I have been involved in politics for over 40 years, from working as a volunteer for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign, to becoming the Newt Gingrich 2012 presidential campaign’s Nevada state captain, to knocking on over 5,000 doors for the Trump presidential campaign in 2016.
I currently live in Nevada assembly district 35, located in southwest Las Vegas, and Aimee Jones is running in the Republican primary to represent the district. Four years ago, her husband, Brent Jones ran and won the assembly seat.
Jones Kept His Promises To His Constituents
While serving in Carson City during the 2015 session, Jones kept his promises to his constituents and compiled the 5th most conservative record in the 63 member state legislature, received a 90% conservative score with the Nevada Policy Research Institute and a 94% score with the American Conservative Union.
Jones Opposed The $1.5 Billion Tax Increase That Roberson Rammed Through The Legislature.
Brent Jones had made quite a name for himself in the state legislature, because he spoke out against the establishment politicians, namely Nevada Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, Assembly Speaker John Hambrick and Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson, who broke their promises to their constituents when they jammed through Governor Sandoval’s $1.5 billion tax increase, the largest in Nevada history, with Roberson leading the way. At one point, Roberson even went into a heated rant during a February 2015 Senate Finance Committee hearing, verbally attacking Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz for having the nerve to propose a balanced budget without having Sandoval’s beloved tax increase.
Besides being a leader, Jones also had the distinction of being the only member of legislature to endorse Donald Trump during the Republican presidential primary. When candidate Trump came out to Las Vegas to speak at the South Point, Jones was their to introduce him.
Jones Runs For Lieutenant Governor Against Roberson
A few months ago, Jones decided to run for Lieutenant Governor of the State of Nevada. The establishment candidate was his old nemesis, Michael Roberson.
Smear Campaign Begins Against Jones: Slanderous Article From Obscure Blog
About a week ago, I noticed an article on my Facebook page from a person named Hyan Ramilton, highlighting an article in “Carson’s Journal” titled “Las Vegas Scientologist aims for Nevada’s Lieutenant Governorship.” I received the post because I was a member of the Clark County Republicans Facebook page and Ramilton posted the article on the page.
The article attacked REAL Water, a company owned by Jones, and called Jones “a swindler and con man.” It went on to say that employees at REAL Water were forced to undergo Scientology religious indoctrination and to join Scientology.
The article stated,
“In 2016, Jones was the subject of a religious discrimination lawsuit by a former employee who stated employees were required to undergo Scientology religious indoctrination. Although the former employee never received negative work reviews, she said her “refusal to join Scientology resulted in a loss of promotion opportunities and her ultimate termination.”
Being very active in politics for years and knowing it to be a very dirty game, I looked at it with a jaundiced eye and ignored the article as it was from an obscure blog that I had never heard of and as I knew Jones had kept his word and legislated as he promised.
Mailer Puts Forward The Same Accusations As The Article
A few days ago, I received a 5” x 11” card in the mail. On the front side was a picture of Aimee Jones standing in front of the Scientology building with lighting bolts overhead, with the caption, “Does Aimee Jones Force Scientology On Her Employees?”
On the backside of the mailer, the questions were posed, “An Employer Who Discriminates Against Their Employees’ Religious Beliefs?” and “Is Aimee Who We Really Want Representing Nevada Families?”
The mailer went on,
“In 2016, a former employee filed a federal lawsuit against Aimee’s company, REAL Water, for unlawful employment practices, including: religious discrimination, disparate treatment, hostile work environment, and retaliation. The employee alleges she was required to “participate in Scientology-themed programs and activities” as a condition of pay raises and continued employment.”
The mailer was very similar to the “Carson’s Journal” article and had five excerpts from the lawsuit against REAL Water, which were highlighted in yellow.
Coincidentally, when I received the mailer, the number of posts on Hyan Ramiton’s “Carson’s Journal” article on Facebook started to multiply.
This seemed like quite a coincidence to me, so I posted on the Ramilton posting, stating that I was supporting both Brent and Aimee Jones because my decisions were based on candidates’ records and where they stood on the issues, not based hear say, and that Brent Jones had a stellar record and kept his word, while his main opponent in the race, Roberson, was the exact opposite.
