My Point of View/By Rolando Larraz
I left my country of Cuba sixty years ago for political reasons, not because I was looking for work or because I wanted a better life; I lived very good in my native country, but I knew that if I stayed there I would either be killed or imprisoned because of my big mouth and because communists don’t like bigmouths like me.
Now, sixty-one years later, I see and smell the same communistic atmosphere as in my old country where people could not speak their
mind without getting in trouble. Case in point, the situation that Mayor Pro-Tem and Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore is confronting now after speaking at the Republican convention.
As always, Michele Fiore spoke her mind and told the audience how she feels about several issues and the liberals and socialists of our city jumped to attack her because she tried to open the audience’s eyes and tell them, in her Brooklyn accent and mentality, about the real way of life.
But Fiore’s problem is not her Brooklyn accent or mentality; Fiore’s problem is her fellow council members that want her out of the way so one of them can become the Mayor Pro-Tem.
One wants to be the first Black mayor in Las Vegas history, but does not want to take the time to be a newbie; he wants to jump the fence and get to be the Las Vegas mayor in case the present mayor, Carolyn Goodman, decides to call it quits before her last term ends so she does not have to put up with all the cockamamie stuff that is going on at the city council.
The other one is the infamous musical chairs player that likes to listen to her alleged campaign manager instead of being loyal to the only friend she ever had.
I hear rumors that the granny campaign manager has joined a group that is collecting signatures to recall Mayor Carolyn Goodman and as we all know, those who plan the recall have to have someone to replace the recalled person; it is an old dirty political game that we all know — even someone like me who speaks with my accent.
My accent sometimes makes it difficult for people to be serious and they make the mistake of believing that because I speak with an accent I also think with an accent.
It happened when former Nevada Assemblywoman Sharon Angle was running against Harry Reid and I told her that she should not go to RanchoHigh School because those Latinos are all “Reid-controlled students that do n ot vote.” I also told Sharon Angle that the team she brought to Las Vegas from DC was controlled by Reid, but she did not listen to this old man with an accent.
Sometimes a wise old man means more than someone without an accent and a long time ago I told Michele Fiore not to run for the U.S. Congress against Shelly Berkeley, who was very popular and very efficient and very well liked.
She may not remember this, but she told me that Robert List offered to help her and promised to find her the money needed to beat Berkeley, and I told her that List was a liar and that she will get nothing from him. She had the first political loss of her life and I remember how distraught she was.
Finally, she ran for the Nevada Assembly and won; she did two terms, I believe, and did a magnificent job there for the people of her district and for the people of Nevada in general. Fiore is not the type of political person who limits herself to the section she was elected to serve; she has always been available to anyone equally.
I believe that when the day comes and Mayor Goodman steps down for any reason, Michele Fiore will be a very good mayor, and I am not kidding about that. I have not spoken to Michelle Fiore in about two years, but I have the feeling that she knows that she has two tough mayors to follow in popularity and I know she will do her best to follow them.
This column will not be able to be read until after the meeting on Wednesday the 17th of June, but I hope that the other two members of he council do the right thing.
One should remember that the mayor and her husband, the former mayor, helped him to sit on that board; the other one is leaving but he is a man of honor and will do the right thing regardless of whether he’s leaving or not.
Michele Fiore should not be stripped of her position because she did not do anything but express her constitutional right, that of expressing her opinion. Or are we living in Cuba where the freedom of expression, the freedom of opinion, and the freedom of speech are no longer in existence?
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
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Rolando Larraz is Editor in Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His column appears weekly in this newspaper. To contact Rolando Larraz, email him at: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at 702-272-4634.
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