“The EPA’s mandate will be disastrous for Florida’s businesses and families. Unfortunately, while Florida Republicans like Marco Rubio and Tom Rooney are acting to halt these job-destroying regulations, Bill Nelson has stayed silent. Instead of standing on the side of Florida families and pushing his fellow Democrats to act, Nelson has chosen to stand with President Obama and Harry Reid as they pursue policies and regulations that are taking our country in the wrong direction,” said Trey Stapleton, Republican Party of Florida Communications Director. “Floridians can’t afford six more years of Bill Nelson watching as unelected bureaucrats in Washington hurt job creation and take Florida’s economy backwards.”

Read more about Senator Nelson’s failure to stand up for Floridians here.

Read the about Florida’s lawsuit against the EPA’s job killing program here.

The following is a letter to ‘Your Politics News’ and its editors that we are publishing in its entirety:

Normally a struggling business turns to advertisement and cost cuts to get back on its feet. I have lived in Las Vegas for 26 years and I see our city and state as a struggling business. As a registered voter, mother, grandmother and out-of-work wife, I have prayed for change in our state and our spending.

Typically I don’t feel as though my vote is going to make much of a difference or that I have any good choices. This is just how I felt as this years’ candidates began their endless disgraceful television and radio ads bashing their opponents.

Harry Reid tried to portray Sharron Angle as extreme and simply put, crazy. Sharron Angle shined the light on Reid’s love affair of big spending and Wall Street.

At first I ignored both and figured I’d make a last minute snap decision. So for months I’ve been drowning out the “he/she bologna” and didn’t think a thing about either candidate.

That was until the night of the debate when my husband (God bless him) insisted on watching his hero, Harry Reid.

Having only one television in our small ranch and no current reading material, I was stuck. It was during that hour I had my first political epiphany.

Harry Reid has absolutely ruined the state of Nevada. There was no denial of his relationship with big banks and big money for himself and his family. Months ago I lost my job and when Reid made countless public announcements that he understood and was trying to improve our economy and was concerned I believed him.

Well the hell with that. Was he that concerned as he laid his head down that night in his luxurious Ritz Carlton condo? He struck me as old, frail, and a con. He tells us one thing and then admits, in front of hundreds of struggling Nevadans that he sides with Obama, he sides with banks and he sides with the government that is destroying social security and our economy.

The second thing that surprised me was Sharron Angle is not extreme and she certainly isn’t crazy. She was lied about and her words were manipulated, he however, was simply exposed.

Sharron Angle has a plan to give us hope, jobs and choices. She is also willing to stand-up to the people and companies that have contributed to our demise. She genuinely seems to care about us and couldn’t careless about “the big guys.”

After the debate was over my husband asked me if I had his [Reid’s] vote. Well then the argument started. I asked him how on earth he would support a man that has directly impacted our home in such negative ways. For heaven’s sake my daughter almost lost her home and if it hadn’t been for a miracle promotion and thirty extra hours of work a week, we’d have four more people crammed into my one bedroom ranch. His response was all the backing Reid has and he is in a position financially to help us.

He pointed out that Sig Rogish whom is a known Republican has began a organization to support Reid and he must be a great public servant if his opposing party was supporting him. Being the typical woman I am I was determined to win this argument so I immediately researched this Sig guy.

HA! Talk about corrupt. “Does the Desert Xpress mean anything to you” I said. Clearly this spoiled rotten, backstabbing millionaire wanted his little train built so he can make a few more million dollars and his relationship with Reid was the answer. My husband struggling for a response explained to me     exactly why a train was “needed.” 

As I read more about this whole high speed train deal it made less and less sense. The idea that Southern Californians who are already in their cars and driving up I-15 will pull off at Victorville (about 2.5 hours from the Strip) and take a train that will go maybe 60-70 MPH faster than they can drive?