That day, I also posted a endorsement by the U.S. Patriots, a group of constitutional conservatives I chair, which pointed out Jones’s stellar record in the legislature. Ramilton was the first person to comment on that post, attacking Jones by citing Scientology.
I Commenced An Investigation Into Ramilton, The Article, The Mailer And The Lawsuit
Right then and there I decided to do some research into Ramilton, the mailer, and if the lawsuit, that the “Carson’s Journal” article and the mailer referred to, had any voracity.
The PAC Mailer
First, I examined at the mailer. It came from the “Nevada Action PAC.” I looked up the PAC on the Nevada Secretary of State web site, and found that there was no documentation on file, no initial registration form, no contribution and expense reports, no filing date, nothing. So, it was impossible to find out who or what was funding it and when it was formed.
The only information abut the PAC was a name and address, Carlo Maffatt at 6609 Azorella Ct., Las Vegas, NV 89149, and a phone number 702-955-4848.
Here is the link to the Secretary of State’s page:
I called the phone number 702-955-4848 and a recording came on, “At the subscriber’s request this phone does not take incoming calls, message CA1158”
I looked up Carlo Maffatt, and I found a Las Vegas Tea Party rating report in which gave him a C rating and stated that he supported amnesty, and a Las Vegas Review Journal article from 2016 that said he was running as a Republican for Nevada assembly district 6, but after he filed, he disappeared and never campaigned.
The “Carson’s Journal” Article
I then looked up the source of the “Carson’s Journal” article that Ramilton had posted. I found that “Carson’s Journal” was a blog that supposedly covered the western United States.
Under the “About” tab the blog states, “We are a conservative blog based in the Western US and sharing perspectives on issues regionally, nationally and internationally.” There are four other tabs, “Arizona”, “California”, “Nevada” and “World.” There are only two articles under the Nevada tab, one of which was the one about the REAL Water lawsuit.
Further, and most importantly, the author of every article in the blog is “admin” and no name of any person appears anywhere on the site.
Contacted The Jones Campaign
I then called Laurel Fee, the campaign manager for the Joneses’ two campaigns. We had been posting on the same threads on Facebook, including the post by Ramilton, for a few days. I told her about the “Nevada Action PAC” mailer about Aimee Jones and asked her if there was any truth behind the lawsuit that was in the mailer and the article that Ramilton had posted.
She told me that the lawsuit was nonsense and to go to the deposition of the Grecia Echevarria-Hernandez, the plaintiff in the case, which was posted on Brent Jones’s campaign website. Fee said that the deposition would show that everything in the complaint was false. I then asked her if she knew who Ramiton was. She told me his real name was Ryan Hamilton and he worked for J3 Strategies, a political consulting group based in Las Vegas, and that she believed it was retained by the Roberson campaign.
Defendant’s Deposition Contradicted The Lawsuit’s Allegations
I immediately read the deposition and did some other research to see if Fee was correct. And guess what? Everything Fee told me was true.
The complaint filed on behalf of Hernandez against REAL Water was full of fabrications. All the allegations in the complaint, in the “Carson’s Journal” article and in the “Nevada Action PAC” mailer were untrue.
I went through each allegation in the mailer and compared them to the answers given by Hernandez to the questions asked in the deposition.
The first of the five allegations in the mailer was, “Defendant breached its obligation to provide a workplace free from discrimination and hostility based on religion.”
- On page 31 of the deposition, Hernandez was asked if anyone at REAL Water encouraged her to go to the Church of Scientology, she answered “No.”
- On page 61, she was asked if anyone at the company had ever asked her to believe in a different God. She answered, “No.”
- On page 218, she was asked if anyone ever told her at the company that her religion was wrong or if anyone degraded her religion. She answered, “No” to both questions.
- On pages 219-222, she was asked if anyone, Brent Jones, Aimee Jones, the HR officer, or any other officer at the company ever spoke to her about Scientology. Her answer to each question was, “No.”
