This article was printed from KeepAndBearArms.com.
For more gun- and freedom-related information, visit
http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
In Nevada, five clear-cut races to watch
In Nevada's 1998 elections, on the issues of smaller government and
more personal liberty, five or six candidates stand out. It will be
interesting to see how many are actually chosen by the voters. But it will
be an even more revealing measure of whether our political system is still
"reformable from within" to see whether those who do manage to gain office
are able to affect any substantive change.
(Nevada also entertains a popular vote on legalizing marijuana for
medical use, this year. Since the average citizen is way ahead of the
run-of-the-mill cowardly politician on such questions, I expect this
extremely modest reform to pass easily.)
Don Chairez and his brothers and sister were raised by their mother on a
widow's pension after Don's father, a disabled army combat veteran of both
Korea and the Second World War ("He killed a German with a bayonet," Don's
mother recalls), died when the judge-to-be was in his teens. Don Chairez
put himself through college, and then law school, on the G.I. Bill, and
went to work doing immigration law and pro bono work defending gun owners
in Second Amendment cases -- yes, defending gun rights.
Scoring an upset victory for the District Court bench in Las Vegas, Judge
Don Chairez quickly showed he was not afraid to displease the political
powers, ruling that the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency broke the law when
it seized downtown private property from "little guys" like Greek widow
Carol Pappas (whose husband John started the White Spot restaurant in
downtown Las Vegas in the 1930s, before today's "big operators" had even
heard of Las Vegas), turning those properties over to fat cat casino bosses
who simply didn't want to pay the asking price.
Having stood up to the political establishment on the property rights
issue, Don Chairez has had to endure all manner of distorted personal
attacks from his Democratic opponent this year. Because he fell less than
$200 behind on payroll withholding taxes for his secretary when he first
entered law practice in Sacramento 15 years ago -- eventually paying up
$900 including fines to square his account -- his opponent's TV ads now
claim he "doesn't pay his taxes." (In truth, who would better know the
horrors of our current payroll tax system than a well-meaning small
businessman who was once caught up in its jaws? For that matter, has
corporate attorney and career politician Shelley Berkley ever met a payroll
-- ever created a private sector job -- in her life?)
Because going to trial against a 70-ish nursing home owner who had abused
his patients would have required testimony from a frail 90-year-old victim,
prosecutors opted for a plea bargain with a maximum sentence of 25 years.
Judge Chairez tried to sentence the culprit to a longer term, but was
reminded by prosecutors that under the plea deal he could only give 25
years, which he then did. Now, Ms. Berkley's TV ads boom that this "light
sentence" means Chairez was "soft on criminals."
But Judge Chairez -- an Horatio Alger story come true -- relates this
instructive tale: "My grandfather gave up his job as a Mexican policeman
because he didn't believe in taking mordidas, the 'little bites,' the
bribes. He moved to California and he went to work planting oleanders along
the sides of the highways; I remember him saying 'It's better to be an
honest ditch-digger than a corrupt politician.' "
When you cut through all the distortions, if that's the kind of family
tradition Mr. Chairez is passing on to his young daughters, it may well
provide a glimpse of the "real guy" who is Don Chairez.
Meantime, Democrat Shelley Berkley made headlines earlier this year
(before Republican Chairez was even in the race) when both a memo over her
signature and a tape-recorded phone conversation were made public. In both,
she advises her former boss, casino developer Sheldon Adelson, to pay off
judges and buy influence with county commissioners by hiring their
relatives, if he wants to get approvals for his Venetian resort, since
that's "the way things are done."
On the issues, Don Chairez wants to get rid of the IRS, replacing the
current system with either a flat tax or a national sales tax.
(Obviously, the only correct answer is to get rid of the IRS and its
income tax and replace them with nothing -- starving the federal beast back
to its pre-1912 scale, at which size it managed to keep this country free
and safe for 125 years. And that's precisely the position of perennial
Libertarian candidate Jim Burns, God bless him, who has no money and will
draw about 4 percent of the vote.)
But Shelley Berkley declines to endorse any alternative tax plan at all.
When asked point blank whether we should get rid of the IRS, she responds:
"Yes and no. There still has to be some enforcement."
Don Chairez wants to close the federal departments of Education,
Energy, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development. Asked whether she
would get rid of the federal Department of Education, Ms. Berkley says:
"I'm not sure. We should find out if there's a role for it to play and if
so then make it play that role."
