My apologies to those of you who only this morning received your e-mail alerts from blogs posted on Thursday. Technical problems caused a delay in those e-mails being sent to a rapidly growing list of subscribers. Also, if you subscribed but didn’t receive a confirming e-mail, you may have to try again. If you did receive that confirming e-mail, you need to click on the link to finish the subscription process.

My goal in setting up e-mail subscriptions was to make things as easy as possible, so my apologies for the confusion. I hope things will run smoothly from this point out.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s wife, Landra, and daughter, Lana, were hurt in a car accident in Washington, D.C. today after their vehicle was rear-ended by a semi truck. Here’s the text of a statement put out by the senator’s office:

“Senator Reid’s wife, Landra, and daughter, Lana, were involved in an accident earlier today.  They are being treated at a Washington-area hospital. While driving on a Washington, D.C. highway, their vehicle was rear-ended by a semi-truck.  Mrs. Reid has a broken nose, broken back and broken neck.  Lana has a neck injury and facial lacerations.  Both Mrs. Reid and Lana are conscious, can feel their extremities, and according to doctors their injuries are non-life threatening.  Senator Reid has been to the hospital and appreciates the support he and his family are receiving from Nevadans and his colleagues in the Senate.”

Landra Reid was in Nevada Monday, accompanying her husband as he filed for a fifth term in the Senate. The Reids met and married when they were in high school, and have five children, including Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, who is running for governor.

UPDATE: Partisan politics takes a holiday in the face of trauma. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian released this statement about the accident involving the Reid family: “This is terrible news.  The entire Tarkanian family extends our thoughts and prayers to Sen. Reid’s family for the rapid recovery of his wife and daughter.”

Mayor Oscar Goodman said today he’s only waiting on a legal opinion before moving forward with his plan to fire most city workers, but offer to re-hire them at lower pay. That’s Goodman’s solution after unions representing city workers balked at taking a requested 8 percent pay cut in the current fiscal year and next year, as well as forgoing all merit, step and longevity pay increases.

Goodman’s insistence on the plan got him labeled a “bully” by union leaders at Wednesday’s council meeting, where elected officials voted to accept a preliminary budget that will see 146 people laid off if unions don’t agree to concessions. Goodman has repeatedly called on unions to do the “right thing” and accept pay cuts so nobody has to be laid off.

“Right now, I’m looking to see how they respond to my all-or-nothing approach,” Goodman said. “I want to resolve this. I’m not doing this for me.”

The city is facing a $70 million budget shortfall this year, and possibly $40 million next year, as tax revenues have fallen due to the recession. Goodman acknowledged today that while no one would be laid off under the salary cut/no raise plan, he could not guarantee workers would not face layoffs in the future if the economy doesn’t improve.

Goodman said “nothing’s off the table,” but not before saying city emergency and budget reserve funds cannot be used to balance the budget. He said an increase in property taxes of perhaps 5 cents “wouldn’t be felt” because home values have fallen, but added “I don’t want to place any additional burden on taxpayers.”

Legally, Goodman said, he could not lay off public safety employees such as firefighters or city marshals, who are police officers charged with patrolling city property, including parks. However, Goodman says he wants to study privatizing ambulance services in the city, thus reducing the ranks of city firefighters. The mayor insisted “I’m not threatening anybody,” but the move would clearly enable the city to lay off firefighters and achieve salary savings within the parameters of existing labor contracts.

“I said all or nothing, and I mean that,” Goodman said, adding that he didn’t want to tell his staff to accept 8 percent pay cuts without insisting that all city employees pitch in.

Later, Goodman explained his approach to dealing with unions: “It’s like a parent with a child. If the child keeps doing something bad…” Asked what “bad” thing the unions had done — thus far, they are insisting on sticking by the terms of agreements negotiated and signed by the city — Goodman replied, “Nothing. I’m asking them to do the right thing” and accept cuts.

U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian didn’t back off the thrust of his comments published on CNN’s website today, in which he alleged Tea Party candidate Scott Ashjian is a fake candidate put into the race to help incumbent Harry Reid. Tarkanian told the news channel that “Harry Reid’s staff, campaign, whatever” got Ashjian to jump into the race, especially since he, like Tarkanian, is of Armenian descent.

While Tarkanian maintained Ashjian is a spoiler in the race, he did admit there are no direct ties to Reid or the senator’s re-election campaign. (Reid has denied he knows Ashjian, or that he induced him to file for office on the brand-new Tea Party ticket.) Ashjian in interviews has strongly denied he’s a Reid plant.

“I don’t know who’s behind it,” Tarkanian said. “Do I expect Harry Reid to be behind it? No. Do I expect his campaign to be behind it? No,.” But, he added, “they [Reid supporters] got this guy to run in my opinion.”

Why does he think that? Tarkanian cites circumtantial evidence:

• Tea Party activists say they don’t know Ashjian, nor has he been active in the citizen’s movement.
• Ashjian says he dislikes Reid and wants to see him beat, but at least one poll shows his presence in the race hurts the Republican candidate, and thus helps Reid.
• Ashjian didn’t get into the race until January, while other candidates have declared their intentions to run much earlier.

“What evidence is there that he’s a legitimate candidate running because of his love of country?” asked Tarkanian. “Common sense, reasonable deduction … tells you the guy is in the race to help Reid.”

But even if polls show Adhjian helping Reid, what evidence is there that his ethnic background played a role in getting him on the ballot? Tarkanian said Armenians tend to be close and, if they see one of their own with a chance to win office, would rally and vote for that person. Ironically, Tarkanian said that on the same day that the Armenian Council of America PAC endorsed him for Senate.

In addition, Tarkanian said, Ashjian is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as is Reid. But it’s widely known that Reid — one of the highest-ranking Mormons in political life, ever — has a contentious relationship with his fellow churchgoers, many of whom see his membership in the Democratic Party and voting record as running counter to church principles. Officially, the church says it stays out of its members personal political decisions.

UPDATE: An online poll of Tea Party activists apparently agree that Ashjian’s candidacy will help Reid.

UPDATE 2: Nevada Tea Party activists denounce the new Tea Party, say it’s not invited to future events, reports the Nevada News Bureau.

When I switched over to the new blog in January, I got some nice compliments, but one big complaint: There was no way for people to subscribe to posts. And in this age of information overload, people were simply too busy to remember to keep checking back to see if new information had been posted.

So I’m pleased to announce we’ve fixed that little problem: Starting right now, you can subscribe to posts on Slash Politics by entering your e-mail address in the blue box on the right. You’ll get an email confirming your subscription, and once you click on that, you’ll get an e-mail notice whenever I post something new on the blog.

So sign up today and never worry about missing a thing in Nevada politics. And, as always, thanks for reading.

Just two weeks ago, Nevada Resort Association President Bill Bible was up in Carson City, defending the state’s gambling industry against desperate lawmakers looking everywhere they could for money to balance what turned out to be an $805 million budget gap. In the end, he and the industry’s lobbyists were mostly successful; only a small gambling license fee was added to the casino tax burden.

Today, it was announced that Bible will be leaving the association he’s headed during a contentious decade that saw Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, resulting in the recession of 2002; the pitched tax battles of 2003; the fracturing of the gambling industry after that disastrous session; and the global recession that is still depressing tourist revenues to this day. His knowledge of the state’s finances, casino industry finances, and the politics of both are virtually unmatched in Nevada. It’s hard to see how the NRA could go forward without him.

Here’s the statement put out by the NRA early this morning about Bible’s departure:

BIBLE LEAVING NRA TO JOIN MGM BOARD

Guided NRA through “decade of dramatic change”

LAS VEGAS–Nevada Resort Association (NRA) Chairman Keith Smith announced today that William “Bill” Bible will be leaving as NRA President effective immediately but will be assisting in the transition to name his replacement.

Prior to joining the NRA in 1999, Bible served as the chairman of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for 10 years and was appointed by President Clinton to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. His broad tenure as a state official includes his experience as director of Nevada’s Administration Department under Gov. Richard Bryan (1983-1988); Nevada Assembly Fiscal Analyst and Director of the Division of Fiscal Analysis of the Legislative Counsel Bureau (1977-1983); Nevada Deputy Budget Administrator (1973-1977) and Nevada Chief Assistant Budget Administrator (1971-1973) under Gov. Mike O’Callaghan.

“As President of the NRA, I truly enjoyed being a part of an industry that saw a decade of dramatic change,” Bible said. “Getting to know and working with dedicated Nevadans who day in and day out strive to make Nevada the best place to work and live is something I value most of all.”

