sean cary

Washoe County Commissioner and Reno City Council hopeful Kitty Jung has been having a pretty crappy couple of weeks. Her campaign sign near my house blew down in a recent windstorm, her opponent for the ward 5 seat, Neoma Jardon, is catching up in fundraising, and the local media is starting to report on what all of us already know—Kitty Jung doesn’t like people with badges.

KRNV Channel 4 recently reported on a series of clashes Jung has had with local law enforcement, one of which resulted in Jung being handcuffed in the back of a squad car.

Former Washoe County Court Security Officer Christy Richer told News 4 that in December of 2009 Jung’s boots set off the metal detector when she was trying to enter the Washoe County courthouse. Angry and abusive to Richer about having to remove them, Jung reportedly stated “I will not be treated like this in my courthouse.”

So Jung was teed off because she had to remove her boots and walk through the metal detectors in “her” courthouse with the rest of the great unwashed. Okay, she’s a snob. I get it. What horrifies me is an ensuing phone call to Assistant Sheriff Marshall Emerson. “[Y]ou know, we’re going to budget. I’m not going to be too happy to provide for you guys over here,” Jung said, while standing next to the metal detector she didn’t feel she had to pass through. The internal sheriff’s office report detailing the incident states about Commissioner Jung, “she has made it quite apparent…that she intends to use her official office to retaliate against this agency.”

Yup. An elected official threatened to use the powers of her office to damage her subordinates because they dared ask her to follow the rules the rest of us live by. The nerve of that security guard, how dare she follow protocol!

Maybe she just had a bad taste in her mouth after a 2008 incident at the courthouse. A memo has surfaced which details an incident where Jung attempted to bring a firearm and two speed loaders through security. Jung reportedly “raised her voice” and told a Sergeant “she didn’t need the lecture.” Although in violation of state law for carrying a firearm into a government building, Jung was not arrested, however her gun was confiscated while she was on the premises.

Jung’s contempt for law enforcement isn’t limited only to the sheriff’s office. In 2011, Jung had an alcohol-fueled scuffle with Reno police. Jung went to a neighbor’s house to check on a friend’s daughter and Reno police say Jung tried to enter the home, but officers had to hold her back because she was interfering with a police investigation. According to police documents, Jung had to be physically restrained. Reports state that Jung screamed at the officers saying, “Get your f**king hands off me! Do you know who I am? I’m the f**king County Commissioner!”
While being handcuffed, Jung screamed, “I just beat your ass. You’re a pu**y, how embarrassing for you. What a dork. You’re such a dork; I just beat your ass!”

Reports have also recently surfaced that Jung attempted to meddle in the Brianna Dennison case. Two former Reno Police officers who headed up the investigation say Jung verbally assaulted them during the investigation.

The officers claim that in the midst of the investigation, Jung was angry her house was outside the search perimeter. She wanted officers to expand that perimeter by at least a mile, to include her home on University Terrace. When Jung didn’t get her way she reportedly berated the officers handling the case, rather than take her concerns through the proper chain of command.
“The fact that Ms. Jung decided to insert herself into an investigation is concerning to me. It was a distraction at the time. Just the fact that she was so, not just critical but attackingly so,” says Chuck Lovitt, a retired police Sergeant who was assigned to the case.

Dennison’s murderer, James Beila was subsequently caught, tried and convicted of kidnap, rape and murder. He now sits on Nevada’s death row awaiting execution.

