Chuck Muth, Muth's Truths

The voting public generally believes that all politicians lie, but few politicians go as far as Nevada Assemblyman Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas) in justifying that belief.

In a recent mailer for his campaign to move up to the state senate, Hammond — a public school teacher — wrote the following: “I expect the highest degree of honesty and integrity of my children and my students, and I pledge the same to the people I represent in the state legislature.”

The mailer includes the headline “Stop the Tax Hikes,” under which he wrote: “The worst thing we can do in this economy is raise taxes on families and small businesses. So when the tax and spenders in Carson City demand more of our money … Scott Hammond will say NO.”

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Chuck Muth, Muth's Truths

So here’s the story: Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) nominated a liberal judge, Elissa Cadish — who once wrote that she didn’t believe there was an individual constitutional right to keep and bear arms — for a judicial vacancy on the federal bench.

However, per Senate tradition, unless both home-state senators agree to allow the nomination to move forward, the nomination doesn’t move forward.

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) has objected to Cadish’s nomination. And without Heller’s OK, the nomination is dead. Which means Cadish should withdraw. Or Reid should tell her to withdraw.

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Chuck Muth, Muth's Truths

“I noticed that you are supporting Newt Gingrich,” a longtime reader emailed me this week, “but your position puzzles me.” Others have expressed similar comments, especially those who know I am much more in line philosophically with Ron Paul. So I’ll explain. (Disclosure: I’m presently a paid adviser to Winning Our Future PAC)

Although I was involved in local GOP politics superficially in 1993, Gingrich’s efforts and stunning victory in 1994 inspired me to get much more involved. So lacking the good sense God gave me, I ran for chairman of the Clark County Republican Party in 1995. And lacking the good sense God gave the members of the party at that time, they elected me.

Frankly, they shouldn’t have.

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by Chuck Muth, Boulder City Review

The purpose of National School Choice Week, Jan. 22-28, is “to shine a spotlight on the need for effective education options for all children.” And nowhere is such exposure needed more than right here in Nevada.

Let’s first consider the latest failed experiment our government has performed on our nation’s children in its ongoing efforts to “fix” education, joining other failed fads such as new math, whole language, multiculturalism, block scheduling, cooperative learning and — I absolutely love this one — “brain-based teaching” (duh).

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Chuck Muth, Muth's Truths

Polling results recently released by Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of the Retail Association of Nevada have tax-and-spend liberals around the state doing the Snoopy dance.

According to POS, “57 percent of Nevadans would rather raise taxes than cut spending.” But to put that figure in proper perspective, consider the horribly biased nature of the actual question:

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In the 2011 session of the Nevada Legislature, there was once again a plethora of bills to license, regulate and tax all manner of businesses and individual activity. These ranged from forcing moped riders to register with the DMV and wear a helmet, to requiring a note from mommy before a teenager could use a tanning bed, to regulating hair braiders, music therapists and fundraisers for nonprofit organizations.

The excuse for such expansions of the nanny-state is as old as it is lame: Protecting the public … even if it means protecting us from ourselves.

Chuck Muth, Muth's Truths

Alas, busy-body nanny-statism isn’t limited to bleeding heart liberals. Indeed, session after session we see self-proclaimed conservative Republicans who somehow find an excuse to vote for — and sometimes actually propose — legislation to inject the government into areas it really doesn’t belong – all for our own good, of course.

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By Chuck Muth, Boulder City Review

A decidedly unscientific straw poll of attendees at the recent Conservative Leadership Conference in Las Vegas provided some rather interesting results.

Let’s start with the GOP presidential poll: Herman Cain won, Mitt Romney placed and Rick Perry showed.

Cain’s first-place finish indicates once again that the world belongs to those who show up, as no Republican candidate has campaigned harder or more often in Nevada over the last six months than Herman Cain.

He earned his victory the old-fashioned way … by working for it.

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By Chuck Muth, Muth’s Truths

Following the end of the 2011 Legislature, my friend and political pundit Steve Sebelius wrote the following in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“That brings us to the Americans for Tax Reform pledge overseen most vigorously in Nevada by my friend Chuck Muth. He said in a recent Internet message that liberals hate the pledge because it’s effective. All Republicans who signed the no-tax pledge ended up voting against taxes, Muth reports.

“Of course they did. And it’s a fair bet none of them even considered any other course. That doesn’t make them courageous, smart or good legislators. It just makes them inured to reasonable counter-arguments.

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By Chuck Muth, Muth’s Truths

In their infinite wisdom, Nevada voters approved a constitutional amendment which strictly limits the duration of our legislative sessions to 120 days.

For the 2011 session, that means Monday, June 6. Every legislator has known about this deadline since well before the start of the session. This was not a secret. It is not a surprise. If legislators can’t get their work done on time, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Make no mistake: There is no reason whatsoever for legislators not to finish up their work by June 6 and go home. And there is no excuse whatsoever for forcing Gov. Sandoval to call a special session to pass a balanced budget and keep the government open.

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By Chuck Muth, Muth’s Truths

Fiscal conservatives literally in a political war with the Left over Nevada’s budget. Alas, the GOP’s commanding general in the Assembly is leading the charge waving a white flag.

Gov. Sandoval has said no new taxes, no new fees, and no extension of the 2009 tax hikes which are scheduled to sunset on June 30. All 10 of the Senate Republicans have seconded that emotion, in writing.

But Republicans in the Assembly have yet to make a similar definitive public statement. Instead, Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea has been ham-handedly, not to mention foolishly, trying to negotiate an extension of the sunsets even though he (a) knows the Democrats will never go for his deal, and (b) even if they did, the deal would never be approved by Gov. Sandoval and the Senate Republicans.

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