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The 9/11 Patriot Day Debate took place as scheduled last Thursday at the world famous Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.
In our opinion, the event could have been an eye-opener to those who either enjoy criticizing the Las Vegas Tribune, or to those who are always hoping to see us do something else good for the community.
Yes, we now know that the room was too big for the event, and that not everyone who says they’ll show up will (from certain candidates to certain whole groups of politically active constituents, to our less than responsible prearranged master of ceremonies). Such things happen.
However, the event proved one thing that the Las Vegas Tribune has been talking about: Candidates not only want to get to know their constituents, but NEED to get to know them, and we do everything we can to make that happen. The voters and constituents who did show up obviously wanted to be as well informed as possible for when it comes time to register their vote.
Normally, and often, candidates will complain that going to fundraisers, debates, and meet-and-greets are almost a waste of time because the places are always packed with other candidates — those running for office or for reelection. Obviously, those candidates really want to see and meet members of the community, the voters, who are the ones that will profit most from getting to know all those in the race.
The 9/11 Patriot Day Debate was different; it was not a fundraiser nor a meet-and-greet, although anyone there could obviously take a candidate aside for additional questions after he or she had finished speaking to get their own particular questions addressed — and so they did.
It has always been the intention of this newspaper to get the community involved in the election process. We print all the candidate information that will help voters choose wisely. But we felt that there is no substitute for meeting them in person and hearing them speak. That is what last Thursday’s event was all about. Hopefully those who like to criticize us and those who want to see us putting our money where our mouth is to do something good for this community could both see that that was exactly what we did.
We understand that most politicians do not like to face their constituents because by doing so, they can be held accountable more easily and that is why they may prefer to stay secluded behind scheduling assistants, secretaries, and many other titled personnel, to say nothing of their infamous campaign managers.
We believe that some candidates who were not present at the 9/11 Patriot Day Debate were controlled by campaign bully Dave Thomas, who is afraid to place his candidates in a debate — such as in the case with attorney Richard Scotti, who called the Las Vegas Tribune to confirm his appearance and later canceled, perhaps induced by Thomas’ bad comments about this publication.
Candidates that don’t know how to take advantage of the opportunity of speaking to an audience, regardless of its size, and leave that space open to their challengers to have their say, only prove that they are not intelligent enough or professional enough to take advantage of a speaking opportunity to win the votes of those willing and eager to
hear what they have to say.
Although this editorial is not about Dave Thomas, we want to point out that he (Dave Thomas) cannot even offer the usual well-worn inducement to gain candidates that he can guarantee certain endorsements. All we need do to prove that is to say look what happened to Judge Vincent Ochoa and his “promised” endorsement! How embarrassing must it be to have one or more so-called guaranteed endorsements retracted, and especially on the front page of a newspaper? How does one explain that to one’s constituents?
Candidates that are not afraid to step up and face their constituents and answer their questions are those who have the best interests of the community at heart.
Ask any normal, regular, hard-working human being what Joe Lombardo stands for — or even what he looks like in person — and no one can come up with an adequate answer.
The same can apply to Judge Ochoa and Family Court Judge Bill Gonzalez, and to judicial candidate William Horne, another candidate who chose to not attend, who is running against an incumbent with a brilliant reputation, sitting Judge Carolyn Ellsworth, who was present at the event and spoke to the audience.
William Horne, a product of the system — as we refer to those public workers who always sign the checks on the back and never experience the effort that goes into paying for office space, staff, utilities and many other “amenities” that are part of doing business because the taxpayers always pay it for them — is also a product of the Dave Thomas stable and is not allowed to do anything on his own.
However, we want to take this space to thank all the candidates who attended the event and those members of our community who were present to take part in the opportunity to get to know those who want to serve the people of Nevada in whatever capacity they choose.
We also want to thank the members of the legislature that were not able to be at the event — due to an emergency call to duty at a special session — for their service to the community.
And of course our gratitude goes to John Thomas, the organizer of the event; Donald H. Snook, our production manager; and Maramis Choufani, Las Vegas Tribune Managing Editor and now the newly elected official MC for all Las Vegas Tribune future events.
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Giving every candidate a voice is what we do
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