Nevada Politics Jon Porter Porker

What they witnessed was a punch from the right in the Nevada Republican primary that knocked out several incumbents and almost took down one of the state’s most powerful legislators for the past quarter-century.

Veteran Republican Assemblyman John Marvel, seeking his 16th term, was defeated, largely on the back of a campaign highlighting his 2003 vote to raise taxes.

Republican incumbent Assembly members Francis Allen and Bob Beers fell to opponents who attacked them for being too cozy with Democrats. Don Chairez, a former District Court judge and conservative, came within a couple of thousand votes of taking a spot on November’s runoff for the state Supreme Court.

Each race, of course, had its own dynamic. But it became clear that the party’s most conservative members asserted themselves in a combination of Ron Paul fever, President Bush fatigue and malaise in the moderate wing.

While the Ron Paul Republicans, including personal friends, lost many elections in the recent NV primaries we did make gains. The highlight of this primary election was the near election of Don Chairez to the NV supreme court and the near victory of Andrew Bronson to the Nevada Assembly.

Since this was the first time in the political arena for many of the Ron Paul Republicans, bumps were certainly expected. We can expect future improvement in getting out the message of liberty, targeting of the races and allocation of volunteers and resources. It is important to remember that winning elections is not the focus of the revolution. The focus is on educating the people to make informed decisions, to make sure people have had exposure to the positives which stem from the message of liberty.

To this extent, this election primary season here in NV was a success. I have the utmost respect and admiration for our candidates and I hope all those who ran for office stick it out for the long run and continue their efforts on behalf of liberty. Additionally, I think an increased local focus is prudent, concentration on assembly seats provides both opportunity to establish personal relationships with voters and experience for our courageous and excellent candidates.

Two weekends ago I attended a fundraiser and volunteer event for Ron Paul republicans here in NV, which I have been meaning to write about. The amazing energy and work of the Ron Paul Republicans (especially our Meetup [over 700 members]) generated a strong second place showing for Ron Paul here in NV, brought hundreds of new, and mostly young, faces into the political arena, shut down the GOP convention in Reno, and heavily influenced the NV GOP party platform, has now translated into candidates running for office. As the saying goes, all politics is local, and indeed, local change will predate national change and lead to lasting political involvement, while national advocacy is more emotionally satisfying, initially, it will not bear as heavy long term fruit like local advocacy.

So, I am proud to announce that Ron Paul candidates are on the march in NV; we are challenging all three congressional seats, and at least 5 state assembly seats (so I've been told). Plus, from appearances of things, we may have a number of other candidates not directly involved in the meetup who at least sympathize with the ideals of human liberty. The 3 Ron Paul candidates who were the beneficiaries of this this particular fundraiser are:

Chris Dyer running for Congressional district 1
Carl Bunce running for Congress, district 3 (running in the primary in my district against pork barreling, big government spending Jon Porter, who last time I checked was on TV was spinning his wheels discussing Darfur instead of battling American socialism.)

I know all three of them quite well and can personally vouch that they are truly in favor of limiting the size and scope of government. Plus, David Isabell has an awesome license plate! :)

Also, we had two judges present, one current Judge, Cynthia Steel for Family Court, and one judge seeking election, Suzan Baucum for district court judge. I'm not sure if either of them are Ron Paul supporters, but it was certainly nice of them to stop by; I was pleased to have some good discussions with Judge Steel and as an added bonus on her website she has listed the endorsement of Weldon ‘Don’ Havins, M.D., Esq, who taught our class and whose opinion I respect.

Of course, there are other NV Ron Paul candidates who were not at this particular fundraiser, those with websites are:

As political forces grow, this phenomena of politicians recognizing and showing up at events will surely increase. Once it is known that 'liberty' is a popular concept, that Ron Paul candidates are being elected to office, that Ron Paul voters are voting with their ballots, we will attract the attention of 'mainstream' politicians who, flighty with the wind, as they are prone, will soon begin to co-opt our rhetoric and vote and rule respectively. Not to mention, attend out events and give us access to these elected officials. Let us welcome them.

