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U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle gets a hug from Fallon City Councilman John Tewell after a Lincoln Day dinner in February. Angle was endorsed last week by the Tea Party Express, but the former Nevada legislator faces an uphill climb in a 12-candidate GOP primary field.
Sunday, April 18, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Tax Day 2010
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Tax Day 2010, Seg. ...
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Tax Day 2010, Seg. ...
Sue Lowden
Danny Tarkanian
Harry Reid
Tea Party: "Showdown in Searchlight"
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The Tea Party Express buses kicked off their latest national road trip Saturday with a rally in Sen. Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nev., which only has a population of 700. Sarah Palin gave the keynote address to the thousands who showed up for the "Showdown in Searchlight."
Sun archives
- Sharron Angle gets Tea Party endorsement in Senate race (4-15-2010)
- Carson City rally draws hundreds to protest taxes, health reform (4-15-2010)
- Ashjian says he’s not expecting Tea Party endorsement (4-14-2010)
- Tea Party draws faithful, but important work awaits (3-28-2010)
- Excerpt from Sarah Palin’s address (3-28-2010)
- Many Tea Party attendees felt compelled to rally (3-28-2010)
- Sarah Palin rallies thousands in Harry Reid’s hometown (3-27-2010)
- Ann Coulter rails against government intervention in health care (3-27-2010)
- With Tea Party in town, Harry Reid helps open shooting park (3-27-2010)
- Harry Reid takes on Sue Lowden early, hoping labor is listening (3-14-2010)
- Tea Party candidate could siphon GOP votes in bid to remove Harry Reid (3-5-2010)
- Tarkanian enters race against Reid (8-7-2009)
Sharron Angle has been waiting decades for the Nevada Republican Party to catch up.
Before Sarah Palin declared Republicans the “party of ‘Hell No,’ ” Angle, as a legislator, cast so many solitary “no” votes that it was common to say bills had passed “62 to Angle.”
Before the conservative movement became almost exclusively anti-establishment, anti-incumbent, Angle dared to challenge Republican icon Bill Raggio, a state senator for more than three decades — forcing the then-81-year-old to spend a hot August walking his district, vowing not to raise taxes. Angle lost the 2008 race by a few hundred votes.
Before the Tea Party movement formed, anti-tax fervor crescendoed and candidates thumped on copies of the U.S. Constitution like a preacher on a Bible, Angle was doing it.
“I was a conservative before it was fashionable,” she says.
If this is the Year of the Tea Party, this should be Angle’s year.
Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that Angle’s candidacy could be a barometer for the strength of the Tea Party movement.
Despite all of this, Angle remains an outsider in the Republican Party and a dark horse to win its nomination for U.S. Senate.
The GOP establishment, including its political consultants, have shunned her — carefully, so not to alienate her or her base for the general election — and polls and fundraising totals put her a distant third to Sue Lowden, the party’s former chairwoman, and Danny Tarkanian.
A favorite of the conservative movement
Last week, at long last, Angle got some recognition.
The Tea Party Express — organizers of the Searchlight rally against Harry Reid and the national tour featuring Palin — endorsed Angle. “In our opinion she represents the best ideals of the Tea Party movement and we are going ‘all in’ for Angle,” according to a statement.
The endorsement was criticized by local groups in the movement. They said it was from a group in Washington, not Nevada, and they plan to make their own endorsement in the coming weeks.
Some of the backlash to the endorsement carried this subtext: Angle may be popular with the grass roots, but can she beat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in November?
That question remains unanswered, but her popularity with conservatives in the Tea Party is a fact. And it has been so since the movement’s inception.
The first inkling of the Tea Party movement surfaced April 15, 2009, with a rally outside the Legislature. The crowd, an estimated 3,000, was the biggest that legislative police could recall.
The crowd might have gotten there through word spread on Fox News or in Republican organizations, but it wasn’t purely partisan. When a handful of conservative members of the Assembly ventured out to declare how they were fighting tax increases, some of them were greeted by boos. The movement lumped them in with the rest of the bums.