Don Chairez is against gun control. Shelley Berkley disingenuously
contends she's "a strong believer in the Second Amendment" -- pretty much
what a candidate has to say in Nevada -- but her campaign brochure talks
about "getting guns out of our neighborhoods."
I happen to know of at least a dozen firearms in my own neighborhood, all
legally owned by law-abiding adults. How is she going to get those guns
"out of our neighborhood" without more onerous gun controls?
Ms. Berkley responded she was "only against cheap Saturday night
specials." When I then asked her why only rich folk should be able to own
firearms for self-defense, and not poor folk, she proceeded to argue that
she only had in mind a sort of consumer protection measure, banning
"shoddily-made guns that will blow up in your hand."
Oh. So when she promises in her brochure to "get guns out of our
neighborhoods," she really means she wants to get rid of the cheap little
.25s, and make sure all our neighborhood youths are instead armed with
solid, reliable, Smith & Wesson .357 Magnums? I don't think so.
I disagree with Don Chairez on the question of abortion rights. A Seventh
Day Adventist, he describes himself as "pro-life." It's an issue on which
he's not likely to be called upon to cast a vote.
On Sunday Oct. 25, the Review-Journal congressional endorsement
concluded: "Send Don Chairez to Congress, where he will fight the good
fight with honor."
Don Chairez is behind in the polls, though closing.
In the race for Nevada attorney general, former two-term state
legislator and Ethics Commission member Scott Scherer -- now a corporate
attorney for International Gaming Technologies -- challenges eight-year
incumbent Democrat Frankie Sue del Papa, who opted to run again when she
failed to raise enough money to pursue her bid for governor.
The issue is who will do a better job representing the interests of
Nevadans in the next four years, aggressively pursuing issues like public
corruption, complaints of election irregularities, and Nevada's 10th
Amendment right to determine who shall administer her lands -- including
who shall decide whether the nation's spent-reactor fuel nuclear waste dump
shall be placed at Yucca Mountain.
On all those counts, Republican Scott Scherer expresses a commitment to
do precisely what Ms. Del Papa has failed to do.
When it comes to pitting the 10th Amendment rights of the states against
an overweening federal government, Mr. Scherer vows to actively press the
10th Amendment case, where Ms. Del Papa has actually intervened on the
wrong side -- the side of the federal government -- in instances like the
Supreme Court's 1992 low-level nuclear waste case New York vs. United
States.
Mr. Scherer vows to file a 10th Amendment case against a national
spent-reactor-fuel repository Yucca Mountain "as soon as Congress enacts a
law designating a site," if not sooner. If he fails to obtain the consent
of our next governor, he would do so anyway, intervening on behalf of any
third party bringing such a suit.
That the Democrats have so far failed to do so "reflects their more
limited view of the 10th Amendment," in candidate Scherer's opinion. "They
don't want to challenge the right of the federal government to own the
public lands" for fear they might win, despite the fact the Supreme Court
in New York vs. United States actually ruled the states "cannot waive their
10th Amendment rights."
On enforcement of open meetings and open records laws -- as well as
complaints about election irregularities or official corruption -- Mr.
Scherer vows to be much more "consistent and vigilant," assigning a
full-time investigator. "If you've seen a pattern (of abuses) from the same
board you might need to do something undercover, run a sting operation," he
says.
This could be done without adding new staff, by discontinuing efforts
outside the attorney general's main area of expertise, like the current
feel-good task force on teen-age pregnancy, Mr. Scherer offers.
"I absolutely want to be more activist in looking into public corruption
and things that erode people's confidence in the integrity of the system,"
including the election process, Mr. Scherer says. "I cannot recall a
prosecution for public corruption in the eight years she's been in office.
There is corruption out there, and I want to make sure we set a very strong
standard that it won't be tolerated."
Asked to list his priorities, the first item on Scott Scherer's list is
"Upholding our Constitution and its principles."
Underfunded Republican Scott Scherer -- a former child prodigy who
graduated college while a teen-ager, decades ago -- lags far behind in the
polls.
Among this year's most promising new faces in races for the Nevada state
Assembly is District 12 challenger and Bally's casino marketing executive
Brian Clark, holder of a Masters in Business Administration from UNLV. Mr.