The second allegation in the mailer was, “Defendant breached this obligation by requiring employee to watch Scientology themed videos and attend Scientology themed seminars.”
- On page 67, Hernandez testified that she did not read the work materials she was asked to and that she was not disciplined for not doing so.
- On pages 159 and 160, she was asked if she ever reported being uncomfortable about anything to do with religion, when the employment agreement she signed stated that she should do so. Her answer was, “No.”
- On pages 160 – 189 she was asked about the five videos she saw on the first two days of her employment. The first, “Real Water Culture,” was about how Real Water was made; the second,“Message from Gracia,” was about individual initiative and bravery of a soldier from the Spanish-American War in 1899; the third, “The Secret,” was about a best-selling 2006 self-help book by Rhonda Byrne which was promoted by Oprah Winfrey; the fourth, “Just Get It Done,” was about a book written by Som Bathla about conquering procrastination, developing a proactive mindset and achieving goals; and the last video, “The Way To Happiness,” was about a non-religious booklet written by L Ron Hubbard about a code of ethics.
Hernandez stated that she was offended when she found out that “The Way To Happiness” was written by Hubbard. But, when asked specifically about the principles that were in the video, such as “take care of yourself”, “set a good example”, “do not do anything illegal”, “respect the religious beliefs of others”, “be worthy of trust” and if these principles were religious, she answered, “No.”
- When asked if these were adverse to her religious views, she answered, “No.” When asked if they conformed to her own beliefs, she answered, “Yes.”
The third allegation in the mailer was, “Defendant subjected Plaintiff to a hostile work environment.”
Nowhere in her deposition did she claim that anyone at REAL Water treated her with hostility.
- On pages 159 and 160, she was asked if she ever reported being uncomfortable about anything to do with religion, when the employment agreement she signed stated that she should do so, her answer was, “No.”
The fourth allegation in the mailer was, “Defendant discriminated against the Plaintiff by subjecting her to, among discriminatory acts, loss of compensation and termination.”
- The complaint did not mention, for obvious reasons, that during her six month employment, Hernandez and gotten into accidents with two of the company’s cars and that her sales were well below that of other employees.
The fifth allegation in the mailer was, “Defendant deliberately targeted Plaintiff for termination because of her refusal to submit to Defendant’s demands that she submit to religion, Scientology themed activity.”
- On page 31 of the deposition, Hernandez was asked if anyone at REAL Water encouraged her to go to the Church of Scientology, she answered “No.”
- On page 61, she was asked if anyone at the company had ever asked her to believe in a different God. She answered, “No.”
- On page 218, she was asked if anyone ever told her that her religion was wrong. She answered, “No.”
- On pages 219-222, she was asked if anyone, Brent Jones, Aimee Jones, the HR officer, or any other officer at the company ever spoke to her about Scientology. Her answer to each question was, “No.”
- On page 67, Hernandez testified that she did not read the work materials, she was asked to, and that she was not disciplined for not doing so.
Here is the link to the Hernandez deposition: https://www.votebrentjones.com/brent-jones-sets-the-record-straight/
The “Carson’s Journal” Article Omitted Facts To Deceive Readers
Again I looked at the “Carson’s Journal” article which repeated the allegations in the Hernandez complaint,
“In 2016, Jones was the subject of a religious discrimination lawsuit by a former employee who stated employees were required to undergo Scientology religious indoctrination. Although the former employee never received negative work reviews, she said her refusal to join Scientology resulted in a loss of promotion opportunities and her ultimate termination.”
I knew that the case was initiated in May 2016, so I was curious as to how it had progressed. The article and mailer only quoted the plaintiff’s initial complaint from over two years ago. So, I looked up the docket on the Hernandez case. What I found was incredibly disgusting. Both the “Nevada Action PAC” mailer and the “Carson’s Journal” article omitted facts that put the entire lawsuit in a different light.
The lawsuit was filed on May 4, 2016 and the deposition was taken on November 3, 2016.
Most importantly, the judge ruled in favor of REAL Water on March 27, 2017…
and ordered the case to be remanded to arbitration. Hernandez appealed the decision and her appeal was denied by the court of appeals in February of 2018.
