Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.
Assembly District 5 incumbent Valerie Weber is leaning heavily on the Republican Contract with Nevada in her re-election bid against Democratic challenger Kirk Kaplan, who said the contract was out of touch on some issues and followed the Democrats on others.
The contract calls for a focus on water issues, audits of education performance, a limit on government growth, and a change in of medical malpractice and construction defect laws, no new taxes and a cap on property taxes.
"It's a seven-point program that is so pragmatic that it in my opinion is going to restore the individual citizen's belief that government is open and honest and their voice counts," Weber said. "We've had 20 years in my house (the Assembly) controlled by the other party and their agenda and this is our contract with Nevadans if they elect us the majority party."
Kaplan is running on a platform that includes a property tax cap, making sure money goes into classrooms instead of administration, and making health care -- particularly prescription drugs -- more affordable.
In criticizing the Republican contract, Kaplan pointed out the education system performance audit was not a new idea, having been brought up by Democratic Assemblyman David Goldwater, in the last session, "and from what I understand, the Republicans didn't want it."
Democratic Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins previously has said that a K-12 performance audit is due out soon, and also responded to the Republican contract by noting that he and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, have requested bills to cap property taxes.
While his campaign literature touts a property tax cap, Kaplan said he was undecided as to how to enforce such a cap.
"Where are we capping it, what's the cap rate?" he asked rhetorically. "That's the devil in the details. That's where I can make a difference, because I can understand the details and figure it out."
He said some of the questions include how to measure the growth rate; for example, whether it is based on the population growth, or the Consumer Price Index.
Weber said "we must learn to live within our means. We're looking at the Legislature to look at population growth and inflation, and the state budget should grow no more than that."
Weber, who was elected in 2002, referred to the contract on almost every issue. For example, with education, she said that "Nevada ranks 29th in per-pupil spending and 50th in per-pupil performance. Obviously there's a disconnect there. What we would like to see is a performance audit to know where to spend those funds."
Weber also said she is a "great advocate" of Nevada U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons' education first initiative, which would require the Legislature to pass the budget for financing public schools before any other budget could be approved
Kaplan said that the Education First initiative was unnecessary, because "that's an issue I'm going to address whether it (the initiative) was there or not."
He said that the problem was that legislators should know what their revenues are before making funding decisions.
"You need to know where the money is coming from and everything. I'm going to make sure education is funded. It's a shame we had to make it education first -- education should have always been first," Kaplan said. "I'm saying it's a shame it had to come to this point we had to force legislators like Valerie Weber to think about it. She didn't do it before."
The district in western Clark County has a slight Democratic registered voter advantage, which grew from about 10 people in the late summer to hundreds by Sept. 21. As of then, the Clark County Election Department showed that the district had 9,065 Democrats and 8,910 Republicans, with 3,416 registered as non-partisan.
Weber said she didn't think the Democratic number advantage would hurt.
"Nevadans vote for the people they like. They don't vote party lines," Weber said. She also said that 15 percent of the voters in the district are new, "so we have no history on 15 percent of the folks actually registered."
Kaplan, an attorney and accountant, took 55 percent of the vote in the District 5 primary, beating Kevin Kennedy for the chance to face Weber in November. Kaplan, 41, is a graduate of Valley High School, Regis University and Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Kaplan's community service includes being a member of Friends of Red Rock Canyon and serving on the Red Rock Interpretive Association board.
He would not be specific about his proposals, and when asked about his platform, mentioned the issues of health care and education.
"Right now I'm working on the way I've always worked, I try to figure out where I am and the circumstances and then from there as I gather information, I orient myself and find out which direction I'm supposed to go and then from that point then I will decide," Kaplan said.
"It's my job to go up there and figure out the process and think through after hearing all of the sides of an issue and then decide. My job as a legislator is to keep my door open to people and find out the facts," he said.
Weber, elected in 2003, is the owner of Collaborating Solutions, an organizational development company. She is a 1998 graduate of the Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Las Vegas program, participated in the Leadership Las Vegas Youth Program, served as a Board member of Habitat for Humanity and just completed a four-year term as a member of the Board of Displaced Homemakers, appointed by Gov. Kenny Guinn in 2000
Weber said that "the 20 years of control by the other party has some policies out there that are broken, and they need to be revisited. I believe our agenda, which has been researched through focus groups across party lines, across gender lines, that people are ready for this change."
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