But Angle, despite having held office, was a different story. “She found boisterous support in the gathering,” according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
“Stimulus, bailouts, pork. That’s the excess. That’s what people are angry about,” she told the crowd.
“It’s safe to say she’s one of the grass roots’ favorites,” said Debbie Landis, president of Anger is Brewing, one of the groups that forms Nevada’s loose coalition identifying itself as the Tea Party movement.
But the 5 percent Angle is polling in a Republican primary — compared with 45 percent for Lowden and 27 for Tarkanian, according to a recent Review-Journal survey — tells another story. She’s not the best candidate to beat Reid in November, the argument goes, and Republican voters are savvy enough to know that.
Chuck Muth, a conservative political consultant who believes Lowden is the GOP’s best hope, acknowledged that Angle may well be the most conservative candidate. “But that’s not the question Republican primary voters are asking,” he said.
“The question is, ‘Who is conservative enough, but can beat Harry Reid in November?’ That’s Sue Lowden, or even Danny Tarkanian.”
The base may love Angle and all she stands for, but they love the idea of defeating Reid more.
‘A soldier in a battle for the soul of our country’
Angle has found herself in this position before, running against the establishment while her better-funded opponents parrot her conservative positions.
She has backed her beliefs with initiative petitions, gathering signatures with friends and her husband, Ted, a retired Bureau of Land Management employee. First, she spearheaded a property tax cap initiative, arguing that the cap on property taxes passed by the Legislature in 2005 was insufficient and unconstitutional. She then fought to limit the growth of government and restrict its use of eminent domain.
“I’ve been in the field, and not one of these people has supported us,” she said, referring to her opponents in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. “They play it safe. I’ve been in the trenches.”
She points out that in the last election, Lowden worked to re-elect Raggio, who went on to help pass the state’s largest tax increase during the 2009 Legislature. Muth walked for Raggio as well.
The pattern is obvious to her, she said. “They run to the right and vote to the left.”
Of Lowden’s conservative bona fides, Angle said, “Do I trust her? Not based on her record. Others I don’t trust because no one else has a legislative record.”
For her part, Lowden, who attended Thursday’s Tax Day protest in Carson City, said she identifies with the Tea Party movement and many of her volunteers are members.
In an interview in Angle’s Reno living room, where a painting of Jesus hangs with some of her art work — she majored in fine arts at UNR — Angle was asked if her opponents’ efforts to lay claim to the conservative mantle frustrated her.
She paused before answering.
“I suppose if all I was in it for was to win an election, if I just wanted to be a senator,” she said. “I’m not. A soldier’s job isn’t to go to war. It’s to defend the Constitution, and sometimes you need to go to war. I’m doing my duty. I’m a soldier in a battle for the soul of our country.”
An uncompromising belief in conservatism
By all accounts Angle is a true believer in the conservative cause.
She believes government is veering from its constitutionally defined role and capitalist roots. The health care reform bill, the bank bailouts and federal stimulus are all prime examples, she says.
When reminded that most mainstream economists and many Republicans are on record saying that the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or bank bailout, prevented a worldwide global depression, she shakes her head.
“I don’t think the government spending more money brings us from the brink. I don’t think you borrow your way out of debt,” she says.
Angle blames the fiscal crisis on “too much regulation across the board.” The United States needs to cut taxes to remain competitive, audit the Federal Reserve and liquidate Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae — all dog-whistle stances for the conservative right.
Former colleagues say Angle is unbending in her stances, unwilling to compromise.
This was evident in her time in the Legislature, where she served from 1999 to 2005. She was the only vote against a property tax cap, which put a 3 percent limit on residential property and 8 percent on commercial property at a time when values were skyrocketing.
Despite the hard negotiations from both sides, she opposed the final deal, saying it violated the state’s constitution by treating residential and commercial properties differently.
Some of her positions in the Legislature were controversial, but Angle remains unyielding in her defense.
