Clark County GOP erects billboard touting Ron Paul, deriding Mitt Romney

Monday, June 4, 2012 | 3:37 p.m.

UPDATE: Even though the billboard was erected by a Clark County Republican Party executive board member, two days after I posted this, the party now is trying to distance itself from the controversial billboard with a "Statement on Billboard Controversy."

You can't make this stuff up.

Here it is: The Clark County Republican Party (CCRP) would like to clarify that despite local and national media reports to the contrary, the CCRP did not pay for or authorize the politically-themed billboard currently located near the corner of Russell Road and Decatur Blvd. in Las Vegas, across from CCRP headquarters.

The billboard in question features commentary on the Republican presidential primary; the CCRP is devoted exclusively to state and local races and is not involved in federal campaigns.

"The goal of the CCRP is to promote a conservative approach to government throughout Nevada and Clark County by electing Republicans to state and local office, holding them accountable to do what we elected them to do, and ensuring they face serious political consequences if they do not. Although the CCRP strongly supports freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment, we feel this billboard is a distraction from our stated mission, and the best course of action at this time is to request that the sponsor of the billboard change the language to omit any reference to the CCRP." said Cindy Lake, Acting Chairman of the CCRP.

The CCRP has contacted the billboard company and asked them to request that their client remove from the billboard the reference to the Clark County Republican Party to avoid any further confusion on the matter.

It sits at Decatur and Russell in Las Vegas, a stark reminder of the Ron Paul takeover of the Republican Party in the state's largest county.

The message is unmistakable: Ron Paul is like Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney is like George W. Bush. The latter is not meant kindly, I assure you.

Also advertised on the billboard is Oathkeepers, a group calling its members patriots but who critics refer to as paranoiacs of the first order. Check out its site

I swear, folks: The Republicans here are better than any act on the Strip. It is not even close.