Los Angeles Times
March 26 2010
Nevada Tea Party groups steamed at candidate: Jon Scott Ashjian talks
about his upstart candidacy
March 26, 2010 | 5:52 am
On Saturday, the dusty Nevada town of Searchlight ` population: 700 `
will be in the national spotlight when the Tea Party Express launches
a nationwide bus tour from the pit-stop that Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid calls home.
Headlining the self-proclaimed `conservative Woodstock’: former Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin.
It’s an appropriate venue for the newly minted TV star ` the run-up to
the Searchlight event has fueled enough drama for a daytime soap. One
of the major plotlines is the emergence of a `Tea Party’ candidate
who, established tea party groups now fear, could split the state’s
conservative vote against Reid and hand the Democrat a victory. (Check
out our story in Thursday’s paper.)
How worried are the tea party followers? Tea Party Express released an
online ad this week denouncing Jon Scott Ashjian, whose candidacy has
also been challenged in court.
As a candidate, Ashjian is a mixed bag. He’s articulate and
well-groomed, but is also saddled with debt ` including a $200,000 IRS
lien ` and a lawsuit-checkered business record.
This week, the Nevada State Contractors Board revoked his license,
which officials said also bars him from contracting work in
California, Arizona and Utah.
If tea party drama is your thing, read on for excerpts from an
interview last week with Ashjian, in which….
… he addresses Nevada’s top GOP candidates, his tea party critics
and, sort of, Rosa Parks. (You’ll see.) Answers were edited for length
and clarity.
(Also, if anyone’s curious, Reid will be spending Saturday in the
company of men with guns.)
Ashjian said he was born in Fresno and moved to Las Vegas in the
mid-1990s. He and his wife have three teenage children. He listed his
top issues as job creation, banking reform and reining in government
spending and estimated he’d need to raise $5 million for his campaign.
Both he and the Reid campaign have denied accusations that he’s a
Democratic plant to split the GOP votes.
Why try to oust Reid, who wields a lot of power in the Senate?
I believe Harry Reid is powerful. I don’t think Harry Reid has done a
lot for Nevada. I don’t think he’s used his power appropriately. I
think what he’s done is made us beholden to communist countries. He’s
not used his power for the people; he’s used his power for political
gain and self-ambition.
How do you expect to compete with Reid’s anticipated $25 million war chest?
I don’t think Americans vote on money. Does that mean if you’re rich
that you can only run for office? I think that’s the whole purpose of
the tea party movement. Sarah Palin’s claim to fame is that she asked
normal Americans to run for office. That’s why we answered the call.
What do you make of the tea party activists who’ve denounced your candidacy?
The tea party movement in general has been co-opted by the Republican
Party. I think what Republican Party has done is used that energy in
the tea party to give them a false sense of security that they’re
going to do the right thing at the end of the day, which I don’t think
they are. ¦
We’re not excluding anybody from our Tea Party. I think it’s deceptive
to say there’s a list of tea parties. A tea party can consist of one
person.
Can you respond to the numerous lawsuits regarding your business
dealings in Nevada and California?
We’re going to respond to each one of those allegations on our
website. If there are business or tax issues, we’re dealing with those
issues. It will all be cleared up. ¦
We believe it’s pressure from the other side that doesn’t want us to
run why all of this is an issue. I think Sarah Palin got more bad
press than anybody and it turned out at the end of the day that 99% of
it was BS.
How do you feel about GOP front runner Sue Lowden?
I think that she probably will get the nod. I think she’s probably
least conservative in the race. I think she’s pandering to Tea Party
activists who don’t want anything to do with her, according to what
they tell me. Their choice is not Sue Lowden.
How about Danny Tarkanian?
(Tarkanian, another GOP contender, recently suggested to CNN that
Ashjian was a Democratic plant partly chosen because he, like
Tarkanian, is Armenian.)
I think Danny Tarkanian is a crybaby who knows he can’t win. I think
at the end of the day Danny Tarkanian can make whatever excuses he
wants to make, but Armenians don’t make excuses. Armenians battle
through adversity.
There are other Senate contenders unaffiliated with major parties. Are
they a threat to your candidacy?
I think there’s three people in this race: Sue Lowden, myself and Harry Reid.
Are you going to the Searchlight event?
We’re going to show up. We are the Tea Party of Nevada. We may be the
Rosa Parks that’s not allowed on the bus, but we have our own bus. You
can write that.
— Ashley Powers