** Nevada politics is nothing if not highly entertaining. Consider this pithy summation of the Nevada GOP’s leadership issue:
“The Republicans, pounded by Democrats in critical races the last two cycles, have a reasonable chance to win the state for Mitt Romney, hold onto John Ensign’s Senate seat and take over the Legislature’s upper house. And the glue holding that all together — the man charged with raising money, attacking Democrats and articulating GOP principles — is a Laughlin constable and former strip club lobbyist found guilty of ethics transgressions by two tribunals and whose odiferous city land deal has revolted everyone (except the folks at Roundheels Central on Stewart Avenue), including a conservative think tank on Tuesday. Come on, folks. This must be a joke.” [full story Las Vegas Sun]
Well, let’s see now, there seems to be a bit of history.
February 12, 2012: “Early last fall, when Florida Republicans defied the national party and moved their presidential primary to January, Nevada Republican Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian issued a defiant statement. “No matter what, we will not allow this disruption to interfere with our goal of creating a presidential caucus that will be the pride of the Western states,” Tarkanian said. “This situation gives Nevadans the opportunity to showcase our ability to adapt and establish our state as a major player in national politics.” [Las Vegas Sun]
February 5, 2012: “Unable to control how its county parties count and report results, state Republicans were scrambling Sunday to explain why, almost 24 hours after most caucuses ended, the votes still have not been counted. [Politico]
January 5, 2012: “The head of the Nevada Republican Party, Amy Tarkanian has announced her resignation. Thursday, Tarkanian sent a statement announcing her resignation since her husband is considering a run for Congressional District 4.” [News2]
April 24, 2010: Sue Lowden proposes “chickens for checkups” health reform plan. [C&L]
November 16, 2009: “Dr. Chris Comfort replaces Sue Lowden, who resigned Sept. 30 to launch her campaign for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination and try to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in next year’s election.” [NNV]
And so it goes.
** The Political Animal notes the activities of ALEC, right wing legislators, and national Republican leaders to enact vote suppressing laws, but “…a less well-known phenomenon might be called “bankrupting the vote,” as states and localities (particular cities with heavily Democratic electorates) struggling with fiscal crises simply can’t afford to adequately staff and administer elections. “ Read the full report here from Reuters.
** Heaven Forefend we’d actually pass a transportation bill wherein states and construction contractors would have a realistic expectation of long term infrastructure improvement projects. “Also look for the House and Senate to start reconciling their differences over federal highway funding. Last week, the House passed an extension of highway programs through the end of the fiscal year, HR 4348. In March, the Senate approved a two-year extension, S 1813.“ [NRDC]
** There’s a report from the VA’s Inspector General that isn’t getting half as much publicity as it deserves. “The Department of Veterans Affairs’ mental-health care system suffers from a culture where managers give more importance to meeting meaningless performance goals than helping veterans, according to testimony before a Senate committee Wednesday.” [WaPo]
“Contrary to VA claims that 95 percent of first-time patients seeking mental-health care in 2011 received an evaluation within the department’s goal of 14 days, just under half were seen in that time frame, the report found. A majority waited about 50 days on average for a full evaluation.” [WaPo]
From the report summary:
“VHA does not have a reliable and accurate method of determining whether they are providing patients timely access to mental health care services. VHA did not provide first-time patients with timely mental health evaluations and existing patients often waited more than 14 days past their desired date of care for their treatment appointment. As a result, performance measures used to report patient’s access to mental health care do not depict the true picture of a patient’s waiting time to see a mental health provider.”
The full report is available in PDF format here.
** It’s really very hard to get beyond House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) comment that a “good” way to finance the reduction in student loan interest rates would be to take the money from the Affordable Care Act’s provisions for cancer screenings for men and women, wellness education programs, and immunizations for children, which he said was a “Slush Fund.” HHS Secretary Sebelius has more to say here.
** Did we know that when Nevada Representatives Amodei (R-NV2) and Heck (R-NV3) voted for the Ryan Budget that they voted in favor of locking in the doubled interest rate for student loans? We do now.
** Thus much for “Listening to the Generals.” The GOP controlled House of Representatives rejected the Pentagon proposal for the next round of BRAC (base realignment and closure) Commission recommendations. [The Hill]
** One of the more interesting characterizations of the upcoming presidential race from the President’s interview with Rolling Stone:
“I think the general election will be as sharp a contrast between the two parties as we’ve seen in a generation. You have a Republican Party, and a presumptive Republican nominee, that believes in drastically rolling back environmental regulations, that believes in drastically rolling back collective-bargaining rights, that believes in an approach to deficit reduction in which taxes are cut further for the wealthiest Americans, and spending cuts are entirely borne by things like education or basic research or care for the vulnerable. All this will be presumably written into their platform and reflected in their convention. I don’t think that their nominee is going to be able to suddenly say, “Everything I’ve said for the last six months, I didn’t mean.” I’m assuming that he meant it. When you’re running for president, people are paying attention to what you’re saying.”
