VICTOR JOECKS: These Lombardo moves would help Democrats

Gov. Joe Lombardo seems to have forgotten which political party he belongs to.

On Monday, Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui announced her run for lieutenant governor. She immediately attacked Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony over his efforts to protect women’s sports. On the merits, that won’t be a winning issue. But she will likely bring in national money from gun-control groups. If part-time Nevada resident Aaron Ford runs a strong gubernatorial campaign, she could win.

What would really help Jauregui is a signature legislative accomplishment. And here’s where Lombardo looks ready to give her a major boost. Jauregui was one of the sponsors of a bill to give handouts to Hollywood. It died during the legislative session.

Normally, that would be the end of it. But Lombardo says he’s going to call a special session. Film tax credits could be on the agenda.

In other words, Lombardo may be calling the Legislature back to Carson City to sign a bill that would help a Democrat running for lieutenant governor.

Now, if this were a conservative priority, that would make sense regardless. But doling out $1.5 billion to a favored industry is cronyism, not capitalism.

This is so egregious that, if the bill passes, Lombardo should be forced to report this as an in-kind contribution to Jauregui.

Republican legislators shouldn’t blindly follow Lombardo. Consider Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama. She’s running for Clark County Commission. Businessman Albert Mack is set to challenge her in a Republican primary. If Kasama votes for Hollywood handouts without obtaining school choice, he’ll have a strong issue with which to attack her.

There’s more. Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro is running for attorney general. If she gets past Treasurer Zach Conine in a Democratic primary, she has a major general election vulnerability. She supported the 2019 soft-on-crime bill that gutted criminal penalties. For instance, it reduced penalties on shoplifters by raising the threshold for felony theft to $1,200.

Cannizzaro’s support for not punishing criminals contributed to a massive increase in crime. There’s a reason the shaving cream at Walmart is now behind lock and key. Republicans should be hammering her over this issue.

But Lombardo looks ready to throw her a lifeline. A crime bill may also appear on the special session agenda. Lombardo has proposed stronger criminal penalties in both the 2023 and 2025 sessions. In 2023, Democrats stripped down his bill to almost nothing before passing it. Last session, they again watered down Lombardo’s bill, but this time, they didn’t send it to him.

If Democrats would pass Lombardo’s full crime bill, he should take the policy win. But signing a bill filled with cosmetic changes won’t fix much. But it would allow Cannizzaro to erroneously claim that she solved this urgent problem.

This doesn’t even make sense for Lombardo. Pointing out Democrats’ opposition to tough-on-crime legislation is a great campaign issue.

Imagine how Democrats must be mocking Gov. Joe Lombardo behind his back. They serve him political excrement, and Lombardo brags about “getting s--- done.”

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.