Wanna run Nevada?

You’ve heard of Kenny Guinn and Joe Neal. If you’ve been paying attention, you may have heard of Green Party candidate Charles Laws (see Guest Comment, page 4), Libertarian Dick Geyer and David Holmgren of the Independent American Party.

But Jerry Norton? Christopher Petrella? Barbara Scott? Dan Meyer? Who?

They are a few of the 15 men and women who are running for governor this year. And, although none has much in the way of name recognition or even third-party support, they all have hopes.

With a shoestring budget at best, these candidates have messages to get out and campaign platforms accessible on their Web sites. We’ve tracked down four of them, three Democrats and one independent, and asked them about their campaigns.

Dan Meyer

www.danmeyerfornvgovernor.org

Dan Meyer is a small-businessman in Reno whose companies—Comstock ATM (which operates small automated teller machines) and Comstock Games (which operates video poker machines in small stores and bars)—are struggling. But he recently noticed he was not alone.

“Every one of my clients is struggling, and I noticed that every one of my clients was getting audited,” he said. “We’re all working harder for less, and it pisses me off.”

Meyer, a married father of two who considers himself a conservative Democrat, said this revelation led him to run for office. He thinks the government’s too bloated and out of touch.

“There’s too much duplication of services,” he said. “I think we can thin the herd a little bit. … We need to go to the various departments and divisions, and if we’ve got six guys doing the same job, then we could have one guy doing it.”

Meyer clearly has the plight of small businesses on his mind. He believes the state, in its lust for big businesses to relocate here, has killed off many small businesses. He also thinks there should be tax breaks for affected companies during things such as road construction—and that no taxes should be increased during a recession.

Meyer also believes Nevada should give tax incentives to develop solar power sources. And concerning Yucca Mountain, he said the state needs to get “just a little radical” in its fight against the nuclear waste dump, demanding that federal land be returned to the state.

“We need to lower the state flag and raise the Revolutionary [War] ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag,” he said. While he is somewhat vague when asked how far Nevada should take the Yucca fight, his rhetoric speaks volumes.

As for his chances, Meyer is hopeful but realistic. His main goal is to get his message out. “I don’t have to win to win,” he said.

Christopher Petrella

www.chrispetrella.com

This election marks Las Vegas resident Christopher Petrella’s second run for office. In 1994, shortly after moving to Nevada, he ran for Clark County sheriff, finishing “not last,” as he puts it, in a crowded field.

“I wanted to see if I was ever going to be interested in politics,” he said about his 1994 run.

Apparently, he decided he was interested—a decision that solidified when his wife recently became pregnant. His story: His wife’s doctor stopped seeing pregnant patients two weeks before she delivered. The doctor said she would be transferred to the care of another doctor—who refused to take her as a patient.

“As a father to be, that kind of upset me,” he said. “My son could have been born in the back yard, a la the 1800s, and once born there’s a shortage of vaccines, and there’s no money for the schools. Why would anybody want to raise children in Nevada?”

Petrella is the “owner, president and chief bottle washer” for Custom Portal Networks Interactive, a company that’s developing interactive TV formats. He wants to ease the tax burden on casinos. His belief: They’ve carried the weight and don’t deserve an increase. He suggests lowering the burden in exchange for the casinos’ directly funding programs, such as education or health care.

He says he’s pro-union. He wants to attract more international businesses to Nevada, and he wants a marketing fee of $15 for any business to advertise in schools. He also favors “morality classes” in schools.

Petrella believes he has an 85 percent chance of besting Neal and a 50-50 shot against Guinn. He plans on shunning traditional political advertising in favor of sending a promotional CD to every voter.

Of course, that’s assuming he gets enough money.

Barbara Scott

www.scott4nevada.com

Of Neal’s three Democratic opponents, Scott has the most name recognition. She ran for the same office four years ago, finishing fourth out of nine candidates in the 1998 Democratic primary. Plus, she’s gained a fair amount of media coverage because she’s a former topless dancer.

Scott, a Connecticut native, former CPA and former emergency medical technician, moved to Nevada 14 years ago. She lived in Las Vegas for most of the 1990s before moving to Gardnerville, which is about 40 miles south of Reno.

She’s spent the last couple of years campaigning in northern Nevada and spending time with her grandchildren. These days, she’s bringing her grassroots message to southern Nevada.

“I have to [be a full-time campaigner], unfortunately, with what I am up against,” she said.

Scott said her method is simple: She listens to people, tries to help them with their problems and learns from the process. She said she’s learned much about such issues as renters’ rights by simply giving people—who have sought her out because of her notoriety—a helping hand.

“By going through [problems] with them, I can see how people are falling through the cracks,” she said. “The system isn’t working.”

Her issues include repealing Nevada’s Right to Work law, which gives employers the right to fire workers at any time without giving a reason. She also favors offering tax breaks for small businesses, expanding Medicaid, improving Nevada’s drinking water and starting a state lottery to fund things such as malpractice insurance and education.

But the most pressing issue facing Nevada, Scott insists, is Kenny Guinn himself.

“It seems like he waits too long on all of the issues,” she said. “The people are paying him to work for us, and he’s not working for us.”

Jerry Norton

www.norton4nevada.com

Unlike Democrats Meyer, Petrella and Scott, independent Jerry Norton had to do more than shell out $300 to get on the ballot; he had to gather 500 valid signatures. But for his efforts, he’s assured of making the general election ballot.

Norton, a cab driver originally from Minnesota, moved to Las Vegas five years ago for the toasty weather. A former businessman who once owned a custom cabinetry company, he said he’s running because he’s tired of the way Nevada’s political system works.

“They seem to ignore people on the issues,” he said.

Norton thinks Nevada’s educational system is underachieving and that it needs to be reviewed. He also thinks trial lawyers are at fault for Nevada’s insurance woes, making tort reform necessary, and that Guinn should have done more to keep the UMC Trauma Center open.

A former Republican, Norton seems to come down on the conservative side on most issues. He’s in favor of gun rights. He’s pro-life and anti-drug legalization. And he’s not happy about Yucca Mountain. However, if the dump absolutely has to come here, he’s researching the ways that it could provide a financial windfall.

Norton said he wants to listen to the little guy’s problems. He’s realistic about his chances against his likely opponents, Guinn and Neal.

“I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell, but I’m going to try like hell,” he said.

Former RN&R Editor Jimmy Boegle is the news editor at Las Vegas City Life, where this story first ran.