In conclusion, I have the utmost respect for all our candidates, they are taking the necessary steps, fighting our battles for us, putting in the hours, doing the dirty work, while we remain bashfully on the sidelines and cheer. I congratulate them all and wish them the best of luck, they will certainly have my vote and support this November and beyond.

As is said, 'what men can dream, men can achieve', and if this phenomena continues to replicate in states across the country, and from what we hear this is happening; we will truly have a revolution on our hands.

After a super-majority of Ron Paul supporters captured control of the Republican state convention Saturday, state party officials abruptly canceled the event without electing delegates to the national convention.

But Paul's 10-minute speech drove the crowd of 1,200 delegates into frenzied applause. They interrupted him repeatedly with standing ovations.

This took place last weekend here in NV and from conversations I've had with people in attendance it was an amazing experience. Ron Paul's revolution will continue across the country at the local levels. For example, here in Nevada a group has formed 'the Nevada liberty alliance', dedicated to supporting candidates espousing Ron Paul's message of freedom and liberty.

It will be interesting to see what transpires in Montana in June, Paul is also speaking at this event.

Another example, check out this beaut, the Nevada Republican state party platform, largely influenced by Ron Paul supporters. In fact, it is probably the most liberty advancing state party platform in the entire country:

Nevada State Republican Platform 2008 - 2010

Preamble:

We believe that government is instituted solely to secure the life, liberty and property of the citizens of the country, that the Declaration of Independence defines the philosophical foundation of the country, that the Constitution of the United States is the basic law governing the existence and operation of the U.S. Federal Government and the first ten amendments describe its limits, and, as Thomas Jefferson said, that the government that governs least governs best.

Federalism & Limited Government

1. We support less government, less taxes, less regulation and more self determination.

2. All legislation, Federal Agencies, and public servants must adhere to a literal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and as instructed by the Tenth Amendment, in conjunction with Article I, Section 8.

Patriotism

3. We recognize the importance of the national values expressed by our flag, anthem, Pledge of Allegiance and other patriotic symbols that define us as a nation and we believe that the words, "in GOD we trust," should remain on our currency and the words 'under God' should remain in our Pledge of Allegiance.

Taxes and Government Spending

4. We support reform of Social Security, including establishment of private retirement accounts and prohibiting use of its funds for any other purpose. All citizens shall have the right to opt out of the system, but the government must honor its commitments to those who have paid, are legally in the U.S., and remain in the system. We propose the abolishment of the Windfall Elimination Tax when computing Social Security Benefits. We oppose Nationalization of Healthcare.

5. We urge the Nevada Legislature to cut spending and avoid new taxes to encourage strong economic growth. We support the Nevada Constitutional Requirement of a 2/3 majority legislative vote to raise state taxes. We support balanced state, local and federal budgets. We oppose unfunded mandates, Riders, Ear-marks and Set-asides at both the state and national level. We support the permanent elimination of the Federal Death Tax.

The Economy

6. We support a strong private minerals industry. We support the Nevada Mining Association endorsed reform of the 1872 mining law and strongly oppose any laws, regulations, ordinances or any other legally binding actions that diminish the ability of the minerals industry to discover and or access minerals and mine them.

7. Fires are increasing because of the lack of livestock grazing. Therefore, livestock grazing shall be increased immediately on Federal Lands.

Education

8. We support a parent's right to choice in education including vouchers, charter schools, and home schooling. We also support the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. We further oppose requiring licensure for parents who choose to home school. We support the elimination of the No Child Left Behind law and require the State of Nevada to replace the No Child Left Behind concept.

Family Values

9. We affirm the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of each human being from conception to death and oppose cloning complete human beings. We support the private development of adult stem cell research and we support all efforts to stop human trafficking. We support the definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman.

The Environment

10. We support initiatives to maximize the development of America's domestic oil, gas, coal, solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear resources, and the development of alternative sources of energy to reduce the nations's dependence on foreign oil. We support granting local government more authority in decision-making regarding water rights within their jurisdiction.

Legislation

11. We demand the repeal of McCain-Feingold and reaffirm the right of free political speech. We support legislation to require full disclosure of all donations made to political candidates.

12. We support the repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the return of the power of minting and coining money to the Congress of the United States as so stated in the Constitution. In addition we demand a return to a gold and/or silver backed currency as provided for the U.S. Constitution.

