Jayne: Kimsey latest Republican to lose local party’s favor

The charter ended up passing with about 54 percent of the vote, but that’s kind of beside the point — unless you think the party’s actions stink like sour grapes.

Party officials want an investigation into whether Kimsey abused his office in how he advocated for the charter during the campaign. “These violations were committed willfully, and with actual malice,” reads the letter from party Chairman Kenny Smith, claiming that a two-page explanation of the charter in the Voters’ Pamphlet amounted to biased promotion of the proposal.

Let’s be clear: The Clark County GOP has every right to call for an investigation. And if there is reason to believe that Kimsey acted unprofessionally, Golik should look into it. Additionally, I’m not terribly comfortable with the county’s top election official taking sides in an election. Kimsey has a right to express his opinion on the issues, yet that requires balancing upon an extremely thin line.

And that brings us to the crux of the matter. While no public official is above scrutiny, Kimsey might be as close as it comes. He has been the county auditor since 1998, and in the past three elections — including last week’s — he has run unopposed. His fairness, decorum, and impartiality have been above reproach.

All of that makes this seem like an odd fight for the Clark County GOP to be picking, leading them into an action that smacks of desperation and hopelessness.

Cannibalizing their own

Kimsey, you see, is a Republican. He has been a longtime precinct committee officer and is a former member of the Clark County Republican Central Committee. He long has been the type of Republican who shines a glowing light on the party, but apparently he isn’t Republican enough for the dark forces that now hold sway.

Kimsey was asked by the Clark County Board of Freeholders to provide two pages of information for the Voters’ Pamphlet. This drew an objection from charter critic county Commissioner David Madore, who worried that certain information would be omitted. Kimsey says he encouraged Madore to provide a written description about which information was relevant, but never received a reply. In other words, rather than being engaged in the process and trying to make it work for the benefit of citizens, Madore opted to hurl snowballs — and contribute $37,000 to fight the charter — from the sidelines.

I don’t know whether the Clark County GOP has a legitimate case against Kimsey. We’ll leave that determination to brighter minds. But the letter to Golik says, “Any reasonable person who opposes the proposition would find these pages to be carefully crafted to put the proposition in the most favorable light possible” — which might the first time in a while the local Republican leadership has appealed to “reason.”

So, as the charter is approved by a significant majority of voters, local Republican Party leaders once again have resorted to cannibalizing one of their own. I sure hope they know what they’re doing.