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Nevada's Online State News Journal
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December 2004-June 2005; July-September 2005; October-December 2005; Apr-May 2006; June 2006; July 2006; August 2006; September 2006; October 2006; November 2006; December 2006; January 2007; February 2007; March 2007; April 2007; May 2007; June 2007; July 2007; August 2007; September 2007; October 2007; November 2007; December 2007
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Assemblyman Scott Sibley (R- Clark No. 22)
"The usual political dust-ups just won't do. Blurting out ill-advised one-liners and cribbing speeches get a pass this week. You have to do something extraordinary to distinguish yourself. Like getting caught dissembling under oath in a civil trial, for instance, and having a jury rule that you abused the legal process and conspired to illegally oust a man from his home. That would do it."
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"'We've had it happen about four or five times in the last six months,' she said. Hardcastle said District Judges Stewart Bell and Jackie Glass have had to use duct tape for defendants who simply wouldn't keep quiet despite repeated orders."
"We are legally allowed to pledge consolidated taxes for long-term debt."
"It should be illegal for governments to redirect revenue that has been allocated by voters for other, specific purposes."
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[To 6:30 PM]
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Executive Director's Report And Recommendation
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"'I don't think this is the place or venue to discuss that,' Augustine said multiple times to repeated questions from the group on her ethics conviction."
Clark County Sheriff's Race
"For the first time in recent memory, the county has eschewed political consultants and back-room talks to redraw its commission district boundaries and involved the public."
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"Prosecutors said Herrera not only accepted cash bribes from strip club owner Michael Galardi but welcomed oral sex for votes favorable to Galardi's businesses."
"We've stated here before that Ms. Deane could retain a sliver of dignity by resigning. The current investigation notwithstanding, she simply isn't fit for public office, even one as anonymous as recorder."
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"The meeting showed a lingering uneasiness many residents in older parts of the city have about their local government."
"The work will be the final step in actually zoning the valley according to its master plan and zoning ordinance."
"Builders, developers, their planning consultants, trade unions and the real estate industry donated more than $580,000 to the political campaigns of the 10 members of the Regional Planning Governing Board for their current office or upcoming campaigns, according to an analysis of their expense reports."
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"A complaint filed in federal court in Reno alleges Anne-Louise Bennett had to retire in 2004 after being subjected to "retaliatory hostility" from TMCC President Philip Ringle after she refused an invitation to have dinner with him and join him in his hot tub while his wife was out of town."
"'It still feels like the status quo,' said Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert, R-Reno. 'Are we really fixing anything?'"
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"Nevada gets back only 73 cents in federal spending in the state for every dollar that its citizens pay in federal income taxes, a Tax Foundation study released today shows. The return ties the state for fifth lowest in the nation, trailing only much higher-income states such as New Jersey, Connecticut and Minnesota. The rankings are for the 2004 tax year."
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Congressional District 2
"Just how angry was Gov. Kenny Guinn on March 10, when appointed Attorney General George Chanos called to say he wasn't going to run for the job in November after all?"
"What has not been made public before is that Chanos solicited a $10,000 campaign donation from Walters and his companies just a week before announcing the investigation. Weird or what? The donation was sought even after several nasty news stories about the Walters land deal had surfaced, and according to sources close to Walters, Chanos kept the 10 grand for a couple of weeks after the investigation began. What's more, Chanos also accepted and cashed a $3,000 check from the San Francisco law firm hired to handle the Walters' probe on behalf of the AG. (The money was later returned.)"
Stipulation Of Kathy Augustine Before The Nevada Commission On Ethics (Nevada Ethics Commission website)
Proceedings Of Augustine's Trial Before The Nevada State Senate Nov. 29, 2004; Dec. 1, 2004; Dec. 2, 2004; Dec. 3, 2004; Dec. 4, 2004 (Nevada Legislature website)
Votes on Impeachment Charges (Nevada Legislature website)
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Las Vegas Police Prot. Ass’n v. Dist. Ct.
Matter of Guardianship of N.S.
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County Population Estimates: July 1 2005
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"Mayor Oscar Goodman acknowledged Thursday that political donors have told him they are holding back contributing to U.S. Senate campaigns as he considers his own run for the office."