In 2003, she tried to arrange a trip for legislators to visit a drug rehabilitation program in Ensenada, Mexico. The trip, funded by an Arizona Scientologist, according to press reports, had ties to the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
Critics said the rehabilitation program involved prisoners getting massages and using saunas.
Angle said the “physical contact” — she doesn’t call them massages — was to relieve cramps associated with drug addicts’ withdrawal symptoms. And rather than “saunas,” prisoners were put in “what I can only describe as a sweat box,” she said.
Despite the bad press — and if her U.S. Senate campaign begins to get traction, watch for opponents to attack her on this — she vehemently defends the program as an innovative approach that could have changed lives in Nevada.
Angle, a Southern Baptist, downplays Scientology’s connection to the prison program, and said her political opponents twisted the story during the 2003 Legislature to discredit her because she opposed a proposed tax increase.
“You may agree with me, but that doesn’t mean I agree with you all the time,” Angle said of her work with Scientologists. “I’m still glad to have you on board.”
Most proud of her legislation allowing home schooling
In Angle’s four legislative sessions she sponsored 70 bills. Seven passed.
Among her successes were bills that: enlarged the pool from whom the governor can choose the adjutant general; required juvenile criminals to pay victims restitution for personal injury as well as property damage; and limited immunity for “good Samaritans” who use a defibrillator.
She says the “crown jewel” of her legislative career was a bill on parents’ right to home-school their children. She requested the bill in 2006, when she was running for Congress but still officially a legislator. She was no longer in the Legislature when it passed in 2007.
She said the legislation is a model for the rest of the country.
Juanita Cox, chairwoman of the Storey County Republican Party, recalls the effort to get the home-school bill passed, saying Angle was key to its success.
“She was standing with us to get it through,” Cox said, “whether she was there as an assemblywoman or lobbyist. She’s not a Republican in name only. She’s a woman who walks the walk.”
But former Republican colleagues say Angle developed a reputation for being so rigid as to be ineffective.
Some say that makes her vulnerable to the criticism — in a general election — that she would merely continue to be a member of “the party of no.”
“Sharron Angle has done a good job in our party of mobilizing grass roots,” said Robert Uithoven, campaign manager for Lowden. “I don’t think she’s a candidate who could win a general election against Harry Reid.”
He continued, “They don’t just want a Republican that shows up and votes no.”
Landis, the president of Anger is Brewing, said Angle’s votes on taxes are conservative enough. But, she said, “My thing is, don’t just come and bring me a problem. Bring me solutions. And she seems very short on solutions.”
The conservative movement has recently focused on opposing health care legislation and higher taxes. But many, like Landis, believe that for the movement to govern, it needs to offer its own solutions. “We have to find someplace between the party of yes and the party of no,” she said.
Still, Landis and other Tea Party activists in Nevada, who will gather this month to debate who the state’s organizations should endorse, won’t rule out endorsing Angle.
Two sides to the anti-establishment argument
While her fellow Republicans question her path to victory in November, an Angle victory in June’s primary is easier to envision.
With 12 candidates, the vote could be so divided that a candidate with a strong, established base slides by with a relatively small percentage of the vote.
The other major candidates — Lowden, Tarkanian and Assemblyman Chad Christensen — all have Southern Nevada roots. Angle is a Northern Nevadan and has been on the ballot, and in the news, in competitive races during the past two Republican primary elections.
Angle’s campaign dismissed polls showing her trailing badly.
The sample size of the Review-Journal’s poll “is very small, and their results are scarcely considerable at this point because the race is still in a very fluid situation,” Jerry Stacy, a spokesman for Angle, said in a statement.
He said Angle’s poll numbers will rise once she begins running TV ads. Stacy wouldn’t say when the ad campaign will begin.
Her endorsement by the Tea Party Express will also likely bring her more media attention and donations. In the past week she has received endorsements from two more conservative groups, the Gun Owners of America and the Nevada Republican Assembly.
But she still remains a long shot to win.
Karen Claudino of Carson City was carrying an Angle sign at the Tea Party rally Thursday in Carson City. She acknowledged that some voters won’t support Angle because they don’t think she’ll win. Still, she sees reason to hope.
