Sam's FaceBook Page

Watchdog Guarantees He Won’t Win

By Steve Timko
Reno Gazette-Journal
Monday August 28th, 2000

Ward 3 candidate Sam Dehne is to political gadflies what Cal Ripken is to baseball.

Dehne has attended virtually every Reno City Council meeting since 1995 and
Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority meeting (and Airport, and Sparks
council, and Washoe County Commission) meeting since 1997. The retired
U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel regularly pounds the podium and points an
accusing finger at the officials elected or appointed to lead the bodies.

The airport authority’s annexation of Rewana Farms, the RSCVA planned
expansion of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center and seemingly anything the
Reno City Council does get denounced by Dehne.

“I have spoken at the podium more than the rest of the citizens combined,”
Dehne said.

He unsuccessfully ran for Reno mayor in 1995 and the Reno City Council in
1996. But Dehne doesn’t expect to be sworn into the Ward 3 seat this year.

“Sam guarantees he will not be elected,” Dehne said.

The first problem, Dehne claims, is the Washoe County voting system can’t be
trusted. A second problem, he says, is that “people vote for billboards and signs
and don’t care if a candidate has ever been to a city council meeting.”

Dehne said he is a watchdog that elected officials don’t want to contend with. His
successes?

“It’s hard to pin them down,” Dehne said. “My way of looking at it is how evil
would the city be without my watchdogging?”

Dehne said he exposed serial meetings by the Reno City Council, which led to a
lawsuit over the city’s handling of the decision to demolish the Mapes and a
judge’s order that the council, when acting as the redevelopment agency, not
meet privately in groups of less than a quorum to discuss issues.

“No secret meetings” if he is elected, Dehne said. “Meetings will be held in
public. . . . The city council meetings are window dressing, fraudulent window
dressing.”

He would work hard to get the public to participate, even going as far as taking
his guitar to sing songs to attract more of the public to the meetings, he said.

Dehne’s barking at local government officials goes back to 1995 when the
Nevada Air National Guard was looking to trade the aging F-4s for newer F-16s.
The newer planes have a single crew member and a single engine, both of which
make them much less safe for flying in urban areas since a failure by either could
cause a crash.

As an Air Force pilot, Dehne said, he came up with an idea in 1967 to shut down
half of a B-52’s eight engines when they’ve started heading back to a hangar after
a daily emergency drill. By Dehne’s calculation, that has saved taxpayers more
than a billion dollars.

Dehne maintains a website listing his watchdog efforts at www.renocitizen.com.

Dehne had a billboard up near the junction of U.S. 395 and Interstate 80 for about
six months last year announcing a campaign for the U.S. Senate. Dehne said he
paid $4,000 for the billboard and it was supposed to be up for four months but he
ended up with an extra two months. At first, with a smile on his face, Dehne said
he did not file for Senate because the $500 cost is too much and it was too far to
drive to Carson City to file.

Then, he said, he decided not to file because of all the paperwork the Federal
Election Commission requires of federal candidates.

Sam Dehne:
Birth: Sept. 24, 1940; Bismarck, N.D.
Education: U.S. Air Force Academy graduate in 1962
Employment: U.S. Air Force from 1962 to 1988, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Pan Am Airways pilot from 1967 to 1991.
Honors: Honored by the U.S. Air for a fuel-saving idea for B-52s.
Public offices: Candidate for Reno mayor in 1995; candidate for Reno City
Council in 1996.
Family: Two children.

Note: Folks, you cannot trust the prostituted Reno/Washoe voting system (click).

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Sam Dehne Question and Answer

Why should someone vote for you rather than the other candidates?

I know more about the corruption in local government than all the other candidates
combined. I have attended every meeting since early 1995. I have proven I will get
in the trenches and fight for the citizens of Reno.

What one specific thing do you want to accomplish if elected?

It is critical to clean up the mess at city hall and educate the public about
problems with local government. This does not include the hard-working,
rank-and- file city workers who are doing a great job despite terrible obstacles.

What do you think is the most critical issue facing the city?

The list is huge. But problems all start with the lack of integrity and the
nest-feathering at city hall that needs to be corrected. Citizens do not trust their
government, and this attitude must be corrected by eliminating corrupt officials.

Do you think the downtown railroad trench should proceed as planned or be stopped?

The railroad trench should be stopped. The sales tax and bond should be
canceled. The railroad trench plan should be put to a vote of the citizens.

No matter how the Nevada Supreme Court rules on the City Council’s appeal of a
court order banning serial council briefings, will you participate in serial council
briefings?

No, I will not attend or condone secret meetings under any of these
circumstances.

Do you support the proposed Cordish entertainment project downtown? What
should the redevelopment agency’s role be?

No to Cordish scheme. The redevelopment agency should be investigated and
disbanded.