As the Globe has been reporting, the feud between rival factions of the Clark County GOP shows no signs of abating. In one corner is State Sen. Carrie Buck, who leads what some consider the traditional wing of the Republican Party and is now calling itself Rogue LLC. On the other side is Clark County Republican Chairman Jesse Law, who was elected to head the Republicans in the state’s largest county. He is supported by the state’s combative GOP chairman Michael McDonald, who is clearly losing his patience with Buck and Rogue.
The most recent salvo occurred on January 4th, 2022, when the Republican National Committee entered the fray by sending Sen. Buck a cease-and-desist letter that, as the Globe reported, left nothing to interpretation:
“Your organization is not affiliated with either the (Republican National Committee) or the Nevada Republican Party, and it has no right to use the RNC’s trademarks or other intellectual property whatsoever,” the letter states. “It is unacceptable and unlawful for your organization to falsely hold itself out as the official Republican county party for Clark County, particularly while soliciting contributions on your website. The simple fact is that your organization is not the recognized body of the Republican Party in Clark County, as the Nevada Republican Party of does not recognize you as such.”
That unambiguous slap would seem to represent the end of the line for Buck and Rogue. If they want to start a rival party or become independents, of course they’re free to do so. But as far as calling themselves “Republicans” and presenting as the legitimate Clark County representatives of the Grand Old Party, the national team seemed to have issued the last word.
Not so fast.
On Tuesday, the Nevada Globe received a call from a political insider who had previously produced reliable information. This person urged the Globe to “look into” the authenticity of the letter that was sent to Buck. According to this source, “people at the RNC” had been contacted by Team Buck and had no knowledge of this letter and had told Buck’s representatives that they do not take sides in intra-party disputes.
The Globe has indeed looked into it. The letter is real.
According to a source at the GOP — an insider who is so reluctant to wade into a nasty fight that he emailed me insisting that he be identified only as “a source at the GOP”—”the letter is authentic.”
Whether this confirmation puts to rest this ugly feud seems unlikely. Minutes before this article went to press, a source emailed the Globe a link to a story from 8NewsNow that reports on the state GOP’s having sent the National Archives “fake electoral certificates saying Trump won election.” The story reads as if it was more a stunt by Trump-supporting Republicans than a genuine effort to deceive anyone. But the person who sent it to the Globe seemed to be suggesting that if the heads of the state party would monkey around with an alternate set of electors, maybe they’d counterfeit a letter from the RNC.
That’s not what happened here, the Globe can conclusively report. The letter is real. In what looks like a year of golden opportunity for Nevada Republicans, a fight amid the state’s Republicans could potentially cost them electoral gains at the state and federal levels. Of course, Nevada Democrats have a fight of their own, so perhaps this kind of intra-party animosity is the natural state of affairs. They don’t call Nevada the Battle Born State for nothin’.