“The issue is a simple coding error. It’s just paperwork,” City Manager Gregory Rose said earlier this month. (RJ)

However, the “More Cops” funds, we are told, are meant only to support new hires in an effort [...]]]> So Nor’Town City Manager characterized the use of “More Cops” funds to support cops already on the force.

However, the “More Cops” funds, we are told, are meant only to support new hires in an effort to increase the force. They should not be used as a bookkeeping tool to shuffle funds from one account to another in tough economic times.

The, dare we say, scandal is beginning to make everyone look bad. We learn: Nor’Town Chief of police Joseph Forti knew about the shift of funds, although he has denied it elsewhere. And the assistant chief says they knew about it in early 2009.

So, one wonders, when did Mayor Shari Buck, who’s supposed to be in charge of the such goings on, know about it? Or are we to believe she doesn’t know what’s going on in her City Hall?

We also learn that Assemblyperson Marilyn Kirkpatrick “has long questioned why North Las Vegas hasn’t hired more police officers with More Cops money.”

Really? When did she plan to share those concerns with her constituents?

One thing is clear, though, Richard Cherchio has found an issue for his campaign coming up in early 2011. So, I’m guessing “More Cops” won’t be going away anytime soon. I wonder if the mayor will be endorsing his campaign?

What they’re calling for seems to be more government oversight of the North Las Vegas airport, which has had a bad habit [...]]]> That’s sorta what Assembly District 1 candidate Linda West Meyers and Senate District 4 candidate Sharon Gobel seem to be promising in a joint mailer that showed up in my mailbox last week.

What they’re calling for seems to be more government oversight of the North Las Vegas airport, which has had a bad habit of late dropping airplanes on Nor’Towner’s heads. (RJ,Sun,Sun)

Woah. Republicans calling for more government oversight. My, times have changed.

Like atheists, there are no Reaganauts in foxholes, I suppose.

They also claim that Marilyn Kirkpatrick, the current occupant of AD1 and Steven Horsford the current denizen of SD4, haven’t been doing much to prevent the sky from falling.

Here’s the front and the back of the mailer, for your viewing enjoyment.

Although I suspect no one in the Nevada state legislature can keep the sky from falling, it’s nice to see some campaign literature actually focused on a Nor’Town issue. Horsford’s mailers have been slick and could have been produced inside the beltway–and indeed might have been.

Kirkpatrick’s are a bit scary. Her “I’m on my way” mailers made her look like Martha Stewart on a home invasion.

To be fair, Steven Horsford, unlike others, has been showing up at some of the meetings after the crashes:

Local officials, with the
exception of state Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, were not present
at the meeting. Clark County Department of Aviation Director Randall
Walker also did not attend.

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon and City Council members
were unable to attend because of a regularly scheduled meeting. But
Montandon said the city plans to meet soon with state legislators and
Clark County commissioners to discuss “accountability” issues related
to airplane safety.

“I have a lot of questions about what can be done on the ground to make sure engines work in the air,” Montandon said Wednesday.

Shortly after the Aug. 22 crash, which killed three people,
Montandon said that he didn’t “recall ever hearing a constituent
complain about the safety of the airport in North Las Vegas” in his
“almost 12 years as mayor.” (RJ)

Course, the mayor doesn’t read this blog. Or Forbes magazine, either, I guess.

Oh, and if you really want to know more about the “Not Tonight” group mentioned in the mailer, you might want to have a listen to a recent “State of Nevada” piece on KNPR. But, you’ve been warned–it ain’t pretty.

While I’ve been keeping track of candidate sign-ups, I left out Lawrence Weekly, who is running for Clark County Commission in District D.

My deepest and sincerest apologies to D districters.

Weekly is the fellow made the Sun for spending over $22,000 from his tax-payer funded office budget on various, um, projects for his [...]]]>

While I’ve been keeping track of candidate sign-ups, I left out Lawrence Weekly, who is running for Clark County Commission in District D.

My deepest and sincerest apologies to D districters.

Weekly is the fellow made the Sun for spending over $22,000 from his tax-payer funded office budget on various, um, projects for his constituents. It looks like he’s still doing it, too, since the latest newsletter from his office shows him paying for the prom for some future voters.

