Clara, if you are explaining, you are losing

Picon has been bombarded with messages about Clara Andriola’s efforts to campaign via United States Mail and the cellular device. Some of our readers report up to two calls a day and texts, asking to take surveys and trying to sell constituents on her voting record as an appointed Republican. We thought we would delve into just what is being pushed out and whether it is ethically sound.

In his Reagan Diaries, the beloved conservative former President famously said, “If you're explaining, you're losing.”  It seems as though Clara is running a campaign to shelter her from the stark reality of her votes that mattered. Picon has not analyzed every vote she cast, others have done this and we will not dispute the numbers for the purposes of this article. What we will dispute is the gravitas of the votes that mattered. Look, a block vote to accept a donation is much different than a vote to spend tens of millions on a homeless welcoming center. Following her appointment, within a week she was the tie-breaking vote to dump millions more into the CARES campus, something the conservative wing of the County Commission had flatly rejected.

To combat what is clearly a campaign issue for Clara, she has launched a website that tells her truth and mailed out expensive mailers that make all sorts of claims about her claimed conservative nature. Picon would be remiss if we didn’t remind our readers that Clara was excised from the Washoe County Republican party for allegedly being too congenial with the Democrats on the commission.  That does not seem to mesh with the claims in her mailer, is that explaining? It sure seems to be.

On her new website, were a little shocked at her use of four Washoe County deputy sheriffs in full uniform flanking her and the almost Governor, Starvos Anthony.  Her campaign management company (Redrock Strategies) is the same company the Gov used, you would think after his $20,000 fine for the use of a uniform in campaign ads they would have cautioned Clara. Who knows, maybe they did and it wasn’t a concern?

What we do know, and this important, the Washoe County manager works at the pleasure of the Board of County Commissioners. He is appointed. The county manager approves labor contract agreements, which are then voted on by the County Commission. If we are not mistaken, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Deputies Association is negotiating a new contract, which means they will be asking for a raise and some new benefits. Guess who endorsed Clara? That’s right, the Deputies Association. So why in the world would she ever publish such a photo?

Lombardo’s questionable judgment in appointments seems to follow his questionable appointments to the State of Nevada Ethics Commission. The gov has some serious power in Nevada, he gets to appoint former cops to the commission that may decide if his actions are ethically sound and legal. That’s handy; makes one wonder why the Supreme Court of Nevada is not the appointing authority.  We think the legislature should gander at this and see if there isn’t room for improvement.

Picon believes that even ethically challenged Lombardo would most probably have refrained from lining up his staff for a photo-op in an election cycle. We scoured his website and could not find one photo depicting Joe Lombardo with his staff, in uniform, during his campaign efforts. Picon has no issue with candidates showcasing their past and their accomplishments, we do however question staged photos with public employees who may be beneficiaries of your votes, while in an active campaign that appear to violate Nevada Revised Statute. From a lay perspective, the use of uniformed deputies who are asking you for a raise could create the appearance of impropriety.

Picon reviewed the “Little Hatch Act” for Washoe County employees, codified in Washoe County Code 5.341. We would urge Clara to review section 2 of this code which expressly prohibits any county employee, which we assume she is one, from engaging in political activities on duty. Not only does it appear she violated this, these uniformed members may have violated it as well, especially if they knew she was running for office and if any of them were involved in the negotiations for a raise.  Picon is not in the business of filing ethics complaints, however if we are tipped off about such a filing we will update our readers.