Hillary - Judged by the
company she keeps
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
January 21, 2008
Senator Hillary
Rodham-Clinton
Clinton
advisor, ex-LV mayor Jan Jones-Blackhurst
LAS VEGAS - The Nevada caucus is
over, but several issues emerged that help define the woman selected to
be the state Democratic Party's nominee.
First and foremost, it took dozens of translators stationed in the
caucus locations to help the majority of Clinton supporters understand
speeches and fill out their ballots. These "voters" who could neither
speak nor write in our nation's language were asked (in Spanish) to
sign a document attesting to the fact that they were in the
United States legally. After obediently doing so, the majority voted
for Hillary Clinton at caucus locations within the hotels where they're
employed.
Being asked to vote within their workplace; not understanding the words
spoken or written; and fearing repercussions from their employer if
they voted against his or her wishes probably was the chief motivator
for so many of our city's recent immigrants to vote for the woman who
their bosses Terry Lanni of the MGM, Steve Wynn, and Jan Jones, a.k.a. Jan
Jones-Blackhurst of Harrah's, ask (ordered) them to vote for.
Having come from some of the most corrupt countries in Latin America,
how could we expect these new electors to believe their votes would be
cast in
secrecy in their new home town in the United States, especially when
our country's government is also in turmoil?
I believe that very few of
these new "voters" felt secure enough in our city or country to go
against what they were told to
do by their employers -- vote for Hillary. Instead of voting per
the suggestions of their union leaders who foolishly arranged for their
caucus locations to be inside their respective work places, I'm afraid
they succumbed to pressures that union leaders did not anticipate.
Had the caucus been held inside the Culinary Union Hall, I really
believe the results would have been drastically different!
The union's idea to
place caucus locations in hotels was found to be legally sound, but minds changed when so many persons
unfamiliar with our ways were asked to vote not far from where they
pick up their pay checks.
The Strip casinos have for years
fought all efforts
to increase the gross gambling tax to pay for Nevada education. They
believe that dishwashers, housekeepers, porters, groundskeepers, and
maintenance workers do not need a high school or college education to
live comfortably in Las Vegas. The casinos would obviously rather spend
their gambling derived profits developing competitive-to-Nevada casinos
in other states or overseas than to better the lives and futures of our
city's kids. Otherwise they would not be spending millions buying TV
ads telling voters to reject ballot questions asking to increase the
gambling tax to pay for schools.
Barack Obama abhors the spread of casinos. Had Obama won in Nevada, it
would have weakened the casino's position.
Hence the appearance of former Las Vegas mayor Jan Jones in the Hillary Clinton camp to preach the
casino's mantra and help plot strategies to destroy the reputations of
Clinton's opponents down the line. According to a former Nevada
governor, she's done it before, and I'm very familiar with her methods.
"It's
apparent she's willing to run a negative gutter campaign. The important
thing here is the fact that the mayor is willing to besmirch the
reputation of anybody for her own political gain," stated former Nevada
Governor Bob Miller (D), in the Las Vegas Sun on February 5,
1993.
According to the Hillary for President website,
Hillary proudly accepted Jones' endorsement, and with it, the money and
power behind Nevada's casino elite.
Hillary obviously could care less about the highly questionable
background and reputation of the woman she found so helpful.
As they have consistently done in Nevada, the casinos will immediately
squash the political campaigns of anyone who disagrees with their
pro-outside-Nevada expansion plans, and those who criticize their lack
of concern for the adverse social impacts gambling creates on families
who live near their casinos. They will take any means to win.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Obama once
stated the "moral and social cost of gambling, particularly in
low-income communities, could be devastating."
That honest statement just cost him the Nevada caucus, and created our
nation's most controversial voting block -- mainly undocumented workers
willing to vote as they're told by casino bosses in trade for giving
them sanctuary in Nevada.
But money and power gathering are
just two of Jan Jones' talents.
In 2001, she spent over four hours on the witness stand trying to
explain how she was unaware her campaign staff had produced and mailed
over 85,000 mailers to voters three days before the election that
falsely accused her 1991 mayoral opponent of being associated with
drugs.
Then as now, accusing an opponent of being associated with drugs at the
last minute is a guaranteed way to kill his or her chances of getting
elected.
I was that opponent in 1991.
Two weeks prior to her
accusation stating: "Cocaine found in car Miller was driving," I was
leading in every poll by more than twenty points. Jones became
desperate, and told her staff to publish the lie as a last ditch
effort to win the election at any cost.
Ironically, ten years later she was forced to admit under oath that her
accusation was totally false.
On the Thursday before the 1991 municipal election, she spent over a
million of her own dollars buying every one minute, and every thirty
second spot on local TV and cable stations. In her ads an announcer
repeated Jones' accusation hundreds of times up until election day.
I couldn't defend myself because she had purchased every available
minute on over 100 cable TV channels, and it was too late to send a
rebuttal mailer.
I went to the TV news departments. I was told to purchase the air time
to give my rebuttal because news editors refused to cover the smear
campaign allegedly fearing lawsuits for repeating slander. (Jones'
then-husband was one of LV's biggest TV advertisers.)
