State officers map goals for their second terms

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 8:36 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Secretary of State Dean Heller wants a change in the law to make it tougher for politicians to hide their campaign contributions, Controller Kathy Augustine intends to step up collections of bad debts owed to the state and Treasurer Brian Krolicki plans to expand the college saving plan.

The three Republicans won re-election Tuesday to what will be their final terms in those offices. All three said they enjoy public service and might run for another office in the future.

Heller, who won his third term by defeating Democrat William "Wild Bill" Hamma, said he anticipates seeking another elective office after his four-year term expires.

Augustine defeated Democratic Assemblyman John Lee of Las Vegas to win her second term.

"We will see what the next four years brings," Augustine said. "It will be a free-for-all in 2006. That's too far ahead for me to predict. ... If I do anything, I would probably be looking at Congress."

Krolicki captured his second term, beating former Treasurer Ken Santor.

"I would like to continue in public service, but there has to be an opportunity," Krolicki said.

He said his work in the treasurer's office has been the "greatest privilege of my life. But politics are not my whole life."

In the secretary of state's race, Heller received 62.7 percent of the vote to 26.2 percent for Hamma and 2.3 percent for "None Of These Candidates."

Others in the race were Christopher Hansen of the Independent American Party with 3.8 percent, Lois Avery of the Natural Law Party with 3 percent and Paul Lenart of the Green Party with 1.6 percent.

Krolicki got 57.5 percent of the vote, Santor 34.1 percent, Mark Andrews of the IAP 5.7 percent and "None" drew 2.3 percent.

Augustine received 54 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Lee. Others were Lisa Black of the IAP with 4.3 percent, Libertarian Chuck Eby with 2.3 percent and "None" with 2.5 percent.

Heller said the Legislature has passed a law requiring disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures to be "as confusing as possible."

"Politicians want to raise money and not disclose where they got it from,"he said.

Heller wants the 2003 Legislature to make changes so that these reports are as clear as possible to the public and the press that scrutinize them.

He wants to improve the technology in his office to allow business, notaries and others to do business over the Internet. On Tuesday, the computer vote counting system in Carson City crashed and did not start vote tallies until nearly three hours after the polls closed.

Krolicki wants to expand the college saving plan to make it easier for parents and others to save money to send children to the state's colleges. He said he has a plan in which the state would join a major financial firm that would generate fees for the state.

The plan, when completed, would supply the state with enough money to pay for the operation of the treasurer's office at no cost to the taxpayer, Krolicki said.

Augustine wants the 2003 Legislature to require agencies to turn over their overdue debt to her office for collections. There's an estimated $200 million that hasn't been collected by state departments. Augustine has hired two firms to hunt down the delinquents, and she wants to hire more.

A lot of agencies, she said, are not turning over debts to her office. She wants the Legislature to make that a requirement. She also wants the payroll office, which sends out checks to state workers, returned to her authority from the state Department of Administration.