He also made the news for taking campaign contributions from notorious Republican enabler and warmonger, Sheldon Adelson. (Sun)

Marilyn Kirkpatrick has picked up an opponent for Assembly District 1: a Sharon Gobel (R), who has switched parties since she unsucessfully ran for the state senate as a Democrat in 2002. (Sun,Sun,Sun). Kirkpatrick beat Gobel’s father Ed Gobel in 2004 when she first ran for the Assembly 1 seat. (Sun,Sun)

Man, I need new glasses: Kirkpatrick’s opponent is Linda West Myers, who has been an activist against airport noise and for rural preservation within cities. (Sun,Sun) Hey, at least she’s worked with Ed Gobel on some of those projects. Myers lost to Kirkpatrick in 2006 (the date currently on her website, by the way). Myers had 35% of the vote to Kirkpatrick’s 57%.

Course, Nor’Towners are waiting for the real fun of the city council and mayor race in 2009 when we have that silly [...]]]> The official period for signing up to run for political offices for the November election has begun, and you can keep track of who’s signed in over at the Clark County election site.

Course, Nor’Towners are waiting for the real fun of the city council and mayor race in 2009 when we have that silly off-year election that dooms the election to apathy and oblivion.

For now, we will just have to get by with the other races.

So far, several sacrificial lambs have signed up to get their butts whupped by Shelley Berkley this fall for Nor’Town congressional district 1:

• Chris Dyer (R) He’s apparently a national delegate to the Repukelican convention and a dedicated Ron Paul supporter. (RtF)
• Edward "Mr. Clean" Hamilton (R)
• Ray J. Kornfeld (R)
• Mike Powers (R)

Well, at least that’ll give you Republicans something to do at the primary. Mayor Mike oughtta jump in, too, just to make it interestin’–and to waste his money.

Tom Collins (D) will be running again for his seat on the Clark County Commission in District B. On Wednesday, May 14th, you can have pie with him. Mmm…Pie. I am resisting the temptation to call it "Pardee pie". Drat. I am so weak.

Marilyn Kirkpatrick (D) has signed up to defend her seat for for Assembly District 1.

Morse Arberry (D) will be running again in Assembly District 7.

Ruben Kihuen (D) will be running again in Assembly District 11.

Kelvin Atkinson (D) will be defending his seat in Assembly District 17. Atkinson has a challenger, one David Isbell (R). I guess Alberto* Angelo Carvalho‘s still in Iraq?

Mo Denis (D) has a challenger for his seat in district 28, one 
Augustin "Tino" Mendoza, who’s lost a couple of races for the state senate. (RJ,RJ) My favorite picture of Mr. Denis shows him trying to give Governor Jim Gibbons a little religion, which doesn’t seem to have taken.
   

Confused and lost? Check out the district maps over at the Nevada Legislature site.

* My apologizes for the dumb mistake. If it counts for anything, I have gotten it right in the past.

When: 3pm, Friday August 10

Where: Rancho High School, located at 1900 E. Owens Ave., west of Eastern Avenue.

The Barack campaign gives the wrong address, if you follow the link. Rancho is, just barely, in Nor’Town, not Las Vegas.

In a news release, [...]]]> Barack Obama will have a town hall Friday in Nor’Town.

When: 3pm, Friday August 10

Where: Rancho High School, located at 1900 E. Owens Ave., west of Eastern Avenue.

The Barack campaign gives the wrong address, if you follow the link. Rancho is, just barely, in Nor’Town, not Las Vegas.

In a news release, the Obama campaign reports that North Las Vegas state assembly folk Kelvin Atkinson and Marilyn Kirkpatrick have endorsed Obama and will be working on Obama’s Nevada steering committee. Also on the committee is Harvey Munford, whose assembly district covers a bit of Nor’Town, and Helen Foley, who once served in both the Nevada Assembly and Senate.

Jane Ann Morrison was not pleased with Kelvin Atkinson for tabling seat-belt legislation which would have allowed cops to pull [...]]]> So, the Nevada legislature finally came to an end early this month with only a short special session to clean up a few details. Let’s see how Nor’Towner legislators faired in the post-legislature media morass:

Jane Ann Morrison was not pleased with Kelvin Atkinson for tabling seat-belt legislation which would have allowed cops to pull over un-belted drivers:

Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, said
Friday he decided not to bring the bill up for a vote because "quite a
few members of the committee were uncomfortable with the pressure they
were receiving. The committee members didn’t want to vote on it."

Weenies.

Atkinson, as chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, was also in the middle of the road-funding mess wherein the idiot Governor forced the state to fund only 1/5th of needed projects.

