Voters will have four to choose from in congressional race

Four names will appear on the ballot Sept. 13 when voters in a special election in Nevada's 2nd Congressional District decide who will replace Dean Heller, who moved to the Senate in May to replace the disgraced John Ensign.

Secretary of State Ross Miller on Wednesday said the ballot will include Republican Mark Amodei, Democrat Kate Marshall, Tim Fasano of the Independent American Party and Helmuth Lehmann, an independent who collected the required 100 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot.

Three other independent candidates failed to make the ballot because local county election officials could not validate the signatures they submitted. They were Earl Ammerman IV and Christopher Simon, both of Reno, and Roland Lee of Fernley.

The lone Libertarian to file, Dale B. Gremban of Reno, did not win the endorsement of the state Libertarian Party, Miller spokeswoman Pam duPre said, and was left off the ballot.

The four names were released one day after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled the major parties' central committees would nominate their respective candidates.

Last month, Republicans chose former state Sen. Amodei, R-Carson City, and Democrats picked current state Treasurer Marshall, D-Reno.

While the campaigns of Amodei and Marshall wasted no time launching attacks on each other, Fasano and Lehmann simply wanted a chance to get out their respective messages.

Fasano's message is simple: Abide by the Constitution. "We need to return to the rule of law and the Constitution the founders wrote," he said Wednesday.

Fasano of Fernley in Lyon County said national debt, national security, immigration reform, the economy and taxes are just a handful of serious issues the nation must resolve.

Fasano also said he would work to kill President Barack Obama's health care reform.

Lehmann of Reno was not available by telephone. But on his website, he said, "I'm running to neutralize self-serving leaders who are destroying our future and pushing the 'American Dream' out of the reach of too many people."

Lehmann, who described himself as an unemployed "turn-around specialist" who consults troubled corporations, has written a book titled "Losing America: How Self-Serving Leaders Are Destroying Our Future." It is scheduled for release Tuesday, according to his website.

Meanwhile, Marshall's campaign sent out an email Wednesday proclaiming her the "clear choice" in the election. The campaign piece described Marshall as fiscally responsible and Amodei as the guy "who authored the largest tax increase in Nevada's history."

For its part, the Nevada Republican Central Committee in another email argued Marshall was selling the United States to China.

"Kate Marshall's unyielding support of raising (President Barack) Obama's debt ceiling without any spending reductions shows how shockingly naïve she is about China's interest in acquiring more U.S. debt."

Had the high court sided with Miller, who interpreted state laws on how to fill a U.S. House vacancy to mean any qualified citizen could be a candidate, the ballot would have been crowded with 15 Republicans, nine Democrats, five independents, one Libertarian and one member of the Independent American Party.

The high court in an opinion released Tuesday acknowledged the laws were confusing but sided with a Carson City judge who in May determined the central committees of the Republican and Democratic parties would nominate one candidate each.

The district is spread throughout all of Nevada and a slice of Clark County, where about 33,700 voters in the district reside .

Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.