Belkot Saves County Millions, For Now - Charter Amendments Council Meeting Next Week
May 31, 2024 2:36 am
In True Fashion, The Columbian Attempts To Smear REC Effort From Start To Finish
I love it when people show us who they really are.
On Sunday I stated, “The Columbian knowingly pushing out false information (generated by the PA’s office) and withholding other information to put a negative light and suppress signature collection.”
This has been the fun part of this journey… bringing more public light to corruption in our county.
Imagine writing a story on someone and never contacting that person about the story. Dylan Jefferies is the new reporter on the political beat and it seems very clear that he has little journalistic integrity and will only write to further a narrative rather than getting readers both sides of a story. They are mostly subtle with word choices and what they decide to highlight and what they choose to leave out to put a negative light on a story but sometimes they show their bias in full force.
Hey Columbian, all my donors and expenditures are public, why don’t you do the same?
Let's connect a few dots, shall we? Greg Kimsey is connected to Jim Mains, who was his campaign manager and works for or is funded by Michael Lynch. Michael Lynch controls the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, which generously contributes to The Columbian's "Community Funded Journalism" initiative—a way for big donors to openly give money to The Columbian. The Columbian claims that their editors maintain editorial independence over all stories, and that donors will not know which specific stories reporters are pursuing or see them before publication. However, it doesn't take much thought to realize that these donors are keeping The Columbian afloat by funding several of their journalists, and it's naive to believe this won't impact their reporting. Any commonsense person knows that if you're helping a company fund its payroll, you're not going to jeopardize that relationship. Moreover, they likely share ideological sympathies, so extensive coordination isn't necessary.
Did I mention that another big donor to The Columbian is David Nierenberg, a significant supporter of Marie Perez? That kind of explains all the favorable coverage she gets too. I jokingly told Joe Kent that he needs to budget money from the campaign to fund The Columbian's Community Funded Journalism Project so that he can get favorable coverage too.
Case in point, Alexis Weisend is listed as one of these "Community Funded" journalists yet her articles, recently on the homeless shelter, are behind The Columbian's paywall... but I thought the donors were paying for journalists already but The Columbian is charging for their articles?? Hmmmm...see how this scam works?
1 PM WEDNESDAY JUNE 12, 2024: County Hearing On Charter Amendments
I was informed today that next Wednesday, June 12th, 2024, at 1 PM will be the hearing where the County Council will decide whether to move the proposed Charter Amendments to a full hearing later this month. One of these amendments aims to ADD further restrictions to our initiative process by expanding the powers of the Prosecuting Attorney's office to prevent future initiatives, thereby limiting the free speech of citizens.
These new powers would allow the PA's office to screen proposed initiatives similarly to how they tried to stop the Restore Election Confidence initiative. Plainly put, if this is allowed, only State-approved or sanctioned proposed initiatives will be allowed in Clark County. Currently, the legal review is confined by the following six limitations:
- Ordinances providing for compensation or working conditions of county employees or elected officials.
- Redistricting council districts.
- Authorizing or repealing an appropriation of money or any portion of the annual budget.
- Authorizing or repealing taxes or fees.
- Authorizing or repealing any provision of a service or program provided by the county.
- Amending or repealing this charter.
The PA's office reviewed the REC Initiative and determined that the subject was legal within the scope of local initiative powers and did not violate the above six restrictions.
But that wasn't good enough for Greg Kimsey. After the PA's office dismissed his claims that the REC violated the current limitations, he decided to change the Charter to ensure the people can never again try to reform election procedures in Clark County.
That's why Kimsey has put forward a Charter Amendment that would allow the Prosecuting Attorney's office to go beyond these limitations and stop any initiative they don't like by merely decreeing it to be illegal. As you remember, this is what the PA's office tried with the REC initiative back in December. I filed a Writ of Mandamus, and they reversed themselves because they were blatantly not following the law.
I haven't seen the latest version, but if this moves forward, it will no doubt expand the powers of the government and further take away the people's right to petition for direct governance as granted by the State Constitution.
More information will be coming, but for now, please plan to attend the 1 PM meeting on Wednesday, June 12th, at the County Public Services Building. Your presence is crucial in demonstrating our commitment to preserving our rights.
County Council Rejects Fast-Tracking City's Homeless Shelter Proposal
Last week, the City requested over six million dollars in "capital infrastructure" funding to acquire a location for a "Bridge Shelter" that will have 125 beds. While some aspects of the proposal are needed, as the homeless problem is clearly worsening, the City's proposal lacks transparency, and they refuse to disclose the potential location, even to the Councilors. Essentially, the City is asking the County to fund a new homeless project, starting with $6M, without allowing the County to help shape its development or even have a say in its location.
Councilor Belkot, chairing the County Council, oversaw the rejection of the fast-track request, which bypassed normal RFP protocols. Now, the City will have to be more transparent about the details and requests, rather than using the urgency of the crisis to dictate where taxpayer money goes. This isn't the end of the matter, but if the City's proposal had succeeded, it would have set us on a path with the "Bridge Shelter" about which we know very little. Based on past homeless projects like the Navigation Center, it could be another disaster.
Of course, this isn't going to stop it and this week the City came back to pressure the County but the City hasn't gotten the money yet and they are still pressuring the County to hand over money and to not ask questions... real gangster tactics.