In other words, these two slanderous hit pieces lied through omission. They were based purely on the initial allegations by the plaintiff, not on facts, and they deliberately left out the most important parts of the case.
Further, I received the mailer on May 29 and the article came out on April 7, over one year after the lower court’s decision of March 2017, and two months after the appeals court’s decision of February 2018.
Any idea that the authors of these two hit pieces were ignorant of these facts is beyond ridiculous.
Hyan Ramilton Was An Alias For Ryan Hamilton, The Vice President Of The Lobbying And Political Campaign Management Firm j3 Strategies
But it gets even better. After doing some more research, I found out that Fee was correct about Hyan Ramilton. His real name is Ryan Hamilton and he is the vice president of j3 Strategies, a lobbying and political campaign management firm, with offices in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada. Hamilton runs the Las Vegas office with Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s sister, Tessa Laxalt.
Tessa Laxalt Posted The “Carson’s Journal” Article On Facebook
What is even more incredible is that Tessa Laxalt posted the “Carson’s Journal” article on her Facebook page as well. This was too much of a coincidence.
The Laxalt And Roberson Campaigns Hired j3 Strategy
It gets even more interesting. After looking at the Secretary of State’s website, I found that both the Laxalt and Roberson campaigns were paying j3 Strategies.
Laxalt for Governor paid j3 Strategies over $36,000 in the last four months.
Roberson for Lieutenant Governor paid j3 Strategies over $31,000 in the last four months.
j3 Strategies Deliberately Posted The “Carson’s Journal” Article
I then called Fee and told her what I had found out about the mailer, the article, and j3, and that I had read the deposition. She then told me that she had proof the Ryan Hamilton had deliberately posted the “Carson’s Journal” article. I asked her how see knew. She told me that Hamilton had sent her a text about it. Fee sent me the text. It was dated on April 8, just one day after the story appeared. The text had a link to the article and it read, “I’m on vacation but when I get back this will be… everywhere.”
Fee then sent me the text.
Jones Kept His Word To His Constituents And Was Smeared By The Same Swamp That Screwed Nevada In 2015.
This is what’s called the anatomy of a smear.
Jones kept his word to his constituents by fighting and voting against Sandoval’s $1.5 billion tax increase. While Michael Roberson lied to his constituents and jammed the largest tax increase in Nevada’s history down our throats.
And what did Brent Jones and his wife Aimee get in return ? A smear campaign by a lobbyist firm, which is funded by the Laxalt and Roberson campaigns, a smear which was based on fabrications and lies through omission.
What’s even more incredible is that Hamilton should have known better than to post an unsubstantiated article with a nameless author from an obscure blog to attack a candidate in the lieutenant governor’s race, especially when the firm he is working for has been hired by and is receiving funds from the attorney general for his race for the governorship.
What’s even more interesting is that Hamilton knew about the article, which was on an obscure blog that no one had ever heard of, immediately.
Unanswered Questions
But, we still have several unanswered questions:
- Who exactly is behind “Carson’s Journal”?
- Who funded the “Nevada Action PAC”?
- How has the “Nevada Action PAC” formed without filing initial registration forms with the Secretary of State?
- Why hasn’t the PAC filed any contribution and expense reports?
The Jones campaign informed me that they are filing a complaint with the Nevada Secretary of State on the “Nevada Action PAC” to find out the answer to the last three questions.
The Swamp Against Real Public Servants
The bottom line is that the vast resources of the Laxalt and Roberson campaigns have been turned against Brent and Aimee Jones by a lobbyist firm. It’s a classic case of the swamp against a public servant who simply kept his word with his constituents.
And the swamp creatures can’t have that, can they?
By Ronald Solomon U.S. Patriots
https://www.facebook.com/groups/159228294755886/
Sources:
Nevada Secretary of State: Website – Election
j3 Strategies: Website
Carson’s Journal: Las Vegas Scientologist aims for Nevada Lieutenant Governorship
Action PAC: Campaign Mailer
Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore Flickr Page – Creative Commons License