Karl Edward Neathammer

Despite more than 10 years of outstanding service as a PUC senior economist, my friend Nevada Regent Ron Knecht was fired in March by the PUC bureaucrats, with no reason given and no announcement made.

This story was then intentionally leaked to the press, so that it would be reported just before voting started in Mr. Knecht’s primary re-election campaign. Ron won the primary handily, because voters are very aware his outstanding record, fine character, and dedication to public service.

The timing of the story shows this attempted political assassination by an old girl network was malicious and politically motivated. They went after Ron Knecht at least in part because he’s an outspoken limited government conservative that is an anathema to them, especially when a man such as Ron is in the public domain and employ.

To cover up the political and malicious nature of the firing, the PUC’s top bureaucrat, Crystal Jackson, filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s office.

It required only an “initial investigation” for the AG’s chief of investigations to find “there is no evidence” for one of the only two incidents in the complaint, and that “there is not sufficient evidence” on the other allegation and it “could be determined to be de minimis.” Saying there was “insufficient evidence to warrant further investigation,” the AG’s office closed the case, proving Jackson’s complaint to be meritless.

To the extent the AG’s report suggests that Mr. Knecht may not have been “consistent with PUC protocol” such speculation is improper and beyond the AG’s authority to address. Such a conclusion could not be reached without interviewing Mr. Knecht, however, the AG’s office never contacted Knecht and he was unaware there was any investigation in progress.

All such dicta proves that our AG is still the left’s vicious and rabid attack dog, as was proven in her hateful attack on Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who was also exonerated of all charges.

This was nothing more than the politics of personal destruction aimed at Ron Knecht.

A comment in response to the on-line RGJ.com version of the story made two very telling points: “Every so often the PUC has a purge. If someone in power wants you gone, you will be gone. In the 90s, a PUC expert was fired because he wrote a letter to the editor on a non-PUC matter that a commissioner did not like. No policy was violated, it just did not suit her. The violations seem small and easily remedied. The ‘unclassified’ state workers should have the same protections as the ‘classified.’”

In short, the Reign of Terror under a previous PUC appointing authority has returned under a new one. And the new one tries to apply classified requirements to unclassified employees while denying them the rights that go with those requirements.

I am somewhat disappointed that the RGJ’s coverage of this matter was not given a deeper analysis on these key points, but clearly, the conclusion is that Ron Knecht has been cleared.