Lombardo to Sisolak: ‘Your Anti-Cop Rhetoric Is Despicable’

Vulnerable Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak took to Twitter admonishing GOP opponent Sheriff Joe Lombardo to “do your job” addressing crime in Las Vegas.

.@JoeLombardoNV, do your job. https://t.co/6rcvPsCnBZ

— Steve Sisolak (@SteveSisolak) August 6, 2022

In response, Sheriff Lombardo accused his opponent of “anti-cop rhetoric” and reminded Nevadans that Sisolak signed Democratic legislation that reduced penalties for a variety of felonies.

You raised the felony threshold. You make my officers issue citations instead of arrests. You lowered penalties for fentanyl and drug dealers. You took away harsher penalties for career criminals.

You did that, Steve.

And you left Nevada law enforcement to clean up your mess.

— Joe Lombardo (@JoeLombardoNV) August 6, 2022

As reported by The Globe, the Democratic legislature in 2019 passed AB236 which decreased penalties for drug trafficking. Lombardo told The Globe:

“The statutes in AB 236 associated with sentencing and penalties related to narcotics trafficking, burglary, and larceny. The legislative body reduced felonies to misdemeanors and this has made it very difficult to make an arrest in that space. The legislature tied our hands in our ability to make an arrest in a violation of criminal law. In my opinion, it is very frustrating for us to respond to a call from a person in need and we can’t do anything about it or have an individual held responsible for the actions they conducted in a criminal space.”

The Globe asked for specific examples of felonies reduced to misdemeanors.  Lombardo responded:

The threshold on larceny was raised from, I believe, $850 to $1200. You hear people opining about the threshold in CA of $950 and businesses are being put out of business as a result of that action. But here in Nevada, it’s even worse. People are very frustrated and looking for help, but the most we can do is issue a citation. We don’t have the ability to make an arrest in this space. And when crooks see this, and their communication network starts, crime rises.

“The other one would be narcotics,” Lombardo added. “The trafficking level of narcotics has been raised significantly in that space. Level One narcotics has been raised from four grams to 28 grams and that is a significant amount that we, as professionals in the law enforcement community, are looking at from a whole new and different paradigm.”

With less than 100 days to the midterm election, polling shows Lombardo and Sisolak in a statistical dead heat. The top national political handicappers like The Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball  rate the Nevada Governor’s race as one of only three gubernatorial races in the country that is a “pure tossup.”

Lombardo claims Nevada law enforcement is left to clean up Sisolak’s mess. In November, Nevadans will decide who will clean up this mess and Nevada’s skyrocketing inflation, a failing education system, and a the fifth highest unemployment rate in the country.