* First, our “Pastapalooza” conservative awards dinner is sold out. Gonna be agreat event. Looking forward to seeing many of you there. Happy New Year!
* Now on to the business at hand…
* Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, after losing her bid for State Treasurer in November, was appointed to fill a Justice of the Peace vacancy in Nye County. As such, she resigned her position as Nevada Republican National Committeewoman.
* Her position is scheduled to be filled in a special election at the Nevada GOP meeting in Ely on January 14.
* Two primary candidates have emerged: Sigal Chattah and Pauline Lee. I like both, but they each bring different qualities and advantages to the table.
* Chattah has far greater name ID due to her unsuccessful campaign for attorney general last year. Lee is well-known among party insiders, but not the general public.
* The main job of the National Committeewoman is to raise money for the party.
* In her AG race last year, Chattah reportedly raised $424,000. Pretty darned good.
* However, raising money for a high-profile political campaign is a completely different animal from raising money for the party…especially a party that has lost the last four election
cycles in a row and has lost the confidence of Nevada’s donor community.
* Lee had an impressive stint running the Nevada Republican Club and has successfully raised money for the organization. The club has also printed and mailed slate cards of GOP candidates and has engineered a successful voter registration program.
* Lee is on the board of directors of the Keystone Corporation, an organization of highly-influential, pro-business major donors who contribute a lot of money to GOP candidates.
* She’s also on Gov. Lombardo’s transition team and, thus, has connections to the governor’s network of donors. Lombardo has endorsed Lee in the race. As has Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony.
* Lee will have the support of the establishment-type donors who aren’t necessarily “movement” conservatives. But they have the money.
* The race has heated up, with supporters on both sides launching broadsides against the opposition – something that helps absolutely no one interested in fixing what’s wrong with
the state party under Chairman Michael McDonald’s reign.
* The race has heated up, with supporters on both sides launching broadsides against the opposition – something that helps absolutely no one interested in fixing what’s wrong with
the state party under Chairman Michael McDonald’s reign.
* One bone of contention is the claim that while Lee is a listed member of the NRCC – a requirement for the National Committeewoman’s position – Chattah is not.
* Jessica Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal notes in a report today that Chattah’s name does not appear on the member roster published last May, nor is she listed on an updated list from
November.
* However, McDonald has declared that Chattah IS a member, though he did not provide Hill with any documentation verifying it. (It’s good ta be da king!)
* That in itself has caused suspicions that McDonald has somehow engineered behind closed doors putting Chattah on the member roster even though she allegedly didn’t become a member through established rules and processes.
* All of which is totally unnecessary…and I have a compromise solution.
* One of the disillusioned major donors to the party – Don Ahern – was the party’s Finance Chairman until last spring when he resigned from the position out of frustration with McDonald’s lack of communication and accountability.
* In the right hands, the Finance Chairman position can be every bit as powerful and influential as that of National Committeewoman. All you need to do is raise money. And to the best of my knowledge the position remains vacant.
* So instead of having Lee and Chattah clawing at each other for the National Committeewoman post, here’s an opportunity for McDonald to appoint Chattah to the Finance Chair post – which
he can do without an election and without her being a member of the NRCC.
* Then let the Central Committee elect Lee as National Committeewoman, a position she’s expressed an interest in for over two years while Fiore was in the seat, and who has more experience as an organizational fundraiser as opposed to a candidate fundraiser.
* That way the two can combine their talents, experience and connections for a mutual, combined objective rather than divide the party’s forces through yet another bitterly contested election - like we saw in 2021 between Jesse Law and Carrie Buck for the job of Clark
County party boss.
* It’s the smart thing to do, would kill two birds with one stone, would unite the party factions, and everybody wins.
* Which means it’ll never happen…
* Because Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“It wasn't my fault that the Republicans didn't live up to expectations in the
midterms. It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans,
especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of
rape, incest or life of the mother, that lost large numbers of voters. Also,
the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish
from the U.S. Supreme Court, and just plain disappeared, not to be seen again.”
– Donald Trump
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and
blogs at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.