Rural Republicans file for re-election

Wednesday, May 5, 2004 | 10:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Several Republican lawmakers who represent large swaths of rural Nevada filed to run for re-election Tuesday and said they expect their votes last year on the largest tax increase in state history will help them.

State Sen. Dean Rhoads, who filed for a sixth term Tuesday, says he has received "very little criticism" from residents of his rural district for voting in favor of the $833 million tax package in the 2003 election.

Rhoads, a Republican from Tuscarora in Elko County, said he "probably represents the most conservative Senate District in the state" and the residents "felt it (the tax increase) was needed." The 68-year-old rancher represents eight rural counties.

But three freshmen Assemblymen said their votes against the tax plan helped win them warm receptions when they returned home to their constituents.

And Assemblyman Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, said he will sponsor a constitutional amendment in the 2005 Legislature "to restore the tax limitation that the Nevada Supreme Court gutted."

Assemblymen Tom Grady of Yerington, Rod Sherer of Pahrump and Pete Goicoechea of Eureka all filed for a second term Tuesday