“If everybody who likes her thinks that way, just writes her off, then she won’t win,” Claudino, 60, said. But if they take the chance, whoever wins the Republican primary will have plenty of money to take on Reid.
Angle argues that she can win a general election for the same reasons her fellow Republicans believe she can’t: because she’s not an establishment candidate.
Her independence from the Republican Party establishment will appeal to nonpartisan voters, who make up 15 percent of the electorate, Angle said.
“If it comes down to the lesser of two evils, those independents won’t come out,” Angle said. The nonpartisan independents “believe the two-party system doesn’t offer them something. The only one they can trust to do what they think is right is me.”
UNLV political science professor David Damore said given all of the Tea Party activism, he thought Angle would make a stronger showing than she has so far. “I thought this would be the year of Sharron Angle.”
If the polls are accurate, Republicans might be hedging their bets, looking for a candidate they believe can beat Reid.
But Damore has another theory.
Maybe Angle captures the Tea Party vote. And maybe, for all the press and courting by the candidates, the movement is just not as big as some would have you believe.
“The loudest voices get the most attention, the most media coverage. They’re loud, they’re controversial,” Damore said. “But we don’t know how big they are.”
So maybe this isn’t the year of the Tea Party — or Angle.
The tax day Tea Party rally in Carson City invited comparisons to the movement’s rally a year before, which drew 3,000. On Thursday, police estimated the crowd at between 500 to 700.
How significant is that? Angle’s showing at the polls might offer an answer.
No, she can't, barring a miracle. She is going to make it easier for Reid to win again by splintering the votes for the opposition. This is a best-case scenario for Reid.
The tea partiers and the republican party are just a bunch of confederates. Screaming about states rights and holding up civil rights. History repeats itself and the South, which is really the leadership in the republican party, Newt (georgia) Mich McConnell (Kentucky) Cantor (virginia) I mean need I say more resemble the confederacy? I mean look at Tea Party, which is a recreational outlet for republicans, against health care, against being under the authority of a BLACK man. And doesn't it look like the confederacy and at least their soldiers??? What you didn't know there was BLACK Confederate solders, check the story
http://bit.ly/southernrepublicans
The Tea Party movement is much larger than Ms Angle. Angle, while a very nice person, with conservative values, lacks the strength to defeat Reid. Lowden has the poise,confidence and grit to eliminate Reid. Lowden is the best one in the race for the Republicans. A few words about the Tea Party movement.The Tea Party movement is a clear and strong reaction to the recent vast intrusion by the feds into the lives of individual Americans and the massive debt heaped on the backs of Americans. There is no other reason for the depth, breadth and passion of this modern day upheaval. Millions of Americans are shocked, dismayed and strongly aroused by the unwelcome and invasive abuse of power exhibited by Congress and the Obama administration. While these representatives of our central government ( like Harry Reid) were invited by elections into their jobs, once in their jobs they turned rogue, and with their abuse of authority ended up at odds with a large and vocal segment of America--this is the essence of the Tea Party movement.
Because of this reaction, the Tea Party movement has become a legitimate catalyst
in the current political debate, and will exact its influence on the immediate future of the election process in America.
Like all movements,however, the Tea Party movement has an inevitable life and a limited purpose. While undoubtedly it will impact the election process this year, and extend to the elections of 2012 it probably will diminish thereafter having energized many millions of Americans to exercise their voting instincts for greater liberty, smaller government and a return to traditional American values. There is no question that the Tea Party movement is a unique and characteristically American phenomenon.
The Tea Part movement is as American as any form of free speech and thought enjoyed in a Democracy. Let 'em sing and let the people who disagree voice there opinions as well, This is America land of the free!!! Stop complaining!!!
Anyone who is willing to defend our borders will get the attention of most voting Americans!
In a 3-horse political race, ANYTHING is possible.
