The Nevada Assembly District 36 race appears to be heating up, with Democrat Laurayne Murray and Republican Ed Goedhart trading accusations during the last two candidate forums.

Both candidates fielded questions about receiving donations from the Focus Property Group at the Pahrump Valley Rotary Club candidates forum at the Saddle West Hotel and Casino Oct. 19. Focus Group received approval from Nye County Commissioners Sept. 19 for a development agreement to build up to 5,800 homes.

Both candidates acknowledged they received $3,000.

"I received that during the primary, and I received that before Focus Group came before the Regional Planning Commission requesting all their waivers, and I voted no," Murray said.

Members of the Goedhart campaign disputed that statement.

RPC minutes from the May 10 meeting show Commissioner Carrick "Bat" Masterson suggesting Focus Group develop six units per acre instead of eight.

Murray seconded a motion to approve a master plan amendment for the 900-acre Focus Group site from a general commercial and a business park/light industrial zone to a mixed-use zone. She also seconded and voted for the zone change, with the recommendation that Focus Group be allowed six units per acre for individual residences and 16 units per acre for multi-family apartments.

The motion requested that an agreement be reached with the Hafen family over the alignment of Manse Road; a development agreement be required; a buffer built between the development and neighboring properties; and concerns be given on the extension of Thousandaire Boulevard.

Murray also voted for the conditional use permit for the 72-acre gaming establishment site.

Goedhart shrugged off his contribution. "I have received contributions from over 150 people. The Focus Group, I guess they wanted to make sure they didn't offend anyone."

Murray said both candidates agree on some of the same concerns: clean water, education, immigration and health care. But she said, "I hold myself to the highest ethical standards, that in the face of any ethical question I even took the personal initiative to request an opinion on my own from the Commission on Ethics to be sure all my actions as an official uphold all the letter and spirit of the law."

Murray replied she would make public her request for an opinion by the Ethics Commission, which she filed a year ago but has yet to receive. Her husband Tim is a firefighter for the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service as well as a contract negotiator for the firefighters union.

Laurayne Murray said town attorneys approved her votes on the fire and rescue service -- which included items like purchasing fire trucks and equipment -- as long as they don't personally benefit her.

Goedhart's platform includes strengthening the powers of the ethics commission as well as cracking down more on sex offenders to require neighborhood notification.

Murray charged Goedhart, as a member of the Amargosa Valley Town Board, went in front of the Nye County Commission to speak in favor of an issue that was opposed by numerous residents of his community.

Goedhart said after the forum that Murray was referring to a board resolution opposing concentrated animal feeding operations like the Ponderosa Dairy. Goedhart said he spoke in front of county commissioners as a private resident, not on behalf of the board.

The resolution followed a petition drive. It would ensure monitoring of the Amargosa Valley dairy industry and restrict dairy operations to their current locations. A group of local residents were concerned over the purchase of the Last Trails Ranch by the dairy.

Amargosa Valley board member Jan Cameron complained about the flies, the dropping water table and the damage to local roads from the dairy. The Nye County Commission June 21, 2005, adopted a motion by Commissioner Joni Eastley to deny the resolution, Commissioner Candice Trummell said the county was pre-empted from acting on it, since the dairy is already regulated by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Goedhart served three, two-year terms on the Amargosa Valley town board and stepped down at the end of 2005. He told the Nye County Commission, "I'm going to be the best corporate citizen I can, but at the same point in time, I have to run a business, and I can't have the governing members on the town board okaying or nixing every plan that I have."

Both candidates came out against Yucca Mountain. While Nevada can receive some financial support from the federal government, Murray said, "I don't feel it's the type of project that we can trust the government to keep our communities safe. I don't believe we've gotten sound science on that yet. I don't believe we have any information they can safely transport spent nuclear waste."

Goedhart, a longtime critic of the project as a resident living down-grade from Yucca Mountain, said, "I have a lot of problems with the fact, every year they come up with a different design." He said by the time it opens, now projected for 2017, it will quickly run out of space to store the expected 77,000 tons of nuclear waste.

Goedhart suggested recycling nuclear waste in places like England and France. "Instead of being a waste dump we can be the cutting edge on reprocessing," he said.

Goedhart didn't attend the candidates forum held at the Amargosa Valley gym Oct. 15. But he replied to a question raised there that he is no longer manager of the Ponderosa Dairy, he is now in charge of commodities procurement and alternative energy programs for Rockview Dairies.