Michael Mishak

Reporter/ General Assignment

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Slap on state party smarts in a state McCain needs: Friday, Aug. 29, 2008; With Republicans descending on St. Paul, Minn., to nominate Ariz. Sen. John McCain, his organization must be wondering what kind of support he’ll find in Nevada now that the national party has deemed the state party inept.
HISTORY HITS HOME AS OBAMA ACCEPTS: In Vegas, cheers rise, tears fall for first black nominee; Friday, Aug. 29, 2008; For its strident politics and passion and the history of the moment, Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday enthralls his supporters at an overflowing — and tearful — TV watching party and brings deep satisfaction to a veteran civil rights activist and her niece watching quietly in their living room.
How one die-hard Clinton supporter is swept from acceptance to conviction: Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008; Anne Zarate listened to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night, and remembered how angry she was as a Clinton delegate to the Nevada Democratic Party’s state convention in May.
This time, rural Nevada isn’t looking so red on its face: Democrats’ playbook narrowing traditional gap; Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008; A year ago Cindy Trigg called a meeting in White Pine County to organize rural Democrats. Two people showed up.
If she’s a flip-flopper on drilling, so is McCain: Porter attack puts him at odds with his party’s standard-bearer; Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008; Republican Rep. Jon Porter has taken to calling his Democratic challenger, Dina Titus, a “flip-flopper” on the issue of offshore oil drilling, which both candidates support.
Gloves are off in critical race: Hopefuls get to ‘fun part' fast in pursuit of 3rd District prize; Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008; Republican Rep. Jon Porter and Democratic challenger Dina Titus slung barbs at each other over campaign donations, energy policy, the war in Iraq and immigration policy.
Washoe is must-win ground: Democrats have narrowed registration gap in important northern county; Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008; When Sen. Barack Obama visits Reno today he’ll be campaigning in a region widely seen as the key battleground for winning Nevada in November.
State Democrats capitalizing on Reid’s party-building enterprise: Friday, Aug. 15, 2008; For Sen. Harry Reid, the day after the 2004 general election was bittersweet.
Look forward to political rewind: Campaign rhetoric being recycled for competitive Porter-Titus race; Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008; Dina Titus, having easily clinched the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Jon Porter, made her way through a throng of clapping supporters to the stage of a Henderson union hall Tuesday night.
Board: St. Rose favored rival union: Hospital group found to have illegally aided bid to oust SEIU; Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008; The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that St. Rose Dominican Hospitals illegally assisted an insurgent union’s campaign this year to gain representation of nearly 1,100 registered nurses.
Union targeting Nevada in voter campaign: Monday, Aug. 11, 2008; The organizational juggernaut being built here by the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama is getting a boost from the Service Employees International Union.
McCain’s attacks on rival fall flat with vets group: Republican offers plan to let some get care outside VA; Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008; Sen. John McCain, speaking to disabled veterans Saturday in Las Vegas, attacked his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, for his foreign policy record, while also proposing a program that would allow veterans to acquire health care at private hospitals and not just through the Veterans Affairs Department.
Obama builds booming Nevada force: McCain camp dismisses the effort, saying it doesn’t guarantee victory; Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008; The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama is building an organizational juggernaut here. With fewer than 90 days before the election, the upstarts are building on the impressive grass-roots operation they built for Nevada’s early presidential caucus, and it is paying dividends.
Clinton: Buck up, back Barack: Some former supporters need more persuasion to work for her ex-rival; Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008; In a visit to a state that treated her well this year, Sen. Hillary Clinton allayed fears Friday about her commitment to working for the election of the Democratic presidential nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
Labor loyalty unrequited: A desire for work and a union’s promises put this mother on the movement’s front lines, but now she’s down and out; Friday, Aug. 8, 2008; It was a long fall from the fine dinner and shots of Belvedere vodka at one of Washington’s premier steakhouses to the Motel 6 on Fremont Street. Anishya Sanders is still brushing herself off, and wondering what’s next.
Obama campaign releases details on Clinton appearance: Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008; More details are available today about Sen. Hillary Clinton's visit to Las Vegas Friday on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama.
In 27 years, Woodbury 'was always a public servant': Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008; You’ve heard by now that the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision on term limits last month tossed 21 elected officials from the ballot. But there’s one official in particular whose impending departure has Clark County contemplating life without him: Bruce Woodbury.
Where’s Porter? Don’t ask Titus, she’s busy: Tuesday, July 29, 2008; For the second time since launching her campaign against Rep. Jon Porter two months ago, state Sen. Dina Titus took to the gas pumps Monday, this time outlining a multipoint energy plan and again seizing the issue that has come to shape the 2008 elections.
Titus announces energy plan she says will cut pump prices: Monday, July 28, 2008; Seizing on public outrage over high gas prices, congressional candidate Dina Titus picked a Lucky Stop gas station in Henderson this morning as the backdrop for the roll-out of her comprehensive energy plan.
