By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

Boulder City can rest assured that its energy costs will remain somewhat stable in the future thanks to the U.S. Congress extending the city’s allocation of Hoover Dam power for the next 55 years.

The Hoover Power Allocation Act of 2011, a bill signed by President Barack Obama on Dec. 20, extends the contract for the various entities using dam power until the year 2067.

Hoover Dam is seen from the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tilman Memorial Bridge in August 2010. Photo by Steve Andrascik

The current agreement dates back to 1984 and was set to expire in 2017, leaving the power contractors in California, Arizona and Nevada with the possibility that allocations could have been altered with the contract’s renewal.

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Arnold M. Knightly The Editor's Desk

At first look, last week’s press release from the country’s most powerful politician outside the White House ballyhooing a $2 million procurement for the Boulder City Bypass had me rolling my eyes.

“I’m pleased that this funding will support making the much-needed Boulder City Bypass a reality,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in an Aug. 25 statement. “I will continue to ensure that this bypass remains a priority on the federal level as we work to alleviate congestion and remove truck traffic that’s been a nuisance to residents of Boulder City.”

Are we, as stakeholders in Boulder City, really supposed to get excited about this?

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Las Vegas attorney and U.S. Senate candidate Byron Georgiou talks with The Coffee Cup co-owner Terry Stevens on Monday, July 18. The Democrat is challenging Shelley Berkley in a primary to see will likely face Republican Sen. Dean Heller in November 2012. Photo by Arnold M. Knightly

By Arnold M. Knightly, Boulder City Review

Boulder City received its first official visit from a candidate in the 2012 U.S. Senate race when Las Vegas attorney and entrepreneur Byron Georgiou stopped by the newspaper’s office for a 40-minute visit on Monday.

A Democrat, Georgiou said he will challenge the “career Washington politicians” who have presided over the economic mess that has befallen Nevada and the country.

“If you think the people that are there are the best ones to get us out of this mess I think, frankly, that you’re sadly mistaken,” Georgiou said. “If they think the establishment is going to rock the boat and change the way things have been done in Washington, then they’ll support the other people.”

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By Arnold M. Knightly, Boulder City Review

State Sen. Joe Hardy fought for the Boulder City Bypass issue in Carson City for eight years before finally squeezing out enough votes to change state law that will allow a toll road funded by a private-public partnership.

Now it’s time for the private investors to deliver more than promises, he said.

“I’ve had people approach me that they want to either pay for the whole thing or be involved with the payment of the whole thing,” said Hardy, who lives in Boulder City. “Now we’ll find out if they’re really serious about this.”

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By Dennis Myers, Commentary

Answer this: Is the Catholicism of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner an issue in politics?

Almost anyone outside of politics would say no. To most folks who grew up in the United States, took a civics class, understand the Constitution, there is something unpleasant about the notion.

So it may be disturbing to many to know that last month 70-plus Catholic leaders sent a letter to Boehner telling him that his party’s position on Medicare and Medicaid is “anti-life.”

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By Chuck Muth, Muth’s Truths

Sen. John Ensign finally did the right thing, apparently one step ahead of the law, but it was too little, too late. If he’d quit from Day One, Rep. Dean Heller might already be a U.S. senator and Harry Reid might not be in office.

But that’s all water over the bridge and under the dam now.

Odds are it won’t take long for Gov. Brian Sandoval to announce that Rep. Heller is his pick to fill the Ensign vacancy (heck, it could be done by the time this gets published).

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By Arnold M. Knightly, Boulder City Review

Defeated U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle may want to look into buying a house in Boulder City where she would, apparently, be among friends.

Angle and many Republicans did at least 10 percentage points better in Boulder City during the Nov. 2 election than in the rest of Clark County and the state, complete election results released last week show.

Boulder City residents cast their ballots on Nov. 2 at the city's recreation center. Nearly 75.6 percent of the city's 9,559 registered voters participated in the midterm elections. City residents heavily backed Republican candidates including defeated U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle, who received 55.8 percent of the local vote. Photo by Steve Andrascik

Angle captured 55.8 percent of the vote in Boulder City, 14.5 points better than she did in Clark County and 11.2 points higher than the statewide total.

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By Arnold M. Knightly, Knightly News

The election of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to his fifth, and most likely final, term could have a profound impact on Boulder City during the next six years.

The 70-year-old native of Searchlight, which is a mere 40 miles south of here, has taken a heightened interest in something that has galvanized residents, business owners and politicians of this fair town: the Boulder City Bypass.

The good senator, arguably the second most powerful politician in Washington, D.C., publicly stated at least twice last month that he wants to see the Boulder City Bypass built.

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By Geoff Schumacher, Special to the Boulder City Review

After months of campaign rancor, Nevadans voted to keep Harry Reid as their senior senator for six more years.

In the glare of the national spotlight, Reid fended off a fierce challenge from Republican Sharron Angle to earn a fifth term and retain his position as the U.S. Senate’s majority leader.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, right, speaks during the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge dedication on Oct. 14. Reid defeated Republican challenger Sharron Angle on Tuesday to win his fifth term in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood watches Reid. Photo Special to the Boulder City Review.

With 100 percent of the ballots tallied statewide, Reid received 361,655 votes, or 50 percent, and Angle received 320,996 votes, or 45 percent. Third place went to None of These Candidates, the choice of 16,174 voters, or 2.2 percent.

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By Dennis Myers, Commentary

Recently I heard a Harry Reid radio spot that attacked Sharron Angle for wanting to “privatize” the Veterans Administration. It’s actually called the Department of Veterans Affairs now, but that’s the least of the issues here.

That criticism of Angle was legitimate, but then the spot argued that Reid “cared” about veterans and Angle does not.

While I was looking for the transcript of this spot on Reid’s campaign website, I couldn’t find it, I did find this: “When asked point blank asked if things like prescription drugs and doctor’s visits should be covered by the VA, Angle callously answered: ‘No, not if you’re moving towards a privatized system’.”

Uncaring and callous? Just for opposing a change in how veterans’ affairs are handled? She wasn’t proposing that veterans be sent to internment camps.

She was just proposing a different way of handling the matter.

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