Scott Ashjian, just like a Timex watch

Tea Party of Nevada candidate Scott Ashjian, just like a Timex watch

By:David Phillips
Las Vegas Democrat Examiner　

Scott Ashjian (T-NV), the Tea Party of Nevada candidate for US Senate has taken all kinds of political heat from the GOP since he and his Party were recognized by the State of Nevada, and like a Timex watch, Ashjian takes his lickings and keeps on ticking.

After he and the Tea Party of Nevada were officially recognized the Republicans spread the rumor that he was a stalking horse for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and was only in the race for the US Senate to bleed votes from the republican candidate that will be on the November ballot. The conservative Las Vegas newspaper the Review-Journal even printed a poll showing that Senator Reid would lose to Sue Lowden (R-NV) and Danny Tarkanian (R-NV) the two current front runners for the Republican Party. The Review-Journal even showed that Reid would lose to an un-named Republican. But when the poll added Scott Ashjian into the mix, sure enough Reid was ahead in the poll.

Then after the GOP in D.C. got a hold of these poll numbers they knew they had to marginalize Ashjian some way, some how. That’s when Nevadan’s started to hear rumors that Ashjian was not a real Tea Party type of a person and that all the other Tea Party organization in Nevada had never heard of him or even seen him at their meeting.

But that wasn’t good enough, so the GOP sent party officials to Nevada to help organize various Nevada Tea Party groups in opposition to the only recognized Tea Party candidate in the country for the US Senate. And now, the Republican run Tea Party organizations in Nevada signed a statement saying that the Tea Party of Nevada and its candidate will not be associated with the so-called “real” Tea Party groups and should withdraw from the race.

Next up for Scott Ashjian were headlines stating that an arrest warrant had been issued for bouncing a check for $5,000.00 last year. But no arrest warrant was issued and the Headline in the Review-Journal was wrong.

Scott Ashjian said in a press release the that he put a stop payment on a check to a contractor he had discovered was not legal to do business in the state. Ashjian said that there was no “bounced check” as reported by the media, and that the media reports are “inaccurate” and “defamatory.” Ashjian paid restitution on the check and that was it.

So after all this you would think that the Republicans had marginalized Ashjian enough to the point that he would have little affect on this Novembers ballot.

No, not yet.

The Independent American Party (IAP), Nevada’s biggest third party, filed a lawsuit questioning Ashjian’s candidacy as a member of the Tea Party of Nevada. When Ashjian filed the Tea Party of Nevada constitution and bylaws as required to be considered as a Third Party, Ashjian had not yet changed his Party affiliation from Republican to the Tea Party of Nevada, which was done a couple of hours later. The IAP argued that Nevada law states that a candidate must first change his Party affiliation before he can become a candidate for a different Party.

Yesterday the judge in Carson City ruled that Scott Ashjian will be on this Novembers ballot.

"The best approach is to look at the end of the day on March 2, 2010, to determine if all laws have been complied with," Carson City District Judge James Todd Russell said in his decision. "A technical sequential filing of documents should not control, but an overall good faith attempt to comply should control."

Ashjian of course was pleased with the out come and said that he was “100 percent sure” that he would beat Reid and the Republican candidate this November, and the way Ashjian keeps coming back, I am starting to believe him, or at least I believe that he believes he can win.

The Republican Party has been relentless in their attacks against Ashjian, and while he continues to prove himself, he should continue to keep an eye out for the next smear job that will certainly becoming his way.