Editorials

A government that keeps secrets inevitably tramples the rights of its people. Transparency, on the other hand, helps preserve precious freedoms. These absolute truths unite the interests of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and the Nevada Policy Research Institute in litigating a critical public records case.

The bad news: Federal income tax filing season began Friday. Worse news: The filing season is shorter than normal because of last year’s partial government shutdown. Even worse news: The ever-growing tax code is bigger and more complicated than ever, which means you have a better chance of cashing a 10-team parlay ticket at the sports book than filing an error-free tax return.

Four months into the rollout of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Nevadans are all too familiar with what happens when Washington tries to remake a significant portion of the economy. As reported by the Review-Journal’s Jennifer Robison and Sean Whaley last week, the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange — the website created to enroll Nevadans in Obamacare — has been plagued by errors and extensive wait times.

Precedent apparently means nothing to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. On Monday, the panel decided already-suspended Family Court Judge Steven Jones deserved only a concurrent suspension for deliberately compromising the integrity of the bench. Jones’ appalling misconduct and ensuing arrogance justified his removal from office and a lifetime ban from the bench — especially when considering the actions of judges previously kicked out of court.

In 1983, Clint Eastwood reprised his “Dirty Harry” role in the movie “Sudden Impact,” set in the San Francisco area. Like most of Mr. Eastwood’s films, it included a few signature lines, including one that notified some bad guys of his backup: “Smith and Wesson … and me.”

Heavy-handed federal regulation of health care has painful consequences at the local level. And we’re not talking about Obamacare here.

The Oct. 15 termination of Las Vegas police officer Jesus Arevalo was supposed to a be a defining moment for the Metropolitan Police Department. An agency with a history of questionable fatal shootings of unarmed civilians, and a lack of accountability resulting from those deaths, for the first time had fired an officer for improper use of deadly force.

Clark County is negotiating new contracts with the Service Employees International Union Local 1107, and one major sticking point is management’s desire to eliminate longevity pay for future hires. The SEIU, of course, wants things to continue as if Las Vegas were still in the boom years of a decade ago. News flash: It’s not.

In the Southern Nevada business community, local government code inspection horror stories are like … noses — everybody has one. But what the Roos-N-More zoo in Moapa has gone through over the past month is enough to give even the most resilient entrepreneur nightmares.