Sheila Leslie: carpetbagger

If partisan politics has taught me anything, it’s that not-good things happen when it becomes an obsession. Take state Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, for example. In a move that puts pure partisan politics ahead of everything else, including her constituents, Leslie has decided to add ‘carpetbagger’ to her resume.

Leslie recently announced that she is resigning her seat representing Senate District 1 to challenge state Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, in Senate District 15. Yes. A sitting state senator has resigned her seat in a heavily Democratic district to move across town so she can run against one of her current Senate colleagues who represents a district that maintains only a slight Republican advantage.

The sprawling, heavily populated district 15 stretches from Bordertown to Cold Springs over to Sun Valley, both old and new areas of the northwest, through Caughlin Ranch and then down to the Mt. Rose Highway. You mean to tell me, that in a senate district encompassing almost 27,000 Democrats and some of the most affluent neighborhoods in Reno, there isn’t a single one willing to stand up and run against Brower? Where the hell do the trial lawyers live in this town? College professors? Anyone? C’mon Democrats, are you that afraid of the big, bad Brower?

This is a bold, classless political move for Leslie. First elected to the Senate in 2010 after a lengthy period in the state Assembly, Leslie has now made it very clear that she’s not in Carson City to serve her constituents, she’s there to drive a partisan agenda, one that obviously she feels is so rigid that it can only get passed if the Democrats maintain a chokehold on Carson City.

Plus, this political power grab by Leslie and her cronies flies in the face of not only the people, but our laws. Nevada recently went through the redistricting process, a process that was cast aside by our dysfunctional, obnoxious legislators and placed in the hands of the courts to determine how our maps would look. The non-partisan special masters that conducted this process went to great care to draw the maps to accommodate the existing legislators to avoid this very instance—two sitting legislators running against each other and one legislative district sitting empty. Well, this simply wasn’t good enough for Leslie. Who cares what the courts decided? Who cares what’s best for the constituents who put their faith and trust in her to go to our state’s capitol and fight for the issues she ran on in 2010? Who cares that she’s not resigning to take up shipbuilding or to spend more time with her pet iguana. She isn’t even trying to spin this one away—the Nevada Democrats couldn’t find a credible candidate to run against Greg Brower, so they had to import one.

These aren’t the actions of a public servant, they are the actions of a perennial office shopper who cares little about the good of the people and cares only about the partisans who helped to get her elected, and their agenda they want passed. Here’s an idea: Rather than saying ‘Fuck you!’ to our system to get your agenda passed, why don’t you let the voters make their own decisions about who should represent them and then finish the job you took an oath to do?

I hope someone over in the Brower camp decides to have fun with this. Don’t hold fundraisers, hold housewarming parties! Hang up ‘Welcome Sheila’ banners at your campaign events.

Wait, those last two paragraphs sounded a little mean. I was raised better than that. Lemme try that again. Ahem. Senator Leslie, as a resident of this part of Reno for decades, allow me to be the first to warmly extend my hand and say welcome to the neighborhood! Would you like me to show you around?