ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 18

Democratic candidates in the Assembly District 18 primary race see things differently when it comes to what they hope to accomplish in the Legislature.

Mark Manendo, in his eighth run for office since serving seven consecutive terms beginningin 1994, intends to follow the call of his constituents who want more staffing for the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

"They've been understaffed for years," he said. "They need more staffing to more adequately serve our armed forces folks and spouses who have passed on. That's dignity and respect. I have an elderly district and a lot of them are military."

Lon West Enwright said he wants to "get a working budget going and work on civil liberties for the gay, lesbian and transgender communities."

Enwright, 27, said his first bill would be aimed at curbing transgender discrimination in the workplace.

"Right now they're not covered under the same discrimination act as gay, lesbian and straights are," he said.

Manendo, 41, said his first bill would be to reintroduce a previous measure he proposed that would ban juvenile drivers from using cell phones, particularly to make it illegal for them to send text messages while driving.

"We also need to add in hand-held devices," he said.

As for taxes, Manendo said, an effort should be made to explore where the state's unclaimed taxes are to find "how much and where and what we can do to tighten the belt for people who should be paying taxes but aren't."

"We need to look to see if there are any tax exemptions out there that are 50 years or 80 years old that are outdated. Maybe that brings in a few million dollars," he said.

Asked whether his departure in 2005 from his position as student recruiter at the Community College of Southern Nevada had anything to do with a controversy about alleged inappropriate remarks to a couple of legislative interns, Manendo said there was no connection.

He said he left the community college post because he was recruited to take a job in public relations and marketing for a chain of auto body shops.

"I don't want to get into something that's that old," he said.

Enwright said he plans to balance the state budget by taking a look at securing more revenues from the gaming and mining industries.

He said he would consider raising gaming taxes by 1 to 11/2 percentage points.

"I don't want to overburden the gaming industry because I don't want to bite the hand that feeds everybody," he said.

Enwright said he hopes the Supreme Court will enforce term limits. If the court upholds term limits he said he would become the Democratic candidate in the general election.

The Democratic winner will face Republican Timothy Williams Jr., who is running unopposed in the primary.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.