The public heard only one side,
and five days later Jones won by a landslide.
The day after the election, I sued her for slander, defamation, and
libel. Seven years later, I won a major victory in the Nevada Supreme
Court.
The monumental 1998 Nevada Supreme Court decision in MILLER v.
JONES cleared the way for future political office seekers to sue
their opponents when false statements that permanently injure someone's
reputation are made during a
campaign.
Unfortunately, Jones was able to remain in office for the eight years
that it took for my case to wind its way through the courts.
After serving two tumultuous
terms as the mayor of Las Vegas, and losing two attempts to become
Nevada governor (helped
by my efforts), she cashed in on her official title to land a high
paying position
in the casino industry as Vice President of Government Relations for
Harrah's. Since then she's been prostituting
her elected title to the detriment of the city she once was elected to
serve by being introduced throughout the nation as "the former mayor of
Las Vegas" when she gives speeches touting the benefits of casinos in
places where they were never welcome in the past.
For
this she's paid handsomely and was referred to in the January 28, 2007 London Observer as the "Queen
of Las Vegas."
The Observer described her
as "Dripping with jewelry and power, wrapped in cashmere, Jan Laverty
Jones is arguably the most important woman in the world gambling
industry."
Such a description of her close advisor does not exactly fit with
Hillary Clinton's
purportedly populist image!
While she's been running around
promoting competitive casinos, Nevada's tax base has fallen apart based
on dwindling gambling revenues in downtown Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe,
and Laughlin -- cities feeling the competition from California casinos
she helped clear the way for.
After leaving City Hall and going to work for Harrah's, she didn't
protest when her company bought the rights to the downtown "Horseshoe"
casino trade name and it's World Series of Poker, then moved them
outside the city she once represented. Since losing its identity, the
Fremont Street building once occupied by the Horseshoe has gone
bankrupt and is on the verge of closing causing the entire downtown to
suffer.
Now our state is number 46 when it comes to per capita student
spending, and the casinos including Harrah's want no part of helping us.
Today, Jones is undoubtedly taking those horrible political campaign
skills she
honed during her 1991 election, and sharing them with Mrs. Clinton's
campaign to be used against Obama.
I feel sorry for Barack Obama and can't help but predict he'll suffer
the same fate as I did if he persists in playing soft ball with Hillary
-- a mistake often made by men when they run against a female opponent
Like Obama, I was raised to be a consummate gentleman when it came to
ladies. It's too bad my Mom wasn't alive in 1991 to tell me that Jones
is anything but a lady!
That was my political downfall.
I didn't see it coming. I hope Obama is not next to fall prey to a
"lady" political opponent. Unfortunately he set the stage for his own
demise
According to the Washington Post, Obama in
his book stated, "Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the
final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high
[to] push questions of who I was out of my mind."
His words, though spoken bravely and from the heart, will now probably
be covertly used by Jones and her casino cronies to kill his chances of
winning
the national Democratic nomination. Remember, making false drug use
allegations are one of her specialties.
Jones will probably be the
secret power behind a drug attack against Obama. It will come without
consideration for his family, reputation, or future as it did in 1991.
Obama needs to be prepared early on before they destroy him with third
party generated accusations and propaganda.
However, in 1991, Jones made a mistake that will probably never happen
in the Clinton campaign.
Her attack TV ads and mailers
proclaimed, "Paid for by friends of Jan Jones." When this was presented
as evidence to the Nevada Supreme Court in 1998, even though she said
she was not responsible, they ruled otherwise. My attorney Sam Harding
and I walked out of the Carson City court room with a victory of sorts,
but we still needed to win my damages case in District Court three
years later for me to feel fully vindicated.
During my 2001 District Court damages trial,
she repeated that she was not aware of what her staff had created. This brought a surprise reaction from her two
former campaign managers. Dan Hart and Don Williams testified that she
was well aware of what was to be published about Steve Miller, and that
they both warned her not to do it. They testified that Jones
disregarded their advice.
Nonetheless, the jury voted 8 to 2 in
favor of Jones, and I opted not to appeal their verdict. But, Sam and I
were still able to walk away with my Nevada Supreme Court victory that
said she had showed "reckless disregard for the truth," and "actual
malice" in my case.
From my lawsuit Jones had to have learned a hard lesson: Don't put your
name on false accusations. Help someone else to throw the mud. And
don't tell your candidate what you're up to so they'll look like
they're sincerely offended when questioned about such tactics.
Even after a six week televised trial, and dozens of front page stories
about this case both in 1998 and 2001, Hillary still welcomed a person
like Jones unconditionally.
Now I hope information about my personal experience with one of
Senator Clinton's main supporters and advisors will find its way to
Senator Obama
before he's also attacked at the last minute with no time to respond.
If attacked, he must stop being the consummate gentleman and be
courageous enough to place the blame
squarely on the padded shoulders of Hillary Clinton, the woman who must
not be allowed to escape responsibility for her anticipated campaign
tactics, or
for the company she keeps.
Copyright © Steve Miller
