Commentary: Elephants, donkeys and RINOs, oh my!

In less than a month, Gov. Gibbons' chief-of-staff and general counsel have both called it quits. Perhaps this is just part of the governor's secret plan for creating jobs.

If Sen. John Ensign really wants to take "100 percent responsibility" for his actions, isn't it time to resign and stop harming both our state and the Nevada GOP? I mean, it's not like no one else can do his job. Heck, if Al Franken can be a U.S. senator, anyone can.

With Rep. Dean Heller all but officially out as a possible candidate against Sen. Harry Reid, the GOP's best chance for victory next year is probably Nevada Republican Party Chairman Sue Lowden - if she can be persuaded to give up a pretty nice life to go to Washington.

Lowden scares Reid, has experience as a state senator, has experience running against a dirty campaign, is a solid fiscal conservative, has a southern Nevada base, can seed her campaign to make it immediately viable, has experience in both the gaming and banking industries, is smart, attractive - and has never hiked the Appalachian Trail with Mark Sanford.

Clark County closed down a social services office this week, citing revenue losses. Meanwhile, the Clark County school district has handed out over $12 million worth of "consulting" contracts to out-of-state companies to teach supposedly highly qualified teachers how to do the job they are supposedly already highly qualified to do. Hello?

GOP gubernatorial candidate Joe Heck's campaign manager points out that former North Las Vegas mayor and fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Montandon doesn't really have much "executive" experience since North Las Vegas actually hires a city manager to run the city. Point taken.

First Lady Dawn Gibbons might be the only Republican who could win the seat of term-limited Democrat state Sen. Bernice Mathews. Considering the fact that Gov. Gibbons doesn't talk to anyone in the Legislature anyway, she'd fit right in.

A philosophical battle royale is shaping up in the GOP primary race to replace moderate state Sen. Randolph Townsend (R-Reno). Many of the "Reno RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only) have already lined up behind former Gibbons press secretary Ben Kieckhefer, who says he won't sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge promising to oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.

Uh-oh.

Meanwhile, tax activist Todd Taxpayer (yes, that is his legal name) has already announced his candidacy for Townsend's seat and tells me that not only will he sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge not to raise taxes; he promises to introduce proposals to actually cut them.

So while Kieckhefer may be a super nice guy, if this is the choice, this is what we fiscal conservatives call a "no brainer."

* Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy grassroots advocacy organization. He may be reached at chuck@citi

zenoutreach.com.