Let’s face it. We’ve all snapped at a serviceperson or cut someone off in traffic, but Jung’s actions are reprehensible. To compound the matter, Jung has responded to these allegations by claiming that her opponent, Neoma Jardon is somehow behind them. This is nonsensical. Jardon does not have some magic power over Channel 4, and there is extensive documentation supporting law enforcement’s version of these incidents.
Not only has Jung been contemptuous, obnoxious and downright classless, her actions are an abuse of her power. Jung was not elected so she could drunkenly throw around her title or bypass the rules we all have to live by; she was elected to faithfully serve the residents of Washoe County.
Character matters, and Jung has shown very little. The fact that Sheriff Michael Haley has withdrawn his endorsement as a result of her actions demonstrates that her base of support is starting to fracture. As a leader in our community, Jung should stand firm in her support of those who risk their lives every day to keep us safe, not attack, abuse and drunkenly berate them.
Kitty Jung, it is time for you to publicly and humbly apologize to each and every officer you have assaulted. No more statements from your campaign manager, no more running away from reporters. These officers put their lives on the line for you. It’s about time you treated them with the dignity and respect you so nastily demand from them.

Originally published in the Daily Sparks Tribune: http://dailysparkstribune.com/view/full_story/18737861/article-The-jig-is-up–Kitty-Jung?instance=secondary_story_left_column

I have to hand it to them; the White House PR folks have pretty good memories. They haven’t forgotten that on a recent visit to Southern Nevada, presidential candidate Mitt Romney uttered the now famous words: “[D]on’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.”

Romney isn’t famous for warm fuzzies and this quote is no exception but still, he makes a good point. The housing crisis isn’t over, and Nevada’s markets have yet to equalize. There are still people struggling to keep their homes and although what Romney said sounds harsh, he’s right. Some people simply can’t afford their homes and unfortunately may lose them as a result. The foreclosures have to work their way out of the system before we can truly get a handle on the stuccoed mess that is Nevada’s housing market.

President Barack Obama, however, doesn’t happen to agree. Fresh off a swanky party with his Hollywood buddies over at actor George Clooney’s house, and still basking in the adoration from his base because of his newfound support for same sex marriage Obama decided to make a campaign stop in Reno and tie up traffic for hours.

Armed with a new plan to supposedly help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, Obama sat at the kitchen table of Val and Paul Keller and congratulated himself on a job well done because the Kellers are now saving $240 a month off their mortgage.  If one believes his lofty rhetoric filled with generalities, veiled swipes at Mitt Romney and broad brush promises, this single measure is going to right the wrongs of the world.  His words were predictably smooth and as usual he told a crowd of carefully invited guests that if the Republicans don’t give him carte blanche, it’s obviously because they only want their rich one-percenter friends to have homes. The rest of the country can suck it.

Citing a to-do list of tired liberal talking points, Obama called for an end to “tax breaks to companies that ship jobs and factories overseas,” helping small business, something about green energy and to my surprise, creating a Veteran’s Job Corps.

A bright point in the speech, I was happy to hear him acknowledge this proposal because like it or not, with the draw down of the wars in the Middle East, there will be hundreds of thousands of American soldiers coming home and needing jobs. Some have been gone for years, and we need to truly support our troops—by helping them return to civilian life. The Veteran’s Job Corps is a start, but I’m still waiting for his intentions concerning veteran’s healthcare. Many of these returning soldiers are affected by such maladies as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the answer isn’t just to give them a disability check. Let’s rehabilitate them and teach them how to live happily and successfully in the society they fought so hard to protect.

This campaign stop offers some insight into the President’s reelection strategy. Obama handily won Nevada in 2008 by tapping into the fears of a state decimated by the recession. His blame-George-Bush-for-everything-from-the-economy-to-tramp-stamp-tattoos strategy propelled him to victory, but today it’s his economy now and things are still in terrible shape. A recent Rasmussen poll has Republican candidate Mitt Romney ahead by 7 points and although it’s still early, Obama has his work cut out for him. The vague generalizations, platitudes, and blame shifting that defined his 2008 campaign aren’t going to work this time because as much as he doesn’t want one, he has a record now. People may still faint at the very sight of their savior, but in considerably smaller numbers this time around. We already know his campaign team will tirelessly spin away any charges lobbed at him but that won’t necessarily translate into votes. Nevadans want results. Period.