A train that will drop them at the Plaza where they will have to hop a cab to the Strip? Which will get them to their hotel about the same time they would have if they just kept driving? No chance. Not to mention the train won’t be free and wherever you’ll need to leave your car won’t be free either.

And what happened to the $8-million Obama granted for high speed rail project such as Harry’s original plan of the Maglev?

He probably bought himself a Porsche and gave Nevada a few new garbage cans. In my opinion this is a money making deal for two greedy crooked men. With my husband speechless and me feeling quite proud of turning my small amount of knowledge into a valid and enraging point, I smiled and headed back to the internet for more job searching.

Later that night I got a sent an email from my Reid hating daughter and I laughed myself to sleep with this email and a feeling of finally being proud and content with my vote for Sharron Angle.

The email from my daughter:

“Mom here’s my thought’s on this crooks speech…

“Er, where’s my notes . . . er, lots of paper . . . er, colonoscopies . . . er, really good to snip that stuff off . . . er, tonight you heard what my opponents supports: big banks . . . what? we didn’t talk about that? . . . BP . . . she likes BP . . . no, wait, insurance companies . . . my dad was bigger than me . . . extreme her . . . fighter me . . . er, what else did that guy tell me say . . . Jobs! . . .that’s it, jobs, jobs . . . said it . . . good, good . . . small business . . . where am I? . . . er, thanks Mitch.”

Mary from Las Vegas, Nev.

Some casting ballots early are reporting voting problems in Nevada, saying the name of "Harry Reid" is already checked before they make any selection.

With polls showing the race for the U.S. Senate in Nevada can go either way and less than a week before voters go to the polls in mass numbers, some casting ballots early are reporting voting problems in Nevada, saying the name of “Harry Reid” is already checked before they make any selection.

A report on KVVU, Fox in Las Vegas, talks about the Nevada voting problems, and mentions a voter named Joyce Ferrara, who had gone to vote to cast a ballot for Sharron Angle, a Republican, but discovered that the name of Angle’s opponent, Harry Reid, had been clicked instead.

Ferrara told the television station that she was not alone–that her husband and several others had similar experiences and it wasn’t random.

“Something’s not right,” Ferrara told KVVU. “One person that’s a fluke. Two, that’s strange. But several within a five minute period of time — that’s wrong.”

Other voters, no matter where their support was, told YOUR POLITICS NEWS that the election should be fair and any type of voter irregularity voting problem in Nevada is unacceptable.

“I support Harry Reid but I don’t want him to win like this,”  Cindy Jaffe from Henderson says. 

Jaffe would not reveal her name, but described herself as a ‘senior citizen’ who has voted for Harry Reid in the past.  But she says if this a widespread Nevada voting problem, she would look at it as a threat to democracy and to the system. 

“If the default is Harry Reid that’s disturbing because some people won’t go back and double-check.  Especially older voters like me.”

The Clark County Registrar of Voters insists there is no voter fraud and chalked up the Nevada voting problem issue to sensitive touch-screens and older users.

Nevada voting problems? Registrar reaction

“Especially in a community with elderly citizens (they have) difficulty in (casting their) ballot,” Larry Lomax of the Registrar’s office told KVVU.  “Team leaders said there were complaints (and the) race filled in.”

He recommended that voters pay close attention to what they are pushing and for how long they are holding down the button after they make a selection.

Lomax downplayed any insinuation that there is any tampering that would benefit Harry Reid or Sharron Angle.

“This election, I think, more than ever… the two sides are very fractured and each side is suspicious and we’re caught in the middle.”

One website is already suggesting that Sharron Angle file a lawsuit now over the irregularities.

“Sharron Angle should start filing the lawsuits right now. Then again, so should Harry Reid,” opined the website Truth-out.org.  “However, it might be a bit more difficult politically for the Senate majority leader, given the undeserved support Reid has shown in the past for Nevada’s 100 percent unverifiable, error-prone, hackable, illegally-certified, electronic voting systems the state forces all voters to use at the polling place.”

