Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sandoval gets awkward shout-out from Perry at debate

GOP Presidential Debate

Steve Marcus

Rick Perry and his wife Anita Perry depart after the GOP presidential debate sponsored by CNN on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, at the Venetian.

Brian Sandoval

Brian Sandoval

Gov. Brian Sandoval got a shout-out from Gov. Rick Perry at Tuesday’s debate in Las Vegas, even if the plain-speaking Texan garbled it a bit.

Perry said that he talked to Sandoval before the debate about the federal administration’s regulations blocking a mining project.

Maybe. We think.

According to the CNN transcript from the debate, Perry said: “We need to recognize that the administration that we have today is blocking mining that could be going on in the state of Nevada.

“I talked to Brian Sandoval before I came in here today. You have an administration that is killing jobs because they want to move us to a green energy. You have a secretary of energy who has basically said he wants to see gas prices up close to the European model.”

Grammar aside, we think we can safely presume that the “administration that is killing jobs” Perry referred to was President Barack Obama’s, and not Sandoval’s.

Sandoval has promoted green energy technology, such as solar and geothermal, as a way to help Nevada’s economy.

Sandoval took a political risk and made an early endorsement of his fellow chief executive, whom he had met with when running in a primary against former Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons and while Perry was in leadership at the

National Republican Governors Association.

Nevada’s other political leaders have mostly lined up for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won the state’s early caucus four years ago.

Sandoval wrote a letter in September to Obama, asking him to streamline the noticing process for some mining projects.

Sandoval, after the speech, said “it was a great night for Nevada.”

“We are proud to host a Republican debate, and all of the candidates did very, very well. I think we are going to see that the next president was on that stage.”

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