ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 34

The upcoming legislative session is going to be brutal, and the contenders for Assembly District 34 are well aware of it.

Democrat William Horne is seeking his fourth term in the seat. Richard Deeds, a Republican, is trying to unseat him, and Libertarian William Hols is in the race, too.

"I'm not going to blow sunshine up anybody's skirt," Horne said. "We're going to have a painful couple of years."

He said that the budget cutting that has occurred is "a temporary quick fix" and that the state needs to look at getting new revenue.

But Horne was quick to distance himself from new taxes. He said the list of tax rebates and exemptions for businesses needs to be reviewed.

"We've got to identify who's getting those," he said. "Is it appropriate now to tell them, 'Right now, our state can't afford to give those to you any longer?'"

Nevada also needs to recruit diverse businesses to lessen the reliance on gaming and tourism, and for that to happen, the state needs more than a low tax rate, Horne said.

"We need to bring in sources, industry, who aren't here now and then also look at the ones that are here that arguably aren't paying or aren't paying their fair share," he said. "You can't get people to come here if you have low taxes and an OK education sytem. You have to have low taxes and a good education system."

Deeds, a longtime Republican who ran for county recorder two years ago, also doubts that there will be any serious push for new taxes, given the slumping economy. "No one's going to be stupid enough to attempt that," he said.

He agreed that the upcoming session is going to be harsh.

"Wherever they set me, it's going to be working toward ways to cut that budget," he said, which will not be pleasant for agencies seeking to restore or increase funding.

"They're not going to get them, and they're going to be devastated when they find they're going to be cut," Deeds said. "That's the only way this state is going to survive."

Voters he talks to "are just as frightened here locally about the economy and the budget," he said. "They just want to make sure that certain things, like schools, are funded properly."

Hols said he had a broader agenda: "My primary goals are just to make sure that all the laws that are being passed are following both the U.S. and state constitutions and to cut down on the waste.

"I am primarily looking at being a watchdog."

Hols ran for the Hawaiian Legislature as a Republican in the 1990s but said the Libertarian Party appealed to him after a friend introduced him to it. Hols accepted an invitation to run "to help the party out, get people to know who we are."

"Most people don't even know what a Libertarian is," he said. "A lot of people are afraid of voting for a third party or a small party. They're afraid of wasting a vote.

"It's the vote that goes against your conscience that's the wasted vote."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate @reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.