replacement must be of the same party under state law.)

Mrs. Krasner's most likely competition is a surprise, long-retired three-term (1974-1980) Assemblymember Bob Weise, R-Washoe Valley, who served as minority leader in his time. Bob and his wife, the former Cathy Jo Valenta (formerly a lawyer with the Legislative Counsel Bureau), are great Nevadans. But this is not their time.

One trap I hope the 10 pols don't fall into is that of the caretaker, someone who swears that she or he will not seek election to the seat next year. [[UPDATE: EXACTLY THAT HAS HAPPENED.]]

Whomever they choose will not only serve in the upcoming special session on reapportionment, but also on important interim legislative study committees.

Mrs. Krasner is the only applicant who knows the territory after three terms in the lower house. She holds a law degree, teaches at Truckee Meadows Community College, and is the mother of two college age sons (one at UNR, the other at her alma mater, UCLA). She married a candidate for sainthood. Dr. Charles Krasner is an infectious disease specialist in this time of plague.

Mrs. Krasner's record is one of strong principle with a bi-partisan approach. In 2019, with Sen. Patricia Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, she co-sponsored three bills, now state law, protecting womens' rights in the areas of domestic violence, rape and sex trafficking.

In her freshman session in 2017, she sponsored Assembly Bill 145 which extended from 10 years to 20 (from the time a child turns 18), that someone sexually abused as a minor may sue for damages. She garnered national attention for her work and Congress passed a similar law shortly thereafter. Legendary human rights attorney Gloria Allred flew to Nevada to support the legislation.

Mrs. Krasner's bill was co-sponsored by 16 colleagues of both parties, including Ben Kieckhefer and (drum roll, please...) Jim Wheeler hisself before he got so mad.

You will find a link to the Carson government website containing the applications of all 13 hopefuls with the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

Take the time to review, then contact your representatives. This is important.

If Wheeler prevails now and in 2022, he becomes scarily powerful for the next 13 years.

The High Desert Outback of the American Dream is infamous enough.

Take care of each other and be careful out there.