Democrat assemblywoman won’t seek re-election

By Emily Richmond, Cy Ryan

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009 | 1:05 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, a 10-year veteran of the Legislature, said today that she won’t seek re-election.

The 63-year-old Democrat, who represents Carson City and parts of Washoe County, said she also won’t seek the vacant state Senate seat in Carson City.

Parnell, a retired school teacher and chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee, said her priorities are shifting. Campaigning and serving in the Legislature require her to be in Carson City full-time. She wants more time to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix and Chicago.

She said she also wants to be involved in the national education picture in the re-authorization by Congress of the No Child Left Behind bill.

Parnell's retirement from politics comes as the Legislature gears up for unprecedented turnover. At least 11 of the 42 seats in the Assembly will be filled by newcomers in the 2011 Legislature.

Parnell said she wants her successor to be part of that group that will be in leadership in a few years.

“There’s a huge freshman class (of legislators) coming up,” Parnell said. “It’s time to let someone else take over.”

Parnell could have served one more term before term limits rendered her ineligible.

Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, is termed out in the district that represents Carson City and parts of Storey, Douglas and Lyon counties. There had been speculation Parnell might try for the seat.

The announcement is potentially good news for Assembly Republicans, who were relegated to irrelevance last session because Democrats held a two-thirds super majority. Democrats didn’t need a single GOP vote to override vetoes or get the two-thirds majority to pass a tax as long as they all stuck together.

With Parnell -- a well-known former school teacher in the community -- retiring, this seems prime for a GOP pick-up. Republicans hold a 6 percentage point registration advantage in the Assembly district.

Republicans have yet to announce a candidate for the seat, though with Parnell’s retirement, it could encourage some fence-sitters to enter to the fray, legislative observers say.

Parnell said she is particularly proud of legislation she helped to push through in her first few terms in office, including tougher laws for domestic violence and stricter requirements for boating safety. She is disappointed that successful state-funded education remediation and reform programs she helped to craft, particularly at the middle and high school level, have since been eliminated due to budget shortfalls.

“We were just starting to make a difference,” Parnell said Wednesday. She is relieved, however, that career and technical education, a particular area of personal interest, continues to be funded.

Parnell was first elected in 1998 to represent Assembly District 40. She served as chair of the Education Committee in 2005, 2007 and 2009. She has also served on the Judiciary Committee; the Corrections, Parole and Probation Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee.

Sun reporter David McGrath Schwartz contributed to this story.