State Senator Steven Horsford was considered a "winner" by the Sun:

He’s a Democrat liked and
respected by colleagues in both parties, with ties to labor and
business. As a champion of empowerment schools, he’s at the forefront
of the governor’s key education initiative. He’s talked about as a
potential leader of Senate Democrats, and even as the first black
governor of Nevada.

Whoa–first black governor? Sounds like mayor of Nor’Town won’t be good enough for Horsford. He’ll need a Democratic majority in the State Senate to be the leader of the Senate, but is sounds like his future is tied to that body.

By the way, Horsford’s bill that will require what is now called the Southern Nevada Enterprise Community Advisory board will become law in October. Language which would have automatically placed Horsford on the board was struck by amendment.

Marilyn Kirkpatrick is getting praise for her mopping up of the green-building idiocy:

[Nevada Speaker Barbara Buckley] also empowered women to
succeed in an inherently sexist process, especially Assemblywomen
Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Debbie Smith, who in many ways were the unsung
session heroes because of their tireless work on fixing the
green-building tax break fiasco. (Sun)

If you’re still following the fate of Horsford’s [...]]]> You can still catch the rather one-sided debate between Senators Steven Horsford (D-near Nor’Town) and Bob Beers (R-near Nor’Town) over on the May 24th edition of Face to Face if you hurry. The "debate" just goes to show that truth is very minimally connected to rhetoric.

If you’re still following the fate of Horsford’s SB 352, the Senate refused two amendments added by the Assembly, and both houses have created a conference committee to try and iron things out. One of the issues is whether grocery stores which set up shop in certain places get a tax break. The other is whether the state senator from the area, that is, Horsford, gets to sit on the committee that the bill creates, or just some member at large from the Legislature. At least, that’s how I read the amendments.

Assemblygal Marilyn Kirkpatrick (D-Nor’Town) was all over the Sun as part of the "dynamic duo" which was trying to fix that "green-building" tax bill. Debbie Smith of Sparks was the other half of the "duo". The green-building mess came about because the Legislature discovered that tax breaks to businesses for building environmentally friendly buildings were too generous–at least during times of huge growth with a Governor unwilling to raise taxes to fund any. Growth, I mean.

Kirkpatrick got a bit weepy about the roads in Nor’town, too, but they make us all cry, don’t they?

Thank the nice Governor and Legislature for coughing up only 1/5 of what’s necessary to fix the mess.

And Ruben Kihuen (D-Nor’Town) was last seen sucking up to the Gube.

Ooops. Can’t forget Kelvin Atkinson, who’s picture is showing up all over the state. (AP,AP) Atkinson brokered that 1/5th deal which passed the Assembly. That is, it came up with about 1/5th of the money considered necessary to fix the roads. A bunch of Clark County state senators are currently in revolt against the Atkinson bill:

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, vowed to
try today to amend Assembly Bill 595, which passed the Assembly 40-2
earlier Friday, to tack on an increase of 6 cents per gallon in the
diesel fuel tax and force the trucking industry to help alleviate the
mammoth shortfall.

Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, agreed that the Legislature must raise more revenue for highway construction.

"I am prepared to stay here all month long," Coffin said of the legislative session that is scheduled to end Monday.

"Some
of us aren’t," replied Assembly Transportation Chairman Kelvin
Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, who helped craft the bill that would allow
the state to float a $1 billion bond and begin work on highway projects. (RJ)

Back to work, Kelvin.

[UPDATE: This just in: the Senate Taxation Committee passed the road funding bill over Coffin's objections. (AP)]

And Marilyn Kirkpatrick’s bill on human trafficking has unintended consequences:

"It is a bill that is going to violate the rights of businessmen and women, and, needless to say, human beings, employees within the state of Nevada," said Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics.

Gary Peck, director [...]]]> Bites the dust. (KVBC).

And Marilyn Kirkpatrick’s bill on human trafficking has unintended consequences:

"It is a bill that is going to violate the rights of businessmen and
women, and, needless to say, human beings, employees within the state
of Nevada," said Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics.

Gary Peck, director of the ACLU of Nevada, said the provisions
allowing fines were vague and would just discourage businesses from
hiring any people with Hispanic surnames.

"I believe the law will be enforced in an uneven way," said
Peck. "I think it’s going to be used to go after businesses that are
the least powerful, least politically connected." (AP)

What?? Political favoritism in Nor’Town? Unthinkable!