With Harry's tepid support, Lowden's I, Me, Mine platform, and Angle's "out there" rep, it could be
a tight, tight vote... In my mind, this will bring to the fore an argument for runoff elections; no one should "win" with less than 50% of the vote, and someone could conceivably "win" this one with somewhere around 38-45% of the vote. Yikes...that's a frightening proposition; unless it's HARRY! (kidding, haters.)
p.s.
This is how Jessie Ventura became Gov in Minnesota.
If that isn't enough to alert you to a potential problem, I think you may be beyond alerting.
"No, she can't, barring a miracle. She is going to make it easier for Reid to win again by splintering the votes for the opposition. This is a best-case scenario for Reid."
That is excatly why the Sun is supportl her by running this story.
This is not a news paper.
It is an out-n-out pure extension of the Nevada Democartic Party.
The "news reporters" and "editors" have absolutely no shame or ethics.
Hell will freeze about 1 trillion times over before they ever EVER print one single negative story on Reid or Titus.
All they do is print gargage, like the one today for Titius, thise garbage puff pieces on Democrats that are really campaign ads.
On the flip side, they often print negative stories on Republicans like today's Lowden one.
The only time they do positive Republican stories is when it serves some devious purpose or if the Republican is a pure 100% RHINO.
Do people not remember she was voted out of office after her stance on taxes in 2003. She has also lost every race since then. People that are way right or left, forget they are suppose to represent all their constituents. That is why moderates generally win elections.
On radio station kste Mark Williams, head spokesperson of the teaparty express, was suspended by the clear channel station kste for making light of people who swerve their cars at bicyclists, he was ultimately fired at the Sacramento station kfbk (sister station of kste) and then flopped at an Albany New York station.
Why should Nevada voters be influenced by a paid side show, headed up by a failed talk show host?
Just another nit wit
Politicians who fail to research what they endorse are a problem in communities everywhere; particularly if what they endorse is a fraudulent scam.
Sharron Angle promoted Scientology's front group, "Second Chance," to the legislature a few years back. Had she done ANY research, she would have learned that it is a scientifically unproven pile of quackery created by a hack pulp fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard.
Fortunately, the Nevada legislature did do their jobs, reviewed the material, and determined that public money could be better spent elsewhere.
New Mexico wasn't as clever. A Google search of 'Albuquerque, Second Chance' will reveal how this program scuttled out of town late one night, disappearing with several large appliances from the kitchen of the leased building they were using. They still owe the city thousands of dollars in rent, and their employees are still waiting to be paid.
Amusingly, Second Chance popped up in Hawaii a month later to flog its program to lawmakers there. They were soundly rejected.
So, if you're a scam artist selling a bridge, Sharron Angle is your ideal politician.
If you're a citizen who wants a Senator who will fulfill the commitment of the position, seriously look after the interests of the voters, and conscientiously research every program that involves public money, look elsewhere. Sharron Angle has proved that she is not qualified to be a U.S. Senator.
Angle is called too rigid to be effective. That's the one I want sent to Washington. Then send another to help her, and then another. When the Senate returns to its roots of protecting the constitution instead of looking for ways to "help" we will be a better country.
Go, Angle! If the teabaggers were serious about their anti-government platform, they'd support her.
But whatever happens, I'm just laughing at the GOP incompetence showing in their primary fight. Suzy Lowdown thinks she can just take the base for granted while Baby Tark thinks they'll just come to his rescue in June. It will be too funny if Angle actually manages to best both of them in the primary.
Ummm, not that she's a bad candidate for the job but NO. I'm a proud Tea Party member and Sue Lowden is the best candidate for the job.
During an interview today on FOX NEWS, Sharron Angle hit it write on the head when she referred to Harry as: "Let's make a deal and tax and spend, Harry Reid..."
Sharron Angle already leads Harry Reid 50% to 41%.
Will the Tea Party Movement bring Sharron the 9% of undecided voters???
Have you seen the April 5 Rasmussen poll, where Angle moves ahead of Tarkanian, and to within 3% of Lowden, against Reid? After Lowden spent $250,000 on TV ads?
