Run for Congress means pay cut for Bilbray

WASHINGTON — Erin Bilbray earned $109,800 last year for political professional work in Nevada that she has largely put aside to run for Congress, according to a new finance report.

Bilbray, 44, is taking pay cuts in hopes of winning a U.S. House seat in 2014. She is running against incumbent Republican Rep. Joe Heck in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Henderson, Boulder City, Laughlin and southern parts of unincorporated Clark County. The job pays $174,000.

Bilbray, a Democrat, made $60,848 last year as executive director of Emerge Nevada, a political training institute for women she founded in 2006. She earned an additional $49,000 as director for Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s political organization.

As she prepared her own campaign, Bilbray stopped working with Masto and became a part-time consultant with Emerge Nevada. Her income this year through July was $42,000.

The figures are included in a personal finance report Bilbray filed with the U.S. House after declaring her candidacy on July 1. The report became available this week.

Bilbray’s husband, Dr. Noah Kohn, is a pediatrician who earned $150,000 last year from the Children’s Free Clinic of Southern Nevada. He made an additional $15,535 from Good Night Pediatrics. This year he also practices at the First Person Care Clinic.

Kohn owes between $50,000 and $100,000 on a student loan taken out in 1991 when he attended Georgetown University School of Medicine. The couple also borrowed between $50,000 and $100,000 from Bilbray’s parents in 2008 to pay off another student loan, Bilbray said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Follow him on Twitter @STetreaultDC.