Assembly races could determine control of legislature

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Chowning, a 53-year-old real estate company owner, co-chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee and also serves on the Education and Ways and Means committees.

Chowning fought to make the Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety more user-friendly, and she wants to crack down on auto repair fraud either by certifying mechanics or requiring repair shops to register with the state. She also supported a bill that defines a car as used only if it has at least 2,500 miles.

Highly rated by the Nevada State Education Association, she has supported allowing school districts to make their own decisions on class schedules. Chowning favored punishing students for bringing guns on campus, and she backed a bill allowing commercial advertisements in public schools.

She supported setting aside $20,000 in state funds for foster children to cover some of the costs of growing up, such as basketball sneakers and ballet lessons. The assemblywoman also approved of legislation allowing minors to pose as tobacco customers in "sting" operations, saying it would help stop children from smoking in state reformatories.

Chowning supported placement of a state-funded mental-health clinic in North Las Vegas, but she has expressed reservations about the site of a proposed new women's prison in the same city. She complained that the prison site poses great danger from fire and toxic materials, noting that oil has been dumped nearby and that noxious odors also persist.

She has said any toll road to relieve congestion at Hoover Dam should be built near the free highway to give motorists a choice. Chowning also favored strengthening the Deceptive Trade Practices Act to give the Consumer Affairs Division more power to handle complaints. She opposed a bill protecting taverns and casinos from being sued by victims of drunken drivers.

Chowning denied she had a conflict of interest last year when she supported a bill giving the state fire marshal the authority to adopt rules on fireworks. She said her aim was to stop the sale of dangerous fireworks, not the Safe and Sane-brand fireworks she and her husband used to sell.

She said her bill also had nothing to with a lawsuit filed against the Chownings by an Ohio fireworks company involving a 1993 business dispute. The Chownings countersued.

Burns served as chairman of the Libertarian Party of Nevada.

He came to the defense of unsuccessful Clark County Sheriff's candidate Ed Uehling in 1994 when the Clark County Commission moved to shut down the campaign headquarters shared by Uehling and the Libertarian Party.

Uehling was cited for no-host bar parties at the warehouse headquarters because the county believed he was operating a nightclub without a license. He and Burns argued the parties were political functions. A judge agreed, overturning the citations and castigating the county for selective prosecution.

Duke was unavailable for comment.

* District 41 -- Democrat David Parks, Republican Tony Dane and Natural Law Party candidate Michael Williams are vying to replace Assemblyman Larry Spitler, D-Las Vegas, who isn't seeking re-election.

Parks, 52-year-old assistant director of the Regional Transportation Commission, also chairs the Paradise Town Advisory Board.

He supports increased funding for education to reduce the student-teacher ratio, programs to keep children out of gangs and laws to protect seniors from fraud.

Dane, a 35-year-old businessman specializing in credit card services, wants to reform welfare and eliminate some business regulations.

He supports giving parents tax-supported vouchers to educate their children in the schools of their choice.

Williams, a 26-year-old special education teacher, proclaims on his campaign literature that he wants to "ban genetically engineered fools."

He says, "They're splicing human genes into pigs, fish genes into tomatoes and insect genes into potatoes. And they've launched a highly successful campaign to keep it all a secret."

Williams believes the children of illegal immigrants should be banned from Nevada schools. He opposes a plan to store nuclear waste in Nevada.

* District 42 -- Democrat Harry Mortenson, Republican Chris Denning and Libertarian Calvin Nash are vying to replace Assemblyman Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, who is running for state Senate District 8.

Mortenson, a 65-year-old nuclear physicist, owns his own nuclear, radiological and environmental consulting business. He supports placing emphasis on education and supervised recreation to combat juvenile crime, and he favors vocational education programs.

The former chairman of the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board, Mortenson supports unrestricted greenery in the Las Vegas Valley, saying it would combat the greenhouse effect and conserve the energy usage of nearby homes and public buildings.

He fought unsuccessfully against placement of a controversial senior housing project in a Spring Valley area zoned for single-family homes. He also opposed placement of a garbage transfer station near a Spring Valley park.

Denning, 55-year-old senior project manager for Carson Construction, was former president of Sletten Construction of Nevada Inc. He has supervised construction of 37 schools.

He supports studying methods to pay for road construction, and he wants to reform the state worker's compensation system.

Nash, a 67-year-old retired nuclear power plant supervisor, supports more emphasis on science education and opposes tax increases.