Doug Saunders

White Pine County Holds Annual GOP Lincoln Day Breakfast

Ely's Bristlecone Convention Center hosted the GOP Lincoln Day Breakfast on Saturday, January 22nd. This buffet breakfast provides a platform for Republican representatives to speak with the people of Nevada and specifically White Pine County at the Federal, State, and Local levels. Proceeds from the event go to supporting party events, in-state activities, and creating scholarships. The breakfast will also host raffles and an auction to raise additional funds.

Several well-known and tenured officials were in attendance, shooting for reelection and some running for the first time. Those hearing the call to leadership as our state and nation face challenges that have changed the way the world works and feel it's time to do something productive about the state of affairs.

The day's first speaker was a candidate for Governor of Nevada, Michele Fiore. A Las Vegas City councilwoman and was former two-term state assemblywoman.

Fiore Spoke heavily of her willingness to fight for Nevada and her track record as a fighter for Nevada's interests against the increasing number of overreaching attempts for influence and power from the federal government. Her stance is for Second Amendment rights defense and anti-federal government. Her opposition to prior Nevada Governor Brain Saladvol's tax plan was a transparent pillar used to provide proof of experience and conservative value to the people of White Pine County.

What would a political gathering be without mention o our more recent events? So Fiore explains her plans and frustrations with the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically concerning our education system. Many people are curious about what we will do since Nevada has dropped so low in the national education system ranking. (In 2018, Nevada was ranked 51st in education systems across the 50 states and the District of Columbia.)

Fiore explains, "Day one vaccine mandates have to stop; right now, we are on pause again in our school systems. Because they dont have enough teachers, because they have forced them to resign if they are not vaccinated. And the ripple effect of that resignation; we dont have enough teachers in the classrooms to be with our kids. So now we have people who dont have teaching degrees in the classroom."

Because of her anti-federal sentiments, the councilwoman was also quick to brag about her fights against the FBI while not mentioning any specifics. The most likely reason for this is that her fights were not necessarily in defense of the citizens of Nevada but to perhaps cover some misdeeds and scandals of her own.

"City Councilwoman Michele Fiore's campaign finances are under scrutiny by the FBI, the Review-Journal reported this year. Sources said the agency's investigation into Fiore dates back until at least January 2021, when federal agents raided her Las Vegas home.

A federal grand jury later issued subpoenas for records pertaining to Fiore's campaign and political action committee, Future for Nevadans, as part of the investigation, the Review-Journal reported.

Fellow City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman also participated in an interview with FBI agents, the Review-Journal reported. Seaman has accused Fiore of breaking her finger and throwing her to the ground in a hallway behind the City Council chambers in January. City officials deleted surveillance videos of the alleged altercation, despite the Review-Journal requesting copies under Nevada's public records laws."

As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Previous Secretary of State and US Congress representative Dean heller also came to speak as a candidate for Governor of Nevada. However, Heller's speech was a bit more general, hitting just a few key talking points that hit home with many Americans throughout the past two Presidential elections. The influence of voter fraud and claims from both sides of the aisle that elections have been compromised are concerns within Nevada that Heller would like to address, claiming that there are many election machines in service in Nevada that have not been certified by the state.

"We are 30 trillion dollars in debt as a country. Washington DC won't solve America. It's going to be up to Govererns like DeSantis and Abbot." Heller says as many conservative Governors and elected officials have taken to following in the footsteps of these two, a perceived line in the sand against the onslaught of socialist ideology.

John Lee, the current Mayor of North Las Vegas, spoke next as a candidate for Governor, keeping his speech relatively brief. He touted his eight years with the state senate and six years with the state assembly in this day and age, which could be a hit or miss approach to gaining the conservative vote. Sure, experience is worth its weight in gold, as the saying goes.

However, many Americans on both sides of the aisle are tired of career politicians. So little mention of a plan for the position or at least mention of an opinion on a hot button topic while only relying on the number of previous years in office might not be an excellent way to present oneself to voters.

However, John explains how his time in office has been strongly tied to the NRA and Second Amendment rights advocacy throughout his terms. Something that has been a significant concern among republicans, especially during the initial start of the Covid-19 pandemic where availability of ammunition dropped dramatically, and democrats put several proposals to the house regarding extreme measures of gun control. Such as HR.127, introduced to the floor on January 4th, 2021.

Following the candidates for Governor, those running for Senate seats spoke next, starting with Adam Laxall.

Adam explained that he agrees strongly with a lot of the other candidates so far but had a plan related explicitly to policy moving forward related to Covid-19 and the confusion swirling around the mandates, science, and threat that it may (or may not) represent.

"We have been lied to for 19 months, not just by Sisolak, but our elites, like Dr. Fauci, and we can't be run by these elites that are simply not putting our interests first.... we can't trust the government that we put in place and that we fund to do what's best for us," Laxall explains.

We have two candidates come out for Lt. Governor, starting with Tony Grady. Grady is not a Nevada long-time resident but instead touts his dedication to the whole of the United States.

He was a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and later became the B2 Bomber test squadron leader. He has lived worldwide because of his military experience and all over the United States. "I saw communism, I saw socialism, I saw poverty, and not these idealized versions on youtube or whatever that get pumped into the minds of young people, and it's not pretty."

The second speaker of the day running for Lt. Governor was John Miller. Miller, who is familiar with the faces and experiences of White Pine County, also hosted an event the night before at the Ely Art bank to promote his campaign.

Miller is not a politician, something that he prides himself on, while he has the business experience to fit the role of Lt. Governor well. Miller is much more versed in banking and economic development than politics. "I spent a decade fixing banking institutions across the country. Then, looking around the state, I decided to step down as CEO because the state that I grew up in was fundamentally changed. The state assembly was a recycling policy."

When referring to the position of Lt. Governor Miller goes on, "The role is perfect for what I do; you are the chair of the commission on tourism, a key driver of our state. You're also on the commission for transportation, so critical for our state's infrastructure and getting around it.

Our Lt. Governor has to be the promoter for Nevada. They have to be the one that understands what businesses drive economic growth. Not just amazon employees making minimum wage but jobs that actually drive growth. I hope I can change everything that's happening from an economic development standpoint."

Andy Matthews spoke last and is running for state controller. Matthews had very clear and concise ideas concerning the role of the state controller and what our problems are and came straight out with it.

"Pretty much the CFO for the state, and what we want to see is that we see much more transparency and accountability. When the state spends money, the citizens must know what that money is spent on." Says Matthews.

"Lastly, I want to talk about the big picture; we have a democratic party running the federal and state government, while they prove every day they dont deserve that power. We have seven statewide offices for election this year, and we need to sweep all of them."