State of Nevada Christina McCall Autoosa Elizabeth Kojoori Nevada Constitution Date: State Senator Patricia Farley on Roberson, Recall and Good Leadership The State of Nevada program that aired on Thursday October 12, 2017 was discussing the possible recalling of State Senator Patricia Farley. Carrie Kaufman interviewed Senator Farley about the recall, her experience of being in the republican caucus, and Senator Michael Roberson’s role in the petition for the recall. Senators Joyce Woodhouse, Nicole Cannizzaro and Patricia Farley are all at risk of being recalled. Senator Farley says that she does not understand the reason for the recall campaign against her. When Farley was asked by Kaufman if she knew who was funding the efforts for the recall she responded by saying they do not know who is funding it, who is behind it, or what the reasons are for it. However, Senator Roberson was her former caucus leader before she left the Republican party to become an Independent and she feels that his actions before the recall demonstrate that he had a strategy to get the senate back. Even though Senator Farley is not running for re-election she is still up for recall which is a fact she says puzzles her. She believes that the recall is part of a campaign by the Republicans to regain control of the state senate. Farley mentions in the interview that John Gibson, the Secretary of State was told he had to sign the petition even though he did not know the details of the recall but was given a couple of reasons why. Senator Farley claims that Gibson told her he admires her greatly and therefore she fails to see the reason why he signed the petition. She is firmly convinced that Roberson is responsible for this because he has publicly supported the recall in the media as well as on social media platforms like Twitter. Kaufman also asks Senator Farley if anyone is saying why they filed the petition and Farley responded with a “No”. Kaufman then asked that if they get enough signatures then they have to say why before the vote and Farley says yes but the bad part is that they get to go knock on doors and they are telling constituents that they support Senator Farley and that if they sign the petition it will be against the recall. Farley also said that she received calls from constituents they signed in support of her and she had to tell them that that was not what the petition was for. Farley then urged people that were told they were signing in support of her to call the party back and ask to have their signature removed from the petition. Farley stated that 15-20 people called her that were “duped” into signing the petition but she has no idea how many people meant to sign it. Senator Farley is also concerned because if the petition goes through it will not only cost the people of Nevada money, but that the re-election would have to be held during the holidays. The recall move is set to cost the state a rough estimate of $150,000 according to the ...

1. State of Nevada
Christina McCall
Autoosa Elizabeth Kojoori
Nevada Constitution
Date:
State Senator Patricia Farley on Roberson, Recall and Good
Leadership
The State of Nevada program that aired on Thursday October
12, 2017 was discussing the possible recalling of State Senator
Patricia Farley. Carrie Kaufman interviewed Senator Farley
about the recall, her experience of being in the republican
caucus, and Senator Michael Roberson’s role in the petition for
the recall. Senators Joyce Woodhouse, Nicole Cannizzaro and
Patricia Farley are all at risk of being recalled.
Senator Farley says that she does not understand the reason for
the recall campaign against her. When Farley was asked by
Kaufman if she knew who was funding the efforts for the recall
she responded by saying they do not know who is funding it,
who is behind it, or what the reasons are for it. However,
Senator Roberson was her former caucus leader before she left
the Republican party to become an Independent and she feels
that his actions before the recall demonstrate that he had a
strategy to get the senate back. Even though Senator Farley is
not running for re-election she is still up for recall which is a
fact she says puzzles her. She believes that the recall is part of a
campaign by the Republicans to regain control of the state

2. senate. Farley mentions in the interview that John Gibson, the
Secretary of State was told he had to sign the petition even
though he did not know the details of the recall but was given a
couple of reasons why. Senator Farley claims that Gibson told
her he admires her greatly and therefore she fails to see the
reason why he signed the petition. She is firmly convinced that
Roberson is responsible for this because he has publicly
supported the recall in the media as well as on social media
platforms like Twitter.
Kaufman also asks Senator Farley if anyone is saying why they
filed the petition and Farley responded with a “No”. Kaufman
then asked that if they get enough signatures then they have to
say why before the vote and Farley says yes but the bad part is
that they get to go knock on doors and they are telling
constituents that they support Senator Farley and that if they
sign the petition it will be against the recall. Farley also said
that she received calls from constituents they signed in support
of her and she had to tell them that that was not what the
petition was for. Farley then urged people that were told they
were signing in support of her to call the party back and ask to
have their signature removed from the petition. Farley stated
that 15-20 people called her that were “duped” into signing the
petition but she has no idea how many people meant to sign it.
Senator Farley is also concerned because if the petition goes
through it will not only cost the people of Nevada money, but
that the re-election would have to be held during the holidays.
The recall move is set to cost the state a rough estimate of
$150,000 according to the Senator but with early voting and the
need to set up poll sites this number will most likely increase.
The Senator argues that the recall is politically motivated and
will only cost taxpayers’ money and is a personal vendetta by
Senator Roberson. Farley states, “The whole recall process is
insane and that the intent of recall is for malfeasance or ethical
issues.” There is also a loss to businesses because of the