13. We demand that electronic voting only be allowed when uniquely numbered receipts are provided to the voter and results are made publicly available showing simultaneously all votes comprising the total by receipt number.

The Litigation Crisis

14. We believe in informing juries that it is their power and duty to decide on both the law and the facts as they apply to each case so that justice is the main priority. We support the election of judges.

Immigration

15. We welcome legal immigrants from all nations, cultures and races. We demand strict enforcement of all immigration laws by all levels of government. We demand that the federal government secure our borders. We do not support amnesty, government benefits or other special treatment for aliens who have or will enter the United States illegally. We support English as the official language of the untied States and the printing of government materials in English only.

National Defense and Veteran's Affairs

16. We support all of our men and women in the military who are serving both in the United States and around the world and the missions of all U.S. troops around the world. Be they active duty, National Guard, or reservist, they have our highest admiration and respect. We support honoring veterans with education benefits and we support a strong Veterans Administration subject to strong oversight and audit, to assure veterans and families receive the care and support as promised.

Constitution, Bill of Rights and Protection of Rights

17. We believe that the First Amendment to the Constitution was intended to prevent a state-sponsored religion rather than a separation of God from public life. We affirm that the Second Amendment protects an individual right which should be enforced as strictly as the rights protected by the First Amendment.

18. We support repealing the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. We support repeal of the federal act requiring a national ID card or other required identity papers providing government with 'big brother' intrusion into constitutional freedoms.

U.S. Sovereignty & Trade

19. We support the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations. We demand that Nevada join Montana, Idaho, Utah and other states in opposing the North American Union (NAU) in withdrawing from the Security & Prosperity Partnership (SPP), withdrawing from North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and that Congress resume their duty of regulating Commerce with Foreign Nations.

Eminent Domain

20. We oppose Federal legislation regarding public lands including wilderness in Nevada counties unless approved by the county.

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul rocked Las Vegas today drawing a raucous crowd of 1200-1500 people into UNLV's Ham Hall.

The local Las Vegas Ron Paul meetup group generates some pretty good press coverage for Ron Paul, even if parts of the article are a bit bizarre... :)

Porter's Score on the RePORK Card

8/14/07 Club For Growth Press Release

Porter’s Score on RePORK Card Speaks for Itself—And it’s Not Pretty

Washington – Yesterday, Republican Rep. Jon Porter (NV-3) defended his record of fiscal responsibility despite scoring a pathetic 10% on the Club for Growth’s 2007 RePORK Card. Fiscal responsibility, my foot.

“Porter’s staff claimed the RePORK Card is ‘misleading,’ but the Club for Growth’s RePORK Card speaks for itself,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Either you stand for American taxpayers by voting against pork projects, or you stand for parochial special interests. With a score of 10% on the 2007 RePORK Card, Jon Porter backed up the special interests 90% of the time. Porter also scored a humiliating 26% last year, voting for only 5 of Jeff Flake’s 19 anti-pork amendments. If anything, Jon Porter is sinking further into the pit of fiscal recklessness with each passing year.”

The RePORK Card documents all fifty anti-pork votes during the 2007 appropriations process. Over the course of this process, Jon Porter voted to keep such outrageous pork projects as:

$34,000,000 for the Alaska Native Education Equity program and other programs (RC #654, 07/18/07)
$300,000 for the On Location Entertainment Industry Craft and Technician Training project at West Los Angeles College in Culver City, CA (RC #667, 07/18/07)
$150,000 for the American Ballet Theatre in New York City for educational activities (RC #668, 07/18/07)
$150,000 for the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, S.C. (RC #669, 07/18/07)
$100,000 for the Kansas Regional Prisons Museum in Lansing, Kansan (RC #670, 07/18/07)
Bars funding of $2,000,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York in New York City (RC #678, 07/19/07).
$50,000 for the National Mule and Packers Museum in Woodlake, CA (RC #700, 07/24/07)

Thanks Congressmen Porter for spending Nevada tax dollars on the above projects and much much more...

My Rep, Rep John Porter (R, NV), doesn't get high marks at all on his porkbarreling record (compiled by the Club For Growth).. No surprise to us!

