Lawmaker Rhoads to seek re-election

Veteran Elko County lawmaker Dean Rhoads has announced he will run for another term representing the Northern Nevada Senate District.

Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, is the only remaining full-time rancher in the Legislature. He served in 2003 as chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, vice-chairman of Taxation and a member of the Finance Committee.

He said his seniority will assure rural interests are represented on key committees.

"I will be able to monitor and guide legislation important to rural Nevada," he said.

He said one of his greatest successes in 2003 was passage of SB3, which brings a percentage of all off-track betting proceeds to rural counties which hold horse and mule racing. The money will be used to increase tourism in those rural areas.

Rhoads was a reluctant supporter of tax increases approved by the 20th special session of the Legislature last July. He has been an overwhelming winner in his recent election campaigns for the district which now represents 70 percent of the land area of Nevada including all or part of eight counties.

"With your help I will continue to provide the experience and knowledge necessary to successfully pass legislation benefiting rural Nevada and block legislation that would harm our rural lifestyle," he said.

When his Senate and Assembly service are added together, Rhoads has served longer than all but two members of the Legislature. He was an Assembly freshman in 1977 when he ran as the vanguard of the "Sagebrush Rebellion," the states' rights movement to reclaim ownership of Nevada lands from the federal government. After his third term in the Assembly, he tried to use that issue to vault him into the Congress but was defeated by Barbara Vucanovich in the 1982 primary. He returned to the Legislature in 1985 as a Senator where he is now completing his fifth four-year term.

His seniority is exceeded only by the 32 years served by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas. John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, has served the same total number of years in the Legislature, but Marvel was first elected in 1979.

Contact Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or 687-8750.