Lingering feud persists between GOP Assembly members

Assembly Judiciary Chairman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, on Saturday fired back at Victoria Seaman, the Republican freshman who accused him of threatening her because she complained he refused to hold a vote on one of her bills.

He issued a statement Saturday saying Seaman has been disruption, pouting and throwing tantrums and mistreating both fellow committee members and witnesses.

He said both in Assembly caucus and in meetings with fellow Republicans on the committee she “speaks out of turn, repeatedly and loudly blurting entirely rude and inappropriate comments, talking on her cellphone during the meeting, acting put upon when asked to take such calls outside, belittling those with different views, moaning and huffing and puffing when others state opinions different than her own, slamming books, etc. on the conference table.”

He said on three occasions, Seaman “stomped out of meetings when not getting her way.”

“She has threatened to stay away from these meetings in the future and I wholeheartedly support her decision,” he said in a letter.

Seaman said she wasn’t the only one who walked out of Hansen’s committee meetings. She said he repeatedly threatened to kill the bills of members who didn’t vote the way he wanted and, when she objected, he threatened to “punch me in the face.”

Seaman said Hansen’s comments are “immature.”

“It looks like Ira has gone on the attack because he’s got too much pride and ego to apologize for the way he treated people in his committee,” she said.

Hansen said when she chaired one session for him:

“She shocked everyone by her incredibly rude and disrespectful treatment of the Legislature’s most senior member, Senator and now Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton.”

Seaman said Carlton “snapped at me,” and Carlton told Seaman they needed to get a legal opinion on the issue.

She said Majority Leader Paul Anderson told her to “ignore her and move forward.”

Hansen said Seaman’s foreclosure mediation bill was killed because she rejected what Hansen said was a simple amendment to the measure saying she would rather the bill die.

“I accordingly honored her request,” he said.

Seaman said Hansen’s power has made him “forget who he’s working for.”

“We’re working for the people of Nevada. It’s not about Ira,” she said.

Speaker John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, issued a statement last week saying Assembly Republicans were working to mend the fight between the two but planned to do so internally, not in public.

Hansen said it was Seaman’s choice to make the fight public.