Clark favors school vouchers and expanded charter schools, as well as
basing school pay increases on merit.
"We've got to go back to choice -- get away from all the decisions being
made by a government entity," says Mr. Clark, who comes from a family of
teachers and worked for a year as a substitute teacher. "We cannot just
keep passing these kids through."
He favors open public records, explaining taxpayers -- as the bosses of
public workers -- have the same right as any boss to review what their
employees are earning and how they're performing.
Republican Clark opposes gun control. "I opposed the Brady Bill because
it's just the beginning," he says.
"Come on," I challenged him. "Why does this country need to be an armed camp?"
"It's to protect ourselves from the government," he replied.
(Read it again. They don't often say that.)
But surely there's no "right" to keep a heat-seeking missile in the
closet, I asked candidate Clark, my voice dripping ridicule.
The candidate replied: "If you want to own 200, a thousand weapons, fine.
Should we be able to own a machine gun? Why not. Most gun owners are
responsible. Can you have a tank in your back yard? If they want to buy
one, fine. ... It's more important to have the freedom. We do have to
emphasize responsibility if you make a bad decision. Convicted criminals
should serve their full time."
Brian Clark opposes registered Democrat Genie Ohrenschall -- who owns a
company which wholesales flashing yo-yos and other "lighted novelties," who
is a champion of mobile home rent control, and who endured an embarrassing
court battle last year to retain custody of her daughter after it was
alleged the young women endured disfiguring surgery because her mother did
not seek prompt medical attention for her serious digestive ills. In the
heavily-Democratic district, and in part apparently based on the "sympathy
vote," Ohrenschall is favored.
In Assembly District 14, former New Hampshire high school principal Mike
Plaisted is challenging Democratic incumbent Ellen Koivisto, a
double-dipping employee of UNLV's provost office.
Though the Kennedyesque Mr. Plaisted was president of a teachers union
back in New Hampshire, he has little use for the political agenda of
Nevada's teachers unions today: "They have good purposes but they're more
concerned with themselves, over the children."
Mr. Plaisted is in favor of charter schools, vouchers, and home
schooling. He opposes cost-of-living raises on government salaries over
$50,000, and also opposes bonding to put computers in the high schools --
"a 30-year bond to buy computers that'll be out of date in three to four
years; it's ridiculous."
Mr. Plaisted would repeal all current gun and seatbelt laws: "I think
almost all restrictions on personal choice should be repealed. ... Vermont
has no gun control and it has the lowest rate of violent crime."
Incumbent Ellen Koivisto, on the other hand, opposes school vouchers or
tax credits, opposes the state's "right-to-work" law, and favors a
"negligible" quarter-cent sales tax hike.
On public records, Ms. Koivisto holds: "People even if they're working
for a public entity still have a right to privacy." On rent control, she
says she favors "Not rent control, exactly. I would like to see a
commission, like the people who hear rate increases for utilities."
The incumbent Koivisto is favored.
Finally, the District 15 Nevada Assembly race has drawn bids from
frequently clueless Democrat Kathy McClain, a career bureaucrat and
advocate of the nanny state now employed as a "senior management analyst"
-- that is to say, a lobbyist -- for Clark County, and from Republican Jim
Forte.
A nine-year Las Vegas resident and small-business owner, Mr. Forte while
a resident of Massachusetts ran against Barney Frank for the House of
Representatives. His failure there was Massachusetts' loss and Nevada's
gain, as Mr. Forte boldly vows to eliminate Nevada's business license tax,
while "promoting freedom, opportunity, and individual responsibility.
"The purpose of government is not to run people's lives, but to give
justice to those who run their own lives," he says, expressing support for
school vouchers (Ms. McClain opposes them) and revised legislation on
charter schools "so there could actually be some."
An NRA member and avowed supporter of the Second Amendment, Mr. Forte
also opposes the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump, saying "I'd love to see all
the federal land auctioned off and put in private hands."
With no incumbent, the 15th District race is seen as a toss-up.
Five races where the differences on the issues are unusually clear-cut,
in what is historically has been one of the most (small-l) libertarian,
"less government" states in the union.
We shall see.
It is an honor to host this man's work, and we
encourage you to visit his site and read his book. To read other articles by Vin on this site, click here. You can also see his full archives at these two sites: |
||||||||