Feb. 7, 2024, R-C Letters to the Editor

Calling out commissioner

Editor:

Dear fellow Douglas County residents, since Danny Tarkanian, from Las Vegas, took office in 2021, my small, long time Glenbrook property management office with zero county complaints has been under attack. 

One of Commissioner Tarkanian’s first acts was to propose banning short-term rentals in gated communities (Glenbrook). Rumors started flying that Commissioner Tarkanian was trying to ban rentals in Glenbrook to impress a wealthy, powerful, political “kingmaker” who also happened to be from Las Vegas and owns land in Glenbrook. When asked about it beginning in 2022, Tarkanian denied really knowing anyone from Glenbrook multiple times. 

He even called the allegations “Hogwash” in his newsletter in November 2023. However, he remained laser focused on trying to ban short term rentals in Glenbrook. On Dec. 21, 2023, he got his wish when the Douglas County commissioners voted 3-2 to ban VHR’s north of Cave Rock.

Only through an NRS 239 public records request do we now know the facts about Danny Tarkanian and Glenbrook. He had been planning with a powerful Glenbrook landowner for years to get Glenbrook rentals banned. In a January 2023 email, he called it his “plan of attack.”

Options in this attack included pressuring the Vacation Rental Advisory Board, trying to influence a new county commissioner by using her religious affiliation, threating fellow commissioners with a recall and/or getting protesters to intimidate them at meetings, filing a lawsuit against the county, getting a referendum on the ballot, and threatening to get a “big name” candidate to run against fellow Commissioner (Mark) Gardner so he would change his mind and support a rental ban. All of this to make an influential friend happy. 

The sad fact is that part of it worked. Tarkanian did help organize a petition drive which could ban short term rentals in all of Tahoe Township.  

Also, mysteriously, Commissioner Gardner had a change of heart and decided to allow a proposal to ban VHR’s north of Cave Rock to be put on the agenda after years of resistance. Without input from the Vacation Rental Advisory committee and even after the planning commission (shocked by its arbitrary nature) voted 7-0 against the ban, Commissioner Gardner voted with Commissioner Tarkanian for the rental ban.

I hope you are as outraged as I am with this questionable conduct. 

I am not an elected official and it has been extremely stressful to deal with Tarkanian’s constant attacks on Glenbrook rentals. He has called me a liar more than once for questioning his motives. Now it has been proven that he has been concealing the truth all along. 

This type of behavior should not be tolerated by the voters of Douglas County. Look at the amount of county time and resources that have been wasted on this one particular issue. We should expect more from our elected officials. I believe it is time for Commissioner Tarkanian to resign and take his brand of “public service” back to Las Vegas. 

Kevin Kjer

Glenbrook

In defense of Presidential Caucus

Editor:

In response to a letter in The Record-Courier Jan. 24, 2024, blaming  GOP for the confusion brought on by the Democrat-initiated Presidential Preference Primary [AB126 during 2021 legislative session, the GOP is staying with the Caucus system, that has been used since 1981. With the exception of 1996 Republican Presidential  Primary  Election, Nevada has used a closed caucus system, much like the Presidential elections held between 1952 to 1972 with the party financing and determining delegates for the Democratic and Republican nominating  conventions. 

As for concerns no significant changes made by GOP to 2024 Presidential Preference Caucus, put the blame on Democrats that brought it on. The GOP caucus allows requests for absentee ballots to military and people covered by American Disabilities Act. Requests can be made from DCRCC, phone no 775 782 4467.] The Republican Presidential Caucus held 5-7.30 p.m. Thursday. Participants can check in with ID vote and leave or stay to attend the precinct and caucus meetings at 6 p.m. where the candidates can be discussed and the future members of the DCRCC and the delegates to the county convention are chosen.    

Mark Tarvainen

Gardnerville

Willing to crash economy to win

Editor:

Former President Donald Trump recently predicted the U.S. economy would crash sometime this year. “When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover.” 

Trump also described the economy as “so fragile” and claimed it was “running off the fumes” of the Trump administration (which ended more than three years ago).

In reality, the December jobs report exceeded expectations, the S&P500 ended 2023 24 percent higher, the Dow rose 14 percent, and the Nasdaq jumped 43 percent. Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent. Among G7 nations, the U.S. economy grew faster than any other large ad-vanced economy last year and is on track to do the same in 2024. US inflation is expected to further decline from 2023’s 3.4 percent, closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target in 2024.

One other piece of good news for all Americans, in December 2023, wages grew by 5.2 percent exceeding the inflation rate of 3.4 percent. 

Do you want a president who is hoping to crash the economy so that he can get reelected, or, do you want a president who has been able to guide this economy from the COVID-19 recession to an economy that has recovered better than any economy in the world? 

Elizabeth Mancl

Genoa