In Nevada, Koch's 'Americans for Prosperity' can't even win a tiny 1,691-voter referendum

[Newsjock]

Source: Las Vegas Sun

If the conservative nonprofit group Americans for Prosperity is poised to be a serious player in the turnout game for Republican candidates this November, it didn’t prove itself in the primary election last week.

... AFP Nevada’s first effort to swing an election through traditional get-out-the-vote activities failed — badly. And it played out in, of all places, Laughlin, where voters were deciding whether to support cityhood. The tone of AFP Nevada’s campaign in Laughlin suggested it favored incorporation. ... But of the 1,691 people who actually went to the polls, only 729 voted to incorporate.

... AFP Nevada losing a small, low-turnout campaign — against which there was little organized opposition aside from one town father flying an airplane with a banner urging a no vote — doesn’t portend well for the general election.

... “What the heck is anti-government AFP doing trying to create another level of government?” one conservative operative asked. “The better question: Why would the Koch brothers care if Laughlin went from a town to a city?” That decision may have been relationship based. Paul and Sue Lowden, who own the Pioneer casino in Laughlin, are close with at least one of the principals in AFP Nevada. They firmly supported incorporation and contributed money to AFP to help push it through.

Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jun/17/americans-prosperitys-political-influence-lacks-st/

[auburngrad82]

1. They failed miserably last year in the school board election in Wake County, NC as well

It's pretty obvious that their political viewpoints aren't in touch with the average American.

[CanonRay]

2. Nevada libertarians (much of the Nevada GOP) will never vote to create another level of government

even it if would benefit them. They are some of the most anti-government individuals I've ever met.

[freshwest]

3. AFP was looking out for the prosperity of one family. the Lowdens. Incorporations would mean that

Everyone would be stuck with the bill of paying for the infrastructure the casino wanted for its own profit.

This is one of the least recognized problems of government being used to serve for-profit private outfits. They pass levies on everyone that favor a group that does not support everyone.

The townsfolk may have voted against being incorporated for the wrong reasons or the right ones. They certainly caught the irony of the AFP claiming to be against government and then promoting one - for their pal's financial gain.

I've seen parts of cities with more regulation than the casino. strip club, etc. owners wanted. They lured the residents into thinking their taxes would go down if they expanded, promised to pay higher taxes to shoulder city improvements.

Then reneged on the deal after breaking away and blighting the area, didn't even keep them looking good, producing nothing in the way of jobs or anything else. Just their profits, and their tax breaks, ending up paying less than others.

I've also seen sports franchises do a lot of dirty deeds to get those tax dollars for the owners, then give the city the bird finger when citizens voted to not back down to the blackmail for more taxes when they hadn't finished paying for their first stadium from generations of property tax levies and sale taxes levied on everyone, not just the ones who could afford to go the stadium.

Businessmen with their hands in everyone's pockets, going straight into their own and leaving the city taxpayers stuck with the bill.

Don't listen to the businessman when you're trying to build a social order, bring in your philosophers, your dreamers, the ones who care about everyone and not just their own profits.

Corporations are like any other tool, effective at doing specialized things. They are not the right building blocks for democracy, enough though they are great at selling themselves to people. After all, that is what they are, salesmen.

[gopiscrap]

4. Excellent