John Locher / AP File (2021)
Former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller speaks with the media in September 2021 in Las Vegas after announcing his bid for the Republican nomination for governor of Nevada. Heller is coming under fire in an ad for changing his position from supporting abortion rights in the early 2000s to being anti-abortion as the Republican primary approaches.
Sunday, April 10, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Former Nevada U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who is running in the Republican primary for governor, is being criticized for a comment he made in 2006 saying he favored abortion rights.
American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic political action committee, posted a video Thursday on Twitter showing Heller, a top contender in the gubernatorial race, proclaiming that “I do back a woman’s right to choose abortion.”
The video continues with Heller’s current stance, which is aligned with the Republican voters he is trying to attract: “I am pro-life and I am proud of it. … I will never change my position on this issue.”
Heller’s campaign wrote in an email to the Sun that “no one will fight harder to protect and defend the sanctity of life than Dean Heller. It’s clear that radical, liberal Democrats are terrified of Dean Heller becoming the Republican nominee for governor so they have to make stuff up and attack him.”
While showing how candidates have “flip-flopped” on issues is a common — and sometimes effective — strategy on the campaign trail, one has to consider the length in time between the two comments. Is 16 years not a good length in time for people to change their minds and form new opinions? Or is this just another attempt of a Republican primary candidate looking to appeal to the base?
It’s likely that Heller just changed his mind. In 2011 he acknowledged this change of views, telling North Nevada Business Weekly that he was more libertarian when he was back in Nevada.
“I came here to Washington, D.C., and there were certain votes that had to be cast. A couple of those votes, of course, had to do with the federal funding of abortions. I didn’t support it,” Heller said. “And that being the case, it became more clear that was my position.”
The Northern Nevada based Heller spent four years in the U.S House of Representatives before being appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2011 by then Gov. Brian Sandoval. He was elected to a full term in 2012 and in 2018 lost reelection to his Democratic challenger, Jacky Rosen.
A 2021 poll from OH Predictive Insights found that Nevadans overwhelmingly support abortion rights. Out of 770 registered voters surveyed between Oct. 5 and Oct. 12, 69% of respondents identified as “pro-choice,” and 31% as “pro-life.”
Accusations, ad stretch the truth on offices
The U.S. Senate campaign of former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt launched a website last week dedicated to the narrative that incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., isn’t making her office available for in-person public appointments and is only seeing constituents by telephone appointment.
That is simply not true.
We had a friend living in D.C. go and check it out, and they found the office up and running Friday afternoon. They talked with a Capitol Police officer who said all the offices in the building were open, but visitors were required to make an appointment. If you’re interested in visiting a Senate office in D.C., you’ll have to call the staff of the senator you’d like to meet with, and they arrange to meet you in the lobby to meet you and escort you to the office.
The officer noted that the Senate office building rules are changing every week and it is difficult to predict when the buildings will be fully open to the public.
Those restrictions are not just for Cortez Masto’s office, but all of the offices in the building, he said.
The accusations originated from a story in the conservative Washington Free Beacon in which it was reported that a “cleaning not required” sign was hanging from a closed office last month.
Cortez Masto’s team said signs at the entrance to her Las Vegas and Reno Senate offices saying her staff was teleworking were mistakenly left up. They say staff have been working in the offices since April 2021 after pandemic closures were lifted and taking in-person meetings since June 2021.
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Student loan update
President Joe Biden has suspended federal student loan payments until Aug. 31, 2022, marking the sixth time the moratorium has been extended since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Forbes examined the pros and cons of continuing to pay loans through the pause, detailing how the money for some borrowers could be better spent toward other living expenses or debt. But for others paying down the loans when there’s no interest attached is a better course of action.
Of course, there’s another looming question that’s part of the equation: Will Biden, on urging from many in his Democratic Party, forgive all federal student loans? And if those loans are forgiven, are borrowers throwing money away by making payments during the moratorium.
If you have federal student loans that the government owns, “it’s unlikely that more than 40 million student loan borrowers will qualify for student loan cancellation,” according to Forbes. There will most likely be limitations based on income for who qualifies.
There’s been talk of limiting loan forgiveness to people who earn up to $125,000, but it could go lower. Forbes said the stimulus checks from the COVID-19 pandemic had a $75,000 income threshold. The forgiveness could also only apply to people who are in default or delinquency on their student loans, Forbes notes,.
Forbes concluded by saying it’s best to be ready to pay your student loans. After all, expecting the federal government to get something done would be a risky bet.
Nevadans in Congress
What have Nevada’s federal reps done this past week? Cortez Masto and Sen. Jacky Rosen announced that Nevada would receive $89 million for public transportation projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The Las Vegas and Henderson area will receive $59,073,252, Reno will receive $11,668,176 and Lake Tahoe will receive $4,203,118.
The funding will allow transit agencies to buy new buses and railcars, make repairs and transition to new technologies, Cortez Masto’s office said in a statement.
“Securing this important research funding for Nevada will open the door for more innovation and jobs throughout the Silver State,” Cortez Masto said in the statement. “This funding will boost our local economy and create more sustainable, good-paying jobs by supporting our universities and helping ensure Nevada remains an innovation hub.”
The senators also supported two bipartisan bills last week that aim to hold Russia and President Vladimir Putin accountable by cutting off U.S. trade with Russia and by banning Russian energy exports to the U.S., Rosen’s office said in a statement.
“As Russia continues to commit horrific atrocities against the Ukrainian people, the United States and our allies must take additional steps to cut off Russia from the global economy and stop the Kremlin’s ability to wage war against innocent Ukrainian civilians,” said Rosen, who is chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee Overseeing Trade Policy, in the statement.
Countdown
Days to primary: 64
Days to midterms: 211
This story has been updated to clarify who made the accusations against Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
