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Las Vegas Morning Sun-August 28, 1951 WHERE STAND By HANK GREENSPUN ' I thought I was the only one (who harbored unkind thoughts ot {John Mueller. In fact, I have jbeen accused of persecuting the (“poor man’s Artie Samish.” I now find that another kindred {soul from the northern part of the state, a Reno editor who in my opinion is outstanding for his j grasp of Nevada politics, harbors i similar ideas to mine. I cannot improve on his column Iso with due apologies to Denver {Dickerson, I am taking the lib­erty of reprinting his latest pung-ent effort, word for word. “Southern Nevada residents in desperate want of water have fi­nally come to realize thei# thirst! will hardly be quenched by John, jV. Mueller, double-talking official of the General Services Adminis­tration and front-gunner for Sen- , ator Pat McCarran and Governor | Charles Russell. “Members of the Las Vegas water district, scotched in their i attempts to negotiate a contract] for water from the Lake Mead-S Basic .pipeline, blew up last week | and demanded that Mueller be) replaced with a full-time employe of the GSA. “The water district members! also asked some fairly pointed 1 questions, the answers to which have not yet been forthcoming. Among other things, they wanted to know who is currently in charge of the General Service Ad­ministration (Administrator Jess Larson was on a junket to Eu­rope). They also asked if the time hadn’t come “for Governor Charles Russell, who is also chair­man of the Colorado River Com-, mission, to make a definite state-j ment and make it known to . the 1 General Service Administration! and the public.” “This column does not pre- j , sume to know the ins and outs of the complicated water situation; jin the south, but it is aware of {some of the personalities in­volved, and from the knowledge comes grave doubts that the sit­uation will be ameliorated under Ipresent conditions, “ Mueller, who is known as The [Fix in political circles, has had a {varied career since arriving in (Nevada in 1912. An engineering .graduate of the University of Ne- I fvada, he was first a Democrat, j serving as assistant state engineer ? under Governor James G, Scrug- I ham. He then left the Scrugham camp, changed his politics to Re- ! publican, and became George Wingfield’s general trouble-shoot- | er. He entered the army as a il captain in World War II, served 11 in the South Pacific and returned; I as a colonel. His World War I ; I record included overseas service I in France where he won the Sil-{ 1 ver Star medal and the Purple ij I i Heart. Governor Pittman named j I I Mueller to the Colorado River 11 ‘ Commission and later regretted , I j it just as he Tegretfed appointing 11 X. E .Cahlan of Las Vegas to the j commission. Both men ; turned I against Pittman, with Mueller I joining Norman Biltz .j^iftanag- j I ing Governor Russell’s' campaign I last year, and Cahlan operating I more furtively through the Las I Vegas Evening Review-Journal I which he formerly directed), j “Mueller is a Horn . negotiator ! and is ranked as one of the most j effective lobbyists in Nevada’s history, ranking well up with Black Wallace, so-named because | of the satchel of Southern Pacific I. greenbacks he used to carry around during the early part of the century. Mueller’s stock in I trade is doubletalking as a m eth-l of of confusing plus keeping peo- f pie on the hook for indeterminate | lengths of time. The members of | the Las Vegas water district lis-! tened to his fasttalk for just so I long and apparently decided it! was time for action. While a ll11 this was going on Mueller was re­portedly in Washington, picking up more orders from Senator Me- j Carran, I I____ __ ? “We can appreciate the w ater. district people wanting to have : some type of statement from Gov­ernor Russell. But, like Mueller, the governor was conveniently , out of the state, attending some | sort of good-will meeting in Can­ada. This is a nice gesture of j international friendship but it does little toward solving the im­mediate problems in southern Nevada. The governor said that he had ho comment to make upon, his return and suggested he would like to see a meeting be­tween Larson of the GSA and members of the river commission j and interested parties. Governor Russell’s knowledge of Colorado , River Commission problems is as j scant as the average layman’s j and his caution is excusable. “The same shouldn’t apply to ; Mueller, who should know, and to Larson, who has fitted nicely jl into the little McCarran .clique* 1 and who was handed Mueller as an assistant for a birthday pres-1! ent by the senior senator. In re-! turn, Larson traveled 3600 miles! to Reno earlier this year to give a talk on the nation’s resources j before the annual Chamber of| Commerce dinner. Instead, he in­dulged in a bit of superficial; gobbledegook and then began a! tortuous dissertation on the! merits of Senator McCarran and! why Nevadans were fortunate in having him in Washington. By; that time the weary diners) would have considered themselves! fortunate if Larson, too, were in Washington instead of making; off-season political speeches. “Newspapermen h a v e been .alerted to watch closely any de­velopments in the Henderson area, particularly in regard to the disposition of property. There have been numerous stories that persons in places of power have ulterior designs on the lay-out and if any profit is to be made, they will be in on the ground floor. “This current water contro­versy may have some effect in slowing down any deals that have. been cooked up, but it will, still be worth watching. “Meanwhile, we earnestly hope that southern Nevada gets more water and less conversation, but it’s six to five that they won’t.”