And curious that news writers always forget the GOP county straw polls. You know, the polls of the active Republicans who vote in the primary, not the political couch potatoes (sp.?, Mr. Quail?) who answer the poll phone calls, but don't get off the couch to vote in primaries.
The results are in:
Lowden - ZERO wins
Tarkanian - ZERO wins
Angle - won EVERY COUNTY except two - Nye and Carson, and the Carson winner, Mark Amodei, then withdrew. So Angle is now the winner of every county except Nye (Bill Parson).
Who won Clark county GOP straw poll??? Ms. Lowden? No. Mr. Tarkanian? No.
How can either Lowden or Tarkanian say they are a stronger candidate without winning a single GOP straw poll?
And that was before the Mark Levin endorsement, the Gun Owners of America endorsement (NRA is flirting with Reid!!), etc., etc.
Wow Mark Levin. I bet that throws her on to the top of the heap, How many people of a sound mind are going to be influenced by that ranting screeching voice?
About as many as you there Mr. Ed...
mred-
"How many people of a sound mind are going to be influenced by that ranting screeching voice?"
None... But we of sound minds don't vote in the GOP primary, so I'm sure a Mark Levin endorsement will help plenty with the teabaggers.
And of course, that and all the other big endorsements for Angle dispute The R-J's preferred story line that Suzy Lowdown has already won the election.
The Tea Party movement seems to have shriveled in Las Vegas, so it's not clear how much grassroots help Angle can expect. Last year on Tax Day, at least 100 people lined the sidewalks around Sunset Park and 1500 attended the rally on the northeast lawn. This year 10 people waved signs and 300 (RJ estimate) sat sedately at the barbecue, organized by a Ron Paul group. They heard some guy who thinks 9/11 was an inside job warn them about neocons (most Republicans) and the Trilateral Commission. Maybe the indisputable fact that federal income taxes are the lowest in decades depressed turnout.
Freedyr
"Have you seen the April 5 Rasmussen poll, where Angle moves ahead of Tarkanian, and to within 3% of Lowden, against Reid? "
I see your twisted logic.
Some might think you are saying that in primary that Angle is only 3 points behind Lowden. There is no poll that shows that. In fact, the only poll that I know shows that she is 40 points behind Lowden.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_c...
I think you can run Alfred E Neuman and he will be up 20 points ahead of Reid, too.
Angle probably is more solid than Lowden, but I doubt she can win the primary. It's going to depend on how many people can't stand either Reid or a Republican to decide who wins. Reid might win by default with only 38% of the vote if enough people say anyone but one of the majors.
This self named Tea Party supporter will vote for which ever of the Republicans who gets the nomination to run against Harry...
Robert Uithoven, campaign manager for Lowden. "I don't think she's a candidate who could win a general election against Harry Reid."
Well this is laughable, why would he say anything else?
Can Sharron win? Absolutely because as FreddyR points out, it is LOW-Down that has the problem. If Sue's own Clark county and all the other counties will not vote for Sue how will she be able to get primary voters off the couch?
Polls? Take a look at their statistical plus and minus. These are not polls they are jokes to sway the uneducated to "vote with a winner" who they choose and most likely paid for by Uithoven and gang.
TEA Party voters will never vote for LOW-DOWN because they know that she should be behind bars for felonies. It is illegal not only in Nevada but the USA to pre-plan to steal votes from people or have you forgotten 2008 Republican Convention? Old elephants do not forget.
Some of us remember the debt Sue left the party in and the number of Republicans that re-registered to be anything else after LOW-Down, nearly destroyed it.
Harry and the Democrats must be jumping for joy hoping Sue will be the Primary winner but guess what? ANGLE WINS! LOL!
I am a self proclaimed Tea Party voter and I would vote for Sue Lowden if she wins the Republican primary. I also would vote for Sharron Angle or Danny Tarkanian.
What I don't like is the name calling such as shown by V4Vendetta. That does not give his candidate much creditability. Let's keep it clean and no name calling or you just might throw a possible win down the drain...
