Blurred Political Lines and Inter Party Squabbling Ahead of June Primaries
A recap of recent stories from our website plus bonus content.
A recent photo series we posted on RVs getting ticketed in hidden neighborhoods got lots of comments, showing one issue where party lines are blurring, namely how far to police those who can’t afford housing.
In the context of 2024, it’s now open inter party attack season. On social media, one candidate, Mark Lawson, running for Nevada Washoe County Commission 4, has been regularly blasting his Republican opponents, the current replacement selected seat holder Clara Andriola and his other primary opponent Tracey Hilton-Thomas.
Lawson linked to a recent Nevada Liberty post which highlighted the following about his own party’s Washoe County leadership: “Let’s give a round of applause to the Washoe GOP’s stellar leadership, led by none other than Vice Chair Tracey Hilton-Thomas and Chairman Bruce Parks. Their exceptional display of haughtiness, wrapped in a delightful “holier-than-thou” package, is truly a sight to behold. And let’s not forget their enthusiastic supporters, the Washoe GOP Sanctimonious Shrieking Shrews, who defend Hilton-Thomas with the fervor of a Jim Jones Kool Aid Cult, proving that blind loyalty knows no bounds…”. What follows is what the website calls the Hilton-Thomas files, casting doubt on her self proclaimed election expertise and exposing past temporary protection orders against her.
In another post from earlier this month, he wrote “I know Mayor [Ed] Lawson supports my opponent Clara Andriola for Washoe County Commission, but what he need[s] to tell her is the main reason I got into the commission race is due to what Mayor Lawson's former City Manager did to me. So hey Clara, blame Ed.”
A sitting elected commissioner Mike Clark is also going after the Sparks Mayor.
“I made public comment at the City of Sparks, Nevada Government City Council Meeting confronting Mayor Ed Lawson about a Facebook post he made calling me a Republican 'Extremist" because of a vote I had made at a Washoe County, Nevada - Government Commission Meeting,” he wrote.
“While there I had commented that Kristopher Dahir [ councilman for Sparks City Council Ward 5], Councilman Donald Abbott and Councilman Paul Anderson should all be voted out hence taking away Lawson's "Good Old Boys" support. At no point did I say Kristopher Dahir 'avoided' CHAB meetings. Mr. Dahir is again twisting my words. After I have asked for monthly meeting of the CHAB, on the record folks at the County Commission meeting, now CHAB "founding member" Dahir has "asked to have regular meetings on a consistent basis." Show me where Dahir! Dahir has two opponents in this nonpartisan race for Ward 5 I urge you to contact Billy Hurt or Joe Rodriguez and get to know them so you can vote for anyone but an incumbent,” he wrote.
Clark recently made waves voting against criminalizing unauthorized camping in Washoe County, while Democrats on the Commission Mariluz Garcia and Alexis Hill disappointed former supporters on the left by voting yes.
Clark has also been repeatedly complimenting Lily Baran who is running for the Ward 1 seat as a champion of progressives.
“Realizing I'm going to be attacked by a lot of Republicans for this post. I support Lily Baran,” he recently wrote. “When I was elected to the commission, Lily kindly reached out to me to talk about our homeless and helped to author a white paper I've been handing out for the better part of a year. I urge you to reach out and talk to Lily before you make up your mind who to vote for in this race. “
In other Council and Commission races, many progressives have been turned off by other incumbent candidates who identify as Democrats, and typically get large donations from casinos and developers while consistently voting for big development projects.
In the all important U.S. Senate race, which could determine the balance of party power in Washington, Jeff Gunter, a dermatologist who was our ambassador to Iceland under former President Donald Trump, has called his main Nevada Republican U.S. Senate opponent Sam Brown, “Scam Brown.”
Gunter has said Brown is not pro-Trump enough, while also alleging he’s getting campaign contributions to pay off his previous campaign bills.
“We expect that out of people who were literally Democrats a year ago, to play that sort of game. But just keep your head down. You know who I am,” Brown was quoted as saying at a recent fundraiser in Sparks.
Meanwhile, locally in social media comments, there is now often an interesting convergence of anti-establishment types, wanting to see Reno, Sparks and Washoe County be more careful with all the changes happening in our region.
It will be fascinating to see if a coalition of these commenters vote and push through certain candidates into November runoffs.
Recent reporting from our website
Kathleen Taylor, Receiving and Spending Lots of Money in Unpredictable Ward 1 Race
Amy, With a Manager's Job and No Dependents, But Struggling Mightily in Biggest Little City
Citizen’s Forum: Let's Stop Just Complaining About Traffic and Make Reno More Bus, Bike and Pedestrian Friendly
The commercials for Gunter says he was ambassador to China, where he took them on and won. Can someone please challenge this?