By Dennis Myers
This article was published on 04.27.17.
Key Points:
- “After Nevada’s U.S. Sen. Dean Heller got through his town hall-style meeting with several hundred Nevadans in Reno last week, CNN sought an interview with him, but he declined. The network reported, “His staff said he was short on time, but Heller said it was because ‘we don’t want to step on our message.’” For days afterward, politicos in the state speculated on whether Heller had succeeded in getting his message to the Nevada public.”
- “In the week after the town hall, we received 48 news releases that dealt with Heller and Planned Parenthood alone. That doesn’t count the ones dealing with immigration, other issues, or comment and color from the event. Left and right were unhappy with Heller.”
- “Over the course of his career, both politics and Nevada have changed a lot. It was once possible to run for national office in the state and not worry about what national lobby groups like Nance’s Concerned Women of America think. But as independent political spending has proliferated and the money has gotten bigger and bigger, candidates can no longer necessarily control their home fields.”
- “Offending both sides: Once that kind of coverage was out there, interest groups and publications that appeal to particular groups started attacking Heller—though left and right were similarly upset with his posture:
The first headline is from Lifesite, an anti-abortion site. The second is from Mother Jones, a leftist, populist site.”
- “Since going to D.C., he has been uncommunicative with groups back home, preferring to communicate through telephone conference calls with selected Nevadans more than in American Legion halls and student unions. That reluctance to deal with the public ran head-on into the widepread citizen activism that was generated by Donald Trump’s election in November. There is little sign of it abating any time soon.”
Read the full story: https://www.newsreview.com/reno/getting-straight/content?oid=24151581
— by stewart@nvdems.com
Dean Heller Still Wants to Repeal the ACA. Will He ‘Get to a Yes’ on the Republican Plan to Eliminate Pre-Existing Conditions Protections?
Heller recently pledged that he “will do everything I can to get to a yes” on repealing the Affordable Care Act
At his Reno town hall last week, Heller said: “I will support high-risk pools”
Las Vegas, NV – Republican Senator Dean Heller says he wants to get to a yes on repealing the Affordable Care Act, but so far he’s been silent on the House GOP’s effort to make their health care plan even worse by gutting protections for people with pre-existing conditions and exempting members of Congress from its effects.
Speaking to a group of conservatives earlier this month, Heller was caught on tape saying that 24 million people losing health insurance was “not necessarily” his main objection to the GOP’s first failed health care bill, and he pledged that he “will do everything I can to get to a yes” on repealing the ACA. Heller even suggested he was withholding his approval of the GOP bill just to get attention from Trump’s White House. Listen here.
At Senator Heller’s town hall last week, a 51-year-old Reno mother with multiple sclerosis pressed him hard about whether he will oppose legislation that revokes the ACA’s protections for those with pre-existing conditions and forces them into high-risk insurance pools. Heller’s poorly received response was: “I will support high-risk pools.”
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Stewart Boss released the following statement:
“Senator Heller has a lengthy record of voting to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and he’s still doing everything he can to get to a yes on repealing the law. Nevadans are sick and tired of Dean Heller’s spineless equivocating, and they deserve to know where he stands on this renewed Republican effort to take away their health care and undo protections for people who have pre-existing conditions.”
VIDEO: KLAS Panel Dissects Senator Dean Heller “Trying to Have It Both Ways” on Planned Parenthood Funding
Conservatives and progressives agree: Heller should have been honest about his support for defunding Planned Parenthood instead of trying to lie to voters about his record
Las Vegas, NV – In a recent conversation with Politics NOW co-host Patrick Walker, KXNT host Alan Stock and Battle Born Progress Deputy Director Maria-Teresa Liebermann slammed Republican Senator Dean Heller for trying to have it both ways on Planned Parenthood funding at his town hall in Reno last week. The conservative talk radio host and progressive advocate both agreed that Heller should have just been honest about his support for defunding Planned Parenthood instead of trying to lie to voters about his record.
Senator Dean Heller Cheerleading Trump Attacks on Nevada’s National Monuments
Heller opposes protections for Gold Butte and Basin and Range and once praised Cliven Bundy’s clan as “patriots”
Las Vegas, NV – Republican Senator Dean Heller – who once praised Cliven Bundy’s clan as “patriots” – is cheering President Donald Trump’s decision today to launch a slow-motion attack on the Antiquities Act, which has been used to protect national monuments in Nevada. In the Senate, Heller fought against the designations for both Gold Butte and Basin and Range.
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Stewart Boss released the following statement: “Just last night, leaders in the Nevada Assembly voted to send a resolution to the Trump administration supporting Nevada’s national monuments. This extreme effort by President Trump to undermine the will of Nevadans is unprecedented and deeply unpopular, but Senator Dean Heller probably believes this assault against Gold Butte and Basin and Range is just as patriotic as Cliven Bundy’s armed insurrection.”
Presidents do not have the legal authority to revoke national monuments, and none until Trump have ever attempted to get rid of an existing monument designation. According to a poll conducted earlier this year, 80% of Western voters support keeping national monuments in place. Nevadans overwhelmingly support the national monuments in their own backyards, with 71% of voters – including overwhelming majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents – supporting Gold Butte’s status as a national monument.
WATCH: KLAS on Dean Heller’s Notable Back & Forth on Planned Parenthood Funding – “How Does the Senator Explain That?”
— from Rep. Dina Titus
I taught Political Science at UNLV for 35 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.
The Donald Trump presidency is a complete and total disaster which is not only embarrassing but dangerous.
Trump has been in office for less than three months. Take a look at the news that has dominated his time in the White House:
- Not one but TWO failed travel bans that are unconstitutional
- A fired National Security Advisor who now seeks immunity
- An advisor openly promoting Trump products
- False wiretapping claims against a former president
- Possible Russian collusion in the election
- Refusal to release taxes
- Violation of the emoluments clause
And the list goes on…