Assembly District 22
A pair of first-time candidates squaring off in Assembly District 22 agree that state tax dollars must be spent more wisely, but their priorities differ slightly.
Democrat Luis Aguirre-Insua is focused on funneling tax revenue into education. His opponent, Republican Keith Pickard, lists three priorities: public safety, education and jobs.
“If we’re going to bolster our economy pursuant to bringing businesses here, you’ve got to have an educated workforce,” Pickard said.
The two are contesting an open seat held by longtime Republican Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, who decided not to seek re-election in the district, where the GOP has a 40 percent to 34 percent edge over the Democratic Party in terms of active registered voters.
Aguirre-Insua, an immigrant from Ecuador, said his budget strategy focuses on reviewing existing expenditures to ensure funds are being spent wisely. 
“Basically, I don’t believe we should put more taxes on regular people,” he said.
After such a review, an effort should be made to spend “where we need it most, like education.”
“We are in the few last places in education in the whole United States,” he said. “We need to review what we are doing wrong.”
Pickard, a California native and a founding partner of the Pickard Parry Pfau law firm in Henderson, opposes tax increases and agrees that legislators should focus on using existing revenue wisely.
The two candidates held divergent views on using $750 million in hotel room taxes included in a public-private venture to build a stadium to host the National Football League’s Raiders.
Pickard supported using a portion of room taxes as a backstop for bonds to help pay for the stadium because it’s a “fairly small” amount and “it’s not something coming out of our pockets,” he said.
Aguirre-Insua said he believes “it should be a private investment, even though we all like football or any sport that would play in the stadium.”
Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Follow him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.
