Thursday, June 09, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ASSEMBLYWOMAN'S BID: Angle joins race for Congress

State legislator to seek Gibbons' seat

Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, seen earlier this month at the Legislature in Carson City, announced Wednesday her plans to seek the U.S. Congress seat that Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons is leaving to run for governor. Photo by John Locher.

CARSON CITY -- Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, regarded as one of Nevada's most conservative state legislators, announced Wednesday she will run for the District 2 congressional seat held by Rep. Jim Gibbons.

"I won't change my stripes," said Angle, R-Reno. "I will represent my constituents in Washington like I have represented them in Carson City.

Angle said her philosophy always has been less government regulation and lower taxes. If elected to Congress, she said, she would work to reduce federal gas taxes.

Angle, 55, has represented District 26 in Washoe County since 1999.

With Gibbons, R-Nev., giving up his seat in Congress to run for governor, Angle enters a Republican primary in 2006 that includes Secretary of State Dean Heller and former Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno.

Angle said Dawn Gibbons backed the record $833 million tax increase in the 2003 Legislature.

"My record is probably the most telling," Angle said. "I don't believe their records will stand up against mine."

In response to reporters' questions, Angle said she voted for the record $5.9 billion budget passed by the Legislature over the weekend, a budget 23 percent higher than the previous budget.

She also voted for Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins' bill to spend $22 million for all-day kindergarten in poorer neighborhoods and supported the Senate's "pork barrel" bill that included money to buy a $25,000 Indian basket.

"Sometimes there are things you legitimately have to spend money on," Angle said.

She said that often Assembly votes were "41-to-Angle" as she typically was the only person opposing higher spending.

With running for Congress, Angle plans to circulate initiative petitions starting Sept. 1 that would put in Nevada's constitution limits on property taxes and government spending.

She wants a property tax cap of 2 percent a year and wants to limit state spending to no more than the combined rate of population growth and inflation.

Angle was the only state legislator to vote against Senate Bill 489, which will limit property tax increases to 3 percent on private homes and 8 percent on most commercial property in Clark County.

As a member of Congress, Angle said she would stand up "firmly against activist judges that are thwarting legislative power."

But she said she backed the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 decision Monday to allow the arrest of people who participate in medical marijuana programs.

Nevada is one of 10 states with a medical marijuana program that was affected by the decision. Voters put the program in the state constitution.

Angle said marijuana is against federal law. But she voted Tuesday for Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley's bill to help Nevadans buy lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada. Federal authorities contend importation of drugs from Canada also violates federal law.

"The governor said it wasn't illegal," Angle said. "We were all tired at the end of the session."