News

Ten year echo

While doing a little research we found this in the Oct. 30, 2006 Sparks Tribune column of Andrew Barbano:

“If growth paid for itself, would we need a WC-1 on the Washoe County ballot which seeks to impose the latest regressive sales tax increase for police and fire personnel and the buildings to house them?”

one wrong word geTs you killed

Last week, as visitors tend to do, Donald Trump in Reno pronounced Nevada Nuh-vaw-duh instead of Nuh-vadd-uh.

This “issue” is likely to get more ink and air time in the state this year than, say, Trump’s positions on public lands or Yucca Mountain or any other Nevada-related matter.

Many visitors to the state, such as George W. Bush, mispronounce its name. But Trump did add a new wrinkle to the experience—he stood before the crowd of Nevadans and argued with them when they corrected him. And in one of those truly weird things he tends to say from time to time, he told the crowd that someone was killed for mispronouncing the state’s name: “If you don’t say it correctly—and it didn’t happen to me, but it happened to a friend of mine, he was killed.”

According to the Nevada State Prison, it has been decades since anyone was executed for pronouncing the state’s name incorrectly.

PoT Tale of The week

In a letter to the editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal about Nevada’s marijuana ballot measure, Joe Kotas of Reno wrote, “According to crimeinco.cbi.state.co.us, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s official tally on major crimes from 2014 to 2015 (the last year of available data), homicides are up 14.7 percent, rapes are up 10.6 percent, robberies are up 9.6 percent, motor vehicle theft us up 27.7 percent and the only crime category dropping was burglary, which was down .9 percent.”

What Mr. Kotas neglected to do was show any linkage between marijuana and those statistics. Actually, these crime increases have nothing to do with Colorado specifically. They are happening across the United States. For instance: “Dallas on pace for highest murder rate since ’07” (WFAA); “Chicago Drives Uptick in Murders” (U.S. News & World Report); “Chicago Murder Rate Pales To That In San Bernardino” (International Business Times); “Louisiana tops murder rate—again” (INDsider); “Dayton homicide rate rising” (Dayton Daily News); “In Las Vegas, Rising Murders Strain a Police Force Used to Solving Them” (New York Times).

According to the most recent annual crime statistics, released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Sept. 26, substantial percentage increases were seen nationally in murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault and property crimes.

As we reported earlier (“Pot tale of the week,” RN&R, Sept. 29), according to President Nixon’s marijuana commission, marijuana “was usually found to inhibit the expression of aggressive impulses. … In fact, only a small proportion of the marihuana users among any group of criminals or delinquents known to the authorities and appearing in study samples had ever been arrested or convicted for such violent crimes as murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault or armed robbery.”

And: “US And Colorado Murder Rates Have Jumped, But They’re Still Historically Low” (Colorado NPR). —Dennis Myers

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Heck held a news conference in Reno on Oct. 1.

PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS

Abortion returns

Senate candidates face off on the issue

abortion, an issue long thought more or less settled in Nevada, has re-emerged to enter the U.S. Senate race between Republican Joe Heck and Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto.

Heck calls himself a “pro-life candidate,” the kind of label Nevada Republicans have avoided since Nevadans voted for abortion rights in a landslide in 1990.

The temperature of the abortion issue in the Senate campaign was raised when an arm of Planned Parenthood produced a television spot that charged Heck voted to “criminalize abortion for rape victims,” which is not true. The spot cited as its source an article posted on Politico, and that article does not contain any substantiation for the charge. More to the point, the legislation at issue in the Politico article—the “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” or HR 3803—contained language protecting women who obtain abortions from prosecution.

Heck did cosponsor and vote for the bill, which failed to achieve the required supermajority vote. Another claim in the same spot—that Heck has voted repeatedly to block funding to Planned Parenthood—is accurate.

