Saturday, October 27, 2012

Endorsements From The Las Vegas Badger

Well, since newspapers and and a lot of people give out their endorsements, I thought I'd give it a try.  With the exception of the presidential race, all the other races are Nevada races.  So, here goes:
President: During the primaries, Mitt Romney was not my first choice as the GOP nominee but he is the nominee of the GOP and he is no Obama.
Obama has cost me a lot of money.  Higher health insurance including co-pays and premiums are a direct result of ObamaCare.  Obama's insistence on taxing the rich will probably cost me a few thousand when the tax cuts expire.  Utility and gasoline costs have cost me a lot of money.  I went from a fairly secure middle class teacher to one who survives from paycheck to paycheck.
Obama has cost Nevada tens of thousands of jobs through policy (Yucca Mountain) to regulations (loss of 2 coal fired power plants in Northern Nevada) to the generally ill health of the Nevada economy.
Mitt Romney has a business background and so that will help him deal with the jobless problem and with dealing with government regulations.  He is a modest guy and will not blow out budgets when partying and will not be such a ego maniac who thinks the world revolves around him.  He will add more class to the White House and will have the respect of world leaders world wide.  He's not perfect and not my first choice but he would do a much better job than Obama will do. 
Endorsement: Mitt Romney
U.S. Senate: Dean Heller vs Shelly Berkley
 Dean Heller, again, would not have been my first choice as the Senator who replaced John Ensign mid term, but he has done a pretty good job.  He's a moderate but can be conservative on certain issues.
Shelly Berkley is a Nancy Pelosi/Obama clone who is quite unethical, though not as unethical of say a Harry Reid.  She is a very liberal Democrat and doesn't represent the values of most Nevadans, outside of a small part of the Las Vegas Valley and a little area of Reno.  She voted for ObamaCare and other large spending items. 
Endorsement: Dean Heller
U.S. House of Representatives: District 1 Dina Titus (D) vs Chris Edwards (R)
Sadly, I have not heard anything about Chris Edwards, either in communication with me or any commercials.  If he knew he wouldn't have had the money to run a campaign, he should not have run in the primaries.  The sad truth is that this would have been an easy win for the GOP if he would have advertised because Titus is a thief and morally bankrupt. Having said that, he is good on the issues and if I lived in his district, I would have no problems voting for him.
Dina Titus is probably the most corrupt politician in Nevada in the past 20 years or more.  She was defeated 2 years ago by Joe Heck, so she decided to go back to teaching at UNLV.  She only taught 1 or two classes while getting full time pay.  Then UNLV said she wasn't qualified to teach the classes so she retired along with her husband and collected over $500,000 in severance pay along with her pension.  Working that extra year increased her pension significantly.
On the issues, she is another clone of Pelosi/Obama and maybe even worse.  While at least Berkley strongly supports Israel, Titus is more luke warm.  Further, Titus has no clue about working in the private sector as she has always worked in government jobs as a educator and politician.  She has no clue about reality of working stiffs like me or business owners who have to suffer because she only knows what she reads in text books and academic writings.
Endorsement: Edwards
Congressional District 2: Mark Amodei (R) vs Samuel Koepnick (D)
This District covers all of Nevada except Clark County, so this will be an even win by Amodei.  Again, Amodei was appointed to his position when Heller went to the Senate.  And again, I don't think Amodei was the best candidate for the post, but he won the primary and this is who we have.  He's a good guy and has worked hard.  He leans center-right.
Koepnick spent $17 on the primary and has not been spending any money campaigning, instead of relying on social media to get this message out.  He is mostly concerned with censorship and civil liberties.  The nice thing about Koepnick is that he seems to be a nice guy and is not engaging in mud slinging.
Endorsement: Mark Amodei
Congressional District 3: Dr. Joe Heck(R) vs John Oceguera (D)
This is the District where I live, so I have been following the race closely.  Dr. Heck has run a small business, is a doctor and is in the U.S. Army as a reservist.  Dr. Heck defeated Titus 2 years ago and he has done a good job in the House.  He is center-right on the issues and is very knowledgeable about health care, business and the military. 
Oceguera is a former firefighter who apparently liked to screw his firefighter brothers and sisters.  He would trade his 24 hours shifts and then refuse to work their shifts in return.  In addition, he doubled dipped when he was in the Nevada assembly by collecting money per diem and pay from the state when the Assembly was in session and then turned around and collected pay from the fire department.
Oceguera is a liberal on the issues and would not hesitate to raise taxes on everyone.  I doubt he would be an independent in the House but would only follow the Democratic leadership.
Endorsement: Dr. Joe Heck
Congressional District 4  Danny Tarkanian (R) vs Stephen Horsford(D)
This is a new district that was created when Nevada was given an extra House seat.
Tarkanian is the son of UNLV coaching great, Jerry Tarkanian and the Tarkanian family is heavily involved in GOP politics.  Tarkanian is a conservative, both socially and economically.  Yes, his family has had financial difficulties, not unlike other Nevada families but on a larger scale.  Because of this, he may relate better to the foreclosure crisis than Horsford. 
Horsford is looking to be the first black representative from Nevada but he has some serious issues.  My biggest problem with Horsford was his parking in a handicapped parking place when he is a pretty health guy.  That was extremely arrogant.  he also has engaged in play for pay activities when he was a State senator.  If he can think he can play for pay here in Nevada, imagine what he could do in Washington D.C.
Horsford loves to tax, especially corporations and other supposed rich, not thinking of the consequences of his actions.  He also helped water down an education bill that would have helped school children. 
The hard part for me though, is that I met Horsford when I went to see Obama and Horsford was out shaking hands and he seemed like a really nice guy.
Endorsement: Danny Tarkanian
More endorsements to come in the next day or so.

1 comment:

  1. I think it is a fiction (though a popular fiction) that Mitt Romney's experience running a business correlates to managing the world's largest economy. I don't see what one thing has to do with the other. He certainly hasn't proven that math is his strong suit, when it comes to all of the tax cuts, military spending, etc. I'd like a little evidence that Romney has the first clue about fixing the economy. From what I've seen, he's continuing on with the people and the policies of the Bush Administration. . . you know, those who got us into this mess in the first place.

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