Big idea floated: A full-time commission: Giunchigliani says change would minimize conflicts of interest; Woodbury is opposed; Sunday, July 27, 2008; In Clark County, it seems a commissioner’s job is never done. That’s one reason state Sen. Terry Care will enter the 2009 legislative session with a bill that would make the post full time.
Ensign finds an ace in Senate election hole: Fear of unions: GOP using labor-backed bill to draw support; Sunday, July 27, 2008; Sen. John Ensign may have found the perfect tool for his almost Herculean task of defending Senate Republicans in November: unions — or, more accurately, fear of them.
Fired hospital workers get settlements: Clark County defends payouts as insurance against possible costly lawsuits; Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Clark County has paid $41,242 settlement packages to two workers it fired after they were charged with stealing from University Medical Center.
Finding more money is goal for ’09 session: Sunday, July 20, 2008; Clark County officials are wondering what to ask of state legislators when they meet in Carson City in six months.
Safety wasn't in the equation: Six workers have died at CityCenter, and three more have lost their lives at other local Perini projects. Still, commissioners picked the company to build McCarran’s new terminal; Saturday, July 19, 2008; At this week’s Clark County Commission meeting, Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani noted a curiosity:
Airlines sound alarm for Vegas tourism: County rejects request to halt terminal project; Thursday, July 17, 2008; Airlines serving McCarran International Airport have issued the bleakest economic forecast yet for Las Vegas, recommending that officials reconsider the need for a terminal that is under construction because there may not be sufficient tourism traffic to justify it.
Lobbyists flout disclosure rules in talks with commissioners: Lack of penalties blamed for lack of compliance; Sunday, July 13, 2008; On more than 170 occasions this year, lobbyists failed to file disclosure forms when they visited Clark County commissioners, leaving the public in the dark about what issues they were pushing and on whose behalf.
Union organizing or freedom of speech: T-shirts flap in Rio wind: Friday, July 11, 2008; Here’s a flavor of the labor-management tensions at the Rio, where dealers will vote Saturday on whether to organize:
Toxic feud at SEIU’s top ends with resignations: Local’s two ranking leaders reach agreement amid union disorder; Saturday, June 28, 2008; The terms for the resignations of the top two leaders of one of Nevada’s largest unions were laid out over salad and breadsticks at a Las Vegas Olive Garden on Tuesday night.
Pointed plan for energy: McCain presents battery of proposals, including expanded nuclear power; Thursday, June 26, 2008; John McCain unveiled a comprehensive energy plan in a speech at UNLV on Wednesday that he said would allow the country to achieve “strategic energy independence” in the next 17 years. Perhaps most relevant to Nevadans is his proposal to expand nuclear power.
Obama gets ﬁrst jabs on Vegas’ ‘green’ turf: Wednesday, June 25, 2008; Barack Obama used a campaign speech on energy in Las Vegas on Tuesday to sully the “green” credentials of his Republican presidential rival, John McCain, who has been running ads in sunny Nevada boasting of his work on global warming.
Next target: UMC: With a California group’s bid to wrest nurses’ union representation at St. Rose hospitals from SEIU tied up, the union turns to University Medical Center, where SEIU has two years to go.; Tuesday, June 24, 2008; The California Nurses Association, unsuccessful so far in pushing aside the powerful SEIU as the preferred organizer of nurses in Southern Nevada, has set a new goal: to unseat the SEIU at University Medical Center.
Union turns down Imperial maids: Culinary loath to represent workers at possibly doomed hotel; Wednesday, June 18, 2008; Maids at Imperial Palace are fed up — and it’s not just because they say they’re being worked a lot harder than other housekeepers on the Strip. They’re angry at the Culinary Union for not coming to the rescue by organizing them.
Mandalay Bay guards vote against union: Organizer vows to object, citing agent’s bathroom break; Tuesday, June 17, 2008; With a good dose of election drama — including a ballot box being taken into a bathroom — a union seeking to organize Las Vegas security guards has lost its flagship campaign at Mandalay Bay.
Culinary stakes out its own political turf: Friday, June 13, 2008; Despite calls for unity at the Nevada AFL-CIO’s political convention this week, the state’s labor movement will not be speaking with one voice in November.
Unions’ pressure on Ross spurred CityCenter walkout: Sunday, June 8, 2008; The show of force was impressive. Nevada’s construction unions walked off job sites along the Strip on Monday, the first major project shutdown over safety in Las Vegas history. Union leaders said negotiations with the general contractor, Perini Building Co., had failed.
To win in Nevada, both have work to do: Caucus performances point to Obama, McCain weaknesses; Sunday, June 1, 2008; Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain all but tripped over each other last week as they crisscrossed Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada trading barbs and laying claim to a region that is changing from red to blue.
