Party: Republican
Place of residence: Reno
Occupation: Nevada Congressional District 2 congressman,
Age: 61
Contact information:
lwood@gibbonsfornevada.comgibbonsfornevada.com
Incumbency: Candidate for office
Education:
JD, Southwestern University Law School; MS, mining/geology, University of Nevada, Reno; BS, geology
University of Nevada, Reno
Sparks High School
Record of service:
I served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force (rank of Captain) in the Vietnam War. Served as flight leader in Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq as a pilot in the Nevada Air National Guard. Was vice-commander for the Nevada Air National Guard.
Nevada Assembly 1988-1994
Honors:
Lifetime Tax Fighter Award-National Tax Limitation Committee
Guardian of Small Business-National Federation of Independent Business
Taxpayers' Friend-National Taxpayers Union
Platform:
Every Nevadan deserves accessible, affordable and accountable state government. I want to increase the efficiency of our operations to keep taxes low while improving service.
My top priority is education. Every Nevadan deserves the opportunity to be educated to his or her potential. We need to do a better job of recruiting and retaining qualified teachers and provide merit pay for outstanding teachers. I want to give principals greater accountability. And I will work to get a larger percentage of every taxpayer dollar into the classroom where it does the most good.
Students who graduate from high school should be better prepared for entering college, which will help both the students by giving them a smoother transition into higher education and the taxpayers by reducing the amount of remedial training that must be done in colleges and universities. Taxpayers shoulder most of the burden for higher education in Nevada. I propose raising out-of-state tuition to shift a little of that burden, while keeping fees low for in-state students.
We need to improve our vocational programs.
High school students need advanced career training even if they don't immediately continue their education after graduation.
We should rely upon business and industry to help provide guidance for curricula and to establish public/private partnerships which can give students better training while saving taxpayers money.
Finally, we need to keep the Millennium Scholarship alive. As governor, I will recruit business, industry and concerned individuals to establish an endowment which will make Millennium Scholarships available for generations of Nevadans.
