Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
▶ COMMISSION D
in need: “I think we are doing everything we can and trying to look at what more can we do.”
The response is ultimately multifaceted, she said, requiring the county ensure basic services are available to residents, care for the homeless, and collaborate with other agencies while planning a long-term budget.
■ Flanagan said she has been entrenched in the community for more than 20 years, first as a reporter for the Review-Journal and later as an employee for the county. She said she has been a commission liaison to District D and involved with nonprofits and police and gaming advisory councils, as well as instrumental to opening the Pearson Community Center.
“It’s given me a chance to help a lot of different types of people, and I think that’s what the county is about: a lot of different types of people and a lot of different types of needs,” she said.
As a three-time breast cancer survivor, Flanagan says access to health care is the central theme of her campaign.
That entails providing additional resources to women and disadvantaged people, expanding education programs and medical research, diversifying the job market, adding and retaining more doctors and nurses and creating more green space, she said.
Pitch to voters: Deepen Kothari Age: Background:
■
■
former teacher
■
A self-described “super active” community and event organizer, Kothari said his motivation to run — to make inroads on issues under the county purview such as homelessness — was based in a reality since changed by the coronavirus pandemic. “Now we’re really talking about a whole different game: Who’s in leadership to best transform that future as best as possible?”
37 patent attorney,
Why run and why now?:
■
Response to coronavirus crisis:
As much as Kothari said he believed “yesterday is never coming back,” he added that the changes made in response to the coronavirus could be an opportunity to rethink how things are done. He pointed to how implementing more online education in schools could make school zoning obsolete so that affluent and economically disadvantaged students may learn together and choose the teachers they prefer.
■ As a patent attorney helping people on the cutting edge, although only licensed to practice law in Virginia, Kothari is touting his work experience as a perfect fit for a county trying to remake itself in a crisis.
While there are “10,000 issues” the county is responsible for, he said he wants to know the hyperlocal ones and is interested in LGBTQ matters, veterans organizations and strengthening nonprofit relationships with the government.
Pitch to voters: William McCurdy II Age: Background:
■
■ Nevada assemblyman, state Democratic Party chairman
■ “I see this as a vehicle where I can continue to provide public service to the community that I grew up in and that I love,” McCurdy said, adding that he was ready to pivot from creating policies at the state level every other year to regularly affecting District D.
■
32
Why run and why now?: Response to coronavirus crisis:
McCurdy said he is actively responding to the emergency by working to provide relief to families so they can return to their feet once the pandemic is over and making sure that systems such as unemployment are working, public utilities are responsive to economic hardships and that people have food, child care and won’t be evicted.
“Taking care of the community, for me, that has not changed just because there is a pandemic going on,” he said. “That is actually more of a call to leadership, more of a call to see how you can help your fellow person.”
■ McCurdy said that obstacles he overcame as a young man — he dropped out of high school — prove that he can demonstrate leadership in good and bad times, and he vowed to bring a fresh perspective with the ability to mobilize young people and lean on the wisdom of elders.
“I think the issue of quality of life is at the forefront of people’s minds,” he said. “I think people want the security to know that they are going to be able to take care of their families.”
He said expanding the Medical District is important because of the lack of health care in District D.
Pitch to voters: Dillard Scott Age: Background:
■
■ business consultant, criminologist
■ “I think in order for our particular district to transform and be the best that it can be, we need to look at it with fresh eyes,” Scott said. “I am those fresh eyes.”
■
44
Why run and why now?: Response to coronavirus crisis:
Scott said he would reassure constituents that local government is as much behind them as the federal government and that the top priority would be to return people to work.
He also said African Americans were disproportionately affected by the coronavirus across the U.S. and in Nevada — he said he has tracked cases locally based on ties in the church community — because of underlying health problems caused by lacking access to health care and nutritious food in largely black communities.
■
As a third-generation Nevadan, he said that it is second nature in his family to feed the homeless and give back to the disenfranchised parts of the community, following the public service efforts of his father, a Teamsters Union steward, and his mother who worked for the county manager’s office.
“I will not take one penny from Clark County until we have a grocery store and family health clinic,” Scott said, promising to forgo his salary until his signature campaign
Pitch to voters:
■
■
■
issue is resolved. He added later: “I will not allow another fast-food restaurant to come in and saturate our community.”