Ed Goedhart Scotty Babb Advertisement

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart

Incumbent Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, plans to pursue some of the same water initiatives that failed in his first term if he's reelected to a second term in November.

He is being challenged by Scotty Babb, a Democrat, who was formerly head of the Nye County Libertarian Party.

A bill Goedhart introduced in the 2007 legislative session, which would have required the top administrators for a governmental agency, like the National Parks Service, to sign off on a protest of water right transfers, never made it out of the government affairs committee.

Goedhart said the committee chairwoman, Marilyn Kilpatrick, D-Las Vegas, was instructed not to bring the bill to a vote. He charged Las Vegas Democrats wanted to be able to continue seizing rural water rights.

"This time I'm going through the Senate. I'm going to get it through the Senate," Goedhart said. "Now it has to be voted on the floor. Did you know the Southern Nevada Water Authority has filed on tens of thousands of acre feet of water in northern Nye County?"

Goedhart said the Nevada Division of Water Resources hasn't enforced the doctrine of forfeiting water rights after five years of failing to prove beneficial use, against fellow government or quasi-government agencies. He said the SNWA has been sitting on Nye County water rights for 30 years.

Goedhart would also like to see a law permitting a local governing body to request the state water engineer suspend the forfeiture provision for a water rights holder whose rights are over the perennial water yield.

"Right now in Pahrump, I know people that are spending tens of thousands of dollars in power bills pumping water just to show beneficial use," Goedhart said. "This law just exacerbates the waste of a precious resource."

Goedhart said he isn't introducing the water rights bills as a personal favor to his employer, the Ponderosa Dairy, where he is currently a commodities broker. He said government agencies protested water rights of 12 different people in Amargosa Valley. The protests also threaten to hamper the alternative energy industry, he said.

"If you have these protests disallowing any movement of diversion, place of use or type of use, you've just killed a fledgling industry before it was able to be created. We're talking in Nye County about an opportunity to have over $1 billion in investment in renewable energy," he said.

The Democratic control of Congress and Sen. Harry Reid's position as Senate Majority Leader mean "in all likelihood Yucca Mountain is dead," Goedhart said.

That means Nye County will have to diversify its tax revenues and can't count on payments equal to taxes from the U.S. Department of Energy for the land value of Yucca Mountain, Goedhart added.

Goedhart has been an opponent of the Yucca Mountain project for 10 years, which puts him more in line with state government, but at a different stance than Nye County, which has had a policy of constructive engagement with DOE over the project.

A couple of other changes in state law Goedhart would like to pursue include allowing a nurse practitioner with over three years experience not to have to work with a collaborating physician to fill a need for medical care in rural Nevada counties of fewer than 100,000 people.

He also wants to allow solar power producers to use alternative fuel sources, like natural gas pipelines, when the sun isn't shining.

News reports have been critical of Gov. Jim Gibbons, who has requested budget cuts due to declining revenues.

Goedhart said it's not actually a budget cut. "It's a reduction in the rate of growth. That's what everyone fails to mention. We're still spending about 16 percent more this biennium than we did the last one," he said.

Some state officials argued in the last session the projections by the Nevada Economic Forum Indicator Group of a 21 percent increase in the budget were too optimistic, Goedhart said. The economy retracted and now the revenue increase was scaled back from 21 percent to 16 percent, he said.

The last session, Goedhart said he was able to see a companion bill passed tightening up protections against child predators; increasing the powers of the Nevada Ethics Commission; allowing impact fees to be used for extending infrastructure; and bringing a higher visibility to the need for Highway 160 improvements east of Mountain Springs Pass.

Goedhart felt it was useful being on the transportation and judiciary committees the last session. He'd like to be appointed to the commerce and labor committee next session, if elected, and would be willing to give up the judiciary committee post if necessary.

Goedhart predicts more requests by constituents of big government in the 2009 session, who want more from the taxpayer's wallet.

Scotty Babb

Scotty Babb was raised in Oklahoma. He has lived in Pahrump for over six years and has been a Southern Nevada resident for the past 23. He works at the Las Vegas Hilton as a dealer and a floor man, formerly known as a pit boss. He served on several Pahrump committees.

Babb briefly owned a store, Camelot, selling adult videos and novelties. He now sells rodeo equipment and western wear through an Internet site called Buffalo Ranch and Gifts, which features some racy photos of models in cowgirl apparel.

Babb said he was persuaded to run by Pahrump Town Board member Laurayne Murray after the Democratic caucus last January.

"I just look at this as a chance to serve. I really love Nevada, and it's been very good to me," Babb said.

The Nye County Libertarian Party disbanded when it couldn't get anything accomplished, Babb said. After that, he said he could never register as a Republican, given President Bush's record on civil liberties.

"I'm a social liberal but I'm a fiscal conservative. There's a lot of traits in the Democratic Party with social liberalism. Nowadays you can't tell them apart with fiscal responsibility, there is none," Babb said.

His Web site, www,scottybabb436.com, outlines his position on issues like energy, water, education and his support of the Second Amendment.

"My main priority is going to be trying to make Nevada the leader in the United States for being energy self-reliant. I think there's a lot of things we can do to get away from oil," Babb said.

He is thinking less about providing incentives for the alternative energy projects proposed in Nye County and more in making it affordable for people to install wind turbines and solar panels on their property.

"That would mean working with the people that are manufacturing those products now," Babb said. "They would have to sell their products at a lower price to Nevadans in order to sell them here. At the same time, we would make it easier for Nevadans to supplement the purchase."

Babb said he wants to reduce the prison population to save money.

"Over 50 percent of our prisoners ... are in for drug use and drug use only. It cost $50,000 per year or more to house one prisoner in the prison. So I see a huge area for savings there if we could make the non-violent prisoners actually pay for their own incarceration but put them in a different facility than a prison," he said.

Babb said since he filed for election he has been receiving questionnaires from special interest groups who want him to increase taxes. He spoke against the proposed tax hike on gaming.

"Raising taxes on one person is the same as another person. I'm very, very reluctant to raise taxes. I think there's a lot of waste out there we can take care of," Babb said.

While he acknowledged getting a better education when his mother remarried and they moved from Tulsa, Okla., out to the country where he attended school in a small class, Babb also sees waste in education. He cited as an example the construction of Hafen Elementary School, with a lot of frills like palm trees and beautiful glass brick.

"We don't need a palace for eight year-olds. We need to build government buildings safely and as least expensive as possible. It's the people's money we're dealing with here. It's not just a lump sum that came out of nowhere," Babb said.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires the school district to notify the military about each student who accepts even one dollar of federal money, Babb said. The solution?

"You can quit accepting federal funds until the No Child Left Behind Act is repealed. You're basically selling your kids," Babb said.

While he doesn't have experience in government, Babb said his opponent didn't have any experience when he ran for office. "It's too bad he didn't get anything accomplished while he was in office," Babb said.

Babb said he drove race cars and was an announcer at Pahrump Valley Speedway, where people began calling him "Scotty" instead of Scott. Babb boasted he was rookie of the year and another year placed second in point totals as a race car driver.

"I drove my own race car and was fairly successful. I decided to start a business and failed miserably the first time and the second time I learned from that and learned how to build a Web site. Self taught, I learned about all the tax codes, I learned about everything. I've always been the person who just goes into things, I jump in with two feet," Babb said.