James’ sister to run for state Assembly

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 | 9:07 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Cathylee James, the sister of Clark County Commissioner Mark James, is going to run for the state Assembly in Northern Nevada.

Before he was elected to the county commission, Mark James served in the Senate as a Republican, but Cathylee James is a Democrat. She is challenging first-term Assemblyman Republican Tom Grady in District 38 that includes Lyon and Storey counties and parts of Carson City and Churchill County.

Cathylee James, a member of the Storey County School Board, said the state must do better in education.

"Nevada consistently ranks near the bottom when we are compared with other states on education funding, class size and our dropout rate," she said.

"It's something we can see for ourselves all too easily -- overcrowded classrooms, 'class' sets of textbooks instead of textbooks for children to take home, difficulty in recruiting the highest quality teachers, especially in areas such as math and science."

She noted that Republicans outnumber Democrats 12,755 to 7,904 in the district but said: "Rural communities have a long tradition of voting for the best person, no matter what his or her party affiliation."

A single mother of two, Cathylee James works for two nonprofit organizations in Virginia City and is a waitress in Carson City.

Her father, John James, has been Nevada's state climatologist for 23 years.