Nevada’s six electoral votes are key to his reelection strategy and Friday’s dog and pony show proves that. He came, he spoke, and with all the fanfare we experienced in 2008, he still implores us to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Originally printed in the Daily Sparks Tribune: http://dailysparkstribune.com/bookmark/18575825/article-Have%20no%20fear%20Obama%20is%20here!%20#.T6_Eyr4A5hI.facebook

On a recent trip to Washington, DC I watched, thunderstruck, as two women stood next to the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian debating whether or not “they used the real Heart of the Ocean” during the filming of James Cameron’s famous movie Titanic.  Armed with completely absurd “facts” and ignoring the ginormous posters around the fabulous gem betraying its true identity as the one and only Hope Diamond, this woman wagged an ugly fake fingernail at her friend’s face. My colleague saw the contempt welling up in me, and to avoid a rather embarrassing reality check for these two idiot women, he ushered me to the next exhibit.

 Many have drawn comparisons between American politics and the sinking of the fabled liner, and I’m about to do the same. SPOILER ALERT: If you have a Gadsden flag tattooed on your ass or you have ever considered going to Hawaii to look for the long-form birth certificate, then I suggest you read no further.

 The Titanic was the pride of Great Britain. Carrying only the finest, the ship was meant to show the rest of the world (and the folks over at Cunard) that the White Star line was king of the world’s oceans. Mere days into the ship’s maiden voyage, a slow dance with an ice cube sent the glittery jewel to the bottom of the Atlantic where it currently sits, decaying and forgotten.

 There was no crash or jarring impact to speak of; it’s often believed that most of the passengers didn’t even feel the ship graze the massive chunk of artic ice. The impact was so slight that the steel didn’t tear; it bent, popping the rivets, which allowed the water into the ship’s underbelly.

 Within a few hours the most beautiful machine man ever created slipped under the water with hundreds of innocent souls still aboard.

 Over the last 100 years fingers have been pointed and accusations have been hurled at the poor, innocent iceberg. Well, I’m here to say that the iceberg was framed! Investigations after the tragedy revealed that a man by the name of Fredrick Fleet, shivering and cold up in the crow’s nest, hadn’t been issued a pair of binoculars. That’s right, kids. The one dude on the whole boat who needed binoculars didn’t have any. The radio operator, bored with his job, ignored multiple ice warnings from other ships. Yes, the two men on board who could’ve saved the ship by merely doing their jobs didn’t, and we all know how this story ends.

 It wasn’t the iceberg that killed the fabled ship; it was the vanity, arrogance and ineptitude of the men controlling it. They were smarter than God, tougher than Mother Nature, and wholly uninterested in anything beyond their narrow worldview.

 As I watch the debate forming this year, the GOP reminds me of this most famous of disasters. A refusal to listen, a persistent arrogance and pervasive anti-intellectualism define the GOP’s base, and they don’t seem to care.  Our country looms on the brink of financial disaster and social unrest, the Democrats have done their best to implode our healthcare system and yet the Republicans still insist on making this about the goings-on inside a woman’s underwear or whether or not two dudes who love each other can get married.

 The paradigm is shifting and the tent is expanding, yet the bigoted, backward rubes controlling the base whose sheer stupidity has propelled people like Sharron Angle and Rick Santorum into prominence still cling to the notion that they are indeed the “true conservatives.” They aren’t, and they aren’t going to win. They are out of touch, ignoring the repeated warnings, and as November 2012 approaches may find themselves sinking into the abyss come Election Day.

 It’s time for a reality check, Republicans. Pioneers like Lauren Scott, candidate for Assembly district 30 are emerging in your ranks and you’d be wise to take heed of their message.  Being the party of the ignorant and the arrogant won’t lead to anything but four more years of Obama, and thankfully people like Lauren can see that. Hopefully, the rest of the Republican Party will too. If not, then full steam ahead.

