Here is a penny the governor can pinch
On Tuesday the reporters at the Nevada News Bureau had us doing a double take.
First, Sean Whaley reported the governor and the state Board of Examiners are pinching every penny, even down to saving a paltry $40,000 by not buying a vehicle for the "dignitary protection program," (sounds like an MRAP, mine resistant ambush protected vehicle). Instead they agreed to simply use a suitable vehicle from the state motor pool.
Gov. Brian Sandoval vowed to be a “good steward” of every dollar.
But later in the day Andrew Doughman reported the state is on track to pay up to $625,684 to consultants to implement the requirements of ObamaCare.
Doughman wrote, “Gov. Brian Sandoval has called the law ‘unconstitutional,’ but he’s also acknowledged that the state will continue to implement the law that’s on the books.”
He also reported the governor has signed, along with other governors, a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asking for changes in the ObamaCare requirement that health insurance exchanges be created.
Sandoval was quoted as saying of the letter, “It encourages the expedited review of the court case because in the meantime our state is having to expend funds to meet the requirements of the federal law.”
This is what U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson, right and on the right, wrote this past week of that “law”:
“The last issue to be resolved is the plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief enjoining implementation of the Act, which can be disposed of very quickly. Injunctive relief is an ‘extraordinary’ … and ‘drastic’ remedy ... It is even more so when the party to be enjoined is the federal government, for there is a long-standing presumption ‘that officials of the Executive Branch will adhere to the law as declared by the court. As a result, the declaratory judgment is the functional equivalent of an injunction.’ … ('declaratory judgment is, in a context such as this where federal officers are defendants, the practical equivalent of specific relief such as an injunction … since it must be presumed that federal officers will adhere to the law as declared by the court') (Scalia, J.) There is no reason to conclude that this presumption should not apply here.
“Thus, the award of declaratory relief is adequate and separate injunctive relief is not necessary.”
There is no law with which to comply. Why spend money preparing to implement a law that has been wiped off the books?