"In my opinion, conservatives in Nevada are fed up with short sighted answers and a lack of genuine honesty in today’s government. Mistakes are made, but when they are we expect to hear it exactly as it happens and directly from the mouth of those involved. Instead we are subjected to twisted quotes and distorted stories portrayed by those with a special interest of making money or furthering a political agenda."
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"The scene was sordid and sleazy."
"Strip club owner Michael Galardi delivered monthly cash payments to then-Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera totaling $200,000 over three years, federal prosecutors told jurors Thursday."
"Locals know too well that back-room deals and partisan juice have smeared Clark County's political landscape from top to bottom. That's why it was refreshing to see so much previously secretive behavior recently revealed in an open courtroom."
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"Las Vegas Justice Court officials say that thousands of traffic tickets issued in unincorporated Clark County are often processed so slowly that the citations do not even exist in court records when motorists try to pay them."
"'The public feels left out,' said Susan Lynn, a conservationist. 'The public feels it needs to understand the impacts this will have on them and they don't. This has been a top-down process.'"
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"'No matter what we do, we live in a desert,' Johnson said, 'and that has to be first and foremost when we talk about conservation.'"
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Federal Nevada
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"But if the $30,000 in a velvet bag pulled out of the trunk of a car and handed to Herrera was just a loan and not a bribe, why didn't he declare it? After all, according to Bernstein, it was 'a small loan from a friend.'"
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"Pahrump has become nothing more than a miniature version of Las Vegas - an ugly place where nobody has time for manners, where "neighbors" make you feel like a fool by refusing to return your wave and where it's every person for him or her self."
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"The land owned by the Clark County Department of Aviation is crisscrossed by a wide variety of fissures, all of them the result of groundwater pumping in the area over the past 60 years that has lowered the water table and caused fine-grain sediments in the soil to dry out and contract."
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See TNO's latest Nevada Blogs update on our Links page. TNO appreciates reciprocal links.
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"Corruption, literal or otherwise, is not a partisan problem in this state or most others. It's a human nature problem and a systemic problem - people are inherently weak and the system is inherently corrupting."
"Nevada's politics would embarrass any self-respecting banana republic, and the news this past week only confirms what we all know: the many fine people in Nevada politics hide a wide and shameless category who use elected office to feather their own nests."
"Galardi doesn't have to be perfect, just believable. He has to be able to describe the sewer in which he became a multimillionaire and so easily corrupted public officials. He has to reasonably explain that a day came when those public officials began demanding too much cash and threatening him with political consequences if he didn't come through."
"Not going to talk about Bill Walters. Wouldn't be prudent."
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"Unlike California, Washington and other states, Nevada law provides an easy way for campaign contributors to hide behind a wall of anonymity. Just about anyone can funnel money into Nevada campaigns, with the public left in the dark."
"Heller's announcement on Thursday appeared to be an effort to deflect part of the blame for the bungled Covansys system onto county elections officials, whom, he said, agreed with the choice of hiring Covansys. His message would have been much stronger had he announced he was going to take charge and hold the company's feet to the fire or, better yet, cut ties with them and start over."
"In a well-received speech, Beers highlighted his Tax and Spending Control, or TASC, constitutional amendment initiative as a way to reign in government. The state senator appeared to have the most delegates sporting stickers out of the gubernatorial candidates."
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"It is hard to understand officials' hostility to the report and its recommendations for more objective guidelines for making parole decisions and a risk-based study that could help the director and his staff to assess the system for themselves. They will never know how successful the system can be if they refuse to consider possible remedies."
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"Whatever happens, the controversy is a good example of the damage that the current system of campaign financing does to our political fabric, from Washington, D.C., to cities and towns throughout the country. It has made the public cynical about the process and their role in it, and it has caused them to question every decision. Until we change the system, good government will continue to suffer."
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"Instead of being auctioned off by the Bureau of Land Management for private development, two pieces of land would be sold to the city at a cut-rate price. The city then would sell the land at-cost to a private nonprofit group from Phoenix, which would build apartments without any government subsidy other than the inexpensive land."
"While the city looks at different revenue sources to provide funding for these services, it
