Can Sandoval stick to any position now?

Gov. Brian Sandoval left a lifetime appointment to the federal bench and ran for the office on a pledge to oppose tax increases. On that basis, he defeated an excellent sitting governor and allowed Sen. Harry Reid to name his replacement to the federal bench.

Gov. Sandoval extended temporary tax increases in 2011, then last week said he would reauthorize expiring tax increases again in 2013 under the sanctimonious claim that he was sparing education cuts (Wednesday Review-Journal). That’s a bit rich, given that his new state superintendent of schools, James Guthrie, has said, “America’s schools have always been well-funded, despite the claims of school funding advocates who persistently assert that the nation shortchanges its students.”

As Jim Wheeler, candidate for Assembly District 39, has pointed out, Gov. Sandoval told us the first time around that the tax hikes were needed to prevent possible lawsuits against the state, but there were no lawsuits. Now Gov. Sandoval has changed his story again.

In a state that’s tops in unemployment, bankruptcies and mortgage foreclosures, tax hikes have a chain-reaction, negative impact on the economy.

Gov. Sandoval betrayed what he claimed were his core beliefs. How can we ever trust him again?

LYNN MUZZY

MINDEN

A tyrannical position

To the editor:

In response to Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley’s petition to cancel Rush Limbaugh’s radio show:

What is more offensive than an American political commentator exercising his right to free speech? A congresswoman agitating to have him taken off the air.

Our Founding Fathers were wise in foreseeing that someday tyrants such as the King of England would once again hold the country hostage.

They are slowly trying introduce the notion that our political system (and Constitution) are outdated, as they did during the debt crisis in July, all with the unspoken objective of ridding the country of these pesky civil rights that liberals profess to protect — but only if it is a minority in the country illegally.

The liberal radio station in Reno has a commentator with whom I don’t agree. I don’t want her thrown off the air because occasionally I will listen. But most mornings when I don’t like what she is saying, I change the channel. I still support her right to free speech, as well as Bill Maher’s, Jon Stewart’s and David Letterman’s, to name a few offensive people in the media. I don’t like what they say, so I change the channel.

Time to vote tyrants like Rep. Berkley out of office. She is a disgrace to the Constitution.

Ron Ellis

Reno