There was a time when Nevada was considered the last frontier of freedom, a time when politicians worked for the people and commerce instead of themselves. These days, corruption and government growth has infected the state. The mindset of Nevadans back then was different too, with the �don�t tread on me� attitude alive and well. Nowadays the typical Nevadan seems to be suffering from Californication.
Nevada, however, is still home to many old-school liberty-minded folks, and Bob Adney is reaching out to them. His group, Take Back Nevada, is building the state�s strongest defense against political corruption and big government.
TBN�s mission is to stop the explosive growth and intrusiveness of government, while transferring bureaucratic power back to the people. The group has set up shop at TakeBackNevada.com and are currently looking for a physical address in Las Vegas.
According to their website, �Take Back Nevada will fight to promote individual liberties, free markets, and the principles of the Nevada and U.S. Constitutions. Our goal is to empower voters and Nevada citizens. Using initiative, referendum, judicial, and legislative processes, we will help you fight for what�s right.�
Adney�s background includes conservative activism, with a Libertarian slant. Recently Adney worked as executive director on the popular Tax and Spending Control initiative drive. He also managed the 2002 campaign in which state Sen. Bob Beers unseated a 20-year Republican incumbent who supported then-Gov. Kenny Guinn�s 33-percent increase in taxes and state spending.
Now Adney is assembling a team of �pro-freedom� individuals to continue his battle for Nevada�s future, and he�s off to a solid start. TBN�s current board members include Adney, Libertarian activist Mark Warden, former Assembly candidate Kris Munn and Attorney Kermitt L. Waters.
Warden is a committed promoter of personal responsibility and individual liberty. He has been actively involved in many of Nevada�s pro-liberty initiatives and was both a Libertarian and Republican candidate for Nevada Assembly. Adney labels Warden as TBN�s money man.
�Warden�s our budget guy,� Adney said. �He knows pork when he smells it. He can identify unnecessary budget items with his eyes closed.�
Additionally, Warden is associate editor of Liberty Watch: The Magazine and founder of BudgetWatchNevada.com. His website exposes wasteful, ineffective, immoral and unconstitutional spending by Nevada�s legislature and governor.
Munn is a Texas A&M graduate, captain in the Air Force Reserves and small business owner. Like Warden, Munn has also run for Nevada Assembly.
Recently Munn represented TBN in a sit down with Gov. Jim Gibbons� chief of staff, Mike Dayton. They discussed the Nevada budget, which according to TBN is $268 million higher than TASC would have allowed.
Even with TASC in place, the excessive budget would most likely have passed anyway. After all, the Constitution doesn�t carry much weight nowadays. In fact, this month Gibbons ignored the Constitution when calling a special session to exceed the mandated 120-day lawmaking session.
Gibbons justified the special session by claiming there were unsettled education issues. One must assume that even with TASC in place, $268 million would be deemed an appropriate amount for exceeding a constitutionally protected budget cap, especially if the money were for education.
Can you imagine the trouble a professional sports franchise would be in if the organization were to extend a game because they wanted to get a few more plays in? Perhaps �Rule Book� would have been a better title than �Constitution.�
Not much of a news alert, but government can get away with anything it pleases. Coming away from that meeting, Munn was noticeably frustrated with his Carson City representatives.
"Overall the taxpayers today are seeing a lack luster performance by their representatives," Munn said. "The gap is widening between the voters and politicians who concentrate mostly on pet projects, and this goes out to the Republicans and Democrats. What the taxpayers want isn't considered. Unfortunately, Election Day isn't the day after session, so it isn't the voting taxpayer they fear; instead, it is leadership and lobbyists"
Attorney Kermitt L. Waters is a believer in constitutional rights. He�s just the guy to top off Adney�s current team. Waters has more than 25 years experience siding with the victims of eminent domain actions.
Last year�s Question 2 initiative was put together by Waters and fellow attorney Don Chairez. Question 2, which looked to limit the government�s ability to use eminent domain against individuals, enjoys strong support from Nevada voters.
Waters and Chairez secured funds for the initiative from a Libertarian developer outraged by the recent rash of eminent domain abuses by politicians. TBN is supporting Question 2, which will be voted on again in 2008. If it passes a second time, the legislature must put its language in the Nevada Constitution.
To Water�s dismay, his initiative suffered a Supreme Court attack. They illegally removed important provisions from the initiative, including one that prohibits �regulatory takings,� which happens when politicians devalue property by making zoning changes.
TBN intends to raise the money necessary to get those provisions back on an initiative for the 2008 ballot.
Due to lawsuits, Adney says the cost of placing an initiative on the ballot has increased and become impossible to accomplish without a true organized approach.
�It�s become impossible to get an initiative on the ballot without lawsuits,� Adney said. �There�s a lawsuit every step of the way. Just to get an initiative on the ballot now costs about half a million dollars, and that doesn�t even include marketing costs.�
Of course, Adney should know. After numerous legal obstacles, his TASC initiative was removed, illegally, from the ballot by a Supreme Court ruling. Adney had gathered more than double the necessary voter signatures, but legal challenges from big-government advocates proved more powerful than the petition process.
Probably the biggest difference between today�s Nevada and the Nevada Adney wants to take back is out-of-control taxation and spending. That�s why getting TASC back on the ballot is an important TBN issue. TakeBackNevada.com makes it clear: �We MUST end the wild expansion of Nevada�s government taxing and spending and say �enough is enough� by limiting government growth through the initiative process. Politicians should live on a budget, and operate under real-world rules � the same rules that families, businesses, and individuals have to live by every day. You can�t just vote yourself a raise or spend beyond your means, and neither should the government.�
Currently, most of TBN�s financial backing has come from a Virginia-based Libertarian group called Americans for Limited Government. ALG is funded by thousands of individuals from across the country and mention that their donors believe in limited, accountable government.
According to their website, �ALG is dedicated to putting the principles of limited government into action. We work with local groups across the nation to promote freedom, limited government, and the principles of the U.S. Constitution.�
Adney points out that ALG does not profit from their investment in TBN, but big labor and government employees do stand to lose once the state budget is reigned in. Adney is also seeking individual donors.
�Big donations are great, especially for starting up an organization like this,� Adney said. �Small donations from individuals, that�s were the rubber hits the road.�
In addition to the ALG cash infusion, TBN has thousands of TASC supporters already onboard. Thanks to another record Nevada state budget, a new TASC-style initiative should enjoy widespread taxpayer approval.
For Adney, making policy changes in Nevada isn�t enough; he is also working to tame the beast that infected Nevada � California. Adney is executive director of the California Term Limits Defense Fund, a group of term-limit advocates opposing possible ballot measures intended to weaken California�s existing term-limits law.
�We need term limits because politics should not be a lifetime career,� Adney said. �By allowing politicians to stay in office for as long as they want, this allows them to consolidate power, usually at the expense of the public good. Corruption often follows.�
Of course, the fight to �Take Back Nevada� will be long and complicated. Government corruption and wasteful spending in Nevada is more abundant now than ever. For Adney, liberty watchers hope he does make politics a lifetime career.