While Heck calls himself “prolife,” that may be a tactic to attract abortion opponents without seeming extreme on the issue by embracing the kind of add-ons that abortion opponents have championed to reduce abortion access. In an interview with Heck to clarify his position on abortion, he indicated he is staying just inside the line of opposing abortion and not doing much else to stop it. He opposes a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion and supports parental notification but not parental consent laws. He declined to say whether he supports or opposes judicial bypass measures. In addition, in August, a Heck aide implied Heck does not support overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that recognized abortion rights.

Here is the abortion portion of our interview:

RN&R: “Would you vote for legal abortion?”

HECK: “Well, abortion is legal, per the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, so until the Supreme Court changes their decision, there’s no vote to be had. Supreme Court’s already decided.”

RN&R: “I understand, but Congress has bills all the time that are unconstitutional.”

HECK: “Well, I think that the Supreme Court has weighed in on the issue, and until the Supreme Court changes their mind or reissues their decision that’s ultimately what we will follow.”

RN&R: “What would you describe your abortion position as?”

HECK: “Well, I’m a pro-life candidate, but I support the Hyde amendment. Taxpayer funds should not be used to support abortion with the exception of rape, incest, or life of the mother.”

RN&R: “Would you support a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion?”

HECK: “No, I don’t believe in changing the constitution on social issues.”

RN&R: “Parental notification?”

HECK: “I support parental notification. I think it’s important a parent advise on what’s going on with their underage child and has an opportunity to interact with that child and help that child reach a conclusion or a decision on what’s in the best interests of the child.”

RN&R: “Parental consent?”

HECK: “I don’t think parental consent is necessary. Parental notification is necessary.”

RN&R: “Judicial bypass?”

HECK: “Judicial bypass in reference to—?”

RN&R: “A teenager who goes to a judge to get permission for an abortion without going to her parents.”

HECK: “I think there needs to be parental notification.”

In August, Cortez Masto put her own abortion spot on the air that stays closer to facts. However, its voice track says Heck “supports overturning Roe vs. Wade, which would allow states to criminalize abortion” over an on-screen slate that reads in part, “Overturn Roe. v. Wade.” That prompted a Heck aide

to tell a reporter Heck “has never stated he supports overturning Roe v. Wade, nor has he ever voted to do so.”

Incidentally, no matter what Congress does, the Nevada Legislature could not “criminalize” abortion in the state without a vote of the public.

Her emphasis on the issue suggests she thinks she has Heck on the defensive on an issue where Nevadans have spoken forcefully. What is not known is how important the abortion rights issue is to the voters and whether it will determine how they vote in the Senate race.

One hint may come from the 1990 balloting. In that case, there were two measures on the ballot side-by-side. One was a referendum on whether to retain Nevada’s Roe-style abortion statute. The other was an initiative petition that would outlaw a state income tax. Four thousand more people wanted to be heard on abortion than income tax—316,711 to 312,414.

The vote retained Nevada’s abortion law 63 to 37 percent. It also subjected the law to a voter shield, which is why the legislature cannot change it without another vote of the public.

Cortez Masto has her own handicaps in the race, though they tend to be process issues more than issues that touch people directly. As state attorney general she brought criminal charges against Nevada lieutenant governor Brian Krolicki and an aide on Dec. 4, 2008. The case involved mishandling of funds in a state account, with no money missing. The charges were thrown out of court, and Cortez Masto was accused of trying to clear the way for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s reelection by removing a possible opponent. In another case, Cortez Masto successfully charged

Economic Washoe County School Board members with issues get less open meeting violations after they had carefully followed their attorney’s play in the race advice, something she had promised—both in a previous case and in the state open meeting handbook—not to do to state officeholders. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, campaigning for Cortez Masto last week, attacked Heck for trivializing the impact of the mortgage crisis on the public. Heck in 2008 called it a “blip on the radar.” Nevada experienced the highest percentage of foreclosures of any state. Ω Our full interview with candidate Heck can be read on our Newsview blog.

Thanks for coming