* The main business of interest was the election of a new Republican National Committeewoman to replace Michele Fiore, who resigned last month after being appointed Justice of the Peace in Pahrump.
* I’ve tried to avoid these party confabs over the last 20 years as they’re generally a waste of time; with members fighting over bylaws, membership disputes, Robert’s Rules of Order, and
meaningless resolutions.
* But there were two Clark County Central Committee members who couldn’t make it to the meeting and who gave me their proxies (written authorization to cast ballots on their behalf) for the election. So I attended as a guest.
* There were two serious candidates –Sigal Chattah and Pauline Lee – and one, Katrin Ivanov, who ran because…well, no one was quite sure. I’m told her presentation to the Rural Caucus on Friday afternoon was, let’s say charitably, less than persuasive.
* Chattah had scheduled a 5 o’clock meet-and-greet on Friday night at a local Mexican restaurant and Lee had one scheduled for 7 o’clock at the Nevada Hotel.
* At the urging of former Nevada GOP Finance Chairman George Harris, both Chattah and Lee attended the other’s event to demonstrate, as Chattah wonderfully put it, that the two were competitors, not adversaries. Very classy of both.
* Chairman Michael McDonald attended each event and spoke well of each candidate…though it was clear to all concerned that he was fully backing Chattah.
* Meanwhile, McDonald’s butler/body-guard/chauffer, Kevin Child, decided Chattah’s reception was an appropriate venue to get in my face over my calls for McDonald’s resignation. Let’s just say the confrontation was not exactly amicable.
* Yes, a few f-bombs were dropped. I’ve simply never learned how to suffer fools gladly. It’s one of my worst faults.
* Child is a major league moron among the numerous morons who cling to McDonald’s coattails for relevance - which is why they maintain their allegiance to the chairman despite his successive failures over the last four election cycles.
* Without McDonald, they’d be Rob Lauers. (“Who?”) (“Exactly”)
* Now, if Child’s name sounds familiar, maybe you remember him from this 2016 article in the Las Vegas Review Journal…
“A Clark County School District investigation of Trustee Kevin Child said he created a hostile and intimidating work environment… Child’s behavior caused anxiety among female employees, who
labeled him weird and creepy, because he stared at women, commented on the
‘sexiness’ of clothing and talked about which staff members he wanted to date.”
* That Child is part of McDonald’s inner circle brain trust helps explain why the party has been such a disaster at the ballot box in recent elections. He ain’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Ask him when the War of 1812 was and you’ll just get a blank stare.
* Wanna have some fun? Next time you see him ask him what the numberis to call 9-1-1.
* OK, enough of that. On to Saturday’s meeting…
* Upon arrival and check-in, I was immediately challenged. Informed that the meeting was only open to registered Republicans. The challenge was due to me being falsely accused of not being a registered Republican by another of McDonald’s cling-ons, Rob Tyee, a few weeks ago.
* After confirming my GOP registration, and presentation of my proxy authorizations, I was allowed to check in and received a guest pass.
* The meeting opened up on a high note with a fun, informative and light-hearted presentation by Congressman Mark Amodei, who is now in line to become one of the 12 powerful House “cardinals” in DC.
* After that, various party leaders gave glowing reports about how great the GOP did in November despite all the evidence to the contrary. That included McDonald blaming various losses on Republicans who endorsed Democrats and certain “bloggers.”
* Gee, I wonder who he was referring to?
* And then the usual sh*t show started over the membership roster – mostly related to Clark County. Dozens of people were added to the Central Committee while others were kicked off – some reportedly without their knowledge.
* Interestingly, though, despite there being a legitimate question as to Chattah’s eligibility for the Committeewoman job – whether or not she was, in fact, a member of the NRCC and, if so, how and when she was added - no one dared bring it up at the meeting.
* Drew Hirsty, on the other hand, was singled-out as a special case. He was on the list from Clark County to be added, but then an objection to his addition was raised because he was the individual who recorded a post-election rant against Amy Tarkanian by Fiore at a Clark County GOP meeting at Stoney’s back in November.
* Here’s the thing: It was a public meeting. There was no ban on recording the public comments of the public officials at that public meeting. And every public official knows full well that if you don’t want something you say to show up in public, then don’t say it. Duh.
* Anyway, despite Mr. Hirsty driving all the way up to Ely to participate in the meeting, the committee members embarrassed him by refusing to approve his membership. In other words, they shot the messenger.
* Never is to be heard a discouraging word in McDonaldland.
* By the way, Mr. Hirsty did a podcast interview yesterday discussing what they did to him in Ely and the circumstances that led up to it. Turns out, while he recorded the video, he
wasn’t the one who leaked it to the press. If interested, you can click here to listen in.
* Onward…
* Then came the lunch break…in which there weren’t enough box lunches ordered to accommodate everyone who paid their $75 to eat. So a group of us walked across the street and had a great lunch at Rack’s Bar & Grill.
* Sidenote: Taped under the television screen in the bar was a sign that read: “We Will Not Show Any NBA Basketball So Don’t Ask!”
* But I just HAD to ask our waitress, “Why?” As expected, the reason is the owner’s anger at the NBA’s kowtowing to China and its support of the violent Black Lies Matter movement. Lord, how I LOVE rural Nevada!
