The Storey Teller News and commentary on what’s really going on in Storey County.
March 27th – Virginia City Highlands
Tonight the Storey County Republican Committee met to discuss a resolution concerning the Recall of Sheriff Antinoro. In attendance were officers and members of the Storey County Republican Party Committee and dozens of guests including Sheriff Antinoro and Laura DeSimone (the future Mrs. Antinoro), former Commissioners Bill Sjovangen and Greg “Bum” Hess, current Commissioner Lance Gilman and Kris Thompson, president of the Committee to Recall Gerald Antinoro.
The Resolution reads:
“Whereas the Bylaws of the Storey County Republican Central Committee state that the purpose of the Party is to “promote sound, honest, and progressive government;”
Whereas sound government is achieved through the separation of powers, with checks and balances between offices;
Whereas honest government is achieved through the election of individuals by the people, because the elected office holder is then accountable to, and therefore respectful of, the people;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Storey County Republican Central Committee opposes the recall of the Sheriff as constituted because it compromises the principles of sound, honest, and progressive government by:
Not honoring the right of voters to directly choose the person to fill the Office of Sheriff;
Eliminating the Sheriff’s direct accountability to, and consequent respect for, the people by forcing a County Board of Commissioners’ appointment;
Be it further resolved that the Storey County Republican Central Committee shall communicate and distribute this resolution as appropriate.”
Before the resolution was opened up for comment and subsequent vote, several questions were raised about the process of selecting a replacement Sheriff.
The first question was asking if a replacement had already been selected. Committee Chair Jim Hindle directed the question to Commissioner Gilman.
“Following the election, if there is a replacement, there will be someone named for about four weeks to continue the operation the office. Then there will be a selection committee formed that will be of the public. Everyone who is interested (in being selected Sheriff) will submit an application within all of the county. That committee will perform a selection process and the final appointment will be done by the Commissioners. The county manager and the District Attorney are formulating the process that will be handling the process. It will be an ongoing process and a community process.”, explained Commissioner Gilman
Additional questions asked if all of the Commissioners signed the Recall Petition (Jim Hindle confirmed that two of the three Commissioners signed). Further questions asked if the election it was to be conducted as normal election and this was confirmed.
After the questions were answered, the topic was opened up to statements first in opposition (there were none) and then in favor of the resolution.
Those in favor of the resolution included Andrew Poe who commented, “We have very few branches of government within the county and the Sheriff’s office is one of those important branches. We think we need to maintain all the separation of power that we have available to us and keep the selection of the Sheriff in the hands of the people and with the votes of the People.”
The statements of the committee members were finished sooner than expected and Clay Mitchell put forth a motion (seconded and approved) to open the discussion to non-committee members. The guests opposing the resolution were invited to speak first and Kris Thompson suggested that if the recall was unsuccessful the Republican Party could potentially suffer defections due to blowback by the approval of the pending resolution: “I ask you to consider this. This is not a Republican verses Democrat issue. The people that are pushing the recall, the most involved folks supporting the recall, the people resourcing it and the vast majority of the nearly 600 people who signed the petition are Republicans. They are in our party. They are Republicans. A vote for this resolution would disenfranchise them.”
Several guests spoke in favor of the resolution including this reporter who, representing the Libertarian Party of Storey County, advised the audience the Nevada State Libertarian Party has drafted and approved a nearly identical resolution. “It isn’t often that the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians see eye to eye on things. The Declaration of Independence makes reference to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the very next sentence refers to the consent of the governed: a just government given it’s authorization from the consent of the governed. This man (pointing to Sheriff Antinoro) has been given the consent of the governed twice. We consider it questionable the timing of this recall election, as being concerned with taxpayer dollars, it will end up costing the Taxpayers of Storey County perhaps $25-30,000. We (the Nevada Libertarian Party) have a similar resolution and we concur with the notion that you pass your resolution”
In closing, Secretary Clay Mitchell spoke to the issue of why the committee is addressing this matter at in the first place: “As a local Republican Party, we have bylaws and we have a platform. We have things that we stand for. That’s what we are. We aren’t a party like we get together and drink together, we are are a party because we have similar views and ideals. When something relates to those ideals, something that is in our platform and in our bylaws. For us not to say something about it means we are not engaged in our community. There is one line particularly in out platform that stands out to me; “the most effective government is government closest to the people. I truly believe that. I believe strongly that, as Andy mentioned, in the checks and balances and it’s for those reasons that I recommend we approve this resolution.
Once the comments were over the matter was put to a vote of the committee members and was overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 24-3.
If this is any indication of things to come, the effort to recall the Sheriff will be defeated and it’s unseemly polarization of the community will come to a welcome conclusion.
Kudos to ex Commissioner Bill Sjovangen. Just before the vote, he asked a question regarding the voting process. Because he didn’t get the answer he wanted he shouted a profanity (B.S) while our 7 year old granddaughter was sitting right in front of him. I turned around and asked to stop the profane language around her. His next response to me was (F&*k you). Thanks Bill, your a real class act. It’s time as our President has said, ” drain the swamp)
Gillman and his big $$$ backers have been against our Sheriff for years now. We The People need to put a stop to Gillman and his Cronies..Vote no on the Recall and show big $$$ they don’t deserve to run our County.
Here’s the resolution referenced above:
A Resolution expressing the Storey County Republican Central Committee’s opposition to recall of the Sheriff of Storey County because it compromises the principles of good government, it subverts the right of the voters to elect a Sheriff of their choice, and negates the accountability of the Sheriff to the electorate.
