Thursday, June 26, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Backstory: Odds and ends

By Michael Green

Most Nevadans are trying to figure out just what is wrong with the Legislature. But odd political behavior is more widespread than that.

¥ George W. Bush may visit Nevada to observe an anti-terrorism exercise at Indian Springs. Perhaps he will take time to raise more money for his campaign to win the White House legitimately. An aide to GOP Rep. Jim Gibbons, who may or may not challenge Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, said the congressman will be by Bush's side and support his campaign, despite Bush lying to Nevadans about whether he supported dumping high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

Interestingly, talk of Bush's possible visit followed reports that the Environmental Protection Agency was to issue warnings about rising global temperatures. But the White House edited the report. One critic called the EPA's submission to this always-apolitical White House--just ask them--"junk science." A better term would be "sound science," which Bush promised to rely on when he lied about how he would make his decision on Yucca Mountain.

The oddity is not the administration lying, or Gibbons putting party loyalty ahead of his state's well-being. The oddity is, if Bush comes, many Nevadans will bow in his direction and vote for him next year because he's in the White House when he actually deserves impeachment, conviction, arrest and indictment for the deaths of our war heroes in Iraq and recklessly endangering the lives of the rest of us.

Getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a noble idea. But Bush and his lackeys attacked the United Nations for failing to find weapons of mass destruction. Now they haven't found any weapons themselves, and say that isn't the issue anyway; what mattered was ousting a dictator. Then why not say so in the first place? Apparently, Bush considers those who voted for him too stupid to be trusted with the truth. Not that he has any familiarity with it himself.

Meanwhile, the hunt for Osama bin Laden continues. Bush must have put O.J. Simpson in charge of it; look at his success in finding the real killers.

¥ No sooner did Janet Moncrief take her seat on the Las Vegas City Council than Steve Miller, a controversial ex-councilman, attacked her. No surprise there, except he claimed to have been a silent cog in her campaign; the surprise is Miller could be silent. But now he considers her a sellout. Why? Because she received fundraising help from a consultant for Mayor Oscar Goodman, among other crimes.

The oddity is, if Miller thinks Moncrief would sell out that easily, how could he ever have supported her? Has it occurred to anyone that as a new councilwoman, Moncrief might be well-advised to talk and listen to people who have been involved in the process?

¥ The teachers union is beloved among those who like it and hated by those who don't. That means it's acting like a union. Whether or not you agree with a union, its job is to protect its members, which means demanding that the Legislature fund education as the union wants and threatening havoc if it doesn't. But last week, the union became...odd.

In targeting 10 legislators with whom the union is upset, it rescinded its endorsement of Assemblyman Bob Beers. Beers is a Republican who started the session by questioning the decency of casino workers and sees no problem with Nevada being ranked among the states with the worst quality of life.

Beers and the union are entitled to their opinions. But his Democratic opponent in 2002, Howard Bycroft, happens to teach high school history. How can the teachers union endorse an assemblyman with whom it differs on most issues, and bypass one of its own? Then, how can it be silly enough afterward to rescind the endorsement?

The answer is, this odd behavior has happened before and will happen again. On a more personal note, I spent a brief sentence as local political action coordinator for the Nevada Faculty Alliance--not a union, but an organization to which many professors around the state belong. I went along with endorsing a few candidates whose views I--and most of the members--found wanting. Why? Because they were going to win no matter what we did, so why not get on their good side?

After I left the NFA, it chose not to make an endorsement in a primary. But that primary involved Paul Aizley, a former NFA president. Some members were outraged: He was one of their own. He ended up receiving the endorsement in the general election, which incumbent Thalia Dondero won. But the NFA's actions--and Dondero's vicious and untrue attacks on Aizley in mailers--left a bitter taste. And I confess: Another time, I fought the endorsement of an NFA member on the grounds that he had forgotten he belonged to the organization. He resented that, as did some of his friends in the NFA, and I am glad.

The problem lies with sleeping with the enemy. Just because professors, pipefitters or Playboy playmates endorse someone for election, that doesn't mean the candidate will be on your side in the future. Members of the teachers union could reasonably ask why Beers received an endorsement in the first place. He didn't suddenly change when this legislative session began.

And you thought the Legislature was odd. At least folks in Carson City can take heart: The weirdness isn't limited to their town.

Michael Green teaches history at the Community College of Southern Nevada.