Submitted by Pablo Nava Duran
As a 20 year resident of Washoe County, I can’t tell you how shocking it is to witness the behavior occurring at meetings of the Washoe County School Board, Washoe County Commission, and Washoe County Republican Party Central Committee.
Recent meetings of these organizations have been plagued with misinformation, threats and rudeness. People yell without proof that the 2020 election was stolen. They say the GOP primaries were rigged (because their candidate Joey Gilbert did not win).
This chaos is being spurred on and financed by recent California transplant Robert Beadles, who endorsed and campaigned for Commissioner Jeanne Herman’s failed 20-point voter suppression measure that aimed to remove voting machines, use paper ballots and put armed guards and partisan watchdogs in our polling places.
Tensions get higher at each meeting. I have not seen anything like it in my lifetime. After Jan. 6, one wonders about real political violence hitting us here at home.
The Washoe GOP voted to reject the 2020 presidential election and 2022 primary election. This is embarrassing for Republicans. Beadles addressed the Washoe GOP central committee, saying he has proof that Joey Gilbert won the June 2022 gubernatorial primary 3-to-1 against Joe Lombardo.
Gilbert lost the election by 26,000 votes. After a recount, funded by Beadles, he lost by a greater margin.
Instead of valuing country over partisanship, the Washoe GOP applauds Beadles’ fabrications and joins Nye and Douglas GOP to endorse election denial. We should stop calling them the “Washoe Republican Party.” We should call them the “Washoe Christian Nationalist Party.”
Beadles has been here in Washoe County for about three years. Now it seems he plans to take over local politics. He seems to care more about conspiracy theories, not children’s education or homelessness.
Nevada was built on a libertarian mindset of freedom. He has the mindset of a 1960s Mississippi conservative. If Beadles doesn’t like living in northern Nevada, he should leave.
Commissioner Jeanne Herman, who seems inspired by and is supported by Beadles, comes to meetings unprepared. She fails to return phone calls or emails from constituents, and she skips Citizen Advisory Board meetings. Why not use her laptop to attend meetings virtually?
Her lack of effort is embarrassing. How do her antics serve her community? How do they help minorities or residents with disabilities to access polling places? How do they help North Valleys residents who must travel I-580 to and from work?
Wouldn’t it be easier to build consensus and find common ground? Herman is incapable of doing that. She prefers to feed people misinformation so they will show up at meetings to shake their fists. How much taxpayer money is wasted when Commissioners have to respond to misinformation spread by Herman and Beadles?
On TV and online, Herman admitted she is campaigning against fellow commissioners with the help of political newcomer Beadles.
If Commissioner Herman doesn’t like the way the Washoe County Commission operates, and the rules she must work within, perhaps she should resign her seat.
Better yet, let’s vote her out. Support Edwin Lyngar for Washoe County Commission District 5.
Pablo Nava Duran has lived in Washoe County for two decades, attending Galena High School and earning a Bachelor of Science in Management and Marketing from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Nevada, Reno.
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