Sharron has more integrity in her little finger than Reid, and the entire field of candidates with the exception of Chad Christensen.
Boy, that dipstick sure likes to get her post erased by the editors.
dipstick just can't get any attention from anyone unless she calls the Tea Party Movement vulgar names.
So sad for the dipper...
Angle has nothing to offer other than regressive tax policies and social conservative claptrap (i.e. God, guns, gays). She is a predictable right-winger with an inclination to make distorted/inaccurate/inflammatory statements, like Gov. Gibbons. Angle ran mean attack campaigns for election in a solid Republican district against token opposition. She could have spent a nominal sum, describing her policy positions in a benign manner and still won in a walk.
This Tea Party supporter will vote for which ever of the Republicans who gets the nomination to run against Harry...
This Democrat will vote for the best person for the job, the most qualified, the best for Nevada, the best for his families future, the best for his business, the best choice there is for our US Senator, the one endorsed by republican Sig Rogich,backed by the NRA,,,,,
Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid.
tea Party my A**........what a freakn joke
The tea party and the republican party are one
and the same.
They're still the greedy party of NO.
Vote for Harry Reid.
Dick Army's "FreedomWorks" (funded by Big Business) is behind a number of the Teabag people.
Many of our Liberal friends have become more like a pack of junk yard attack dogs these past few years.
Name calling, demonizing, marginalizing and patronizing have become the standard practice of the far left who have taken over the once proud Democratic Party...
If Sharron Angle represents the Ideal Candidate for the Teabaggers, they need to work on getting higher standards.
The 2002 fight to keep the fraudulent detox program, Second Chance, out of Nevada prisons, (and off the public money gravy train) was not politically motivated. Scientology critics contacted every member of the Nevada legislature at the time, asking them to research the elements of the program which include dangerous and unscientific quackery involving toxic doses of vitamins coupled with potentially health-threatening sauna sessions called the 'Purification Rundown.' This detox is sold to practicing Scientologists, and is also utilized in the dubious NarcOnon drug rehab program.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/deto...
The Second Chance program was adopted by Albuquerque, New Mexico; last year they sneaked out of town literally in the middle of the night, leaving staff unpaid, breaking a lease on an unused jail facility, and absconding with several large kitchen appliances from the jail.
Like Nevada, New Mexico was warned about this Scientology front group, but chose to ignore the warnings.
Sharron Angle may give lip service to Tea Party ideology, but her history demonstrates that she can be influenced and refuses to admit to judgment errors.
Legislators were provided links to sites offering documented information about this program's detox treatment. Angle apparently failed to review them and still stands by her decision to support this expensive and scientifically useless piece of L. Ron Hubbard's junk science.
If she deals with other issues the same way, unrepentant and ignorant, she just might be the perfect Teabagger candidate, but she's bad news for the rest of Nevada.
Scientology has been the subject of a media barrage in the past year; exposing everything from human trafficking and human rights abuses to coerced abortions and child labor.
It is mystifying how anyone can support such a group. Oh, wait, they have a lot of money.
That should tell you all you need to know about Sharron Angle's fitness to serve in the Senate.
Somehow I missed the relevance of this problem. Angle wanted to look at a successful program that was in use to help treat drug addicts in prison.
This program is currently in use in New York and in Utah. The Utah Attorney General is thankful for this program as it has been saving the lives of cops who were affected by the drugs while busting meth labs. http://www.utah-detox.org/
Oh, the problem must be that "Scientology" thing.
Maybe we need someone in office who does not have their head in the sand and is willing to look at modern programs that work.
FamiliesRock, "modern programs that work", you must be joking. The program repeatedly fails because it is based on L Ron Hubbards debunked theories of detox.
The program uses huge doses of vitamins and minerals coupled with large doses of vegetable oils that are meant to force the drug toxins out of body fat. Here is a good article on this "modern program":
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007...
The program doesn't work and serves only to route tax payers money in to the church of scientology's coffers. And yes they did skip town owing rent and taking with them things that didn't belong to them.