Finally, game time. Here are my personal picks this election season. Note, not all races are included. Let the balloting begin!
Question 1 (electing judges) and Question 4 (watering down property rights): Definite "No" on each.
Question 2: Would establish an intermediate appellate court because our existing courts are supposedly too crowded. Well, if the courts are too crowded, a better, less costly, solution would be to stop wasting court time prosecuting simple potheads and throwing out frivolous slip-and-spill lawsuits. I'm a "No" on this one.
Question 3: A very technical question which, at its essence, has everything to do with taxing Internet sales some time down the road without voter approval. So I'm a "No" on Question 3.
Federal races: Sharron Angle (R) for U.S. Senate. Ed Klapproth (L) for Congressional District 1. Dean Heller (R) for Congressional District 2. Joe Heck (R) for Congressional District 3.
Constitutional offices: Brian Sandoval (R) for governor. Brian Krolicki (R) for lieutenant governor. Joel Hansen (IAP) for Attorney General. Steve Martin (R) for Treasurer. And Kim Wallin (D) for Controller. Secretary of State, "None of the Above."
State Senate: Capital District, James Settelmeyer (R). Washoe District 2, Don Gustavson (R). Clark District 5, Michael Roberson (R). Clark District 7, Tony Wright (R). Clark District 8, Barbara Cegavske (R). Clark District 9, Elizabeth Halseth (R). All but Settelmeyer have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Clark District 12: "None of the Above."
State Assembly: District 2, John Hambrick (R), District 3, Eric Morelli (R), District 4, Richard McArthur (R), District 5, Tim Williams (R), District 10, Tyler Andrews (R), District 13, Leonard Foster (IAP), District 15, Stan Vaughn (IAP), District 16, Bob Irwin (R), District 22, Nathan Santucci (L), District 31, Randi Thompson (R), District 33, Janine Hansen (IAP), District 36, Ed Goedhart (R), District 40, Peter Livermore (R), and District 42, Kathy Njus (R). All of these candidates have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
There are a number of other Republican candidates who have a shot at picking up a Democrat seat; however, none of them have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. And as we've seen over and over and over and over again, Republicans who refuse to sign the Pledge are far more likely to end up voting for tax hikes.
Why is the Tax Pledge a litmus test for me? Because if you can't get the tax hike issue right, odds are you'll get a lot of other issues wrong, as well. And if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. So even though their Democrat opponents would likely be worse overall, I can't bring myself to endorse any more wishy-washy, go-along-to-get-along Republicans. We have enough of them already.
Happy voting!
• Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy grassroots advocacy organization.