DEHNE GETS A LITTLE TRUTH FROM RGJ ... FINALLY

I hadn't really expected to spend part of my Tuesday afternoon in a smoky East Fourth Street bar, but there I was at Abby's Highway 40, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a couple of blokes already a few drinks in.

Still on the clock, I sadly had to decline bar owner Donny Schwartz's offer of a shot.

"The Chadillac," otherwise known as Chad Dehne when he's not on stage strumming a guitar and singing, had asked me to meet him on "neutral territory" to talk about his fifth attempt to be elected Reno mayor.

Of the 20 candidates running for Reno mayor this year, Dehne was one of only two who hadn't called me back earlier this month as I was writing my initial candidate profiles.

Dehne harbors a long held resentment — one shared with his father Sam Dehne — toward the Reno Gazette-Journal. His campaign platform includes the promise to "Dismantle the Reno Gazette."

"Well, the better word would be 'cleanse' instead of 'dismantle," he said as we sat at the bar.

He's frustrated that he hasn't been given more credit for the 21,000-plus votes he won in his 2010 race against Mayor Bob Cashell. He feels he warrants more coverage and that the RGJ has basically ignored him each time he runs for office.

But Dehne momentarily suspended his deep distrust of the newspaper to meet with me. The fact his profile wasn't included in last Sunday's take out on the mayoral candidates drew the attention of his friends and supporters who questioned whether he was serious about the race, he said.

(As a side note, Dehne's father was significantly more put out about his son's absence from the story. At his biweekly Reno City Council appearance he described the RGJ as "corrupt, mendacious, perverted, rotten, evil, wicked, sleazy and slimy.")

As it turns out, Abby's Highway 40 was an almost ideal spot to interview a mayoral candidate. The bar sits at the heart of three of the largest projects undertaken by the city in the past decade.

Abby's is one of Reno's iconic dive bars, home to loyal, blue collar regulars — the kind of guys Dehne wants to represent at city hall.

Out the back window, the city's shiny new baseball park looms. The park — a centerpiece in the city's redevelopment efforts — brings crowds of tourists and hometowners to the heart of Reno.

But Abby's sees little benefit. In Dehne's view, that's because the city gave tax breaks for new bars and restaurants to open up next to the park.

"These guys got slammed," Dehne said of the businesses along East Fourth Street. "The guys who have been battling out here in the trenches for years. You give the new guys tax cuts? How is that fair to the businesses who have been here?"

Another problem: Abby's is quite literally on the wrong side of the tracks. The city's $282 million train trench runs just a couple hundred feet from the back of Abby's, separating it from the bustling ballpark.

And then there's the homeless shelter. Abby's side of the track is bustling with the homeless, who spill out of the overcrowded shelter into the street. A parade of human suffering floats past Abby's daily. Some will stop in for a brief bit of respite. Schwartz doesn't seem to mind.

"They stuck tent city right here in between all of these businesses," Dehne said.

Dehne says he wants to be mayor, not because he has the solution for all of the problems that plague the city. But because he understands the plight of businesses like Abby's and the blue collar workers who frequent it.

Dehne was recently unemployed for eight months with no income. A dispute over how he was terminated resulted in unemployment benefits being denied, meaning he didn't even get an unemployment check. He now drives trucks for Western Nevada Supply.

"I want to be a voice for the working people," he said. "I may not have the answers, but I guarantee you I understand what it's like to struggle."

Editor’s Note: Chad Dehne was one of two candidates not included in last Sunday’s feature on the 20 candidates running for Reno
mayor because he didn’t initially respond to a request for an interview from the Reno Gazette-Journal. He has since been reached.
His profile is below.

Elevator Pitch: “I am a Marine Corps veteran. I’m a great voice for working people and families. I’m honest, have integrity
and I’m not a yes-man. When the Aces make my bobble-head, it will bounce sideways sometimes.”

Persona: Gruff perennial candidate for mayor and champion of the “working man.”

Interesting tidbit: This is his fifth run for mayor. In 2012, he won 21,180 votes to Bob Cashell’s 41,117 votes.

What do the insiders say: He’s long fought “insiders” and isn’t taken seriously by them.

EPIPHANY OR ABERATION?
Finally an honest report from RGJ.
Now they need about 75 more to make up for ignoring one of the best mayors Reno will ever have.
DEHNE already has more voters who want him to be mayor than all the other candidates added together.
Here's DEHNE in action.. extemporaneous and enjoyable to watch. (click)
DEHNE will be as good an ambassador
for Reno as there has ever been.
Likes(21,000 plus)

This reporter should have mentioned the Forward-Looking/Soothsaying Commemorative Stamps that were created 6 years ago to Honor 2 Reno Mayors.