Nice long article on Ron Paul by the Las Vegas Sun. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend this rally.

"Nevada is now high on our list. It's a great state. People in Nevada aren't that anxious to have the government bearing down on them."

Ok, this is hilarious. If you recall, on 7/29 I listed a whole slew of ridiculous projects that my representative, 'Republican' Jon C. Porter, had gone on the record voting for. I emailed him a link and told him I was a registered Republican voter in his district blogging unfavorably about his stealing from the American people.

Thank you for your letter regarding H.R. 4890. I appreciate and value your views on this issue. As you already know, the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006, amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to authorize the President to propose the rescission of any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority or the rescission, in whole or in part, of any item of direct spending.

Is Porter suggesting that he supports the Presidential in-line-veto so that the President can veto his own votes for wasteful spending?!?

Heh heh... Actually I don't think that's the case, it's more likely some staffer just glanced at my email and sent out the wrong form letter.

As an aside, it is clearly stated on the letter what congressional committees Porter is a member of. One of them is the "Committee on Government Reform". Lol!

Nevada Politics, a new posting group, has been created in order to consolidate present and future posts on political happenings in Nevada and highlight 'Republican' Rep Jon Porter's porkbarreling spending/thieving. Also, I can now send Rep Porter a link informing him that a registered Republican voter is blogging about him unfavorably from within his district. :)

Andrew Roth, talented manager of the 'Club For Growth' blog, has requested that we partake in an exercise to find out and advertise how our Congresscritters feel about stealing from the American people. With $2.5 trillion dollars in Federal Spending, it is already abundantly clear they LOVE to steal from us. :) However, thanks to (R) Congressmen and CFG elected Candidate Jeff Flake, Congresspersons were forced to go on the record voting YES or NO on 19 'Flake' Amendments, which highlight some especially egregious pork. This effort to highlight the votes on these 19 amendments is gaining steam:

The Pork Scorecard is now listing 64 blogs, both conservative and liberal in ideology, that have written about 131 politicians.

So, I checked out my Congressmen (R) Jon Porter from Nevada's third district. Rep Jon Porter, a Republican?!, mind you, voted no, individually, on amendments attempting to toss out the following:

Rep Gibbons, the other Republican from NV, voted to scrap all 19 projects. Thank you sir! Of course, Rep Berkly, the Democratic Rep, voted to fund all 19 of the Amendments.

Congressman Porter, as a Nevada citizen, I thank you for taking the time to fund these initiatives so vital to the well-being of our state. I'm being sarcastic. Congressmen Porter and the rest of this sorry bunch are guilty of nothing less than outright theft. Legal stealing is no less immoral than illegal stealing, such as a mugging. :) Congressman Porter also recently voted to raise the minimum wage, another more subtle form of stealing, thus harming businesses, consumers, minorities and younger workers.

The 2006 Nevada Primary elections begin today, with general voting on August 15th. Unfortunately, no one is challenging Porter in the Republican party, but Joseph P. Silvestri is running on the Libertarian ticket. I'll bet Mr. Silvestri would be less of a thief than Jon Porter.

On a side note, I had the pleasure of eating lunch with Dr. Joe Heck, (R) Nevada, a freshmen state senator of my district, an Osteopathic physician (ER doc), and army reservist. I was impressed. He seems to be a strait up guy, sincere, honest, and personable. I must admit I am not quite sure exactly where he stands ideologically, the presentation he gave was noticeably nonpartisan, as the occasion required, but from some brief research he appears fairly conservative, although I'm not sure if he is more conservative than the primary opponent he defeated, whom I can at least appreciate by the nature of her many enemies. From outside appearances their primary battle was pretty um..... interesting, albeit courteous. :)

Heck said increasing the amount of funding per pupil isn't the answer, and cited the school district in Washington, D.C., which has one of the highest rates of funding per pupil but "has one of the worst outcomes."

As I've said before, the District of Colombia is a most interesting laboratory of liberalism, of its failures that is. :)

I wonder where Dr. Heck stands/stood on school choice, the minimum wage, and the Union hypocrisy occurring in district 5. Hmmm... he is my state senator, maybe I should ask him?