Senate race heats up in District 4

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

Several candidates vying to replace longtime state Sen. Joe Neal in Senate District 4 are in the midst of a nasty mailing campaign.

And on Monday, during a debate for "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Cox Cable channel 19, several Democratic candidates continued their slugfest.

They did agree on one thing: The need to increase funding for education.

But from there, they diverged. Steven Horsford said he would push a statewide lottery devoted to education funding. Linda Howard, who is backed by Neal, said she would continue Neal's push to increase taxes on the gaming industry to help education.

Other candidates said they would look at other tax hikes or reshifting the budget. Cedric Crear said he wouldn't want to "put all our eggs in one basket" by basing education funding increases solely on a state lottery.

The candidates mostly focused on the charges being levied in the race.

The sparring began with a mail piece sent by the Culinary Union linking Crear, who worked as a marketing executive for Station Casinos, with the gaming company's layoffs after it bought a couple of neighborhood casinos a few years ago.

The Culinary Union is supporting Horsford; Station Casinos is supporting Crear.

Crear pointed out Monday that he wasn't involved in any layoff decisions. He said Station Casinos worked hard after Sept. 11, 2001, so that workers could keep their jobs.

And, he said, he has made it clear to all of his contributors, including Station Casinos, that they will sometimes disagree on issues.

Crear's campaign responded with a mail piece pointing out that Nevada Partners, led by Horsford, was recently audited after questions arose about $500,000 in job training grants.

Horsford also recently resigned from the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, though he said that was because he had too many commitments.

"I think there's a lot of improprieties," Crear said.

Horsford defended Nevada Partners, saying that the audit cleared the organization of any wrongdoing and that the group has helped thousands of low-income workers obtain training to find new jobs.

"I've been involved in the community," he said. "I'm very proud of my public service."

Howard tried to portray both Horsford and Crear as "two gaming candidates who say gaming shouldn't pay more."

"Something is responsible for our growth," she said.

When Howard pointed out that Horsford has lobbied on behalf of the gaming industry, he said his legislative experience would help him represent his constituents.

Theresa "Terri" Malone said her candidacy was not motivated by the fact that she is the sole white candidate and could benefit from a split vote among the black community.

"It's a race about all people," she said.

Attorney Bert Mack touted his experience in the 1980s as a legislative intern and other community work, saying it would help him best represent the constituents.