The Irascible One

Be it resolved ... The Irascible One believes it's important to start the New Year properly and thus makes these New Year resolutions:

• Politicians with ethics and honesty shall not quake in fear when told they were included in an Irascible One column. But those with less than honesty in their dealings with their office shall be rooted out and made to look foolish as often as possible.

• Those seeking public office will be questioned at length as to their election finances. Financial reports will be scrutinized at length.

• The new Secretary of State will be hounded until campaign finance reform legislation is supported. Reports must be understood by those who elect those seeking public office.

• Fiscal responsibility will be honored in this column. But beware, simply making campaign promises without following through will bring the wrath of The Irascible One.

• Blindly following party doctrine will not be acceptable. An open mind, common sense, and ethical conduct will be rewarded in these pages.

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An uphill fight for sure ... Tony Dane is looking to change the gaming tax structure, and he's sure to come up with backers outside the gaming industry. Dane is a well-known political activist from Clark County and he wants to amend Nevada's gaming tax law by way of initiative petition.

Dane's idea is to raise the gaming tax from its current rather paltry 6.75 percent to 18.25 percent and then use the money generated to pay the property tax on single-family homes in full each year. He says the new tax would raise about $800 million.

Nevada's casinos pay among the lowest taxes among the nation's legalized gaming areas, but it's pretty hard to consider a raise this high. He will need 83,184 signatures to get things rolling. The line forms on the right.

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No tax supporter she ... Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, sometimes considered the most conservative member of the Nevada Assembly, is working two political campaigns this year. She wants to go to Washington representing Nevada's Congressional District Two, and she's pushing her own initiative petition to reduce state spending.

In a recent press release Angle says her campaign "is fast gaining national attention among conservatives." Angle is facing strong competition from former Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons. Secretary of State Dean Heller, also in the race, is trying to wipe as much egg as possible from his face following word that his statewide voter registration data base is so fouled up it might need complete restructuring.

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Protect your pocketbook ... Cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies!!! Most incoming calls are charged to the receiving party!!! You might end up paying lots of extra money just to hang up on some fool, lose your free minutes in the exchange, and be one angry person. There is help.

Go to http://www.donotcall.gov and register. This is the National do not call list and you can put your cell phone number on that list. You will be blocking interstate telemarketing calls for five years. You can also call 888-382-1222 to register.

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Cry, cry, sob, sob ... Kathy Augustine, she's the impeached but still in office State Controller, now says it was the impeachment process, the ethics commission hearings, the trial in the senate that cost her a chance at a federal job. No, Kathy, it was your illegal actions while in office that brought all that about.

Were you spanked as a child? Is that why you pleaded guilty to those charges before the ethics commission? Were you denied candy and pretty clothes as a child? Is that why you were fined $15,000? Maybe you were kept after school? Is that why the Senate found you guilty of one of the impeachment charges?

Those are some of the excuses most often heard from convicted criminals in court rooms around the country.

Augustine is quoted as telling a reporter in Carson City, "I did not do anything wrong." She can tell her grandchildren that because she didn't do anything wrong she was the first state elected officer to be impeached.

Shades of Joe McClelland.

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Reno irony ... Those that run the City of Reno are accused regularly of not understanding that there are people that live in the city and that from time to time those people should be listened to. OK, they are just politicians, what do they know? The city fathers and mothers, that is.

Reno is planning a major "hoopla" for January 3 to celebrate the opening of the train trench slicing through the middle of downtown. They forget that if they had allowed the people to vote on that half-billion dollar project it probably wouldn't have happened.

They are talking fireworks, speeches, hell maybe even driving a silver spike. Several hundred thousand of those living in Reno, paying for this monstrosity, would be glad to suggest where to drive the spike.

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Shaken, not stirred ... At least one local television newswoman insists on calling Reno Mayor Bob Cashell "Mayor Bob." Of course if that newsie lived in Las Vegas I wonder if she would refer to Mayor Oscar Goodman as "that gin swilling Mayor O?"

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Representative Democracy ... The tax petitions circulating about the Silver State have opened debate over the concept of representative democracy as opposed to democracy. In fact, Bob Beers's petition is a direct path back to democracy in its purest form. Unfortunately, representative democracy has been taking some serious hits all over the country. Politicians in office tend to forget they are representing those that elected them, not special interests that pay well.

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News to me ... In a recent press release, Senator Dina Titus (D) calls herself "the leading candidate to be the next Governor of Nevada." Jim Gibbons might take umbrage with that remark. Even her primary opponent, that other Jim might question its veracity. Are the money boys quaking yet?

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