SENATE DISTRICT 5

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 1:06 a.m.

Now that longtime Sen. Ann O'Connell is out of the race, it's time for voters in Senate District 5 to choose who will take over for the fiscal watchdog.

Republican Joe Heck knocked O'Connell out of the race in the primary after he launched an aggressive grass-roots campaign.

The gaming industry also attacked O'Connell in a series of ads criticizing her for co-sponsoring a bill in the last session that would have taxed services.

Now the two front-runners are Heck and Democrat Richard Fitzpatrick, who bills himself as the independent that the closely divided district needs. Republicans outnumber Democrats by 3,400 people in the district of 111,000 registered voters.

Libertarian T. Rex Hagan, 43, also is running on a platform of repealing last year's $833 million tax increase.

The 42-year-old Heck said he's a fiscal conservative who will guard against new taxes. But the part-time emergency room doctor also argues for readjusting resources to expand health care and public safety.

The state should create an education and preventative health care system that addresses problems before they begin -- and before people without health care crowd into emergency rooms, he said.

Fitzpatrick, a 57-year-old high-tech consultant, often advises gaming companies on how to develop Internet gaming abroad. He said he supports Internet gaming as long as there are safeguards to ensure minors cannot play.

Fitzpatrick portrays himself as a problem solver, saying he often crosses party lines because he does what he thinks is right. He pointed to his experience as a Michigan legislator, when he angered local labor groups by looking at reforming worker compensation laws that he said were hurting state coffers.

The labor leaders were so angry that Fitzpatrick started running for re-election without his party's endorsement, he said. Now, Nevada's AFL-CIO has endorsed Heck, largely because of his Michigan record, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson said.