Nevada voting problems: Are there others?

In another development, a lawyer for the Nevada Republican Party called on Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller to investigate discrepancies and resolve multiple issues regarding early voting.

In a letter delivered yesterday, David O’Mara cites several discrepancies he says his poll watchers have noted in Clark and Washoe counties.

Voting logs that compare the number of voters who signed in and the number of ballots cast on the voting machines don’t appear to jive.

Voter registrars have said they are human transcribing errors and involve only one or two votes.  They insist the machines are not to blame.

The race for the U.S. Senate in Nevada is one of the most watched races this election cycle.  Not only is the race so close, but Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader, and as such is the highest ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate.

The report cited court documents, and found that Diana Tejada, 28, submitted false paperwork to the Department of Homeland Security. The documents hid her 2003 marriage to Bassam Mahmoud Tarhini, which granted him permanent U.S. residency, according to Fox News.

The court documents show Tarhini, 37, pleaded guilty to entering a fraudulent marriage to evade immigration laws in November 2009. Officials deported him in March.

Tejada has not been charged, those with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement told Fox News. She is no longer working for Harry Reid, a spokesperson for the senator said. 

The FoxNews.com report adds that “Tejada knowingly filed false documents with the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services; lied in in-person interviews with ICE and FBI agents; and submitted fraudulent visa application affidavits and marriage license documents — all in attempt to use her status as an American citizen to get Tarhini permanent residency [...] Two months after their marriage, Tejada submitted an affidavit sponsoring Tarhini’s request for adjustment of status, affirming on his I-485 application for a green card — under penalty of perjury — that she was his wife.”

Reid, who faces his toughest opposition in the U.S. Senate race since 1987 from Republican Sharron Angle, had championed for passage of the federal DREAM Act, which was bundled into the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act. Tejada last month appeared on a radio program and discussed residency and naturalization as they related to the DREAM Act. Republicans filibustered the bill last month.

Staff writer Dan Balz pointed out, “It was as if the four-term senator, one of the most powerful politicians in the country, didn’t know what to say without written prompts, other than that he believes his opponent is an extremist, his mantra for the campaign.”

The latest data from polling website RealClearPolitics.com finds Angle’s support is tied with that of Reid–both candidates stood at 45.4 points on Tuesday. Angle supporters note the data preceded the debate by two days, and believe that Reid’s foibles at the podium will adversely affect his base at the polls on Nov. 2.

“Harry Reid’s true colors were exposed once again, and that only helps prove that Nevada and America are ready for new blood,” said Sharron Angle supporter Debbie Pringle.

Reid and Angle sparred over Nevada’s unemployment rate, which this year has become the worst in the country, as well as job creation and government involvement in health care.

Earlier this year, Your Politics News uncovered several investment banks that donated to Reid’s reelection campaign while the institutions still owed billions to the federal government following the 2008 bailout. Big Four bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave Reid $63,100 this year as of August 1, while Goldman Sachs contributed $50,100. Both banks owe taxpayers close to $40 billion by the federal government’s estimates.

Nevada’s Tea Party supporters of Sharron Angle have criticized Reid for his campaign ads that attack Angle’s take on extended unemployment benefits.

Does this sound like someone you know? It is. Sharron Angle‘s humble beginnings are a reflection of why she is fighting to serve the people of Nevada and the United States. Sharron Elaine Angle began her political quest for the rights of the people when standing up for the rights of her own son.

At age six, Angle’s son had fallen behind and was unable to graduate with the rest of his Kindergarten class. Seeing the depression in her son’s eyes, Sharron decided on home schooling. She was well-equipped to do so having been a substitute teacher for 25 years and running a small Christian School for two years. After learning the law required the child live at least 50 miles from a public school, Sharron marched straight to the courthouse to contest the rule. When the judge made an arrogant and unethical statement about ignoring the legislation, Sharron was appalled. Her political career–and quest to stand up for the average American–immediately began.

