The lure of public service

In a setback for Democrats, Assemblymember Bonnie Parnell has announced she will retire from the Nevada Assembly after serving five nonconsecutive terms. She also said she will not try to run for the vacant capital district’s state senate seat.

Democrat Parnell, a Carson City resident and one time “teacher of the year,” represents a district that includes part of Carson City and part of southern Washoe County. She left the Assembly once before, in 2002 after serving two terms. When she was replaced in the Assembly by Republican Ron Knecht, an extreme conservative, she came out of retirement to defeat him and served three more terms.

The senator for her district, Mark Amodei, is term limited and running for the U.S. senate, but she will not seek that seat, either.

So far, a fourth of the Assembly—11 of 42 members—will be leaving the house.