This weekend’s Republican Central Committee meeting in Sparks had all the excitement of watching your favorite movie for the 113th time: Sure it’s fun, but you know exactly how it ends.
The selection of former state Sen. Mark Amodei as the nominee for the special election in the 2nd Congressional District was assured the moment Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, Amodei’s only real competitor, announced he would not seek the office.
The only question was by how much Amodei — who stepped down recently as chairman of the state party — would beat two other contenders, appointed state Sen. Greg Brower and former USS Cole skipper Kirk Lippold. As Amodei himself said, if he’d failed to win the nomination (or if he’d won it by a less-than-impressive margin) it would have sent a very strong message. But Amodei did win, and convincingly (221 votes to just 56 for Brower, his closest competitor).
And next Saturday, state Treasurer Kate Marshall will beat her token competition on the Democratic side — ex-Regent Nancy Price — by as convincing a margin.
What does it all mean?
Nothing, really, if the Nevada Supreme Court does the right thing and overturns that truly awful, stretched-like-Gumby-on-the-rack court ruling that led to the central committee meetings in the first place.
Secretary of State Ross Miller, recall, interpreted the plain language of the law to allow for a free-for-all election, in which major party candidates appear on the ballot simply by filing nomination papers with his office. It’s not a pretty process, but it does have the virtue of conforming exactly to the language of the law.
But a Republican Party lawsuit interrupted Miller’s proceeding and resulted in District Judge James Todd Russell declaring the major parties should each pick a single nominee. Hence, Saturday’s Republican confab, and next Saturday’s Democratic meeting.
Full Article: Only drama in special election comes from court – Opinion – ReviewJournal.com.