Washoe Republicans disagree on election fraud claims

Updated at 8:55 a.m. July 29, 2022 to clarify that Joey Gilbert has talked about possibly running as an independent candidate “in the future.”

A secret recording at Washoe County Republican Party headquarters earlier this month reveals a serious divide about how to handle claims of election fraud ahead of November’s ballot.

Chair Bruce Parks got in a heated discussion with the party’s treasurer and secretary over the best course of action. 

He insisted that fighting election fraud is paramount, while Treasurer Sandra Linares said inflammatory comments about rigged elections are hurting donations and that candidates are telling her the party needs to focus on other issues like the economy.

“We’re hurting our candidates,” Linares said on the recording sent to the RGJ.

Parks responded, “Sometimes there’s collateral damage.”

Linares said she recorded the discussion because her words have often been misrepresented and she wanted to protect herself. She said she shared it with a few friends, who spread it more widely, including a copy being sent to the RGJ.

Parks was unaware he was being recorded.

“I’m deeply offended that she recorded me,” he said. 

On the audio file, Parks was emphatic that election fraud be pursued: “I’m a warrior, and I won’t tolerate my vote not counting anymore.”

The Nevada Secretary of State’s office, which investigates election violations, has reported that it found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election or the 2022 primary. 

Michael Kadenacy offered a pragmatic perspective about claims of rigged elections.

He is chair of the Nevada Wins PAC, a nonprofit that works to get Republicans elected in key races. He said that in the general election, claims of widespread fraud will discourage turnout from independent voters who are needed for Republicans to win.

“It’s certainly not an issue that will motivate them to go to the polls,” he told the RGJ during a conversation at The Club at ArrowCreek.

The Joey Gilbert effect

Nevada’s election-fraud flashpoint is Reno attorney Joey Gilbert, who ran in the Republican primary for governor.

According to the official certified vote count, Gilbert lost to Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo by more than 26,000 votes. Lombardo will face Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak in November.

Gilbert has refused to concede and claims he actually won by more than 50,000 votes but that his victory was thwarted because of a mystery algorithm inserted into election machines. He has filed a lawsuit to adjudicate his claim.

Making no secret of the fact that he’s not happy with the Republican establishment, Gilbert says he may run as an independent in the future.

When the recorded conversation from July 5 turns to the topic of Gilbert, it also turns to Robert Beadles.

Beadles moved to Northern Nevada in 2019 and has quickly become a major political player. Through the California-based entity Coral Bay, which is linked to Beadles, more than $486,000 has been contributed to influence local and state politics, according to election filings. He also leads the Washoe County Republican Party’s election integrity committee and is behind Gilbert’s algorithm lawsuit and other election-related lawsuits and recall efforts. 

Carole Fineberg, party secretary, pleaded with Parks on the recording to find someone to talk to Gilbert and Beadles: “Ask them, ‘Please don’t tear down the party.’”

“We’re being demolished, guys,” added Linares.

Parks responded, “The one thing I’m not going to do is tell my election integrity committee chair to stop. … I want him to fuel up his flamethrower and burn this son of a bitch to the ground if he has to.”

“And whoever he takes with it?” Linares asked.

“Damn straight,” Parks said.

“This is why we’re not going to get Republicans elected in November,” Linares said. “If we don’t get Joey’s crew to vote for Lombardo, we’re gonna have Sisolak four more years. They’re going out and saying they’re gonna vote for the independent. Bruce, we need your help with that … if we have any chance to stop this craziness.”

In a phone call with the RGJ, Parks said the flame thrower comment was intended to be part of an internal discussion with party executive committee members and that he was not talking about Republican candidates being taken down but rather the election system itself.

“I was referring to the entire voter registration office and the Secretary of State’s office – if they can’t get this stuff together and get our elections squared away, then burn it down,” he said.

Parks said he doesn’t think Republican candidates are hurt by claims of rigged elections. In fact, he said, “One of the biggest obstacles I’ve had to overcome is the sentiment that, ‘I shouldn’t bother voting because my vote doesn’t count.’ How do you get people to the polls when that’s out there? We need to restore people’s faith in the fact that, yes, your vote does count.”

He also said that having Gilbert challenge the election results was necessary for getting election concerns before a judge.

“If somebody didn’t contest the election, then none of this would be going forward, period,” Parks said. “If you don’t understand that, then it sucks to be you. This needs to get in front of a judge. There’s so much overwhelming evidence that clearly identifies anomalies and problems in our elections that need to be addressed.”

A Nevada Secretary of State investigation run by Republican Barbara Cegavske looked at hundreds of claims of election violations in the 2020 election and found no evidence of widespread fraud. Regarding the 2022 primary, the office said almost all reported violations were complaints about the process and did not provide evidence of actual fraud.

Gilbert’s campaign consultant Paul White told the RGJ, “Joey’s concern is not win-or-lose. Joey’s concern is an honest election where everybody’s vote counts.”

