Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Jon Ralston: Party banks on utility bashing

Just days after last Sunday's attempt to inform you, the voters, about how shameless candidates were about to be in trying to climb into office over Nevada Power's expiring body, the relentless utility-bashing began on the airwaves.

I don't know about you folks, but I can't decide whom to embrace for fighting against the utility and getting that billion-dollar rate increase halved, and whom to curse for being in Nevada Power's pocket and supporting higher power bills.

Should I send flowers to County Commissioner Erin Kenny, or a cigar to her colleague, Dario Herrera? They are both taking credit on the air right now for getting the rate boost reduced. Kenny "fought to stop the gouging" while Herrera "stood with residents and said, 'No.' "

But who did more -- that's what I really want to know? Which one of them actually was there during those rate hearings and persuaded the Public Utilities Commission to only impose a $500 million rate hike? Because that result is what they are bragging about.

Should I, on the other hand, protest in front of the campaigns of GOP congressional hopeful Jon Porter, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and attorney general contender Brian Sandoval -- I see from new ads that they are in bed with the power company. Porter "voted for the bill that allowed Nevada Power to push for the increase," the Herrera ad says. So, did everyone who voted for that bill side with the power company -- because every Democrat in Carson City did, too?

Sandoval and Hunt, new commercials point out, took money from the utility and its executives. So these Republicans actually will act based on these contributions the same way Herrera and Kenny will, based on all the money they took from casinos, developers and garbage utility folks? I get it.

What's even more confusing is this public power question that Kenny and Herrera, with a little help from their friends on the county board, put on the ballot this November. I keep hearing that if you vote for Question 14, we'll get a 20 percent drop in our power bills and get rid of that incompetent, arrogant utility. But then I also hear that if we vote against it, we'll preserve millions of dollars in revenue and prevent capricious politicians from turning the utility into Regional Justice Center, The Sequel.

You may have thought this election was about who's best qualified to represent the state in Washington or Carson City on critical issues such as the infirm tax structure, the putrid state of education funding, the difficult question of pre-emptively striking hostile countries, the real fix for Social Security and prescription drug prices, or even tort reform.

But that's not what this election is about. It's who can show they did the most to fight against the electric utility and who can promise more if a public entity replaces the private company.

This is the time of year when any semblance of substantive campaigns gives way to pressing whatever hot button can drive voters to the polls. But never have I seen such blatant attempted manipulation of voters with little regard to the consequences -- the destruction of the utility and with no guarantee that what rises from the ashes will be phoenix-like.

And it just might work, too. Why? Because voters generally don't pay attention to what candidates really are all about -- where they came from, what they stand for. They are either consciously lazy ("Hey, let's go vote early so we can get this out of the way and not have to stand in line for a little while on Nov. 5.") or simply provoked ("I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take that utility anymore.").

And the attitude of these candidates and their consultants is Menckenesque. The spinmeisters figure that they have made a lot of money never underestimating the intelligence of the masses, especially the registered ones.

So why are they doing it? For folks like Herrera, Kenny and John Hunt, Sandoval's opponent, what else have they got?

The Democrats have a gubernatorial candidate who has been relegated to Orwellian oblivion (Joe Somebody, I think it is), one congressional candidate (Shelley Berkley) who is absolutely loved by the partisans but has trouble migrating beyond her base; and another congressional hopeful (Dario Herrera) whose appeal also has been narrowed through the ethics pounding he has absorbed and who will not be a ballot magnet for the party.

So what do the Democrats have? Not much. So they have manufactured an issue to make up for their lack of a strong ticket and they hope to organize their get-out-the-vote effort on seething hatred for Nevada Power. They hope it's blind fury because if voters opened their eyes, they would see that almost none of these politicians had any role in the Public Utilities Commission's decision to cut that rate request in half and that they would realize there's not nearly enough information yet about public power to vote on that ballot question.

I may be right again, but I must tell you: Expect this to continue next week, and until Nov. 5. But don't blame me. Remember, I'm the one who thinks you are just willfully ignorant or easily inflamed; they think you are morons.

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