Jon Ralston

Story Archive

Meeting of the special masters: Sunday, Oct. 16, 2011; The special masters convene to draw Nevada’s new congressional and legislative maps in the back room at Adele’s in Carson City.
Time to start a new tradition: Friday, Oct. 14, 2011; For a guy who says he knows nothing about poker, Bill Gardner sure can bluff.
End of the redistricting mess is nigh?: Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011; Pick your poison: Special masters or special session?
When a raise saves money but not credibility: Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011; This is the kind of blood-boiling story that should infuriate liberals and conservatives alike:
If there’s no special session, high court should step in: Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011; What do you call a place where the secretary of state tells the Supreme Court that a lower court judge isn’t doing his job on the most important political question of the decade — two weeks after the chief justice sent a nearly identical message to the jurist?
A son, a mentor’s son and a U.S. senator: Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011; Rarely could an application process for a city attorney position rise to Shakespearean levels, but this one does.
Sandoval accepts money from D.C. that Republicans opposed: Friday, Sept. 30, 2011; Isn’t it a shame when putative principles crash into stark reality?
Inmates prepare to take over GOP asylum: Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011; Republicans in Nevada have a lot to smile about these days.
How a Gang of 63 cedes authority to Gang of 3: Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011; Imagine that the Nevada Constitution mandated the Legislature consummate an act that will have more impact on the state’s political future than any other.
You can’t transplant the facts: Friday, Sept. 23, 2011; While the Democrats shamelessly employ oily techniques to distract from Rep. Shelley Berkley’s troubles and the Republicans disingenuously try to make her the second unethical coming of, well, John Ensign, let’s not let partisanship get in the way of the real story.
Can Sandoval’s numbers stay up?: Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011; Gravity is an unstoppable force, whether in physics or politics.
Murder on the Nevada Express: Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011; Friday’s news of Nevada’s rising unemployment rate, which is both misleading and depressing, brought the predictable reactions from the state’s political elite in D.C.
No lessons emerge from not-so-special election: Friday, Sept. 16, 2011; President Barack Obama should not bother coming to Nevada. Rep. Shelley Berkley might as well start drafting her concession speech now.
Berkley discloses conflict, but not smoothly: Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011; Welcome to the dichotomy that is this story — the question of when pushing hard for what you say you believe in intersects with what you cannot deny is your private interest.
What we’ve lost since Sept. 11: Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011; Many people will talk today about how their memories of 10 years ago are vivid.
A speech, a story, a slur and a special: Friday, Sept. 9, 2011; Emptying out the notebook with your Friday Flash after a busy week in Nevada politics featuring Mitt Romney’s pleasant sojourn in North Las Vegas, Shelley Berkley’s unpleasant sojourn on the front page
The Times' piece spells trouble for Berkley: Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011; There are always three barometers of any story damaging to a political figure: The substance of the piece, the ensuing damage control effort (which either ameliorates or exacerbates) and the political fallout.
Teachers union fails members: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011; Let’s hope that most teachers don’t share the values of the union that represents too many of them.
Nevada GOP could give Democrats fits in 2012: Friday, Sept. 2, 2011; In 2008, the state Republican Party was a painful joke.
Look past superficial to find summit substance: Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011; It would be so easy to snicker at the National Clean Energy Summit as a Harry Reid production, designed to promote a Democratic agenda, snipe at Republican policies and hype renewable energy.
An unreal debate in CD2: Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011; As early voting in that cooly contested special House election begins this weekend, I wanted to share this transcript of the “Sodium Pentathol” debate between Republican Mark Amodei and Democrat Kate Marshall:
Let's recall the recalls: Friday, Aug. 26, 2011; Recallmania is sweeping Southern Nevada, yet I find myself less than manic.
Less than shining moments: Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011; The race to replace Dean Heller in Congress has come down to the lesser of two lessers.
Time to swing for the fences in Nevada: Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011; Watching the predictable, partisan reaction to the national unemployment rate and the jobs report last week made me wonder if people in Nevada know just how bad we have it.
Speaking of candor, candidates and conflicts: Friday, Aug. 5, 2011; Catching up on some stuff left in the reporter’s notebook in your Friday Flash:
Debt debate tells us little about what Heller, Berkley will do: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011; Nothing illuminates the absurdity of the mercifully concluded debt nondebate more clearly than this: Both Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Shelley Berkley found a lot to dislike in the compromise, but one voted for it and the other against — and neither was clear about why.
Cloobeck, Gundlach lead Nevada donors to Democratic Super PAC; Reid helps Cherchio, gets love from Big Pharma, tribes: Monday, Aug. 1, 2011; A couple of Nevada donors gave about a fourth of the total to the new Democratic Super PAC, which is being run by operatives tied to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Might the House special be special, after all?: Sunday, July 31, 2011; Is that fear I smell or is the National Republican Congressional Committee just happy to be here?
