Compromise Clara, who exactly dredged up appointed Commissioner Clara Andriola?

To say that Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill has a sort of stranglehold over appointed Commissioner Clara Andriola’s votes is pretty much an understatement. It is all but amusing, sadly, to listen to Andriola try to explain why she is supporting Hill’s lead on votes. While on the dais, Hill will often announce that she is supporting an agenda item and Andriola will need to scramble to explain why she is leaving her ‘Republican’ roots, and Republican commissioners Mike Clark and Jeanne Herman, to support Hill. We point this out because Andriola appears to be a follower and not a leader. So how in the heck did she get appointed?

The real Sixty-Four Dollar Question is who found the Commissioner of Compromise, Clara Andriola. The minute the news of former Commissioner Vaughn Hartung’s resignation, it would seem Clara had to be prodded by Governor Joe Lombardo’s 2022 campaign team, Red Rock Strategies, to apply for the position. While a number of ‘regular folks’ went online and applied for the commission appointment, Clara had to have the information sent to her by Ryan at Red Rock Strategies and offered ‘help’ if she needed it.

Did Governor Joe Lombardo want Andriola, or as we have been told originally, he contacted City of Sparks Councilmember Charlene Bybee, who supported Lombardo during the 2022 election. Was Bybee, Lombardo’s first choice living in Washoe County District 4. The rumor mill has said Bybee turned Lombardo down, graciously, due to just having run a race in 2022 and still eyeing running for mayor of Sparks in 2026. It could just be an urban myth, but the comments we have heard make sense. However, Andriola had become a Sparks Planning Commissioner, and on the Sparks Citizen Advisory Council, so she and Bybee’s paths had crossed. Did a light bulb go off in Bybee’s head? Did she pitch Andriola to Lombardo? It is always good to have a suggestion to give the ‘top guy’ in Nevada when saying ‘no’ to a commission seat.

Or was it Red Rock Strategies who had the idea? We’ll never know.

There is another player in the game. Back in the day there was a local law firm Guinasso, Kintz, and Reese. Jason Guinasso and Devon Reese were the two principles of the firm. You know Jason Guinasso, who ran for Assembly, and was trounced.  Then there is Devon Reese, who was appointed to the Reno City Council. Guinasso attended Andriola’s swearing in on April 11, 2023, and has made comments about being the ‘guy’ who took Andriola’s name to Lombardo. Was it Guinasso? In early 2023, there was a rumor a group of individuals had asked former Commissioner Vaughn Hartung think about resigning his commission seat in June 2023, so the governor could appoint to his seat thus giving the appointee the ‘gift of incumbency’ in order to stymy the boogeyman, Robert Beadles, from getting what this group perceived as a third seat on the county commission. Guinasso was excommunicated from the Republican Party, there is a pending lawsuit against the state GOP. Could it have been Guinasso? Maybe we will never know.

Picon finds it interesting and disgusting how these meddlers were able to manipulate elected officials. Seems like interference in the people’s ability to elect their representatives, odd how both parties get to own that.

We submitted a public records request to the governor’s office regarding the applications for the appointment to Washoe County Commission District 4. While we unearthed a good chunk of information, including the Washoe County Communications Manager, Bethany Drysdale, asking the governor not to appoint Tom Green or Tracy Hilton Thomas, we also stumbled upon this email from Red Rock to Andriola. Our request was lacking in a great deal of the information we had requested. We might go back again asking for the records that were omitted or overlooked.

For the governor’s former campaign firm to reach out to Andriola, well we think it looks damn questionable. It would seem the ‘fix was in’ and Andriola was someone’s chosen one. Who did the choosing? Lombardo was weak in Northern Nevada and uniformed, we can see that based on at least two of his choices to fill rolls at the state from the county bench. There is no way Andriola, a relative unknown, was objectively chosen among the applicants.

The real choice will be left up to the voters of Washoe County District 4, do they want compromise or someone who will be an independent thinker to represent them. This race is shaping up to one of the most interesting of 2024, much like Mike Clark’s in 2022 against incumbent Robert Lucey who was crushed in the 2022 Primary. Someone should point out to the ‘rumored’ group that incumbency isn’t always a sure thing, just ask Commissioner Clark’s opponent.

There is a rumbling Red Rock Strategies is running Andriola’s campaign, but we will not know until January 15, 2024, when the first Contribution and Expense reports are due to the Nevada Secretary of State. Rest assured, Picon Press will let our readers know!