Clark County GOP scolds lawmakers for taxes

At a special meeting of the Clark County Republican Central Committee Tuesday night, members voted to condemn legislators who voted for tax hikes and praise those who didn't in the recently concluded legislative session.

After a heated debate, the committee members approved, in an overwhelming voice vote, three resolutions that had been proposed by party Chairman Bernie Zadrowski. More than 100 people attended the meeting, held at the Italian-American Club.

One resolution was devoted to "praising the actions of each individual Republican legislator by name who voted against the tax increases"; another praised Gov. Jim Gibbons for vetoing the $781 million tax hike; the third and most controversial condemned by name the six Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of the measure.

Zadrowski said the resolutions weren't his brainchild, but came from the party grass-roots who "were very angry and upset at these officials who made promises to Republicans during the campaign, but then when it comes to voting on the core platform issues of the Republican party, they abandoned them."

Some, including Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, have accused Zadrowski of dividing and weakening the party. But Zadrowski said the party will be stronger when it stands on principle consistently.

"I'm not coming at this to kick people out of the party or to silence anybody or divest anybody of a say," Zadrowski said. "But I'm coming at it from the perspective of (determining) who speaks for the Republican party. Is it going to be the conservative base? Or is it going to be the moderated part of the party that thinks raising taxes is OK? ... I believe conservatives should be the dominant voice in the party."