Now, I ain’t sayin’ the good folks over at DOGE NEVADA are chasin’ windmills, but they are pokin’ their noses into the sort of affairs that make bureaucrats squirm like a cat in a rain barrel. Though they got no tether to Uncle Sam’s Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE NEVADA’s mission is about the same–sniffin’ waste out, fraud, and those curious little financial figments that somehow pass for public service.
The man with the magnifying glass is one Brandon Davis, who’s been keepin’ a keen eye on Nevada’s pocketbook from his perch in Las Vegas for over ten years. He reckons folks didn’t much care what the state was spendin’ on so long as the potholes weren’t eatin’ tires—but now, he says, it’s a “kitchen table issue.”
Reckon it must be, especially if that table’s missin’ a leg from budget cuts.
DOGE NEVADA has dug up some gold nuggets of foolishness–$12 million went to buildin’ a pickleball palace because nothin’ says “fiscal discipline” like subsidized paddle-whackin’ and $9.1 million for high-speed internet in Lovelock that never quite showed up—like a ghost train on a map that leads nowhere.
Davis, who don’t speak like a politician, which is to say, he makes sense, figures that kinda cash could be better used gettin’ folks off the sidewalks and into homes—or givin’ teachers enough of a wage that they don’t have to moonlight as Uber drivers.
Can’t say I disagree.
The DOGE team comes from tech and communication backgrounds, meaning they ain’t diggin’ with shovels but siftin’ through numbers with artificial intelligence and what-have-you. They’ve even got an anonymous tip line where the honest or fed-up can holler about shenanigans in government ledgers. Davis says some folks have been booted right outta their government chairs just for speakin’ truth to power, which is nothin’ new under the sun—but still a scandal.
Now, lest you suspect this all smells of politics, Davis says DOGE NEVADA has no party hat on—just individual donors, no strings. They’re non-partisan, which means they fire at foolishness wherever it sprouts, left, right, or sideways.
In a land built by gamblers and dreamers, it’s nice to see someone bettin’ on accountability, even if the odds ain’t great.
The Old Blog in the Desert 