Patricia "Pat" Garlough Pete Liakopoulos Advertisement

The battle between the two Republicans running for Nye County Commission District 5 has seen some of the worst mudslinging in advertisements in some years in the Pahrump area.

Pete Liakopoulos and Patricia "Pat" Garlough are the two Republicans who will square off in the Aug. 15 primary. The winner will go on to the Nov. 7 general election, where Jan Bearss, a Democrat, and Dan Schinhofen, non-partisan, will also be on the ballot.

A July 7 campaign advertisement by Friends of Peter Liakopoulos attacked Garlough's endorsement by the one-term commissioner in District 5, Patricia Cox, whom the ad calls "the leading poster child for everything that is wrong in Nye County."

The ad said Garlough is "an inexperienced, naive, misguided person lacking any original thoughts or ideas (who) now wants to pick up where Patricia Cox left off."

A week later, Commissioner Cox and supporters fired back, saying the Liakopoulos ad used scare tactics and was misleading.

"I have not seen your involvement at any level except for talking in generalities and lies," Cox replied.

Cox said she supported Garlough, "because she is honest, has integrity and cares about what happens for our future generations. She is not running just to move up a political ladder, she is not in anybody's back pocket and she is willing and has the capacity to learn and judge both sides of any situation."

Garlough said she didn't place any of those advertisements against Liakopoulos.

"I think it's unnecessary, and actually I found a little humor in it," she said. "I've never had a conversation with Peter Liakopoulos. The first time I met him was at the Nye County Republican Party Central Committee meeting in Amargosa Valley."

But Garlough added, "Sometimes people do things and think they're going to get votes by doing it."

Garlough is the manager of Symphony's Restaurant at the Pahrump Valley Winery. She worked as a server at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas for several years before that.

She is the wife of Bill Garlough. The Garloughs have lived in the Pahrump Valley for 10 years, and before that they lived in Las Vegas and San Diego, Calif. They are natives of Illinois.

Garlough said she never ran for political office before, though she has been politically active.

The Garloughs were involved in gathering signatures on a petition challenging voter registrations in Nye County in 2002. Fifth District Judge Robert Lane threw out 893 voter registrations. The Garloughs also pushed for percolation tests for septic systems, though they said that problem has been largely resolved.

Ironically, Cox defeated Bill Garlough in the September 2002 Republican primary, with Cox garnering 332 votes, former Pahrump Town Board member Ed Bishop 253 and Garlough 178.

"One of the reasons I decided to run for commissioner of District 5 was to give a little more choice in the primary for the voters," Pat Garlough said.

Garlough disputed Liakopoulos' comments that she is a political neophyte. Garlough said she served on the Pahrump Fall Festival arts and crafts board and its executive board for the Pahrump Fall Festival.

"I attended many of the commissioner and town board meetings and I filmed and edited them for a local television station, Channel 41. That gave me quite an insight into how the town and county operated," Garlough said.

While the Garloughs share a lot of the same ideas, she said, "We've been married for 40 years, but my decisions are my own."

Speaking of Commissioner Cox, Garlough said, "I believe particularly in the last couple of years the commissioners have been moving this county forward in a positive direction, and I believe she's been a big plus for that."

"One of the things on the top of my list is hard zoning, because I think that will protect the property owners and that will encourage commercial investment," Garlough said. "Right now they (developers) have to go through a lot of hoops."

All the candidates think more economic development will improve the tax base, that residents can't pay the costs of government by themselves, she said.

"The commission could certainly give them a break, or maybe revisit the impact fees for commercial development," Garlough said.

The various utility companies in the Pahrump Valley are expanding, and Nye County could help "connect the dots" for a valley-wide system, she said.

"One of the ideas I might try to implement with the help of other commissioners is to purchase some BLM land at fair market value, and the county might do the infrastructure for an industrial park," Garlough said.

Liakopoulos also has experience with local television, appearing on an outdoor show on Channel 41. Liakopoulos said he's a radio and television producer who previously lived in Las Vegas, where he was on 720 AM radio. He formerly wrote an outdoors column for The Pahrump Valley Times. He founded the organization Nevada Outdoorsman in 2001.

"I always wanted to keep a finger on Pahrump because you always knew something was going to happen in this town," Liakopoulos said. "I am the only TV show host who actually does TV shows for a living, and I'm the only candidate who got off the air 45 days before the election."

Liakopoulos said he's been involved in politics before, lobbying every Nevada legislative session since 1999. He took credit for helping ensure passage of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Act.

Liakopoulos, together with his wife Jenny, put up the memorial to soldiers at the entrance to the Pahrump Wal-Mart store.

Liakopoulos said he raised $50,000 early in the campaign, which convinced Cox not to run for reelection.

"It's part of an election year. I think people know I'm not the new kid on the block. I've been here since 1998," Liakopoulos said. "In this campaign there's not been one personal attack. It's been a clean campaign."

"For Pahrump this has been a love-and-kisses campaign," he said.

Liakopoulos said Nye County is at a critical juncture with major development projects on the drawing board.

"This is the most exciting time we've ever seen in Nye County. The changes we'll see in the next five or 10 years will be more than in the whole history of Nye County," Liakopoulos said. "In the next five years we'll define what Nye County is; we'll define what Pahrump is."

Liakopoulos repeated his attack on Cox, whom he called responsible for "the Da Vinci seminars," high-paid consultants and now a half-percent sales tax increase.

"If we had let businesses come in, we wouldn't need the tax increase because we'd be getting the money off retail businesses," LIakopoulos said. "We've been very business unfriendly and that has got to change. I mean, I've gone to Mesquite and seen the way they do things over there."

Nye County officials need to create jobs in the community, people can't afford to drive to Las Vegas with gas at over $3 per gallon, Liakopoulos said.

"We've got to loosen up our whole attitude with impact fees and how we deal with businesses. We've got to streamline the process," he said.

Liakopoulos was also concerned about the flood control issue.

"I'd like to dam up near Wheeler Wash. It'd be a low cost means of flood control. That area might hold water and we might develop a fishing pond. It would stop a lot of the flooding problems down here," he said.

Liakopoulos said he'd also like to see a tax deferment for seniors until their property is sold. But he said the real generator of tax revenue is commercial business.

When the proposed airport is developed on the west end of Gamebird Road and a planned bypass is constructed, motorists will be commuting more from the L.A. area to Reno, Liakopoulos said, creating some business opportunities.

Pahrump needs a municipal water and sewer system, he said. Businesses complain about that and a lack of a regular energy source, Liakopoulos said. He urged the county to look at alternative energy.