PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS
In February 2012, Republican caucusgoers at Dilworth Middle School in Sparks checked listings to find out where in the school their precincts gathered.
Patient dumping case goes forward The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Nevada state government growing out of the state’s former policy of dumping mental patients on other states. In a June 30 decision, the Court declined to take up an appeal of a California Superior Court ruling that Nevada can be sued in California. Nevada had claimed sovereign immunity. The case is Nevada et. al. v. Superior Court of California, et. al. The case grows out of Nevada’s practice of dumping mental patients out of state to free up space in a Nevada facility, Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital. The practice was disclosed in an award-winning Sacramento Bee series by reporters Cynthia Hubert and Phillip Reese. Their reports were sparked by schizophrenia patient James F. C. Brown, a homeless man who was given a one-way ticket and put on a bus bound for Sacramento. The reporters subsequently learned that 1,500 patients had been dumped in states across the nation. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a class action against Nevada on behalf of California local governments who paid the costs of patients dumped in their jurisdictions. Twenty of the patients dumped in San Francisco required medical attention, and that city is seeking about $500,000 for medical care, housing and other costs. Nevada still hopes to get the case dismissed. It is planning a second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, this time to invoke California Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt, a case in which California sought a Supreme Court ruling that a state government should be immune from lawsuits by private individuals, in this case inventor Gilbert Hyatt. Hyatt, a California resident, moved to Nevada and informed California of the move, subsequently paying only part of his California licensing fees for the year of the move. California opened an audit, prompting Hyatt to sue. The California Franchise Tax Board sought immunity against the suit and the Nevada Supreme Court ruled for Hyatt. The U.S. Supreme Court found in California’s favor on the two points of the case it accepted for appeal.
Another threat U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell last week told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that tax scofflaw Cliven Bundy will be held accountable for his behavior. “Cliven Bundy has had multiple court orders to remove his cattle from federal public lands, and he has not paid his grazing fees, and he has not abided by the law,” she said. “We will continue to pursue that.” However, the federal government’s negligence in the case make continued threats against Bundy seem empty—or at least some Nevada ranchers think so. A few days after Jewell’s comments, the New York Times reported on other Nevada ranchers who, inspired by Bundy’s example, have begun grazing their cattle without paying grazing fees, apparently feeling secure that the feds’ threats can safely be ignored. “If I end up in a federal prison, I hope JEWELL it’s Martha Stewart’s,” said Lander County rancher Eddyann Filippini. “So far, that does not look likely,” the Times observed. Bundy’s failure to pay his fees dates back two decades without the Interior Department taking effective action.
Nostalgia Nov. 18, 1987: “NEW YORK — Donald J. Trump, the New York real estate magnate, a registered Republican, has been asked by Jim Wright, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to be the host at the 25th annual Democratic Congressional dinner in Washington in March. ... Rep. Beryl Anthony Jr., D-Ark., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ... said they had asked Trump to serve as chairman of the dinner, a major fund-raising event, because he projected the new image they would like the Democratic Party to have.”
—Dennis Myers
8 | RN&R |
JULY 9, 2015
Caucus tactics Seven months out, casinos and candidates plot their course The nation’s casino lobby is running in the 2016 caucuses and primaries. Republican Donald Trump is by busily alienating Latinos and GOP Dennis Myers leaders. And Rand Paul, by embracing Cliven Bundy, may have sewn up the state’s small counties where few of the state’s voters reside. The Des Moines Register—the leading newspaper in the first presidential caucus state—reported that the American Gaming Association will be active in presidential primaries and caucuses in pushing its agenda on behalf of the nation’s casino industry.
“Whoever’s nominated will be reminded constantly that their party produced Donald Trump.” Fred Lokken Political analyst It’s a far cry from the 1990s, when evangelical Christian organizations quizzed Republican candidates on their stands on allowing gambling and on whether they employed the euphemism “gaming” in their speeches. “This isn’t your grandfather’s casino industry,” Freeman said. “There are nearly 1,000 casinos across the United States. But we still
find perceptions out there as to what gaming is, or what it may be.” Freeman may be poor-mouthing for strategic reasons. After all, only a fifth of the states still do not have a stake in gambling. Most presidential candidates understand that state and local governments are invested in casino jobs and revenues. What is more likely at issue is getting the candidates on the record early on the casino lobby’s policy agenda. “We think we have an opportunity as the candidates are crisscrossing the state to introduce them to the industry to begin to learn what the industry does, how we operate and what the local perspective is, so they are better equipped when they are back in Washington, whether it is the White House or some other capacity,” Freeman said. He cited the February 2009 incident when President Obama said in remarks to Indiana bankers, “When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.” Some Nevada officials and leaders were distressed by the comments, and Freeman essentially said that if he and industry representatives get to candidates in the primaries and caucuses, they can teach them to avoid characterizing the industry that way.
Meanwhile, Trump’s comments on Latinos have hurt his chances in Nevada, where he already had problems. His attacks on immigrants undercut the efforts of some GOP leaders to attract a greater percentage of the Latino vote, as Ronald Reagan (45 percent) and George W. Bush (44 percent) succeeded in doing by avoiding criticism of immigrants. In addition, the crudity of his comments (“Who is doing the raping, Don?”) are reminiscent of the rationale for many lynchings of AfricanAmericans in the South in the 20th century, and threaten to make Trump another Pete Wilson—a 1990s California governor whose war on immigrants alienated Latinos from the GOP for decades. Latinos make up about a fifth of Nevada voters. Nevada political analyst Fred Lokken found Trump’s actions difficult to understand. “Politically, I really don’t understand why he is doing this,” he said. “He’s decided, I guess, to own this issue. It’s fracturing the party right now. And whoever’s nominated in the fall will be reminded constantly that their party produced Donald Trump.” Lokken suggests it may be a way for Trump to position himself to be a commentator when the campaign is over. “Trump is a showman,” he said. “He may be doing it to become a pundit. Donald Trump is the poster child for alternative motives. This is a guy who promotes himself all the time.” Trump also has frayed relations with Nevada GOP leaders. On May 29, 2012, he appeared on stage in Las Vegas to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Unfortunately, earlier in the day, Trump had appeared on CNN to talk about Barack Obama’s birth certificate: “You won’t report it, Wolf [Blitzer], but many people do not think it was authentic,” Trump said. “His mother was not in the hospital. There are many other things that came out and, frankly, if you would report it accurately, I think you’d probably get better ratings than you’re getting, which are pretty small.” Headlines across the nation appeared, like this one in the Arizona Republic: “Romney clinches, gets upstaged by ‘birther’ Trump.” Nevada Republican leaders, already struggling with divisions in their ranks, were angered by Trump’s blunder. Just as bad, a