Sharron Angle quickly asserted herself as a woman of the people during her four terms in Nevada’s 42-seat Senate. She never voted pro-anything unless she believed it was right. “My votes were often unpopular because they weren’t the politically correct vote, they were the people’s vote,” she once told reporters. Sharron Angle voted against legislation so many times the result was often called “41 to Angle.”

Her voting record speaks volumes about her belief in the well-being of Americans and courage to fight political machines. Carrie Gallaghen, a working mom living in Henderson, said, “She is a role model for all women. She has shown she can stand-up to the egotistical men while still being a loyal wife and mother. She’s got my vote.”

Sharron Angle is also a member of the Republican Women of Reno, an organization she deeply believes in. Angle’s professional career also includes an investigator of sexual harassment and women’s rights advocate.

After successfully defending the people and trying to pass legislation in their best interest Sharron could be proud of her career and her close-knit family. Angle has 10 grandchildren with a range of activities to keep their grandmother busy. Between baking cookies, reading bedtime stories and occasionally running to target practice with her .44 Magnum, one may ask “Why take on the reprehensible Harry Reid?” Sharron has a response to this question: “My philosophy has always been [to] vote for principles, values, and ultimately for the people. I don’t believe Nevada has someone doing that right now, and I can’t let that go.”

These days it seems as though Sharron Angle may be the only one living up to her promises and standing up to Harry Reid. She is a teacher, a mother, a grandmother, and Nevada’s only hope.

Jillian Walsh, a Tea Party supporter and grassroots political rally organizer, is a freelance writer who lives in Carson City.

Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. / Convicted Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff, who will spend the rest of his life in federal prison for defrauding his investors out of $50 billion, managed roughly 4,000 accounts for Floridians, some of whom are blaming Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink for failing to regulate Madoff’s activities in this state.

Sink heads the Department of Financial Services, which oversees insurance fraud investigation, consumer protection, hedge funds, and registered investment advisors. 

Two sources who claim they were “victimized and neglected” by Sink’s office during her term as CFO spoke to Your Politics News this week on the condition of anonymity. One, a Miami-based retiree originally from Flint, Mich., said he felt Alex Sink should take responsibility for the Madoff scandal.

“Florida is Alex Sink’s state,” he said. ”That means Florida is her problem. Why wasn’t her office aware of Bernie Madoff scheme four years ago?”

Another source claims she invested money with Sarasota hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel, who earlier this year pleaded guilty in a scheme that won him the title “mini-Madoff” on national news coverage. 

“It’s appalling when the leaders you elect to watch out for these crooks and cheaters are more concerned with campaigning for higher office,” she said. “Aren’t these hedge fund managers supposed to fall under Alex Sink’s responsibility?”

Democrat Alex Sink, elected to office in 2006, faces a tight race against Republican Rick Scott for Florida’s governor Nov. 2.

RealClearPolitics.com, a Chicago-based political poll tracker, projects Rick Scott with a slight lead over Alex Sink as of Sept. 28.

Elected as the state’s CFO in 2006, Sink heads the Department of Financial Services which oversees 13 divisions, including insurance fraud investigation, consumer protection, hedge funds, and registered investment advisors. One of those advisors, convicted Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff, admitted in 2008 to defrauding $50 billion from Florida investors. Twenty-five percent of the accounts Madoff managed belonged to Floridians, the South Florida Business Journal reported.

With Florida’s gubernatorial election four weeks away, critics point out Sink did nothing to stop the Ponzi locomotive that thundered through Florida on both coasts under her leadership. Certain Florida hedge fund managers had invested with Madoff, sentenced last year to 150 years in federal prison, and many voters wonder why Alex Sink failed to discover the fraud sooner. Earlier this year Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein and Sarasota hedge fund manager Arthur Nadel pleaded guilty in unrelated schemes that defrauded consumers out of billions of dollars. The media even dubbed Nadel ”mini-Madoff.”

