We Don’t Succumb To Blackmail

Last week Channel 3 ran a four part investigative series on taxes paid by international companies for the billions of dollars of gold and other precision metals taken out of Nevada.

These mining companies and their lobbyists are upset about the series of news reports and therefore, the Nevada Mining Association cancelled several thousand dollars of advertising on Channel 3.

Let me comment on their actions. 

We stand by the accuracy of these reports.

The Nevada Mining Association is certainly free to buy advertising wherever it wants.

But if the mining association was hoping to influence Channel 3’s coverage by bullying us, it didn't work and never will.  These are the tactics of an industry that uses 1950’s bullying to get its way.  Those tactics would never have worked against us and never will.

Nevada legislators too often have backed down on legislation that would have made the mining industry pay the true value to the state of Nevada for what it takes from the state.   

The bullying may get the association the results it wants from the legislature but the bullying will never stop us from reporting the truth. 

We don’t succumb to blackmail.  

The Ultimate Example

I could probably have made a reasonable income, at least one which would have sustained me and my family, had I not spent nine years in college.

But without my college education and professional education, at 74 I’d be looking at my social security check as my sole support.

My education made me a relatively wealthy man.  And so it is with the wealth of most who are wealthy.  And yet those who have the millions often believe that they and they alone were the sole producer of those millions.  Talk about delusional—this is the ultimate example.  Nevada’s super-wealthy are among the worst in giving their communities the financial support their communities gave to them.

Financial Support

If you look at all the world class medical schools in the United States, you will find that each had at least one donor who gave the school over 100 million dollars.  In several cases the gifts were above 250 million.  If you examine the list of donations to medical schools, the names and the amounts will blow your mind.  All of this information is public record that you can easily find.

We continue to complain about Nevada’s government support of Nevada’s Medical School.  That complaining will never have any substantial effect.  No state or local government ever built a quality medical school.

Look at the good ones.  They were all built and sustained by the financial support of rich, local residents.

Perfect Timing & Perfect Opportunity

The range of intelligence and talent in human beings is fairly small when you compare that range to that of the wealth of Americans.  The assets on my balance sheet far exceed my intelligence and talent.  That has led me to one obvious conclusion:  much of the assets of those who have great wealth came from perfect timing and perfect opportunity.

Those with great wealth, especially here in Southern Nevada, should realize that had they been living in most of the other cities in this country, the assets on their balance sheets would be far less impressive than the ones Southern Nevada helped them build.

Nevada’s Education System

This is my 34^th year as the owner of this station, my 60^th year as a resident of Las Vegas and my 50^th year as a Nevada attorney.  Obviously I believe in Las Vegas.  But I’m terribly disappointed in the development of Nevada’s education system, especially higher education.

Southern Nevada has unequaled wealth concentrated in a very few people.  There are more than just a few who are among the wealthiest in the world. 

There is no higher education system in the U. S. that has become so without the support of wealthy individuals.  The limited amount that the great majority of Nevadan’s who support UNLV and UNR can give will never be enough to make these two universities contenders in the world of higher education.

Crippled All Of Us

I don’t like criticizing Bill Raggio.  He was an honest man with great integrity who always did what he thought best for Nevada.  Unfortunately term limits were not in effect during his tenure which allowed Raggio to gain a foothold in Nevada’s governance which gave him total control of Nevada’s political structure.  The old way of doing business in Nevada, that is, the Raggio way of doing business crippled all of us.  I don’t know how we begin to fix the damage.  A whole new approach must be developed and put into place for us to start to compete with the rest of the world in something other than the size of our gaming industry.

He Was Wrong

No leader in this state has ever been more powerful than Bill Raggio.  He worked hard, was honest and genuinely thought he had the best interests of Nevada at the core of every decision he made.  But Raggio’s lack of creativity developed a system unable to grow and improve.  His refusal to make southern Nevada part of the state, left an empty legacy.  Raggio mistakenly believed that Nevada did not need to compete against any other state, did not need to follow the direction of any other state, but could stand alone and be successful.  Nevadans followed Raggio’s lead and also came to believe they need not be creative, aggressive or competitive and held the belief that Nevadans did not need any outside influence, any economy or any political structure to be successful other than what it had in 1950.  He was wrong and he hurt all of us.  

University of Nevada Medical School

After nearly 50 years of making little effort to compete in medical education, the University of Nevada Medical School finally has a dean, Tom Schwenk, with a vision and a plan for developing the Nevada Higher Education System medical school into what it must become.  Tom understands that medical education in Nevada cannot develop unless the north and south join together to make it happen. 

