By Cydney Cappello (contact)

Tue, Oct 7, 2008 (6:22 p.m.)

Ellen Spiegel

Jon Ozark

The Assembly District 21 race pits two candidates against each other both wanting the same thing for Nevada: more jobs.

A fresh face to the Nevada political scene, 26-year-old Republican candidate Jon Ozark, a revenue manager at the Rio, said he is focused on creating more jobs and reforming education.

“We need to create incentives for businesses to hire more employees,” he said. “And we need spend more money in classrooms.”

Ozark defeated polarizing Assemblyman Bob Beers in the August Republican primary.

Democratic challenger Ellen Spiegel, 46, is the co-owner of Strategems Consulting. She said she wants to make a legislative change to give Nevada-based companies preferential treatment in public bidding in an attempt to create more jobs.

Spiegel said she is also worried about finding a long-term water solution.

“We need to look at all the different options, talk to people in a variety of states and look at it as a sustainability issue,” she said. “We need to stop looking at it as a short-term problem. We can’t have anymore patchwork solutions.”