2012 Voter Guide: Nevada Assembly District 5

Independent American Party candidate Jason Reeves believes he has an advantage over Republican Bill Harrington and Democratic Assemblywoman Marilyn Dondero Loop in the District 5 race: "I don't have to answer to either the Republican or Democrat parties."

If elected, Reeves said he would make job creation and lessening regulations on small businesses his top priority.

"Small businesses are the key to job creation," he said.

Harrington, who was an assemblyman in District 2 from 1994 to 1996, said his main goal will be to tackle unemployment.

"We've got a greater than 12 percent unemployment rate. Jobs have to be the top priority," he said.

If elected, Harrington said he would focus on attracting high-tech companies, financial institution and construction businesses to the state, and persuade companies to tap Nevada's vast energy resources to create jobs that might otherwise go elsewhere.

"If we make it a business-friendly environment, we'll get a lot of those people. We do that by having reasonable regulations, and we need to keep taxation low," said Harrington, a former Air Force medical officer.

For him, a simple, fair tax system would be conducive to stimulating job growth.

"We need to have a system that does not punish for hiring people," he said. "Let's change so we can get people hired and have everybody working and paying into the system. That will generate greater revenues."

Loop, who was first elected in 2008 and is seeking her third consecutive term, said her top priorities are jobs, education and health care.

"Education is my passion," said Loop, a retired elementary school teacher from Las Vegas. "But we also have to look at jobs and health care."

Foremost, she said, is education because it "is important to a stable economy. With education you have people who are capable of holding jobs."

Reeves said his first step will be to explore paying for public services, such as education, in the weak economy. He wants to put public service agencies and institutions under the microscope of public scrutiny.

"The first thing I would do is enact a financial transparency act to see where all the funding is going so taxpayers and lawmakers can see exactly where the money ends up," said Reeves, who ran for a state Senate seat in 2008 but dropped out of the race.

Reeves said he would examine "each government program and see what could be privatized and run better without government funding."

Harrington's plan to support public education is to have a broader and more fair tax system. He would safeguard purse strings to ensure that "more money goes to good teachers to educate children."

"We have many people making much more in the public sector than what people are making in the private sector. When you overpay public employees it leads to bankruptcy," Harrington said. "We need to be able to say what is the going market to those various jobs and keep that in line with the private sector."

If Harrington is elected and his son, Republican Clark Harrington, wins the race for Assembly District 34, they would make the first father-and-son team to serve in Nevada's Legislature at the same time since 1893, when Sen. Gilman Folsom and his son, Assemblyman Frank Folsom, both Silver Party members, served together.

Democrats have a 1,300-registered voter edge in District 5, according to the Clark County Election Department. The district also has 1,170 potential voters from the Independent American Party, and 4,771 nonpartisan registered voters, plus 155 from the Libertarian party and 122 listed as "other."

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