The debate over taxes in this country is an infuriating one. The Republicans bumble through existence believing that low taxes are the only things that matter when a business looks to move or expand because it’s only about money and such trivialities as quality of life mean or access to an educated workforce mean bupkis and the Democrats are languishing in a utopia where school district budgets and infrastructure budgets are so massive that we can freely spend our way to a perfect society; the modern American taxpayer, nothing more than a brightly colored plastic token merrily skipping down the path in the liberal equivalent of the classic board game Candyland.

Gov. Brian Sandoval’s recent decision to extend the $620 million in taxes originally set to sunset and include this money in his new biennium budget marks a new direction for the state of Nevada. Sandoval is a popular governor with his constituents, with some polls rating him as high as 63 percent and it is a bold move for him to spend his political capital like this.

As the head of the Nevada Republican party, does this signal a move away from the so-called “conservative” firebrands who run hysterically in circles waving “no-taxes” pledges and threaten to campaign against anyone who doesn’t sign these worthless pledges? Perhaps.

The more moderate wing of the Republican Party has long been vilified for compromising with anyone, but some of the power players in our Legislature are starting to not care. Many of the up-and-coming players on the Nevada political scene such as Sen. Greg Brower R-Reno, Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno and Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas have softened their no taxes stance and are backing Governor Sandoval’s plan.

Sandoval’s 2010 Democrat opponent, Rory Reid delighted in calling Sandoval “Jim Gibbons in a better suit” but that isn’t turning out to be the case. Gone is the bunker mentality, the worn out veto stamp, and the complete refusal to even talk about the obvious fact that our government needs money to run. Republicans have said for decades that government needs to be run like a business, and perhaps they are finally starting to really believe that. If a business in 2012 charged the same prices for their products that they did decades ago, that would quickly lead to insolvency. We have revenue levels that were too low decades ago, and the people in power, as well as the taxpayers are finally starting to accept that.

Sandoval did indeed campaign on a no-new-taxes platform, (although he didn’t sign any frivolous and stupid pledges like those peddled by groups such as the Americans for Tax Reform) and undoubtedly this will become a topic of conversation when he seeks reelection, and like clockwork we will see some so-called “conservative” bound out of the gate promising to undo the damage done by Sandoval and remove him for “lying” and for “breaking promises” to Nevada.

I’m glad to see Sandoval is willing to face this. It puzzles me that in the face of cutting money from budgets that are already nonexistent, there are still those who believe that Nevadans are paying too much.

Contrary to his detractors, I believe Sandoval has done what he could, slicing $500,00 from the final budget approved by former Governor Gibbons and the Democratically controlled legislature.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, but the stark reality is that Nevada cannot cut any more money from the budget, and although sorely needed, a major overhaul of our tax system will not happen until our economy is healthier and we aren’t in such bad budgetary shape.

Nevada still needs some serious help to not only fix these problems, but to put safeguards in place so they don’t happen again in the future. It is encouraging to me to see Nevada’s CEO starting this conversation. Nevada will once again find its way back onto the path to prosperity, but it’s not going to happen without money in the state treasury.

In today’s political climate, it has gotten progressively more difficult to get anything done legislatively. As a result, an increasing number of groups are turning to the ballot initiative process to get legislative items in front of the voters. The initiative process is important, and it’s essential for you fully informed about these initiatives and their accompanying petitions before you actually sign them.

The current crop of initiative petitions aren’t real popular with many in Carson City. Dale Erquiaga, senior adviser to Gov. Brian Sandoval, states about the tax initiatives, “Governor Sandoval is opposed to the initiative tax petitions under consideration in our state. He believes tax policy should be set at the Legislature and not through the initiative process. Proponents of these initiatives who say the Legislature has failed to act are incorrect; they simply don’t like the actions that have been taken. Nevadans do not want to handle tax policy the way they have in California.”

Erquiaga is referring to two initiatives. The first is being pushed by a group called Nevadans United for Fair Mining Taxes. This initiative seeks to raise the current mining tax cap from 5 percent to 9 percent. To become effective, this change must pass in two general election cycles.