* Anyway, after the others got a text that the meeting had reconvened, they left. I stuck back to pay the check and missed Chattah’s campaign speech.
* By the time I got back to the meeting, Ivanov was on stage dropping out of the race and throwing her support behind Lee which, ironically and in light of her Rural Caucus presentation, probably helped Chattah more.
* Ivanov then went on to complain about people like “Chuck Muth” who didn’t endorse certain Republicans in certain races and needed to be “held accountable.”
* She went on to specifically claim I didn’t endorse Jim Marchant for Secretary of State and instead endorsed Janine Hansen of the IAP for the job. Two things about that…
* One, she’s wrong. I gave a dual recommendation in the SOS race for Marchant OR Hansen, as both were conservatives.
* Secondly, I fully agree that if you’re a member of the GOP Central Committee you should only be publicly supporting Republicans. One can argue it’s a fiduciary responsibility.
* But I’m NOT a member of the Central Committee. As such, I’m free to support whoever the hell I choose and won’t be “held accountable” by such a dysfunctional organization.
* That’s the difference between me and Amy Tarkanian. Yes, I know a lot you hate Amy for supporting Democrats like A.Ron Ford last year. But Amy was a member of the Douglas County Central Committee and they voted her off the island. That’s appropriate.
* However, to try to say that every Republican voter is obligated to vote for every Republican candidate or be “held accountable” is nutso. That ain’t the way we do things in America.
* It is, however, the way Mike McDonald sees things. Here’s what he was captured saying in that Hirsty video referenced earlier…
“They are not Republicans. They do not speak for you and they don’t belong having their ‘R’ behind their name. … We’ll see how that goes. Your day is coming.”
* Lee then gave her speech, which was very impressive. And accusations to the contrary, Lee, like Chattah, announced that, if elected, she would vote for
Harmeet Dhillon for Republican National Committee chair over incumbent Ronna
McDaniel in that separate party election in two weeks.
* That election has really heated up. While everyone thought McDaniel would win another term in a cakewalk, Dhillon has been racking up endorsements from RNC members and major donors in recent days. (Nevada’s other two RNC members – McDonald and National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid – have publicly endorsed McDaniel.)
* In addition, a number of party organizations around the country have recently passed resolutions expressing “no confidence” in the incumbent chair. Alas, Nevada isn’t one of them. Such a resolution was proposed on Saturday but was not passed by the NRCC members who
seem quite comfortable with political failure.
* Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
* After the candidate speeches, there commenced some arguing over the election procedures, including someone complaining that the locks on the ballot boxes weren’t big enough. Good grief.
* After casting my two ballots for the folks I carried proxies for, I’d had enough and left to go watch the football game and await the results. In the end, Chattah won, 222-147.
* And while McDonald’s candidate won, the fact that 147 members went the other way indicates his iron-fisted grip on the Nevada GOP may be starting to slip.
* Many folks still like him personally –myself included. But they’re tired of losing. And even more tired of the constant, unending intra-party turmoil that he and his minions, like Child and
Tyree, fuel.
* On the other hand, despite lots of grumbling by a number of members of the NRCC who think it’s time for new leadership, no one circulated a recall petition to remove McDonald at the next
meeting in Carson City in March or April. So we’ll just have to wait for the next election in the fall.
* Except…that’s still in doubt, too.
* A year ago, the NRCC passed a bylaws change in which the chair would be elected to a four-year term in the year after a presidential election. Which means the new bylaws change wouldn’t take effect until 2025, after the 2024
presidential election.
* Which means McDonald’s current two-year term expires this year and he’ll have to run for another two-year term. Multiple NRCC members have told me that’s exactly what they were told when the change was approved a year ago.
* However, I was told Sunday morning thatMcDonald and his “cling-ons” are now preparing to argue against an election for chair this fall and “grandfather” McDonald in through 2025.
* It’s good ta be da king. And McDonald ain’t prepared to give up the crown, no matter what.
* Let me close with this…
* I checked out of the hotel yesterday morning at the same time a snow storm started rolling in. And there are two routes out of Ely and back to Vegas.
* Tried the first one, but was turned back because I didn’t have snow tires or chains. We back-tracked and tried the second route. Turned back again.
* So the only thing to do was head back to the hotel and watch the Chargers/Jags football game while waiting for the snow to stop and roads to clear.
* Finally made it home in time to catch the Bengals beating the Ravens (sorry, Raven).
* Before turning in for the night, I received an email from an NRCC member who’s not happy with my calls for replacing McDonald with new leadership. It included the following…
“Give the man some peace and maybe roll up your sleeves and offer some of that stored-up knowledge to make things better instead of only criticism in your letter.”
* I’m going to give this individual a pass because I like the guy and he just isn’t aware of my history with McDonald over the past ten years. He doesn’t know how many times and ways I’ve offered to help the chairman “make things better” - only to be blown off.
* Fact is, Mike McDonald doesn’t want me (or anyone else from outside his inner circle) playing in his sandbox, and has consistently looked the gift horse in the mouth. So don’t even try accusing me of not offering to help. That dog won’t hunt.
* Now about that Clark County GOP Central Committee meeting tomorrow night…
* Expect fireworks…especially after what was done to Mr. Hirsty in Ely on Saturday. But don’t expect to see me there. I got enough of this intra-party crap over the weekend. So I’m just going to stay home and do my hair.
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and
blogs at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.