Local “Newspaper” Makes it Official, Finally Admits Shilling for GOP’s Most Extreme Senate Candidate

File it under “saw that coming.”

Today the Las Vegas Review-Journal “newspaper” endorsed Sharron Angle, the extreme GOP Senate candidate it’s been shilling for since June 8. That was the day Angle upset the RJ’s last chosen candidate, Sue Lowden, in the Republican primary.

Back then Sherm called an Angle nomination “suicide.”

But since Publisher Sherm Frederick has some kind of strange personal vendetta against Nevada’s senior senator, Majority Leader Harry Reid, it was only natural that he would then throw the weight of his “newspaper” behind the nation’s most extreme GOP Senate candidate. (And the day after Angle as much as admitted to lying to the RJ editorial board about sponsoring a bill to  allow insurance companies to deny coverage for mammograms, no less.)

Despite her extreme statements about entitlement programs such as Social Security are “making government our God” and about Americans resorting to reaching for the bullet box and using “Second Amendment remedies” if she doesn’t win at the ballot box. Despite her plan to kill Social Security, Medicare and privatize the Veterans Administration. Despite her callous move to put Big Insurance profits ahead of Nevadans’ health by axing coverage for mammograms, colon cancer screenings and autism care. Despite her shocking belief that a young girl impregnated by her rapist should be forced to give birth to his child. Despite all this and more… Sherm, not surprisingly, threw his lot in with Angle.

But unlike at real newspapers – where there’s a firewall between editorial page and news hole – Sherm insists that the people who work at his “newspaper” shill for Sharron Angle, too.  

“He and his editor and reporters slant everything either for Sharron Angle or against Harry Reid, using placement, editorializing and insipid blog posts to make the point,” writes respected local journalist Jon Ralston.

So why the animosity? Is it just Sherm being his vitriolic self? Oh, no. This command comes from on high.

“What is never disclosed by the transparency minded folks over on Bonanza Road is how much the Little Rock-based Stephens family, which owns the RJ, is invested in Angle's victory,” Ralston writes. He goes on to report:

·    RJ boss Warren Stephens has given $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Its top target? Harry Reid.
·    Jackson Stephens, Jr. has given $60,800 to the NRSC and contributed $2,400 to Sharron Angle’s campaign directly.
·    And Jackson Stephens also sits on the board of directors for Club for Growth, long-time Angle backers who are pouring money into the state this cycle. And Jackson Stephens gave the group $500,000 in July.

Well, shock me, shock me, shock me.

“Anyone who’s ever read the Review-Journal knows it’s a de facto Angle PAC, and can’t seem to keep its editorial slant off the front page,” said Phoebe Sweet, communications director for the Nevada State Democratic Party. “At least now it’s official. After all, this so-called newspaper has been shilling for Angle since June 8. Sherm can try to hide his not-so-secret political affiliations and the Stephens family can try to sweep its hefty contributions to Angle’s cause under the rug, but they should give Nevadans a little credit. They know this ‘newspaper’ has an agenda, and like Sharron Angle it’s just too extreme and outside the mainstream.”