The election is over. We all lost – Nicole Barde

RECALL DEFEATED BUT WE ARE ALL LOSERS…………WELL …… EXCEPT FOR LANCE GILMAN

By Nicole Barde

As the community tries to recover from the activities leading to the crushing defeat of the recall petition….we are, as a community, ultimately the losers.

 Win, lose or draw the only winner in this is, as always, brothel owner, TRI principal and Commissioner Lance Gilman.

 Despite the recalls defeat he will still make money off of the women working at his brothel, he will still make money on the companies moving into TRIC, his real estate company will continue to make him money, and he will continue to shape, form and drive Storey County’s “TRI FIRST” strategy to continue to put money into his pockets. I say “his ” pockets because the county has yet to see the avalanche of riches promised by TRI.

All of this SCREAMS conflict of interest as a Commissioner and Lance’s signing of the recall petition and liberal financing of the recall campaign proves, at least to me, that he can’t separate the personal from the office to which he was elected. It is my hope that the people who voted against the Sheriff recall and some of the others see this as well.

 Anyone who truly loved this community, as Lance Gilman professes, would not have put its people thru this ordeal. He would have thought first of how to accomplish the “moral” task of bringing accountability to another elected official without hurting the people in this small community.

Lance Gilman is nothing if not smart and creative…..he could have attempted this task with surgical precision …..instead he chose a scorched earth approach to utterly destroy one individual and didn’t care about the collateral damage that his tactics caused. It was a vicious and unrelenting campaign. 

The losers, and the collateral damage of that campaign, are the citizens of Storey County. Regardless of how we voted…we lost.

 Lance wins but some of us have still lost our Constitutional right to free speech.

 Even before this latest assault on our civility and peace many, many people were afraid to speak out against anyone in power for fear of retribution or retaliation. 

That did not change with this recall election. Some people felt pressured to sign the recall petition and didn’t feel that they could refuse or speak out. One resident who had no connection to the county structure whatsoever said that they were afraid to disclose their thoughts on the recall to a poll taker on the phone because they didn’t know who they would be reported to and what would happen to them. Lance and the county officials win here since the system of fear and intimidation is still intact. Congratulations Lance.

Lance wins but we have lost friends and neighbors over the polarizing effects of a constant barrage of partial facts, made up facts, omitted facts and hidden facts that were presented as “evidence” and then rained down on the heads of the citizens.

 The whole recall publicity campaign was pure Joseph Goebbels (Nazi propaganda minister) who said “It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle….”

 What is the truth? This has been the cause of many arguments, nasty exchanges, strained friendships and suspicion. The recall machine didn’t care about the truth, they just wanted to throw enough s*it out there to create doubt…..who cares about collateral damage.

 Judy Black is still dead, the presumption of innocence is out the window and a fair jury pool anywhere in the next 3 counties is not likely. Melanie Keener can file a harassment suit if she is so inclined. Those are the truths that stand out to me, the rest was just part of the scorched earth tactic which has left my community torn up. Congratulations Lance.

Lance wins but I have to wonder if our elected officials are making decisions on our behalf and in our best interests. All but 2 in the Storey County management structure signed the recall petition. The exceptions are DA Ann Langer who is not a resident, and Commissioner Marshall McBride. I don’t know what Marshall’s motives were but I thank him for not wanting to drag us thru this misery. The rest just followed Lance’s lead on this….conduct unbecoming.

Lance, I hope that you stop now,  allow the community to heal and move on….you need to move on, you’ve been defeated three times on this issue…..just stop. Follow the rules and you’ll be OK. As for the Sheriff….follow the rules and you’ll be OK.

I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes……and my hope for our community:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.”

– Abraham Lincoln