Heck, Fitzpatrick vie for longtime O’Connell seat

Kirsten Searer

Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

Voters in Senate District 5 might be confused going into this year's general election.

Their longtime senator -- Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas -- was ousted in the primary after an ad campaign called her a tax-and-spender. Many called it strange because O'Connell had a longstanding record as one of the Senate's most fervent fiscal watchdogs.

Now there are two candidates aggressively pursuing the post in this district, which has 111,000 registered voters and two senators -- far more voters than any other district in the state.

Republican Joe Heck, an osteopathic physician, emerged from the primary to face Democrat Richard Fitzpatrick, a high-tech entrepreneur.

Republicans have a 3,400-voter edge in the district, and both candidates are targeting the 17,500 nonpartisan voters in the area.

After consulting for various agencies and working as an emergency room physician, Heck said he realizes the state's health care system is broken and needs a "long-term, strategic vision." He argues that the state can improve services by shifting resources -- not raising taxes.

"I would eat my hat if someone introduces a (bill request) for a tax increase next year," Heck said.

Fitzpatrick said he's a true independent who wants to diversify the economy and serve as a watchdog over the state's investments in computers and other technology.

He served eight years in the Michigan House of Representatives in the 1980s and said he has a good chance even though he thinks he'll be outspent 10-to-1.

"I'd rather be a free agent," he said. "The exciting thing for me about this race is to go to Carson City and not have any strings attached."

It's an important race for several reasons. First, Democratic leadership put Senate 5 on their list of potential takeaways. Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, calls Senate 5 "the sleeper race" and hopes it will be one of two seats the Democrats pick up this election, leaving the Senate at an 11-10 Republican majority.

Also, many are watching to see what -- if any -- aftermath will emerge from the state's toughest primary. Heck, for one, has spent several weeks outside the media glare since the primary and said he is happy about it.

"They'll be no barrage of mail this cycle," he said with a grin, referring to the reams of mail pieces that attacked O'Connell in the primary.

The 43-year-old Heck said he didn't want any part of the campaign against O'Connell, which was funded largely by the gaming industry. He said afterward that the publicity actually hurt the positive, grassroots campaign he launched in February.

Before the gamers started, he said, his internal polling showed he was up 20 points. He won by 4 percentage points, 52 percent to 48 percent.

"I think I could have won by a wider margin," Heck said. "I think it cost me votes."

But the battle lines drawn in the primary election haven't entirely faded.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, for example, was one of O'Connell's biggest advocates and has decided to not issue an endorsement.

Other O'Connell supporters opted to endorse Fitzpatrick, including the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Association of Nevada.

However, several doctors' groups that had supported O'Connell have now gone to Heck.

As he is knocking on doors, Fitzpatrick said he's also noticed oddities in the district, where voters aren't sure what to think about the primary election.

"The idea that Ann O'Connell is a tax-and-spend liberal is so ludicrous," he said. "If you had said it a year ago, people would have laughed at you. But they made it stick."

The real question, Heck admits, is whether stalwart Republican voters will sit out the race, still fuming over O'Connell's ouster.

Now that the dust has settled, Heck said he is fighting the notion that his election was bought by the gaming industry.

"What gets to me is when people want to harp on, 'Oh, you're gaming's candidate,"' he said. "Well, I haven't gotten any money from them in the general election. ... I'm not just a one-issue person, and I'm not just a one-industry person."

Heck said he is running because he believes a lean government can be focused on providing quality services, including health care and education.

He argues that the state doesn't promote the programs it does have for low-income people, doesn't take advantage of federal dollars available for health care and doesn't invest in preventative medicine that could keep patients out of expensive hospital rooms.

"I would rather pay $5 in taxes up front to prevent the $500 in taxes," Heck said. "The government will pay on the back end."

He said partnerships with private care facilities could help prevent emergencies such as the one in July, when Clark County's emergency rooms filled up, partly due to mental health patients taking up beds.

Heck would look at funding for education, saying his 7-year-old son recently went through three teachers in kindergarten and first grade because the school was having trouble retaining them.

Fitzpatrick said he decided to run for the Legislature after feeling frustrated with the nasty politics and special sessions in past years. He had faith in the political process after serving in the Michigan house, he said.

"I like the legislative process," he said. "People sit and talk and work thing out and it really seems to work. But it does not when the legislature is so hateful."

Fitzpatrick calls himself "moderate to conservative" on economic issues and "liberal" on social issues.

Fitzpatrick said he established a reputation as a true independent in the Michigan house, sometimes going against traditional Democratic forces such as labor unions.

One particular vote on workers compensation laws, which happened in the 1980s, hasn't been forgotten. Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO of Nevada, said the labor group is endorsing Heck in this race because of Fitzpatrick's stances in Michigan.

Fitzpatrick earned headlines several years ago when he advocated for online gaming in the state. While that effort failed, he continues to consult for casino companies around the world that are experimenting with the idea.

Both candidates want to impose a property tax cap, though Heck wants to tie it to inflation rates and Fitzpatrick wants to investigate other options, including simply putting caps on residential property.

T. Rex Hagan is the 43-year-old Libertarian candidate in the district. Hagan, an electrical engineer, wants to prevent cities and counties from using eminent domain to take property for private development and also wants to repeal all of the taxes passed in the 2003 session.

"The Legislature should vote on all taxes before any spending and then keep spending within the budget," he wrote in a candidate questionnaire.

He also would limit property tax increases to 6 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

His slogan is: "Vote for T. Rex and send a carnivore to Carson City."

Sen. Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, is the other senator in the district and does not face re-election until 2006.

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