Governor visits Empire Elementary

When Gov. Brian Sandoval’s staff started placing pins in the map of every Nevada town he has visited since he first started campaigning, they underestimated the amount of pins they would need. “We ran out of pins at 100 places,” Sandoval told a group of Empire Elementary School fourth-graders Tuesday. The governor visited the school in response to a letter from students, asking him to explain the election process. After introducing himself to the group and telling them a little about his job, he opened it up to questions — press conference style. “Is it hard to govern the whole state,” asked Junior Alfredo Carrasco Solano, 11. Sandoval acknowledged that it can be difficult. “I have to make a lot of hard decisions,” he said. “I always want to do what I feel is in the best interest of the state of Nevada.”But, he said, it has it’s rewards as well. “I absolutely love my job,” he said. “I feel very, very blessed and honored to be governor of the state of Nevada.”He answered another question, saying he does get tired while campaigning.“But it’s a good kind of tired,” he explained. And the questions got tougher. “What choices have you made to solve the economy?” asked Noah Presswood, 9. “That’s exactly what I’m doing right now,” he said. “I’m building the state budget to show how we’re going to spend our money in the next two years.”While sharing his own accomplishments, Sandoval encouraged the students to pursue their own. “I hope you all have hopes and dreams about what you want to be,” he said. “As long as you stay in school and work hard, you can be anything you want to be.”