Republicans

CARSON CITY – Republican state Senator Michael Roberson said today he expects the GOP to retake control of the Senate in the 2012 general election, citing the quality of candidates recruited for two key Clark County races.

His optimism was countered by Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, who said he is confident Democrats will maintain control of the Senate come Nov. 7.

Every parent should recognize the childish antics of House Republicans on the payroll tax cut extension controversy.

When my nine-year-old doesn't want to do something, a familiar pattern emerges.

First comes the outright refusal. "No, I don't want to," she will say. It's almost always the most truthful part of the whole exchange.

When she sees that doesn't work, then she backpedals to find some other reason to support her position. "I can't do it now because I'm doing (something else)."

Some Nevadans are trying to start a new political party called the "DuoFreedomists" which they claim would serve moderates put off by the Republicans and Democrats. The group's policy goals to “freeze, shrink and shift” taxation and spending is very similar to those of the Tea Party.

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Artist Brent Sommerhauser will be showing his work "Brushing the Firmament" at the Nevada Arts Council's OXS Gallery, 716 N. Carson St., through Feb. 10.

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Carson High School teacher Erin Been's passion for fitness has made her a Healthy Schools Program Champion, a recognition awarded by Alliance for a Healthier Generation. She has worked to make CHS students and teachers make fitness more fun with programs like morning yoga classes, incorporating dance into phys-ed classes and offering after-school programs to promote nutrition and healthy cooking.

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Carson High football coach Blair Roman recognized the seniors on his team at the season-ending awards banquet Monday night. The team has won a share of the league title three straight years, including this season's 10-2 record.

In the Saturday, November 26th Nevada Appeal, Geoff Dornan reported that Mark Amodei "is frustrated by the polarization and partisanship preventing progress toward fixing the nation's ills." I share Rep. Amodei's frustration, but would like to suggest he give a bit more thought to his own voting record, especially in light of his December 1st op-ed, in which he took Janice Ayres to task for saying he “voted straight party line.”

The most unsettling observation of "A Man of His Word," the biography of former state Sen. Bill Raggio, is how politics in Nevada over the past 40 years has dissipated from friendly partisanship into all-out warfare.

When Raggio, now 85, started as a state senator in 1973, many Democrats and Republicans were friends who usually accomplished legislative goals through compromise.

By the time he resigned in January after his Republican colleagues ousted him as their party leader for the sin of endorsing Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, compromise was a dirty word.

The Nevada Republican Party made a nominal gain in voter registration during October, registering 1,819 new voters - almost twice as many as the state Democrats' 926.The Nevada Democratic Party sti...

Well it sure didn't take legislative Republicans long after the redistricting maps were released - subject to final Nevada Supreme Court review and approval - to circle up the ol' firing squad and ...

Although some Nevada Republicans think it would be a good idea to dump nearly 80,000 tons of highly toxic nuclear waste on our state, three leading GOP presidential candidates who addressed the iss...

I'm concerned about the "New Republican Party." They've taken a radical turn to the right, away from traditional Republican principles, fiscal conservatism and respect for the values of our republi...

He left office in disgrace after a highly publicized affair with his Argentine mistress. He told his staff and the press he was “hiking the Appalachian trail” in June 2009 when he was in fact visiting his mistress, in Argentina.

He was considered a potential 2012 Republican presidential contender before a scandal ended his political aspirations.

Instead of doing the honorable act of resigning from his political office, he refused this option and finished his term as governor, leaving office in 2010.

CARSON CITY – Attorneys for the Nevada Republican Party today filed a brief with the Nevada Supreme Court opposing Secretary of State Ross Miller’s emergency petition seeking to intervene on the question of the authority of the courts to decide the state’s political boundaries instead of the Legislature.

CARSON CITY – Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has joined with her Utah counterpart Mark Shurtleff  in asking the U.S. Senate to take up consideration of Rich Cordray’s nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Incumbent Rep. Joe Heck's congressional seat would have more Democrats than Republicans and one central Las Vegas congressional district would be almost 43 percent Hispanic, according to maps released by the Nevada District Court today.

