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One day after the release of a highly critical evaluation of Adam Laxalt, the GOP attorney general hopeful moved into damage control mode.
Step One: Best defense is a good offense. Laxalt tried to raise money off the disaster, asserting it is "petty politics" from his foe, Secretary of State Ross Miller. I have attached the solicitation here.
Step Two: Acknowledge the truth. He put out a statement contradicting Wednesday's in which he questioned the authenticity of the evaluation. Laxalt...
UPDATE: The chancellor and the chairman of the board of regents backed up UNLV President Don Snyder's open questioning of an academic study after major political players objected. They made it sound as if this is about a vigorous debate between academics, when it really is about an administration bending to the will of major donors.
Here are their statements -- read them and then read the post below again, which is about how any pro-margin tax conclusion apparently "does not represent the...
On March 5, 2013, state Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson stunned the Legislative Building by assembling a majority of his caucus to propose a mining tax initiative.
A month earlier, Democratic leaders had promised a revolutionary session on taxes, promising to fully fund education. So surely they would embrace Roberson’s proposal, or at least use it as a jumping-off point for serious discussions about a tax package.
But they did not.
Instead, they whispered about how untrustworthy the...
Two years ago, Adam Laxalt thought he was a superb lawyer with amazing analytical and writing abilities. His colleagues thought otherwise.
In a self-evaluation he filled out in 2012 for his law firm, Lewis & Roca, Laxalt labeled his skills as either “exceeds expectations” or “outstanding.” He bragged about his ability to “demonstrate solid grasp of basic legal concepts” and “draft clear and concise written work that is free from errors of grammar, usage, and spelling…” His colleagues...
UPDATED BELOW WITH LAXALT CAMPAIGN STATEMENT, 5 pm:
Republican AG hopeful Adam Laxalt was described by his firm's evaluation committee as "a train wreck" who "doesn't even have the basic skill set," according to a review of his performance two years ago.
The assessment by the Lewis & Roca Associate Evaluation and Compensation Committee (AECC) suggested that Laxalt attend seminars to "address basic legal principles" because of his "horrible reviews" and because he "has judgment issues and...
UPDATED WITH STUDY ATTACHED HERE, 11:15 AM
After being pummeled by doomsday scenarios from foes, The Education Initiative folks commissioned a study from UNLV that indicates significant economic benefits from the so-called margin tax.
The study, expected to be released this week, says, according to those who have seen it:
►TEI actually will increase economic activity and create jobs, including as many as 13,000 in 2016 and 10,400 jobs in 2017.
►The positive impacts from new government ...
CD3 hopeful Erin Bilbray met with the Clark County Education Association today and told them her position on The Education Initiative:
"We have put teachers and parents backs up against the wall. We need to do something to get more resources but the language is far from perfect and the tax is too high."
I naturally assumed that meant she is against it because she thinks the 2 percent rate is too high and it's a mess. Why vote for a tax if you think the rate is too high and it's poorly...
I was thinking about what headline would most infuriate Harry Reid, and it is this one: “Koch Brothers celebrate majority leader’s decision to retire.”
That thought occurred to me after two of POLITICO's finest, Ken Vogel and Burgess Everett, considered the question of the Koch Brothers’ Newtonian reaction to Reid’s obsessive crusade against the Kansas billionaires.
The POLITICO headline, “The Kochs' plan to beat Harry Reid,” probably evoked the same reaction from Reid as it did from me: A...