“41-to-Angle”: Reid’s Outsider Opponent

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


41 to Angle.

That’s how Nevadan legislators often referred to votes in the state’s 42-member assembly during the years Sharron Angle was an assemblywoman. Angle, who on Tuesday won the state’s Republican senatorial primary and is now challenging Democratic Senator Harry Reid, served in the assembly from 1999 to 2005 and became known for often casting the sole nay vote. She voted ‘no’ so frequently that lawmakers would routinely describe vote tallies as “41-to-Angle,” according to state Senator Michael Schneider, a Democrat who served in the legislature during that period. “That’s what we always called it,” he says.

Schneider recalls one notable example of Angle’s nay-saying. Several years ago, real estate values were skyrocketing in Nevada, and this was driving up property taxes. Angle, expressing populist anger, called for a cap on property taxes. Legislators from both parties agreed that something had to be done. They proposed a measure to cap property taxes. But Angle wanted a ballot proposition that would create a constitutional amendment capping these taxes. She opposed the legislative remedy. The final vote? Forty-one to Angle. “We were giving her what she wanted,” Schneider says. But not quite. Angle yearned for a permanent limit on property taxes. Her fellow legislators—spooked by the infamous Proposition 13 of California—wanted to preserve an element of flexibility. She said no.

Schneider describes Angle as personable, saying “she’d make a good neighbor.” But he considers her a hypocrite. She voted against all taxes, he notes, but always voted for the state budget, even when it included spending increases. She did, he recall, advocate for more funding for Christian charter schools. “She wants to eliminate the Department of Education at the state and federal level,” Schneider remarks. “She wants all regulations to go away. She wants a total free market. Everything should be competitive—except Christian schools.”

Angle’s conservative positions—such as calling for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, for yanking the United States out of the United Nations, and for privatizing Social Security—have received much attention in recent days. She’s drawn scrutiny for suggesting she doesn’t fancy the legalization of alcohol, for supporting a Scientology-related drug rehab prison program (which included providing saunas and massages to convicts), and for expressing support for the Oath Keepers, a conservative militia-like outfit. There’s no doubt that Nevada Democrats who worked with Angle will do what they can to provide Reid ammo to use against her. But that’s not such a hard task. Angle has not been shy about expressing and voting her opinions. She’s been an outsider eagerly voicing her heartfelt but extreme stances for years. Expect Reid to use almost all of his millions in campaign cash to ensure every Nevada voter knows that by Election Day.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate