GOP Senate candidates celebrate with pro-Yucca, anti-gaming hypocrite

Las Vegas, NV. – Tomorrow the Nevada Republican Party will trot out pro-nuke dump, anti-gaming, stimulus hypocrite Tim Pawlenty, Republican governor of Minnesota, as the keynote speaker for their annual Lincoln Day Dinner.

Expect Pawlenty's hypocrisy to be on display tomorrow at Palazzo, where he'll likely attack Democrats for the stimulus bill that brought our economy back from the brink of disaster. What Pawlenty probably won't mention is that, like other national Republicans, he has taken credit back home for projects funded by the stimulus to which he claims to be so opposed.

Last year Pawlenty flew to ribbon cuttings in five Minnesota cities to unveil 60 new highway projects paid for by stimulus money. In fact, the day after the stimulus bill was enacted last year, Pawlenty crowed about those 60 projects -- $180 million worth of road and infrastructure improvements -- and said the stimulus would put Minnesotans back to work.

Another thing Pawlenty probably won't mention during his speech tomorrow: his record of trashing the gaming industry and supporting a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Pawlenty believes gaming is “destructive" and said it was a “sad commentary” for government to raise revenue through gaming, which has a “negative impact on people’s lives.” And in 2002 he said Yucca Mountain should be fast tracked to store Minnesota's nuclear waste.

"Just like Republican Senate candidates Danny Tarkanian, Sue Lowden and Sharron Angle, Tim Pawlenty has spoken out of both sides of his mouth on the issues that matter most to Nevadans -- helping our gaming and tourism economy succeed, preventing dangerous nuclear waste from being stored at Yucca Mountain and advancing a jobs agenda that puts people back to work quickly," said Phoebe Sweet, communications director for the Nevada State Democratic Party. "It's clear that Nevada Republicans, in addition to being hypocrites willing to bash the stimulus while taking credit for the projects it pays for, are out of touch with the priorities of ordinary Nevadans."