As I noted here on November 21, the Nevada Assembly swung fully to the GOP for the first time since the Great Depression.
The GOP selected for its Assembly leader one serious whackadoodle, Ira Hansen (District 32). For thirteen years he had a newspaper column in the Sparks Tribune.
The Reno News and Review recently republished a number of quotes from his column (many of which are only available in print), and needless to say, they weren't pretty. (You can find some of the quotes at my diary linked above, and a link to the News and Review article there.)
Governor Brian Sandoval (R) hung him out to dry, noting such speech was unacceptable.
But he didn't go down without a shot over the bow of his detractors. It is unclear whether he will resign entirely from the Assembly at this point. More below the orange sixteen-pounder smoke.
From Ralston Reports, his non-pology (with my corrections, since I moonlight from my city councilmember job as a Romance editor):
For the greater good of the State of Nevada and the cause I support the Confederate Flag I have in the room where I write my columns, which I have written about it is necessary for me to withdraw as Speaker Designee. The tens of thousands of people who both read my columns and listened to my radio shows through two decades in the media know this has been a carefully orchestrated attack quotation of my own writing to remove a conservative Republican bigoted Republican from a major leadership role in State government. The deliberate character assassination truthful reporting of my writing and the politics of personal destruction accountability have totally distorted accurately reported my views and record. Ultimately, this whole attack has very little everything to do with my views. The powers that be are planning a massive, more than one billion dollar, tax increase and I stood in the way as Speaker. I have already served two terms as an Assemblyman without any of these vicious attacks. It was only when I had risen to leadership that this smear campaign quotation of my written words occurred. That is the real reason for this and it is vital the public understands that ignores the truth about me.