Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak waves during a visit to the Horizon Ridge Wellness Clinic on East Flamingo Road Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021.
Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Editor’s note: This is the debut of Jessica Hill’s political notebook. If you have suggestions for future notebooks, contact her at [email protected].
Gov. Steve Sisolak repealed the state’s mask mandate last week, and almost instantly his Republican foes issued comments saying he was following in the footsteps of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat who made the decision a few days earlier.
Sisolak, who faces reelection in November, said the decision to lift the mask mandate was not motivated by politics or trying to appease independent voters.
It was also not lost on many that when Sisolak asserted a mask mandate in July 2021, Nevada’s COVID-19 case numbers were lower than they are now.
He has insisted last week that he was not going against the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines, which haven’t changed since January and instruct people to wear masks inside places with high transmission.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the presumed Republican frontrunner in the gubernatorial race, posted on Twitter that by waiting to remove the mask mandate until other Democratic governors did, “Sisolak revealed his complete lack of ability to make timely decisions that are in the best interest of Nevadans.”
To his critics, Sisolak responded: “I’m doing what I think is best to protect the health and welfare of the residents of Nevada. My decision is based on science, not politics.”
There’s a mix of gratitude and wariness about the repealing of the mask mandate among Nevadans. Some of us will still wear our masks around while others are glad to be rid of them. Regardless, everyone is feeling the same fatigue of living through and talking about these “unprecedented times” and coping with the stress through the many pandemic stages, from “Tiger King” to bread making to Wordle.
And everyone is no doubt tired of talking about the pandemic through a political lens rather than a health one. We wonder if Sisolak made the move in just enough time so we won’t end up talking about it for the next nine months of the election cycle.
We sure hope so, but let’s face it. No matter how things turn out with infection and hospitalization rates, Sisolak’s opponents are going to remind voters of their perceived lack of action from the governor or alleged political motivations.
As candidates search for anything that can be used as political ammunition against their opponents, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who’s seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, saw Sisolak’s decision as an opportunity to attack Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. Laxalt said Cortez Masto refused to speak against her Democratic colleagues and urge Sisolak to repeal the mandate.
Cortez Masto did praise Sisolak’s decision once it was made, and while it’s true she never publicly told him that he should repeal the mandate, we’re not sure how a senator bossing around a governor would look.
Adam Laxalt, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, is shown during a campaign stop at The Pass casino in Henderson Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. Laxalt, a former Nevada attorney general, is challenging Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
Golden endorsement not bringing in gold for Adam Laxalt?
A Fox News article from last week detailed how candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump were struggling with fundraising, even while the unquestioned head of the Republican Party has raked in $51 million during the second half of 2021.
Laxalt is listed as an example.
He brought in $1.35 million in fundraising the past three months, but his fourth-quarter haul was only slightly ahead of the $1 million secured by U.S. Army veteran Sam Brown, likely his biggest Republican challenger.
Brown could be the dark horse of the race, as he is campaigning without Trump’s endorsement, but he has managed to hang with Laxalt.
“We are fueled by over 25,000 grassroots donors from across America who want new conservative leadership, not the same old political insiders and career politicians,” Brown said in a statement last week. “Our competitive fundraising numbers prove that Nevada voters are fully invested in our movement and that it’s here to stay.”
Brown does have one notable backer in Las Vegas businessman Don Ahern, who hosted a Trump campaign rally in September 2020 at his Henderson manufacturing company. Ahern has reportedly asked Trump to support Brown instead of Laxalt.
Laxalt’s camp isn’t buying the Fox story, or threat from Brown.
John Burke, Laxalt’s communications director, said the $2.7 million the campaign has raised since its inception is the second-highest total raised by any GOP candidate nationally running against an incumbent in a U.S. Senate race. The first: Georgia’s Herschel Walker.
“With the support of our grassroots movement made up of working Nevada families who are ready for change, our campaign is ready to take on Cortez Masto’s machine and restore conservative leadership in the state,” Burke said in a statement.
Brown’s fundraising efforts show 1,420 individual receipts, many of which are small donations from residents around the state and country who are either retired or have no employment listed. Laxalt has 1,236 itemized receipts, many of which are from recognizable businessmen such as Bob Mancari, vice president of player development for Caesars Entertainment, and Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point.
More cowboys, fewer ’copters
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., introduced legislation last week to protect one of Nevada’s “biggest sources of pride” — wild horses.
The Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2022 would eliminate the use of helicopters when the Bureau of Land Management gathers the wild horses.
BLM rounds up wild horses regularly to help with overpopulation and to prevent “unnecessary degradation of public lands.” They are either put up for adoption or are treated with fertility control (in some cases horses are euthanized if they have any illnesses or conditions such as clubfoot), and the process costs between $500 and $800 per animal.
Helicopters can be frightening or even deadly to the horses, Titus said, so in addition to banning the use of helicopters, the legislation would employ more cowboys and require the government to explore more humane ways to deal with the horses.