Here’s where it gets nebulous. If it were to pass, this amendment to our state Constitution is not in itself a tax, and it does not compel the governor or the Legislature to raise taxes. It just gives them the ability to. Proponents will call it the right thing to do so “Big Mining” is “paying its fair share,” and the opponents will hysterically scream that it’s a punitive tax increase. Neither of these are accurate portrayals.

The second tax-related initiative is pushed by a group called Nevadans for a Fair 9% Gambling Revenue Tax. Currently, the Nevada Gaming Commission collects 6.75 percent of any gross revenue monthly over $134,000, and if this initiative collects enough signatures and is approved by the Legislature in 2013 or the voters in 2014, it will raise that level to 9 percent for any monthly gross revenue over $250,000.

This too is not as straightforward as it seems, and the devil is in the details. I urge you to read the petition carefully but keep one thing in mind: Nevada currently has a law that requires a two thirds supermajority in the state legislature to enact a tax increase, and this is an attempt to circumvent this law, which, incidentally, started as a ballot initiative itself.

The other two initiative petitions currently slated for circulation this year are the so-called “Personhood” initiatives. I wrote about these petitions last October in my column “The far right’s war on women,” (RN&R, Oct. 13) and I invite you to check it out if you want my rather strong opinions.

These two initiatives are especially misleading and draconian, and the arguments you will hear both for and against are inaccurate.

“The initiative process is not the most effective means by which we can educate and change hearts,” says Melissa Clement, president of Nevada Right to Life. “The legislative process, with the opportunity for hearings and expert testimony, lends itself well to the intricacies of the abortion debate. The most current personhood initiatives have had to suffer from a judge defining the question. In drafting law, initiative language is static, while bill language allows for change and adjustments as new information and debate are presented.”

It’s very telling that the president of Nevada Right to Life doesn’t support these petitions.

Arm yourself with the facts. Amending our state constitution is serious business. Don’t necessarily believe the information you will hear from the fleets of paid signature gatherers who care only about their paychecks. Read each of these initiative petitions carefully, and if you don’t understand or agree completely, tell the petitioner to take a hike.

If partisan politics has taught me anything, it’s that not-good things happen when it becomes an obsession. Take state Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, for example. In a move that puts pure partisan politics ahead of everything else, including her constituents, Leslie has decided to add ‘carpetbagger’ to her resume.

Leslie recently announced that she is resigning her seat representing Senate District 1 to challenge state Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, in Senate District 15. Yes. A sitting state senator has resigned her seat in a heavily Democratic district to move across town so she can run against one of her current Senate colleagues who represents a district that maintains only a slight Republican advantage.

The sprawling, heavily populated district 15 stretches from Bordertown to Cold Springs over to Sun Valley, both old and new areas of the northwest, through Caughlin Ranch and then down to the Mt. Rose Highway. You mean to tell me, that in a senate district encompassing almost 27,000 Democrats and some of the most affluent neighborhoods in Reno, there isn’t a single one willing to stand up and run against Brower? Where the hell do the trial lawyers live in this town? College professors? Anyone? C’mon Democrats, are you that afraid of the big, bad Brower?

This is a bold, classless political move for Leslie. First elected to the Senate in 2010 after a lengthy period in the state Assembly, Leslie has now made it very clear that she’s not in Carson City to serve her constituents, she’s there to drive a partisan agenda, one that obviously she feels is so rigid that it can only get passed if the Democrats maintain a chokehold on Carson City.

Plus, this political power grab by Leslie and her cronies flies in the face of not only the people, but our laws. Nevada recently went through the redistricting process, a process that was cast aside by our dysfunctional, obnoxious legislators and placed in the hands of the courts to determine how our maps would look. The non-partisan special masters that conducted this process went to great care to draw the maps to accommodate the existing legislators to avoid this very instance—two sitting legislators running against each other and one legislative district sitting empty. Well, this simply wasn’t good enough for Leslie. Who cares what the courts decided? Who cares what’s best for the constituents who put their faith and trust in her to go to our state’s capitol and fight for the issues she ran on in 2010? Who cares that she’s not resigning to take up shipbuilding or to spend more time with her pet iguana. She isn’t even trying to spin this one away—the Nevada Democrats couldn’t find a credible candidate to run against Greg Brower, so they had to import one.

