Election Guide News, voter information Ed Goedhart Scotty Babb Advertisement

Republican Ed Goedhart of Amargosa Valley is seeking a second two-year term to the Nevada Assembly representing district 36. He is being challenged by Scotty Babb of Pahrump, a Democrat.

Assembly District 36 includes a large part of southwestern Nevada including all of Nye, Esmeralda, Mineral and Lincoln counties, along with parts of Churchill County.

ED GOEDHART

Goedhart is a commodities broker for the Ponderosa Dairy. He served three years on the Amargosa Valley town board.

Goedhart said the state "budget crisis" was manufactured primarily because the state economic forum was overwhelmingly optimistic two years ago in predicting a 17 percent increase in revenues over this biennium.

"Why don't we run the government like we do our own households?" Goedhart asked. "I call it the BS economy: borrow and spend and it's time to get back to produce, save and invest."

The state is too dependent on gaming and tourism, Goedhart said. Nevada needs to diversify, he said, with renewable energy a major opportunity.

"Renewable green energy can be not only good for the environment, it can be good for our economic picture and it can be good for our national energy picture," Goedhart said.

Today Nevada spends $8 billion to buy energy out of state, Goedhart said. Renewable energy also has the opportunity to attract technology and research dollars, spending that will turn over in the community many times, he said.

While the national bailout plan contains investment tax credits for renewable energy, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management needs to grant the right-of-way for the solar plants and transmission lines, he said. The State of Nevada needs to allow the water rights, Goedhart said.

"If there's new legislation it's going to have to be legislation that's going to be cost neutral," Goedhart said. "The highest priorities I've always said before, is emergency police, fire and basically education."

Goedhart said the state has wasted money on things like appealing a water rights case against the DeLee family in Amargosa Valley that have already cost $100,000, or a lawsuit involving a rest area on land owned by Lander County rancher Hank Fillippini.

"Every bureaucrat out there is a servant to the public. Sometimes these bureaucrats get on an ego and a power trip and they take particular delight in preventing people from being able to use their land," Goedhart said.

The freshman assemblyman said he'd oppose an attempt to raise the property tax cap. He said some residents in Pahrump should pay less in property taxes, since their home values have gone down, while others have seen their property values go up after zoning came into effect.

"I believe we have to live within our budget. The state does, and if the state becomes a little more business friendly we can create a lot more business opportunity," Goedhart said.

Instead he complained the state wouldn't allow a diversion for water four miles away to an entrepreneur who wanted to start a business in Amargosa Valley -- one which would provide 120 jobs.

Goedhart said he'll keep an eye on attempts to raise taxes.

"They'll call it a tax diversification or a tax enhancement package. You might as well increase taxes," Goedhart said. "They'll probably once again state this is only going to affect business and won't affect individuals. They still haven't made the connection when you increase the tax on busiensses, you take away their ability to invest."

When asked if he would get any capital projects for his district in the coming session, like road improvements or a community college, Goedhart said, "voters are tired of that pay-to-play in politics as usual. I will not compromise my stand for a little bit of pork."

Goedhart said he believes in local control, admitting people in Amargosa Valley have different beliefs than those in Pahrump Valley. He is a staunch opponent of Yucca Mountain, which puts him in a different position than Nye County commissioners.

"I think Yucca Mountain is a whole lot scarier than the detention facility," Goedhart said.

Instead of $11.5 million in payment equal to taxes, Goedhart said the U.S. Department of Energy should be paying Nye County $25 million. But he conceded if U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is elected president, the project could be scrapped, another reason Nye County needs to diversify its economy.

Goedhart said he never even had the chance to vote on an amendment to an assembly bill that allowed Nye County commissioners to increase the sales tax a half percent. But he would've voted for it, only to empower county commissioners to make the decision.

"This one I was philosophically in support of because it goes to the very core basic needs of a community: fire and police," Goedhart said.

"Whereas if it's incorporation (of Pahrump) you say, is that really going to be vital to the health and security and safety of the community? So that's going to have to be looked at differently. I know the history of incorporation, it has been voted against three times and one of the concerns of the people I listen to, they want to make sure it's not bigger, more intrusive government."

SCOTTY BABB

Babb was raised in Oklahoma but has lived in Pahrump for over six years and Southern Nevada for over 23 years. He works at the Las Vegas Hilton casino and sells western wear over the Internet.

Babb was formerly a member of the Nye County Libertarian Party before it disbanded. He was persuaded to run by Pahrump town board member Laurayne Murray.

Babb said he hasn't had money to put up campaign signs. He's done a limited amount of campaigning when not working, like announcing a rodeo in Pahrump, announcing a race at the Tonopah Speedway or another rodeo in Pioche.

"I do work in a casino so I see how bad things really are. If the revenues are down in the casinos the revenues are going to be down in the next budget, I guarantee you that. So we have to be ready for some major cuts if we don't want to go into major debt," Babb said.

"You're going to have to cut everything. One of the reactions I've been seeing since the last cut, since they had the last special session, was how can you cut education? Well education is more than 50 percent of the budget. That's basically where you're going to have to start," he said.

Babb said citizens have expressed concerns about high class sizes and the low percentage of high school graduates in Nevada, but he thinks the state should require a minimum of 15 students per classroom.

"Everybody's got to look at the government the way they look at their own household. What do you do when times are hard? You hunker down. You put off projects around the house until they look back up and we're going to have to put off projects until things come around. This is the United States of America. Things aren't going to take that long. We can do it," Babb said.

When it comes to renewable energy projects in Nye County, Babb said they would benefit the economy and the country's security.

"Try to put this money we've been putting into oil into green energy and that's going to create a lot of jobs. That's the key, jobs are always the key to turning things around. People make money, they pay taxes," Babb said.

The state legislature has to study some planned cuts to see if they really benefit the economy, Babb said.

"When I was in Pioche, one of the things they were really worried about is losing a work camp up there. It's a place for prisoners that qualify for the program. They are very active in the community, those prisoners, they do a lot of work that the community doesn't have to pay for," he said. "If you cut spending in one spot and it ends up costing people a lot of money, that's something you have to look at."

The state is also looking to close a conservation camp near Tonopah.

When it comes to the federal detention center, Babb said he's not in favor of putting people in prison for profit. In a Libertarian tack, he advocated reducing state prison costs by releasing non-violent criminals accused of things like drug crimes.

"I would say look at every non-violent criminal and find a way to get them out of prison and earning their own keep. At least give them the opportunity to get out and get a job, live in a place they have to live, put an ankle bracelet on them, make them pay for their own drug test every day," Babb said.

Both candidates are opposed to Yucca Mountain. Babb said Nye County has been willing to go along with the project to get the payment equal to taxes and the oversight money from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"I don't think anybody wants nuclear waste in their back yard. They'd be crazy. I'm against it. I appreciate the fact it's created some jobs," Babb said. But he added, "I don't think any state will allow the waste to be trucked through, so I don't think it will ever happen."

Babb admitted there would be a learning curve to be an assemblyman.

"When I went up and filed they gave me a lot of information on that, the way things work up there and I've been reading that. It's very interesting," he said.

Babb will be running for the assembly for the first time.