Weber scores narrow victory

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 | 8:19 a.m.

Incumbent Valerie Weber narrowly edged Kirk Kaplan by 244 votes in the hotly contested Assembly District 5 race.

She came under attack last month by Legislative Watch, a third-party group funded largely by the gaming industry, finished with 8,904 votes to Kaplan's 8,660, or a whisker-thin 50.69 percent to 49.31 percent.

Legislative Watch had put Weber on their so-called "Mean Fifteen" legislators list for blocking efforts to increase taxes and stalling a gaming industry-backed plan to create a gross-receipts tax on business revenue.

Weber said the group's mailing campaign prevented her from establishing a clear lead early in the race.

"There was a lot of money spent to get me out of this seat," she said. "They wouldn't do it if they didn't think it was effective."

Weber relied on the Assembly Republicans' contract with Nevada. The proposal calls for a focus on water issues, audits of education performance, a limit on government growth, a change in medical-malpractice and construction-defect laws and a cap on new taxes and property tax increases.

Weber, 49, had said the program promises to "restore the individual citizen's belief that government is open and honest."

Kaplan, a 41-year-old attorney and certified public accountant, also ran on a platform that included a property-tax cap, but criticized the Republican contract, saying that a performance audit was first brought up by Democratic Assemblyman David Goldwater in the Legislature's last session.

He said the close race was not a surprise.

"We thought there were some people out there who don't understand what kind of individual Valerie (Weber) is," Kaplan said. "We knew it would be close."

District 5 had a Democratic advantage going into Tuesday's election. The district is home to 9,065 Democrats, 8,910 Republicans, and 3,416 who identified themselves as unaffiliated.

The Democrats' advantage also grew during the summer from about 10 people to hundreds by Sept. 21.

Kaplan is a graduate of Valley High School, Regis University and Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

He narrowly defeated Kevin Kennedy in the District 5 primary in September, winning 55 percent of the vote.

Weber is the owner of Collaborating Solutions, an organizational development company.