Ripping the Loincloth Off the Little Caucus that Couldn’t: Part I

(Chuck Muth) – I love my conservative grassroots readers – some of whom have been with me now for 25 years!  They’re often my BEST, most valuable source of intel on what’s going on around the state.

Such was the case in an email I received after my recent column on the embarrassing announcement that a candidate endorsed last November by the Republican Assembly Caucus quit on them right after the holidays.

Oops.

According to the email, a member of the caucus, who shall remain nameless, told my source that when the caucus “asked Jill D. (Dickman) if she would run again, she would not commit and they felt they had a viable candidate with Jake.”

For now, let me just characterize this caucus claim as “fake news.”  I’ll explain later.

My source went on to write that “I would love for (Jill) to run if she could win,” but voiced concern over the caucus line about Jill having lost the last two times out.

This is absolutely a valid and legitimate point to consider for conservatives…if it was true.

But it’s not.

So let’s rip off the loincloth and expose what really went on “behind the scenes” of this latest “Little Caucus that Couldn’t” fuster-cluck.

Now, when I say the Republican Assembly Caucus is currently being run by the RINO (Republican in Name Only) wing of the party, here’s just one, but telling, example of what I mean…

In the 2019 legislative session, Democrats in the Legislature created a new government bureaucracy, the “Office for New Americans.”

The purpose, they explained, was to create “an online resource for immigrants that provides information about obtaining a license or similar authorization to practice certain occupations or professions.”

The big problem, however, was that there was no distinction made in the bill between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL immigrants who would enjoy this new taxpayer-funded service.

As such, only two liberal Assembly Republicans voted for the bill: Assemblywoman Jill Tolles (American Conservative Union Rating: 53%) and Assemblyman Tom Roberts (American Conservative Union Rating: 57%).

Now get this…

Tolles is now the caucus’ “Co-Deputy Leader” in the north and Roberts is now the “Co-Deputy Leader” in the south.  And the pair of them are in charge of campaign operations in their respective regions for the 2020 election cycle.

What could go wrong, right?

Well, here’s what…

On November 7, 2019, the caucus issued a press release announcing its endorsement of Jake Wiskerchen, an unknown candidate hand-picked by Tolles, for Assembly District 31 in Washoe County – the only Assembly seat with a Democrat incumbent in a Republican-majority district.

“Jake is the embodiment of Assembly District 31 and we believe he gives Republicans the best chance to win in 2020,” the release breathlessly explained.  “Jake possesses the qualities and experience to serve well and we look forward to having him join the Caucus in 2021.”

Alas, what this #1 draft pick apparently didn’t possess was the stomach for campaigning.

As noted in my January 4th Muth’s Truths, he announced right after the holidays that he was dropping out of the race – leaving Tolles and the “Little Caucus that Couldn’t” with a dinosaur-sized egg on their face.

This is one of the dangers in endorsing an unknown, untested candidate four months before filing even opens.  But this particular endorsement was even worse than that.

The worst part was that the caucus endorsed Wiskerchen over the district’s former Republican Assemblywoman Jill Dickman – a longtime conservative grassroots activist who bucked Gov. Brian Sandoval and the GOP’s legislative “leadership” in 2015 by voting AGAINST the largest tax hike in Nevada history.

Oh, and she also chalked up a rock-solid 94% score that session in the American Conservative Union’s ratings.

Of course, when it comes to wishy-washy, go-along-to-get-along liberal Republicans like Tolles and Roberts, a conservative like Jill ain’t the kind of Republican they want back in the Legislature in 2021.

But they can’t come out and say THAT.  So they made up some other excuses.

The first of which was that “Jill can’t win” since she lost her re-election bid in 2016 and failed to win the seat back again in 2018.

But that excuse can EASILY be blown out of the water.  Which I’ll do in Part II of “Ripping the Loincloth Off the Little Caucus that Couldn’t” tomorrow.

Don’t touch that dial!

(Mr. Muth is president of CitizenOutreach.org and publisher of NevadaNewsandViews.com.  He blogs at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.)