Tony Dane doesn’t have many fans

Nevadans who loathe Tony Dane, and there’s no shortage of them these days, probably hope karma has finally caught up with the conservative political trickster.

Democrats have long hated Dane, who owns a successful auto-dialing “robo-call” company and is a Republican campaign consultant, for spreading half-truths and practicing the unctuous art of the political smear.

Now some members of Dane’s own Republican Party are mad at him and other devout conservatives. Metro detectives are investigating Dane and others on allegations of attempted extortion to get freshman Assemblyman Chris Edwards, R-Las Vegas, to change his vote for Assembly speaker during a much-publicized battle for control of the caucus.

All Democrats. Many Republicans. Any way you slice it, that’s a lot of disdain for Tony Dane.

In an interview Thursday, Dane took time to respond to his legion of critics.

“I do irritate people,” said Dane, who describes himself as a devoted Christian. “My tactics are controversial, but they’re legal. I’m careful not to cross any lines. A lot of people, Republicans and Democrats, really don’t care for me, and I really don’t care.”

He does, however, care about getting caught up in an extortion investigation and having his property returned after Metro detectives served a search warrant at his Virginia home Feb. 5 and seized documents, computers, phones and other equipment, including part of his auto-dialing system. Through attorney David Otto, Dane is seeking to have his property returned. He argues that the seizure was part of an attempt to violate his First Amendment rights and silence his vocal opposition to a $1.3 billion tax increase plan proposed by Gov. Brian Sandoval that needs Republican support to pass out of the Assembly. A hearing in the property seizure is set for March 5 in Clark County District Court.

Meanwhile, Metro investigators are attempting to gather evidence that counters Dane’s contention that he crossed no lines with Edwards.

Dane, owner of Automatedcalling.com, said he first met Edwards in 2012 after the native New Yorker relocated to Nevada to run against incumbent Rep. Dina Titus. He said Edwards sought his advice and attempted to hire him as a consultant, but he turned him down.

“I told him he couldn’t win,” Dane recalled. “I did not want to take money from a race I didn’t think I could win.”

He was, however, compensated for conducting robo-calls on Edwards’ behalf.

“I don’t do calls for free,” Dane said. “He paid for the calls. That’s on his financials.”

When Dane was remarried last June 28, Edwards was invited to the wedding: “This is somebody I considered a friend,” he said.

But that friendship soured when he learned that Edwards, who ran on a staunchly conservative platform, was softening his stance. So Dane said in December he cut another robo-call, this time informing voters, “ ‘that there’s heavy pressure on Chris Edwards to vote for taxes, please call him and tell him to hold tough,’ ” Dane paraphrased. “I understand he received a bunch of calls. … My intention was to hold him accountable to going as a conservative. I said, ‘I’m tired of friends of mine, people I’ve supported, going to the liberal side.’ ”

On Jan. 5, Dane and Edwards met at a Rancho Drive Starbucks. By then, Dane said he’d informed Edwards he was behind the robo-call and was part of the simmering effort to recall the assemblyman who had yet to cast a vote.

“I said, ‘If you’re voting the right way I can probably get all this killed,’ ” Dane said. Their conversation, he later learned, was recorded by police. “The police told me he was wired for that conversation.”

The talk included a conversation about Assembly Speaker John Hambrick, another Republican who appeared to have moved from the right to the middle of the road. Dane said conservatives weren’t happy with Hambrick because he’d decided to embrace the governor’s tax plan and, “A lot of legislators want to remove Hambrick.”

Dane admits setting up a meeting between Edwards and fellow freshman Republican Assemblyman Brent Jones in an effort to secure Edwards’ speaker vote. After Edwards declined to sign off, Dane said, “I told him in a text message that I’m not interested in ever helping him again. You’re a liar and I feel backstabbed.”

But Dane said a few days later, at the request of Jones, he agreed to once again speak to Edwards.

“He said I can control his vote,” Dane recalled. “And I told him, I wasn’t interested in controlling his vote. I’m just interested in having him vote the way he promised.”

He admits he also said he polled the tax issue and told him, “the recall effort can be successful against you. … I told him that if you are going to be voting for taxes, I would support the recall of you.”

He said Edwards in early February contacted him and tried to solicit money from him in exchange for a favorable vote. Dane said he repeated that he didn’t want to control his vote and later called the FBI. Several days later, Metro detectives served a search warrant at Dane’s home in Front Royal.

Attorney Otto calls the search warrant part of a “political hatchet job. Based on my investigation, I can see no other alternative.”

The police investigation continues. And Tony Dane is once again exercising his right of free speech.

“There was no intimidation between Edwards and I,” Dane said. “ … Since when is a member of the public restrained from telling legislators what they want from their legislators?”

Speaking generally, he added, “… I believe what I’m doing is the right thing. I’m standing up for a principle. I don’t want to say the ends justify the means, but if you don’t have the capital you’ve got to find a way to get your point across. It takes some different tactics to get your point across.”

One day perhaps we’ll learn whether Tony Dane’s tactics finally crossed the line.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. Follow him on Twitter @jlnevadasmith.