The 2nd Congressional District would cover Washoe County and Northern Nevada. That seat, held by Republican Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, would be 35 percent Democratic and 42 percent Republican.

The states of New Hampshire and Iowa believe they have some God-given right to essentially pick who our presidential candidates will be by holding their nominating contests before all other states.

It's a mighty undemocratic way to operate a democracy.

This week has brought a new low. New Hampshire, acting like the typical spoiled child, is complaining that Nevada Republicans can't hold their caucuses on Jan. 14, which is only four days after the primary in the Granite State.

CARSON CITY – The business of drawing new political boundaries will now get under way by three court-appointed special masters following two days of public hearings on what Nevada’s legislative and congressional districts should look like for the next decade.
The clock is ticking.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Supreme Court today issued an order instructing Secretary of State Ross Miller to supplement the petition filed by his office earlier this week asking the court to intervene in the redistricting issue now in Carson City District Court.

RENO (AP) - Nevada Republicans have decided to move up their presidential caucuses to stay ahead of Florida's newly scheduled Jan. 31 primary, a move that will cost the state party half of its dele...

CARSON CITY – Racial gerrymandering, fracturing, packing, nesting – a three-hour hearing today in Carson City District Court over how to draw Nevada’s new political boundaries was full of arcane concepts and obscure terminology.
The much anticipated ruling from Judge James Todd Russell on guidelines for drawing those new districts will have major ramifications, however, for the state’s voters and its two major political parties.

The special election for Congressional District 2 is over, and no big surprise. After Judge Todd Russell decided in a lawsuit filed by Republicans to narrow the field from 12 who wanted to run, to ...

RENO (AP) - Nevada Democrats and Republicans going before a state judge this week in a legal battle over redistricting are accusing each other of trying to manipulate the boundaries of new congress...

Briefs by both the Republicans and Democrats in the redistricting battle focus on how to best protect the rights of Hispanics and where to start the process of drawing congressional and legislative...

RENO - The only thing more predictable than Republicans winning Nevada's special congressional election in the traditionally conservative 2nd District is the reaction: GOP leaders working to play u...

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s newest representative to Washington, DC was in the air today on his way east to be sworn in as the fourth person to serve in the 2nd Congressional District.
In an interview today before departing for his new job, former state Sen. Mark Amodei said he expects to be sworn into office Thursday and be casting votes the same day.

CARSON CITY – The results of the vote in the special election in the 2nd Congressional District went the way that most pundits had predicted: Republican and former state Sen. Mark Amodei will assume the seat vacated with the appointment of Dean Heller to the U.S. Senate.

CARSON CITY – Nevada legislative leaders have selected Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, and Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, to serve as nonvoting members of the Nevada Commission on Homeland Security.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, last week selected Lee to serve on the panel, which meets quarterly to hear updates on Nevada’s efforts to deal with homeland security issues.

School just started and every Republican state lawmaker has already received a failing grade from Nevada’s teachers’ union.
The Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) has released its 2011 legislative session report card and the 16 Assembly and 11 Senate Republicans all earned an F, according to the statewide association.

MINDEN - Ann Romney told Douglas County Republicans on Wednesday that her husband, Mitt, is the most-qualified presidential candidate - and the only one who can win the presidency next year."Onl...

Job, jobs, jobs. We are told that is what we need to fix our ailing economy.

With an unemployment rate above 9 percent, we do need more jobs. But there's a better chance of getting Sarah Palin to pose naked for a PETA anti-fur ad than there is of getting any kind of job-creating bill through a Congress held hostage by deficit-obsessed Tea Party Republicans.

CARSON CITY – Assembly Speaker and announced candidate for Congress John Oceguera acknowledged today that a number of Democrats are seeking seats in the House of Representatives in the 2012 election, and that hopefully any costly primary battles can be avoided.

In exchange for raising the debt ceiling limit, Republicans won several concessions, including immediate and long-term cuts to discretionary spending without any of the increases in revenues that D...