Gilbert wants good people in office, White said, but if an election is just about party – and not character and knowledge about what’s really going to benefit the community or state – then nobody wins.

“Joey’s feeling is what’s the point in pushing for candidates as a priority over fixing this broken system that took a guy (Gilbert) who, when all is said and done, won in a landslide yet (the official count) showed him losing by 10, 20, 30,000 votes, whatever it was,” White said.

“If the system’s not fixed, what guarantee is there in the future that you could have unmanipulated elections? So that’s priority number one.”

After the meeting featured in the secret recording, Linares and Fineberg resigned. Their positions as treasurer and secretary are still open, according to WashoeGOP.org.

Getting the nonpartisan vote

Election integrity is important to both Republican factions in this debate. The question is how prominent of a role it plays in the three months leading up to the general election.

Everyone wants elections with cleaner voter rolls and better processes, said Kadenacy, who is former chair of the Washoe County Republican Party.

But claims of widespread problems, he said, decrease nonpartisan voter turnout, which hurts Republicans. 

The reason nonpartisan and other independent voters are so important lies in the distribution of registered party affiliation in Washoe County and across the state. About one-third of voters are registered Republican, one-third Democrat and one-third nonpartisan or another party.

“In Washoe County, 91% of Republicans turned out,” Kadenacy said of the 2020 election. “Guess what? You can’t win the election with that. If you got 100%, it wouldn’t matter.”

This is because if both Republicans and Democrats deliver approximately a third of each race’s total votes, then whichever candidate gets the highest percentage of independent votes will prevail.

The Nevada Wins PAC made 250,000 calls to learn more about the views and demographics of independent voters in the state, Kadenacy said.

“We have seen both polling and anecdotal evidence,” he said, “that strongly suggests every time you shout ‘The elections are fraudulent,’ the bulk of independents react, ‘Why should I go out and vote?’ If that’s true, any time you shout that, you are actually depressing the votes of the very group that (Republicans) must get. That’s because one thing we do know about the independents is they lean right on issues.”

As for what issues have high interest among independent and nonpartisan voters, Kadenacy listed the top three.

“Number one is the economy,” he said. “People want a bustling economy.”

Number two is parental choice or involvement in education.

“They don’t like the idea of Suzy being able to get a birth control pill from the school nurse without them knowing about it,” Kadenacy said.

Number three, he said, is public safety, which cuts across all demographics. 

“They aren’t anti-police – they want better policing,” Kadenacy said.

Moving forward

Former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who finished third in Nevada’s 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary, issued a statement this week that lawsuits like Gilbert’s are “almost always counterproductive and can do serious damage to the reputation of the Republican Party.”

“Now is the time,” he said, “to put an end to inter-party squabbling and unite in support of Joe Lombardo and fire Steve Sisolak in November for the good of the people of Nevada.” 

Parks said the local party has additional topics on its agenda such as voter registration efforts that have recently increased the number of registered Republicans in Washoe County by about 3,000. 

“While election integrity is crucial to voter turnout,” he said, “it’s not the only thing that the Washoe County Republican Party is working on, not by a longshot.”

The Hispanic community has largely been ignored by the Republican Party as far as he’s concerned, so doing more outreach there is also key. 

“There are 47,000 Hispanic voters registered in Washoe County,” he said.

Cindy Martinez, who resigned as vice chair of the Washoe County Republican Party earlier this year, wants to unite around getting Republicans elected up and down the ballot.

She appeared with Linares twice last week on the local America Matters radio show to make this case and suggest people seek out other GOP groups in the area such as Republican Women of Reno.

“Let’s talk about taxation,” she told the RGJ. “Let’s talk about your freedom to open a business and not be crushed by burdensome state regulations. It’s not just about election integrity – people are talking right now about tabletop issues: How do I put gas in my car to go to work so I can buy groceries and pay the rent?”

She’s been labeled a RINO (Republican in name only) on the America Matters show and the local partisan political website nevadaliberty.org, but she said she’s playing a long game. 

“I’m laying a foundation of how to right this ship so that all of our citizens have the boot of government off their necks,” she said. “This is why they’re calling me a RINO sellout because I’m looking at governance from the perspective of Democrats and the middle as well as Republicans so that everybody gets a piece of what they want and need.

“There’s regulation that is appropriate, but we are being killed by the bureaucratic administrative state. So I’m looking at these things strategically on who the people are that can work strategically to move the pieces in 2022. And then we get to 2024.”

Kadenacy is looking down the road, too.

“If we can capture the legislature,” he said, “we’re going to have better laws – and election integrity will follow if we do that.”

Mark Robison covers local government for the Reno Gazette-Journal, as well as writes Fact Checker and Ask the RGJ articles. His position is supported by donations and grants. Because of this, the journalism he creates is free for all to read. If you’d like to see more articles like this, please consider sharing this article or giving through PayPal here – 100% of donations go to Mark’s wages.

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