These aren’t the actions of a public servant, they are the actions of a perennial office shopper who cares little about the good of the people and cares only about the partisans who helped to get her elected, and their agenda they want passed. Here’s an idea: Rather than saying ‘Fuck you!’ to our system to get your agenda passed, why don’t you let the voters make their own decisions about who should represent them and then finish the job you took an oath to do?

I hope someone over in the Brower camp decides to have fun with this. Don’t hold fundraisers, hold housewarming parties! Hang up ‘Welcome Sheila’ banners at your campaign events.

Wait, those last two paragraphs sounded a little mean. I was raised better than that. Lemme try that again. Ahem. Senator Leslie, as a resident of this part of Reno for decades, allow me to be the first to warmly extend my hand and say welcome to the neighborhood! Would you like me to show you around?

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, campaign 2012 started. From bases on the moon to Vice President Biden rooting for the Giants while campaigning in San Francisco, there is a never-ending source of fodder for us political chatterboxes.

Enter Steven Colbert, host of the late night show The Colbert Report. Never one to pass up the opportunity to point out the nincompoopery in our admittedly flawed political system, Colbert decided to run for president.

In June of last year, Colbert created the Steven Colbert Super PAC in the wake of the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling.

The Citizens United ruling, as it’s commonly referred to, allows essentially anyone to form a Super PAC and use the funds raised through both public and private donations to support any candidate’s bid for the presidency. The broad language in this ruling doesn’t even exclude supporting candidates that aren’t real, as evidenced by Colbert supporting “Rick Parry” in the Iowa caucus. (Yes, that’s Parry with an “a.”)

Colbert immediately went to work raising funds by standing on the courthouse steps soliciting donations from passersby to demonstrate the flaws he perceived in the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Although not serious in his venture to capture the Republican nomination for president, Colbert has rather effectively advanced his central message that “money equals speech.” Colbert has a point, although a misguided one. Private industry has the right to protect itself. However, in Colbert’s points about how the money is handled he is dead on. There needs to be a drastic increase in transparency, accountability, and harsh penalties for those who choose not to follow the letter of the law.

The Supreme Court was correct in its ruling. Free speech is a constitutionally protected right, but the explosive proliferation of these Super PACs show that our campaign finance laws need to be constantly reexamined. Politics is big money business and an unscrupulous one at that. Over and over, we see people on both sides of the aisle doing whatever they can to circumvent our laws.

The reporting deadline has come and gone. We will start to see the names of these political whales who are dumping literally millions of dollars into the airwaves across the presidential caucuses and primaries.

I do not have a problem with the amounts, but rather with the lame disclosure requirements. The first full disclosure in six months comes along after the biggest of the early contests, Florida, already cast its votes. Out of the early nominating states, Florida is the prize, for it has more delegates this year than all the earlier states combined. To make matters worse, this disclosure only covers the period up until the last day of the year, meaning that the oodles of dough spent in the days leading up to New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada are not publicly available. There will be no more disclosures during the rest of the key primary season.

In the wake of Citizens United, Congress introduced the DISCLOSE act to try and address some of these issues. On a near party line vote, DISCLOSE survived the House of Representatives, but died at the hands of a filibuster in the Senate.

All 59 Senate Democrats voted for cloture, but not a single Republican defected. I’m looking at you, Sen. McCain.

The right to free speech in this country is sacrosanct, but with rights come responsibilities. The American people deserve to know where every election dollar comes from, and as we look toward a $2 billion election, it saddens me that although we will eventually get the disclosure we deserve, it may be too late.