Fred LaRosse, a Tampa-based Florida insurance agent, told Your Politics News that Alex Sink fought agents too hard when she should have kept a close eye on the likes of Rothstein and Nadel. 

“While she was trying to have insurance agents arrested for selling fixed annuities, Alex Sink missed the biggest financial fraud in history. And then there was Madoff,” LaRosse said. “Alex Sink’s department was responsible for regulating Bernie Madoff. If Sink couldn’t see fraud right in front of her, how could she ever run Florida as its governor?”

RealClearPolitics.com, a Chicago-based political poll tracker, projects Alex Sink with a 1.6-point lead over Republican challenger Rick Scott as of Sept. 22.

Harry Reid: Mum on stroke, quiet on connections. What else is he hiding?

LAS VEGAS, Nev. / Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proved he was less than forthcoming when he suffered a mini-stroke in 2005–and neglected to notify voters that he was hospitalized for several days.

“I’m not sure how such a high-profile guy checked in to a busy hospital on an emergency basis and kept his presence secret that long, but he did,” Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick wrote in a recent editorial. “But by the time the public knew anything of the senator’s hospitalization, his staff was telling us that Sen. Reid was A-OK, that he suffered no side effects and he would need no further medical follow-up.”

Reid’s critics claim that the delay to publicize his health scare suggests the senator may be hiding much more from his constituents. Your Politics News submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents to obtain details on Reid’s illness, the doctors who treated him, and the length of stay at the hospital.

FOIA requests made by Your Politics News in August revealed Reid’s political connections to a Reno brothel owner as early as 1970. Harry Reid‘s former campaign manager underwent a polygraph earlier this year to claim he acted as the liaison between the young politician and Mustang Ranch owner Joe Conforte.

Your Politics News also discovered that Harry Reid accepted contributions from investment banks while he publicly called for Wall Street reform in the aftermath of the federal bailout. His connections to gaming industry donors have also sparked protest from supporters of Sharron Angle, Reid’s Republican challenger in the upcoming Nov. 2 election.

Kevin Snyder, a political marketing specialist in Carson City, said the incumbent is running out of time to prove that he can be trusted as a federal representative during the country’s tense climate of unemployment and foreclosures.

“Harry Reid has only four weeks left,” Snyder said. “Sharron Angle is now leading Reid in some polls for the first time. His comments as of late and lack of bipartisan effort has really resounded with voters who think he might have too many skeletons in the closet.”

Both CNN/Time and Fox News polls report Angle has a one-point lead over Harry Reid as of Sept. 18.

Another casino mogul endorses Harry Reid.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. / The Palms hotel and casino mogul George Maloof announced he will endorse Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Nov. 2 election, the Associated Press reports.

Maloof’s endorsement comes as the latest in a string of gaming backers for the incumbent senator, who faces a neck-and-neck challenge from Republican rival Sharron Angle. Maloof joined Reid today at a business owner press conference. The media event dissatisfied Harry Reid protestors, who blame the Democratic leader for Nevada’s rapid declining tourism industry and overall workforce.

One protestor, a Las Vegas entrepreneur and father of two, told Your Politics News he’s been out of work since last December.

“I’m behind Sharron Angle, if only for a fresh face in Washington,” said Skip Chilton, who owned and operated an auto detail shop near McCarran International Airport. “Harry Reid hasn’t been for the little guy since the late Eighties.”

A Your Politics News Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed paperwork connecting Harry Reid to casino developer Steve Wynn, who built resorts including the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Bellagio. Documents show Wynn has contributed to Reid’s election campaigns since 1984, when the Democrat served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Wynn gave $20,000 to Harry Reid in Sept. 2009.  

Sharron Angle supporters point out that Reid’s loyalty to the gaming industry stems from his position as chair of Nevada’s gaming commission from 1977 to 1981. Harry Reid has since accepted contributions from MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment, among other casinos.