News

The newest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Statistics indicate that there were 154,000 labor union members in Nevada, representing 14.6 percent of wage and salary workers in the state. That’s higher than the national figure—11.8 percent—but lower than the 15 percent reported for Nevada in 2010.

Union membership has fluctuated significantly over the years. The highest recent Nevada high was in 1996, when 20.4 percent of workers were union members. The low was 2004, at 14.3 percent—not far below the 2011 numbers.

Meteor photo released

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration provided this photo taken from the Reno area of the April 22 meteor. The photo is credited to Lisa Warren. The meteor, which was heard across California and Nevada, disintegrated over California’s Central Valley in what the Jet Propulsion Laboratory called the “energy equivalent to a 5-kiloton explosion.”

“Most meteors you see in the night’s sky are the size of tiny stones or even grains of sand, and their trail lasts all of a second

or two,” said Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program in Pasadena in a prepared statement. This meteor weighed an estimated 154,300 pounds.

Adelson to switch

Nevada billionaire Sheldon Adelson has apparently reassured Republican leaders—including Mitt Romney—that he will shift his big money from his favorite, Newt Gingrich, to Romney.

CNN producer Kevin Bohn reported last week, “The future financial support from Adelson is something Romney and his allies would like to see and have sought. The two men met right before the February 4 Nevada caucuses and have spoken on the phone many times. About a dozen donors to the super PAC backing Romney, Restore Our Future, met with Adelson in Las Vegas late last month while they were in town for the Republican Jewish Coalition to convince him to ‘come on board.’ He indicated to them, according to one of the participants, [that] ‘it is just a matter of time.’ ”

Adelson and members of his family have given at least $20 million to keep the Gingrich campaign going.

Foreclosure help offered

The Washoe County Senior Law project is providing free help to hard-pressed homeowners in dealing with looming foreclosure.

Founded in 1991 and federally certified, the Project offers assistance to homeowners of any age, not just seniors.

It has free seminars on foreclosure prevention and homeowners can also meet with “housing counselors”.

Information can be obtained by calling 328-2656 or by sending a message to slphousing@washouecounty.us. Homeowners can also visit in person,at 1155 E. Ninth Street.

—Dennis Myers

Lobbyist Marlene Lockard, gesturing at right in the hallway outside the Nevada Assembly, represents the Nevada Women’s Lobby.

Climate change

Women workers face growing political hostility

“I know that’s an improvement,” Jan said. “But I don’t understand why that kind by of gap exists in the first place.”

Dennis Myers Jan—not her real name—was talking about the results of a new report on the wage gap between male and female Nevadans. She’s an accountant and single parent who lives in the Meadowood area. She once worked as a waitress while training for accountancy. Today, she supports her child and also helps out her mother. “I wanted not to have to rely on tips, to get into something white collar,” she said. So it was a disappointment to her to learn that for every dollar earned by men in Nevada, woman are paid 17 cents less, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.A “Nevada Women’s Money Conference” will be held at the “Women are increasingly responsible for the economic security of their

Siena Casino in families,” the report said.

Reno on June 9. “Women of color experience even Details are available at www.womens money.org/ greater disparities,” according to the report. “African-American women conferences working full time in Nevada are paid just 78 cents for every dollar paid to all men, which amounts to a difference of $9,584 per year. Latinas fare worse, being paid just 62 cents on the dollar, or $16,071 less than all men per year of employment.” Marlene Lockard, lobbyist at the Nevada Legislature for the Nevada Women’s Lobby, was troubled by the new numbers and said she thinks discriminatory employment practices are fostered by the political climate. “The president just signed the Lilly Ledbetter [pay equity] law when he was elected … but just a month ago you had Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, who signed the bill repealing equal pay in Wisconsin,” Lockard said. “And then you had the … legislator that stood up and said men need the money more than women. I mean, this is 2012 and these statements are being made today. And then on Meet the Press this morning, you’ve got this guy arguing with Rachel Maddow that she’s wrong, that women don’t earn less than men. And so I think that there’s just this concerted effort to obfuscate the issue.”

Everyone we spoke with mentioned the legislator Lockard referenced. He is Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman, who sponsored the law Walker signed and who made national news on April 7 after telling reporter Michelle Goldberg that women have different “goals in life. You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious. To attribute everything to a so-called bias in the workplace is just not true.”

It’s true that at one time, some women had more options and a choice of whether or not to work. In the early days of the women’s movement that arose in the late 1960s, one dispute was over whether women should enter the workplace or stay home. Women’s rights advocates said they just wanted women to have the option to work while conservatives characterized them as trying to force women out of the home. That is no longer the issue. As the middle class has been squeezed, its households need two incomes. Women are breadwinners.

“Females used to have the point that they’d like to choose,” Nevada economist Glen Atkinson said. “They’ve lost that right because they have to work.” The italics were in his tone of voice.

“You could argue that money is more important for men.”

Sen. Glenn Grothman

The political climate, Atkinson said, seems to have legitimized actions that until recently were stigmatized: “I’m surprised it has improved at all, as it is. … There’s a lot of very conservative action against all kinds of progressive policies, employment policies and other policies as well. I just heard some state legislator talk about go[ing] back to the old thing about the male’s the breadwinner, and males should get jobs before females. ... People didn’t say that a few years ago. … It seemed like they stopped saying this kind of thing.”

Traditionally, two of Nevada’s highest paying industries are mining and construction.

“Mining, of course, is not that big of an employer [in Nevada],” Atkinson

said. And construction in the state is in the economic doldrums. “In the big industries—hospitality—it shouldn’t be a problem,” Atkinson said.

There is general agreement with that point, that among casino and hotel employees there is likely very little pay disparity.

