The Nevada Police Union announced on Tuesday that its membership had overwhelming voted in favor of expressing no confidence in incumbent Democratic governor Steve Sisolak.
According to the NPU, the largest police union in the state, 451 of the 473 members who cast a ballot voted for the measure. The union represents employees within the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Nevada State Parks, and the Nevada system of higher education.
“NPU has continuously sounded the alarm on pay inequity and poor working conditions that has caused record high turnover rates and vacancies of state polices,” read a statement from the organization, which professed to have worked hard to provide proposed solutions to these problems to the governor.
“Even still, Governor Sisolak took no action,” it continued.
Dan Gordon, president of NPU, commented on the decision by asserting that “it has become clear that our members believe public safety is not a priority of this governor and that is why they have overwhelmingly declared no confidence in Governor Sisolak to ever address critical issues.”
Today the @NVPoliceUnion issued a vote of no confidence in @GovSisolak pic.twitter.com/jwz9icO6bE
— Jessica Hill (@jess_hillyeah) October 18, 2022
Sisolak is embroiled in a tough re-election race against Clark County sheriff Joe Lombardo, who blasted Sisolak’s handling of criminal justice issues in a recent interview with National Review.
“Since 2019, [drug] trafficking charges with a weight of 100 grams or more have increased over 1,000 percent, and fentanyl deaths have sharply increased in Nevada,” noted Lombardo, who attributed both increases to AB 236, which Sisolak signed into law in 2019. The legislation raised the minimum threshold required to bring a low-level drug-trafficking charge from 4 grams to 100 grams, and the amount needed for a high-level drug-trafficking charge from 28 grams to 400 grams.
Lombardo also echoed the complaints of NPU, accusing Sisolak of mismanaging and demoralizing the state police force.
“Since 2020, we’ve seen how law enforcement has been demonized by Steve Sisolak. We see it in our recruitment rates, we see it in morale, and we see it manifested when Sisolak blames law enforcement for crime — instead of his disastrous policies that my officers have been tasked with enforcing,” said Lombardo.