Raggio’s Lack Of Leadership

I was Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education from 2004 through 2009.  I was a political neophyte and was shocked at the inability of the Nevada Legislature to do anything to improve Nevada’s education system, especially higher education.  Bill Raggio, who had been given credit on a daily basis for building an education system in this state that could compete with other states was a mystery to me.  The strength in the system had long faded into outer space because of Raggio’s lack of leadership.   Nevadans for 50 years have been oblivious of that fact.  Raggio’s lack of leadership in supporting Nevada’s education system was a primary reason for Nevada’s failure in developing a world-class education system. 

  

Bill Raggio

On the Monday following the Sunday when Bill Raggio died, I was shaving and heard the news that Raggio had died the previous day.  I called the station and told them to take my Twitter off the air because I had been very critical of Raggio’s handling and support of the growth of Nevada’s Higher Education System, specifically the medical school.  This week I’ll comment on Raggio’s stifling of the growth of the Higher Education System.

Higher Ed

If Ford Motor Company did as bad a job in promoting its product as higher education does in promoting its product, not one Ford would have ever been sold.  It may be that parents are the fundamental problem in our education system but that failure is as much or more the failure of the educators to educate the parents than it is the fault of the parents who made little or no effort to determine education’s shortcomings. 

Parents

They tell me that the A and B students will do well in any education system regardless of that system’s product.  I believe that and  I believe that to be true because the failings of the education system are compensated by the parents of the best students who push those excellent students to do well.  And Nevada’s education system is capable of providing the student with all the education that student needs but only if the parents of those students compensate for the shortcomings.

Inefficient

The word “inefficient” is the most used and misused description of K-16.  Parents and politicians who would make you believe they know the inefficient areas of our education system actually have no understanding of the problem.  If inefficiencies exist the public is neither smart enough or knowledgeable enough to know those inefficiencies.  Before education can be improved, the public must learn the actual causes of education’s failure.  I’ve seen no effort by parents to do anything more than repeat meaningless accusation.

K-12 Years

Although education starts in the home and is only successful if the parents push their children to learn and follow their progress, parents in general don’t really know how to shepherd their children through the K-12 years.  Once more educators have done a poor job to educate parents on what will make the children of those parents successful. 

Blame?

Who’s to blame for Nevada’s nearly non-existing education system?  Answer:  we all are.  While the public at large made little or no effort to learn what was transpiring in the education system and therefore can only be blamed for inattention, educators in this state did nothing to sell their product.  Therefore, the first group I blame for our failure is the educator.

Nevada Legislature

The Nevada Legislature, which is only capable of dealing with the complications of the 1864 one-room schoolhouse philosophy is restrained by its structure from using 21^st Century concepts of problem solving.  Nevada simply can’t get past the belief that the Nevada Constitution, the legal, social and moral concepts of the 1860’s were good enough for that time and therefore must be good enough for this time.  You can’t run in the Indianapolis 500 with a buggy drawn by two horses.

Nevada Supreme Court

The Nevada Supreme Court should be supported by intermediary courts that would resolve the simpler legal problems appealed from district courts.  The role of the Nevada Supreme Court should be left to making policy decisions consistent with Nevada’s needs and defined by Nevada’s statutory structure.  The Nevada Supreme Court is still governed by the 1864 structure that has long since ceased to be effective.  It doesn’t work. 

Redefine Government’s Role

Nevada will never free itself from the influence of the horse and buggy structure and capabilities of its governance system unless it totally restructures and redefines government’s role to support the vast interests of the many faceted Nevada population.

Legislative Structure

When life was simple in the 1800’s, a state could be successful with a simple legislative structure consisting of “ex” number of unsophisticated, untrained, uneducated members with limited, relevant experience.  We have and continue to have an amateur government that simply cannot deal with the very sophisticated, complicated and multi-faceted lives we all have.

21st Century

You can’t succeed in the 21^st Century with a 19^th Century governance structure.  Why has it taken us 200 years to discover that economies change, national interests change, personal values, education and training change and yet the overall governance structure for our lives has not changed?

The Representation Of The Students Must Change

The students of the Nevada System of Higher Education need to be represented on the Nevada Board of Regents.  First because those Regents spend the students’ money and second because the Regents really are not equipped to know how that money could best be spent.  If it were up to me because Nevada provides only 32% of higher education’s funding, the state should have only 32% of the votes of the Regents.  Why the students haven’t figured this out is beyond me?  In any event, the representation of the students must change.