Smith added, “Bill’s service to the industry over the years has been remarkable. His sharp insight and leadership that guided the NRA through both robust and challenging times is respected and appreciated. We will miss him at the NRA but wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors.”

Bible graduated from Stanford University in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and a minor Political Science, followed by a Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1971 from the University of Nevada, Reno. His Masters program emphasized capital budgeting, resource allocation, portfolio management and general financial management.

Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid this morning signed his name to the document officially launching his candidacy for governor, turned to his wife, Cindy, and said, “Here we go.”

“I’m honored to be running for governor in the state I love,” Reid said. ‘I think it’s an opportunity to fundamentally change Nevada.”

Even after I questioned his sanity — actively campaigning for a job that will entail balancing a budget that contains a multi-billion hole, dealing with what could be the most contentious Legislature in modern times in 2011, and generally sitting in the seat that many people blame for the state’s problems — Reid wouldn’t give an inch. “This is an exciting time because it provides a change to do things that we’ve never done before,” Reid said, referring to his economic plan to add revenue to the state’s budget without raising taxes.

But, Reid did admit that if he’d been in Gov. Jim Gibbons’s shoes during the recently concluded special session, he’d have signed the budget deal the Legislature passed. “My candidacy is about avoiding that situation again,” he said.

Also to be avoided: Any talk of taxes, which legislative leaders have said will be needed to balance the budget during the 2011 Legislature. Reid has steadfastly refused to discuss the possibility of increased taxes. He cited the work of a state-appointed Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group, charged with examining the state’s tax system and suggesting improvements, and said he didn’t want to influence the outcome. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to pre-judge this group of citizens,” he said. (And thus, the group has fulfilled Mission One of its charter: Give would-be elected officials a convenient way to avoid taking a position on a controversial issue.)

Asked about polls showing him trailing Republican front-runner Brian Sandoval, Reid said survey numbers this far from Election Day don’t matter. “Pundits and polls aren’t going to decide this election. People will,” Reid said. So that means he doesn’t consider pundits people? I’m hurt and offended. But somehow, I think Reid can live with that.

For Harry Reid, the comment was fairly clear: The U.S. economy lost 36,000 jobs in a single month, but it could have been much, much worse.

Of course, Reid didn’t exactly say it that way. Here’s a portion of what he actually said:

[The bill includes] unemployment compensation. Today is a big day in America, only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, which is really good. Unemployment rate around America has not changed. Prognosticators thought it would go up. It has not. So we need to extend — there are about 15 million people in America out of work. These extended unemployment benefits will help millions of those people. We were fortunate enough for earlier this week to get the 30-day extension, which saved ‘em so that when we finish this legislation we should finish it, hopefully on Tuesday, we can go to conference with the House and quickly work out our differences.

It was an instant Internet sensation. The “really good” comment — and only that comment — made it to YouTube almost instantly. Republicans slammed Reid for seemingly saying that job loss was a good thing. His political opponents here in Nevada attacked him over it.

And they knew — or should have known — they were taking Reid’s comment completely out of context. That’s politics, but it certainly doesn’t make them right and Reid wrong. Any reasonable person knew instantly what Reid was saying, and that includes most of the Reid-haters who later bashed him with his own words so forcefully that he was later forced to clarify what he was saying.

Now consider another comment about unemployment benefits. This time, the speaker was Nevada’s other senator, John Ensign:

“The more generous the benefit, the easier you make it to stay on unemployment insurance, and the less incentive there is for people to actually go out and do what it takes to get a job,” Ensign said during a pivotal debate in 2003.

And lest you think Ensign has changed his mind since then, he voted this week against the bill to extend benefits.

So, you’d expect some criticism of Ensign’s remarks, right? He’s essentially come out and said that people laid off (through no fault of their own) shouldn’t get the benefits for which their employer has paid taxes. It’s not surprising Ensign isn’t aware (just yet, that is) that unemployment benefits hardly make up for a person’s salary, and that most people on unemployment would gladly trade those checks for a chance at a job. It’s not the money that’s keeping them from work, it’s the economy.

But no. Ensign’s words and vote — despite Nevada’s 12.8 percent unemployment rate — got scant attention. Yet Reid’s remark — easily understood by anybody who’s honest, and far less offensive — drew reams of criticism.

It hardly seems fair, does it?