The County Commission meeting opened yesterday with an invocation by Reno Satanic, with local political disruptor Robert Beadles in the front row listening in.
Meanwhile, recently appointed commissioner Clara Andriola who asked for pre-meeting prayers stepped out, before Beadles made a reference to the whole episode while talking about the new registrar of voters.
To recap, the founder of Reno Satanic, Jason Miller, ended his opening prayer at the start of Tuesday’s County Commission Board meeting saying “Hail, Satan.”
In June last year, Andriola asked for these preliminary invocations. This opened them up to all local faiths to be allowed to do so under federal law.
"In the name of the eternal rebel against tyrannical authority, in the spirit of your nature of the natural world, the freedoms of thought and expression, unprejudiced intellectual inquiry, economics and social progress to bring influence and guiding actions of nobility and justice to the decisions made in this chamber today, to act with might and the undertaking of responsibility that may lay ahead of this body before us today,” Miller said.
Reno Satanic describes itself as non-theistic, promoting critical thinking and not believing in an actual Satan, considered more as an adversary and a symbol of rebellion.
During the meeting the County Board accepted the resignation of Registrar of Voters Jamie Rodriguez and voted to appoint Deputy Registrar Cari-Ann Burgess, who has previously worked on elections in Minnesota and Douglas County, to serve as interim registrar through the 2024 cycle.
One of those speaking out against this eventuality was crypto entrepreneur Beadles who questioned her qualifications.
He instead spoke on behalf of Tracey Hilton-Thomas. The former longtime Washoe County employee is currently running against Andriola for Washoe County’s District 4 seat, and has a campaign website with a photo posing with another commissioner Jeanne Herman.
Recent blog posts she’s written call for a “Clean Elections Resolution” and accusing Washoe County of electoral wrongdoing.
When Beadles mentioned Washoe County’s top executive Eric Brown and said “who the hell makes him qualified,” chair commissioner Alexis Hill asked him not to use a profanity during his public comment.
Beadles then responded: “Oh, profanity. Hell, you just literally had a satanist in here saying a prayer to Satan. You freaking demon. So anyways, I mean, isn't that who you worship? But anyways, I digress.”