That makes the endurance of the wage gap even more of a puzzle. Sheila Leslie, a veteran state legislator, said, “It is perplexing that this inequality continues, given the huge gains women have seen in accessing higher education. There’s no rational reason for women to still be making less than men for the same work. However, there are still some people, like Wisconsin state Sen. Grothman, who believe that ‘money is more important for men’because women are more oriented to staying home and taking care of the kids. He sponsored the repeal of the equal pay law in Wisconsin … because he believes the pay disparity is a ‘myth of liberal women’s groups,’ despite multiple studies proving the disparity is real. How do we counter this type of nonsense when our policymakers are willing to deny the facts because they don’t fit a more attractive political narrative? “

Denial that a wage gap exists, in spite of evidence, was at play in the Meet the Press incident that Lockard mentioned, when Republican consultant Alex Castellanos told talk show host Rachel Maddow that there is no gender wage gap.

Maddow:“Do women make less than men?”

Castellanos:“No.”

Castellanos argued that women and men are not on the same footing because “men work an average of 44 hours a week. Women work 41 hours a week. Men go into professions like engineering, science and math that earn more. Women want more flexibility.”

Leslie said an important step in doing something about pay equity is to speak out against comments like those of Grothman. That, she said, will help change the political climate.

The effectiveness of pay equity laws is in dispute. Leslie said, “I think it’s very difficult to legislate equal pay.” There are both federal and—in most states—state pay equity laws. Pay equity experts say that frequently, taking a discrimination case to state court can be more effective and rapid than using a federal remedy.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic floor leader, said he tried to pass a “Paycheck Fairness Act” to reinforce equal pay laws.

“Unfortunately, when I brought this legislation for a vote in 2010, Republicans filibustered, and now the leading Republican presidential candidate refuses to declare whether he supports measures that protect wage equality,” Reid said.

However, there was no filibuster against Reid’s bill. It was an “imaginary filibuster” of the kind permitted by U.S. Senate leaders. Asingle senator can register his or her intention to filibuster and that will automatically impose a 60-vote threshold (the number of votes required to stop a filibuster) on the bill at issue. Senate leaders, to keep the floor clear for other purposes, do not require senators to actually filibuster to fulfill their threats.

This procedure is not authorized by Senate rules. It is a leadership strategy developed in 1975. It has been used since Obama became president to stop Democratic initiatives. Reid can end its use at any time. Ω

Back home

Lauren and Robert Alten met their son Cameron at the Reno airport when he returned from Afghanistan. The younger Alten is with a weapons company of the 24th Marines.

Going public

City candidate Neoma Jardon wants more pro-business policies

At first, Neoma Jardon probably looks like a big fish in the small barrel of city politics. That’s because she’s running for City Council in Ward 5, where she and fellow newcomer Kirby Lampley will be up against a familiar name—Kitty Jung, for five years a county commissioner. The seat is currently held by Dave Aiazzi. Looking back on 20-plus years as a human resources manager has helped to buoy Jardon’s confidence. “I was what my son calls a ‘lawyer babysitter,’” Jardon said, “I’ve learned that things only get done through personal relationships and that’s what I can bring to the consensus-building process.” Jardon emphasizes her business experience as a contract negotiator supporting the governmental affairs division of her former firm. With regard to economic development, she said that the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada and the Northern Nevada Development Authority are “doing a great job,” but that the city needs to think more about brain drain and less about branding. “There’s a lot of discussion about blight downtown and I think the way Reno gets out of that situation is through the students right up the street.” Jardon said. “We have some of the best minds coming out of our system and it seems to me that they get this fabulous education and then they leave.” Jardon considers the city’s tax structure a bright spot. Reno has long offered full corporate, franchise and inventory tax exemptions and has implemented sales and use tax incentives. Yet, Washoe County unemployment remains stuck between 12 and 13 percent. This leaves conservative,

adamantly pro-business candidates like Jardon with a tough question: What else can by possibly be done to lure investment? James DeHaven “My thought is that we need ongoing incentives for businesses not just to come here but to stay here,” Jardon said. “With Midtown and West Street and some of the other things organically growing, we need to make sure that our business licensing fees and our ability to open doors are competitive.” The city recently looked into reinstating nonprofit business application fees, an exemption that’s currently enjoyed by a few of the city’s biggest employers, including both major hospitals and the regional ambulance service. That wouldn’t go over well with Jardon, who said that while the city’s tax structure is “already very competitive,” it might need some streamlining when it comes to a “cumbersome” business application and licensing process. Aware that she faced a name recognition problem, and that pastures would probably be greener in the at-large race, she stayed in the Ward 5 race. “While Kitty Jung may have some name recognition, I have my own support and my own contacts here,” Jardon said. “This is where I live, where my family is, where I can have the most impact.” “[Kitty Jung] actually contacted me, through Dave Aiazzi, and said ‘If you run for the at-large seat I’ll support you.’I didn’t make much of it. My thought was, why doesn’t she run for the at-large seat herself?” Aiazzi is sticking to the sidelines. “I don’t endorse anyone in this race,” he said. “I don’t plan on doing that right now. It’s tough because I know Kitty better than I know Neoma, so I don’t want to be seen as bashing one or supporting the other one, but I am trying very hard to stay neutral in this race so that the public can wade through what the issues are.” All three Ward 5 candidates are running for City Council for the first time, meaning that whoever’s elected in November will be just one more on a roster full of rookies replacing term-limited veterans down at City Hall. Jardon isn’t worried about the learning curve. After the county ended consolidated fire services—and in the face of a persistently stale economy—she thinks now is the moment for local politics to redeem itself: “We only get one bite at this apple. We have to make sure that we take this opportunity to clean the slate and start anew.” Ω

PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS

Neoma Jardon spoke with other audience members after a county commission meeting.