Organizer’s tactics test limits, even for workers: Some MGM Mirage guards object to pictures linking exec, bin Laden; Monday, May 19, 2008; A campaign to organize MGM Mirage security guards has turned ugly, with the union’s lead organizer comparing casino executives to terrorists and threatening to bring homeless people and prostitutes to the picket line to make things unpleasant for the company’s customers.
Calls for unity draw different answers from Clinton voters: Many will support Obama, some say they never could; Sunday, May 18, 2008; Barack Obama has a lot of work to do. After a long and contentious presidential nomination battle, Democrats gathered here for their state convention Saturday, with party leaders calling for unity in a tacit acknowledgment that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will likely secure the nomination.
Eye-to-eye ends with the economy: Race for 3rd Congressional District expected to be hotly contested; Sunday, May 11, 2008; The campaign for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District is just beginning, as Republican Rep. Jon Porter and Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus prepare to face off in what will be one of the most competitive races in the country.
CNA tips status quo, but doesn’t oust SEIU: Outcome for St. Rose nurses still uncertain, but union unrest is clear; Friday, May 9, 2008; The Service Employees International Union suffered a clear vote of no confidence this week as registered nurses it represents at three St. Rose Dominican hospitals voted in greater — though still inconclusive — numbers to join a rival union.
Union pushed; Trop fell: Behind the scenes, the Culinary and its parent helped bring about the loss of Tropicana’s New Jersey license and its filing for bankruptcy protection; Friday, May 9, 2008; The owners of the Tropicana might have filed for bankruptcy protection regardless of labor union tactics.
But the Culinary Union and its parent certainly saw where the Tropicana, a long-standing nemesis, was vulnerable. And the union then set itself on a course of action that it knew would lead to the company’s financial unraveling.
The gaming company has filed for bankruptcy reorganization after the union’s parent, Unite Here, led a successful charge for the revocation of its New Jersey gaming license.
Nurses unions’ showdown starts today: Tuesday, May 6, 2008; Registered nurses — numbering 1,100 — at three St. Rose Dominican hospitals vote today and Wednesday on whether to retain the Service Employees International Union as their bargaining representative — or join a rival union.
Teamsters may undercut members: Complaints of union collusion to hire nonunion convention labor spur revolt; Tuesday, May 6, 2008; Members of Teamsters Local 631 complain their union is colluding with major convention center contractors to wean them of union labor, a suspicion that has spurred efforts to replace local leadership with a slate of insurgent candidates.
Businesses scurry to build defenses for possible unionizing onslaught: Democrat-backed bill would allow Vegas-style organizing; Monday, May 5, 2008; Big business is taking steps to fend off an expected flood of unionizing drives if Congress approves legislation making it easier for workers to organize.
To Dems’ dismay, Daskas drops out: Tuesday, April 29, 2008; After months as the Democratic establishment’s anointed candidate, Robert Daskas on Monday dropped out of the contest against Rep. Jon Porter, citing “family considerations.” Democrats now face the recurring problem of recruiting a challenger.
Security guards on Strip seek to organize: At Luxor, targeted first, owner MGM Mirage fights back with carrots and sticks; Monday, April 21, 2008; Security guards are trying to organize a union on the Strip, and the move has brought a strong response from casino giant MGM Mirage.
Group opposing Wynn tip sharing plan to protest Culinary role: Sunday, April 20, 2008; When critics of Wynn Las Vegas’ controversial tip-sharing policy filed a petition this year on behalf of dealers who want to keep their tips, they thought they were uniting against a common enemy: Steve Wynn.
Labor law broken during SEIU election, report says: Preliminary probe finds union misused funds, roster; Thursday, April 17, 2008; A preliminary U.S. Labor Department investigation has found that one of Nevada’s largest unions violated federal labor law during its most recent officer election, including the use of union funds and membership rosters for internal political purposes.
A CAUTIOUS PUSH: After Strip building site deaths, some workers want more safety demands from unions, but press too hard and they may be jobless; Sunday, April 13, 2008; The 70-odd ironworkers working at the Fontainebleau construction site were fed up with dangerous conditions. In July, they stopped working in the unsafe areas and persuaded their union, Ironworkers Local 433, to negotiate with the contractor to correct several specific safety problems: They wanted a caged elevator, not an open lift, to ride to higher floors. They demanded installation of a promised cable so they could attach their safety harnesses. They wanted the safety net, then balled up somewhere on the site, stretched beneath workers, where it belonged.
Spurned candidate sets sights on primary: Tuesday, April 8, 2008; As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was musing last year about recruiting boxer Oscar De La Hoya or tennis great Andre Agassi to run for Congress, Andrew Martin was making his case as a candidate.