Has think tank removed nonpartisan pretense?: Friday, July 29, 2011; Unlike some of my media colleagues, I have given the Nevada Policy Research Institute the benefit of the doubt.
Who will win the game of ‘Congressional Survivor’?: Wednesday, July 27, 2011; Welcome to this week’s edition of “Congressional Survivor.”
Rhetoric on renewables does not match reality: Sunday, July 24, 2011; I think Nevada politicians of all stripes have said renewable energy is our future more than they have said the children are our future.
Amodei plays it safe, Marshall swings for the fences in House special: Friday, July 22, 2011; Early voting starts five weeks from Saturday, and I think it’s safe to say the first House special election in Nevada history has proved to be one of the most bizarre.
A transparent guide to who owns City Hall: Wednesday, July 20, 2011; Much has been made — and rightly so — of the campaign finance reform passed by the 2011 Legislature.
Not much money help for Obama from Nevada in second quarter: Tuesday, July 19, 2011; Of President Obama's $47 million raised in the second quarter, only $82,000 was raised in itemized contributions from Nevada, according to federal records.
GOP poll: Sandoval looks solid across the state, among most demographics groups: Tuesday, July 19, 2011; Those are the findings of that same poll conducted last week that found Sen. Dean Heller up by 4 percentage points over Rep. Shelley Berkley (elsewhere on this blog). The poll memo is at right.
Heller poll shows him up 4 over Berkley in Senate race: Monday, July 18, 2011; GOP Sen. Dean Heller has a 48-44 lead on Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley in a poll taken last week for his campaign.
Lanni was one of industry’s best: Sunday, July 17, 2011; It is the nature of what I do that I interview people on television who put on a false front when the camera comes on.
The woes of MGM Resorts and North Las Vegas: Friday, July 15, 2011; The lion in summer is not doing so hot, now is the summer of North Las Vegas’ discontent and there is no summer of love in Carson City — emptying out the reporter’s notebook with your Friday Flash:
Marshall is good at math, but this problem is hard to solve: Wednesday, July 13, 2011; There remains only one really interesting question about the House special election in two months, and it has nothing to do with whether Kate Marshall lost $50 million as treasurer or whether Mark Amodei loved taxes and public-employee unions as a legislator.
Think tank report card curves to the right: Wednesday, June 29, 2011; The Nevada Policy Research Institute is quite proud of its 2011 legislative report card, boasting the scores are “an objective measure to compare how favorable a lawmaker is to economic freedom and education reform.”
When Harry met Shelley: Wednesday, June 22, 2011; He played hard to get at first, but Harry finally gave his heart to Shelley, pledging his everlasting (or at least until November 2012) love and promising to destroy the man who threatened them both.
It's time to fix the Legislature: Sunday, June 19, 2011; The good that legislators do too often is interred by the bad acts they commit, which live on to haunt them during the interim and the next campaign.
My farewell to Oscar: Friday, June 17, 2011; Dear Oscar, I am going to miss you.
Clark County DA demands return of $102 million from state treasurer after funds diverted: Wednesday, June 15, 2011; That would blow a hole in the state budget. But David Roger, acting at the behest of the Clark County Commission, today sent a letter to Treasurer Kate Marshall demanding a refund.
Zappos threatened to pull out of downtown deal if terms not changed: Wednesday, June 15, 2011; All you saw was the happiness and gushing and sea of blue Zappos shirts at City Hall today as the council ratified The Greatest Deal Ever Made.
Weiner vs. Ensign: A study in contrasts: Wednesday, June 15, 2011; So when a creepy congressman who has a sexting disorder becomes a distraction and liability, fretting Democrats line up to defenestrate him. But when an even creepier senator has an affair with a staffer, reveals himself to be a world-class hypocrite and importunes supplicants to hire the cuckold, Republicans say nothing.
Former mayor, ex-lawmaker, erstwhile Golden Nugget owners headline Romney event: Monday, June 13, 2011; It's Friday at Lawry's for GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney. Besides Mike Montandon, Warren Hardy and Tom Breitling and Tim Poster, a passel of LDS activists are on the invite.
Sandoval was good, but his luck was better: Sunday, June 12, 2011; It’s better to be lucky than good.
What I will and won’t miss from the Legislature: Wednesday, June 8, 2011; Now that the Could Have Been Worse Session has ended in Carson City, a look at what makes me misty and what makes me testy from the 76th Legislature.
Jon Ralston: Legislators compromise, but future not bright: Sunday, June 5, 2011; Optimism, Gov. Sunny told us on the eve of Session ’11, is the foundation of courage.