Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo delivers the annual State of the Department address at the Smith Center Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.
Published Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | 11:43 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | 12:57 p.m.
A Nevada socialist accosted Republican gubernatorial hopeful Joe Lombardo at an event Monday and posted video of the incident on social media.
The video shows the man posing for a photo with Lombardo before calling him a “piece of garbage” and asking Lombardo where his “Nazi uniform” was. The video continues with Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff, walking away from the man, who follows Lombardo around the venue and berates him with foul language.
The man, identified as Shaun Navarro, is co-chair of Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America, according to his Twitter account. The incident happened at an event hosted by the Nevada Independent at the Smith Center in downtown Las Vegas.
It comes a few weeks after a similar incident that was posted on social media showing Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak being threatened at a Las Vegas restaurant by a man who proclaimed “we should string you up on a lamp post. You are running into a patriot now.” The man also used foul language and insulted the first lady’s Chinese heritage.
After the incident Sisolak’s office released a statement saying he was “deeply disappointed” in how the incident unfolded, saying “we can disagree about the issues, but the personal attacks and threats are unwarranted, unwelcome and unbecoming behavior for Nevadans.”
Lombardo’s campaign, which did not return a request for comment for this story, had issued a statement in response to Sisolak getting threatened saying that violence is not the answer, and that if someone disagrees with a politician, they should vote that person out.
Sisolak expressed his disapproval of what happened to Lombardo, his potential opponent in the November general election.
“It’s important that when we disagree we don’t forget we are all Nevadans first,” Sisolak tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Name calling and vitriol have no place in Nevada and I condemn this rhetoric in the strongest terms. Let’s lead with kindness.”
Others also weighed in.
“Once again a leader in this state was stalked and accosted with vile attacks while in public,” Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald said in a statement. “Like I said when this happened to Governor Sisolak last month, there is no place for the unhinged behavior Sheriff Joe Lombardo experienced last night, and the time and place to have your voice heard is at the ballot box in November. I know in my heart that these recent attacks on our officials are outliers. This is not the Nevada we all love and I join with leaders across the political spectrum in condemning this behavior and calling on it to never happen again.”
Nevada Democratic Assemblyman Steve Yeager called the behavior "reprehensible, disgusting and inappropriate," saying that it "further denigrates our democracy and debases our very humanity. Nobody deserves to be treated like this. Nobody."
Heath Mayo, founder of Principles First, a grassroots organization built by citizens who are unhappy with the current state of politics and the Republican Party, said those who intimidate or harass a public official figures because they are unhappy with their politics is “anti-American.”
Reno attorney Joey Gilbert, one of Lombardo’s primary opponents, said in an emailed statement to the Sun that running for governor is a very public activity, and candidates are not protected from “disgruntled members of the public as much as sheriffs would be.”
“Myself and probably all of the current governor candidates have had to deal with the verbal insults Joe Lombardo was exposed to recently,” Gilbert said. “That does not excuse the behavior of the aggressor, but no matter how uncomfortable Lombardo might have been, the speaker was exercising his Constitutional right to free speech.”
Gilbert added that he has been with Lombardo multiple times and “never found him to be anything but respectful to others and willing to listen to honest questioning.”
“The aggressor’s behavior toward Mr. Lombardo was not productive in any way and will hopefully not be repeated,” Gilbert said.
In a statement to the Sun, the Las Vegas Democratic Socialist Steering Committee said Lombardo has a history of "bragging about his corrupt reign as county sheriff, his deportation record and mistreatment of immigrants.
"Lombardo is despicable and his constituents should let him know that," Las Vegas Democratic Socialist Steering Committee said.
