Conservative Republicans vs. Raggio Republicans

As I've written here before, a philosophical Royal Rumble is shaping up in various state Senate districts featuring bona fide card-carrying pro-business fiscal conservatives vs. what appear to be some establishment-backed "Raggio Republicans" - as in moderate Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, who has reportedly declared something just short of war on any Republican candidate who pledges not to raise taxes in 2011.

The irony is that Sen. Raggio himself made a similar no-new-taxes guarantee in his 2008 primary race against conservative former Assem-blywoman Sharron Angle, only to famously break it early and often during the 2009 legislative session.

The results of these state Senate primary races are of extreme importance to Nevada taxpayers and business owners because the 2011 Legislature is going to be voting on whether or not to make permanent all of those Raggio-backed "temporary" tax-and-fee hikes of 2009.

In addition, Democrats are manipulating a taxpayer-funded study for the purpose of imposing some sort of new corporate income tax on Nevada's businesses, as well as expanding the sales tax to include services such as hair cuts and dry cleaning.

Since Republicans in the state Senate, more so than the Assembly, could potentially have the numbers to stop additional business-crippling, recovery-retarding tax and fee hikes in 2011, here's a possible WWE-like Survivor Series line-up for next June's GOP primary (Note: Not all of these candidates have officially announced their candidacy):

• In a Voters Bring the Weapons Handicap Match for Senate District 4 in Reno, conservative Assemblyman Ty "T-Rex" Cobb and anti-tax activist Todd "TNT" Taxpayer vs. Raggio Republican Ben "The Consensus Builder" Kieckhefer.

• In a Lumberjack Match for Senate District 2 in Reno, conservative Assemblyman Don "Road War-

rior" Gustavson vs. Raggio Republican Bob "Boogie-Woogie" Larkin.

• In a three-way Falls Count Anywhere Match for the Capital Senate District in Carson City, Assemblyman James "The Cowboy Crippler" Settelmeyer vs. former Carson City Mayor Ray "Boom-Boom" Masayko and University Regent Ron "The Ultimate Ego" Knecht.

• In a Last Man Standing Match for the right to take on Democrat incumbent Sen. Joyce "The Montana Masher" Woodhouse for Senate District 5 in Las Vegas, we have conservatives "Iron" Mike Roberson, Glenn "Rolling Thunder" Greener and Rudy "Dr. Tort Reform" Manthei.

• And in an Electric Steel Cage Match for Senate District 9 in Las Vegas, conservative Assemblyman Chad "The Velvet Assassin" Christensen vs. Raggio Republican Sen. Dennis "The Nanny" Nolan.

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• Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, chuck@citizenoutreach.com