3. political instability in the state which is discouraging potential
investors from the state.
She believes the reason that Republicans are against the three of
them is that there is set to be redistricting and the Republicans
see this as a way of getting more of their people into the state
senate. Senator Farley says that she left the Republican caucus
because of the structure in the caucus. She states a case where
she was put in committees which met late at night by Senator
Roberson even though he knew that she was a single mother
with young kids and when asked by Kaufman if she confronted
Senator Roberson Farley stated, “Absolutely, I sent an email to
the entire caucus about committees meeting late, but they didn’t
say anything.” Another issue Senator Farley had was the
prevailing wage issue. She said that three was a bill that came
out that funded the schools but basically killed the prevailing
wage. Farley said the committee would have “Poison Pill Bills”
which was basically that they would tie two things together and
one would be that everyone will vote for and the poison pill
would be the piece that one side does not like. She says they
would spend a whole session doing this and that it was very
partisan and divisive and that there would be months were
decisions were not being made and this slowed down people
jobs. Kaufman asked Farley if she ever talked about the need to
stop doing poison pill on prevailing wage in the caucus. Farley
states that she tried but apparently her eighteen years in
construction and the $2,000,000 she signed in paychecks in
prevailing wage did not make her qualified. She even goes on to
say that the Assistant Majority Leader told her she was
confusing prevailing wage with material and then they stopped
talking about it with her. Farley is also asked by Kaufman
about the case of former Senator Debbie Smith. Farley tells her
that Senator Smith was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to
attend various sessions of treatment that consumed her energy.
Senator Roberson is said to have mistreated her by scheduling
her bills for late in the evening when she was exhausted and

4. could not concentrate properly and if she did stay then the bills
would roll over to the next day. Roberson was keeping her from
fronting bills which were important to her. Her bills were about
education and these matters were close to her and Roberson
stood in her way even though the bills eventually went through.
Farley even states that Senator Smith’s family asked the
committee to stop pushing the bills that were important to her
late at night when she was tired. Senator Farley speculates on
the fact that this is also a sexist move because all the Senators
being targeted for recall are women. In the interview Kaufman
states, “There are a lot of people who say that this recall is
sexist, and that Senator Roberson is targeting strong women,
there are a lot of people who think that it’s not sexist, that it’s
just politics” and asked Senator Farley her take on that. Farley
thinks that they have to break apart the two parties. She says
republicans aren’t sexist and that there are certain people within
the party that she does not approve of their actions, but she does
not want to come across as bashing the Republican party.
Senator Farley’s point when she says there is sexism is that
when certain people get to leadership positions and there is
jealousy or inadequacy and particularly maybe against the
opposite gender you will see behaviors come out that are
destructive to the unification of a team and disadvantaging to a
gender. She believes that is what is in place with the Senate
Caucus of 2015. Farley also states that this is the first time in
the nation that Nevada is second with the number of women
within the legislature session and lo and behold three women
are up for recall right after that session and she thinks that says
a lot.
Senator Farley also says that she was surprised that the
Republican party was not in any way keen on keeping promises.
She cites a case where she had promised firefighters to front a
“heart and lung” bill which is basically a special workers
compensation for firefighters and police officers, but Senator
Roberson was not interested in having it passed even though she

5. had made the promise on behalf of the Republicans. She also
claims that the Republican showed her disrespect by telling her
how to vote without being consulted. Farley claims that women
in the legislature are being treated differently. Her opinion also
seems to not have been respected based on the fact that she is a
woman. She says that words were put in her mouth in many
situations under Roberson’s leadership and disregarded even
though she had expertise as a businesswoman. She further says
that she was more respected when she joined the Democratic
party and was given a chance to be heard.
KNPR News has reached out to State Senator Michael Roberson
to come on KNPR’s State of Nevada to respond to what Farley
has said. Senator Roberson responded with the following
statement on the Nevada Senate Republican Caucus website:
“Senator Farley has decided to end her time as a state senator
by knowingly spreading falsehoods and making outrageous
claims that have no basis in fact. It is sad because many women
do encounter horrible situations and work environments and
they must have their voices heard. When someone makes false
claims, it hurts all those who have legitimate issues.
Politically-motivated slander is gutter politics, it drags
everyone down, and shows the true character of an individual.”
Nevada State Senator Becky Harris also says that Michael
Roberson is a person who has shown respect for differing views.
Senator Harris says that Roberson is a strong supporter for
women in the government. Jodi Stephens who is a former
director of the Senate Republican Caucus says that Senator
Roberson has shown unprecedented effort in recruiting female
candidates into higher office. Jodi Poley who works as a
legislative assistant to Senator Michael Roberson says that he is
a class act who has never acted unprofessionally or in a sexist
way. All the supporters of Roberson seem to say that State
Senator Farley is being ridiculous in her claims.

6. References
Kaufman, C. (2017, October 12). State Senator Farley On
Roberson, Recall and Good Leadership. Retrieved October 13,
2017, from
https://knpr.org/knpr/2017-10/state-senator-farley-roberson-
recall-and-good-leadership