2012 Voter Guide: Nevada Assembly District 4

Michele Fiore wants to make Nevada more business-friendly; Jonathan Hansen wants to limit government's role in private lives; and Kenneth Evans is concerned about the housing crisis.

The three candidates are running for state Assembly District 4 in northwest Las Vegas. Incumbent Republican Richard McArthur decided not to seek re-election to the two-year term. Registration in the district is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, with other parties making up a small portion of voters.

Republican Fiore, chief executive officer of a home health care business, didn't get involved in politics until the modified gross receipts tax was proposed in 2003. In 2010, she made an unsuccessful bid for state senator in District 9.

Fiore said she decided to run for office out of "frustration" with the Legislature.

"It drives me crazy," the candidate said. "I didn't live my life to be a politician. I lived it to become a successful businesswoman so I could spoil my kids rotten, and I have. To put it simply, my decisions were based on overtaxation and unfair regulations, and then on top of that, a lot of times that turns into legislation."

Hansen, a partner in the law firm Hansen Rasmussen, said he's running as the Independent American Party candidate because the two-party system is broken.

"Republicans and Democrats keep doing the same thing over and over and failing the American people," the Nevada native said. "I want to establish sanity."

As a licensed attorney with a law degree from the University of San Diego, Hansen said he has a good understanding of the law and the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

"I'm a church man, a family man, and I think I have compassion for people out there suffering," the married father of four said. "I don't want them to become wards of the state, so that they're continually dependent on the government for their health and welfare. The government needs to get out of our hair and let us get back to our own lives."

Hansen, who was born in Reno and went to high school in Las Vegas, has run for several public offices, including Clark County assessor and Nevada attorney general.

The biggest problems facing Nevada are massive unemployment and the mortgage crisis, which are tied together, he said.

"It's the greatest siphoning of wealth in U.S. history," he said. "The government needs to get out of the way, remove the government tentacles from all aspects of everyday life."

Fiore, a 21-year resident of Las Vegas, said she's created more than 1,800 jobs in the health care industry. As a businesswoman who signs paychecks, she said Nevada needs more business-friendly legislators.

"Who's making the rules here?" Fiore asked. "I did some research on the gang of 63 in Carson City and boy, was I disappointed. Very few of them are businesspeople. Anything I talk about, it's because I wore the shoe."

Fiore said there's duplication of agencies, citing the Department of Policy and Finance and the Bureau of Licensing and Compliance. She pays $3,300 a year for each health care provider, one of many fees imposed by the city, county and state.

"We're a business-friendly state? Yeah, as long as we keep writing checks," she said.

Legislators also need to revisit Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 40, which covers construction defect claims, she said. If there's a plumbing problem with a home, every contractor that worked on that home gets named in a defect lawsuit.

Another priority for Fiore is education. She has two daughters attending the College of Southern Nevada and put them through the gamut of education, including private schools, public schools, charter schools and home schools.

Kenneth Evans, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, is the Democratic candidate for the district. He would not agree to a telephone interview and did not respond to email requests.

"I will work tirelessly with all stakeholders to mitigate the foreclosure crisis and help more Nevadans stay in their homes," he states on his website.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.