———————————
Whereas the Bylaws of the Storey County Republican Central Committee state that the purpose of the Party is to “promote sound, honest, and progressive government;”
Whereas sound government is achieved through the separation of powers, with checks and balances between offices;
Whereas honest government is achieved through the election of individuals by the people, because the elected office holder is then accountable to, and therefore respectful of, the people;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Storey County Republican Central Committee opposes the recall of the Sheriff as constituted because it compromises the principles of sound, honest, and progressive government by:
Not honoring the right of voters to directly choose the person to fill the Office of Sheriff;
Eliminating the Sheriff’s direct accountability to, and consequent respect for, the people by forcing a County Board of Commissioners’ appointment;
Be it further resolved that the Storey County Republican Central Committee shall communicate and distribute this resolution as appropriate.
I am not a person of money an I don’t believe he should have ever been elected.He like your president is not a good man
Oh my god. Stop whining about trump. Every comment section on the entire internet, no matter the subject, you people see as an opportunity to complain because your corrupt candidate didn’t win. Just because you “believe” the sheriff is not ” a good man”, we should instead have one appointed by (a hand picked by Gilman) committee? Kind of like the democraps did in the presidential primary. Just like hillary, we would end up with a puppet picked by elites.
This recall is the most ridiculous snow job. If you don’t like the Sheriff, elect someone else next time. You have to wonder what is going to happen between now and the next election that Gilman needs someone else in that office. It all smells so fishy. I feel like I’m living in Hazard County, and Boss Hogg (Gilman) is trying to oust the elected Sheriff and install his brother-in-law Roscoe (where are them Duke boys when you need them?). By the way, how is it “ethical” for a brothel owner to be on the commission that approves brothel licenses? I think somebody needs to be recalled, but I don’t think it’s the Sheriff. Recall Boss Hogg!
To date, $142,054.65 has been spent on this recall effort. I expected a five figure amount, quite honestly; not this six figure number. And there will be more to come. I don’t think two hundred thousand for a total cost is an unreasonable estimate, given how much has already been spent.
I attached a link to the report. Here is a brief recap. Most everything was treated as in-kind contributions.
Contributions (In Kind) were made as follows:
TRI – $127,557.01, Lance Gilman – $6,846.00, Kris Thompson – $7,637.64
There is ONE other contribution, total of $20, which I assume was from a resident.
Expenses were made as follows:
Consulting – $84,000 (all contributed by TRI)
Legal Services – $43,557.01 (all contributed by TRI)
Mailers – $10,741.42 (contributed by Gilman and Thompson)
Advertising/Mileage – $1,846.22
Signs – $1,640.00
Press Release – $200.00
TRI has paid for approximately 90% of the recall costs. But what really stands out to me is that there is only a mere $20 that has been donated that is NOT from TRI, Gilman or Thompson. From a financial aspect, this effort does not appear to have much community support.
There are two entries that people might find interesting:
Lance Gilman
56 Wild Horse Canyon Drive
Sparks, NV 89434 03/15/2017 Signs $1,640.00
Lance Gilman
56 Wild Horse Canyon Drive
Sparks, NV 89434 03/23/2017 Mailers $5,200.00
Didn’t Lance say that he had nothing to do with the Recall? And that ignores the fact that he runs TRIC and TRIC was the major contributor to the Recall.
Note that Lance gives his address as 56 Wild Horse Canyon Drive.
So does Kris.
Storey County Assessor’s Web page (http://www.storeycountynv.org:1401/cgi-bin/asw100) and entered “Wild Horse Canyon” . It produces 15 results. None of them is “56”. The closest is LABORERS TRAINING TR FUND NO NV 50 WILD HORSE CANYON DR. See attached file: assessor-data-inquiry-wild-horse.pdf . There is no 56 Wild Horse Canyon Dr.
reportallusa.com: every parcel on Wild Horse Canyon Dr. See attached file: wild-horse-canyon_2017_0210.pdf . There is no 56 Wild Horse Canyon Dr.
USPS Web site (https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action). I entered 56 Wild Horse Canyon Dr. and got the following result:
You entered:
56 WILD HORSE CANYON DR
SPARKS NV 89434
Here’s the full address, using standard abbreviations and formatting.
The address you provided is not recognized by the US Postal Service as an address we serve. Mail sent to this address may be returned.
See attached file: usps_56whcd_2017_0210.pdf
Kris checked the box that says, “ I Declare Under Penalty of Perjury That the Foregoing is True and Correct.”
Since County records and USPS records do not show the existence of 56 Wild Horse Canyon Dr Kris should explain how he did not commit perjury.
BTW, there are only two parcels on Wild Horse Canyon Dr that are zoned residential:
005-021-10 BERTERO MICHAEL J&LAURIE J TTEE 225 WILD HORSE CANYON DR 12.2 280 – Single Family Residential with Minor Improvements 1.170
005-021-12 SKYBURST ENTERPRISES INC 399 WILD HORSE CANYON DR 12.2 280 – Single Family Residential with Minor Improvements 1.163
Neither is 56 Wild Horse Canyon Dr.
The Mustang Ranch parcels are also not zoned residential:
004-161-21 CASH ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC 1000 WILD HORSE CANYON DR 5.2 440 – Commercial Recreation 9.530
004-161-22 CASH PROCESSING SERVICES LLC 1011 WILD HORSE CANYON DR 5.2 440 – Commercial Recreation 4.780
004-161-23 LLG HOLDINGS, LLC 1009 WILD HORSE CANYON DR 5.2 150 – Vacant – Industrial 12.390
004-161-24 MUSTANG MEMORIES, LLC 1007 WILD HORSE CANYON DR 5.2 440 – Commercial Recreation 4.360
No one should be living there.
We suspect, based on the feedback we are getting in the community, that there may be some serious blow back from this effort. G.W.O. is not alone in his sentiment; should the recall effort be unsuccessful, Lance Gilman and Kris Thompson might expect a similar effort to remove them from office.