Rory's Plan For the Future of Nevada

Nevada is at a crossroads. We can choose a path that restores Nevada’s reputation and leads us forward to a future of economic growth and higher-paying jobs, a better quality of life, higher educational standards, 21st Century infrastructure, and affordable health care. Or we can continue down the road we have traveled for too long – the road to low expectations and poor results. I have already laid out a vision of the Nevada I want to help build as governor. For the remainder of this campaign, I intend to spell out the detailed policies that will help achieve that vision. But all the economic plans, education ideas, and infrastructure enhancements in the world will do no good if we don’t first establish an honest, clean and efficient state government to implement them.

We need to attract dynamic new businesses to our state – but they won’t come if they can’t trust the state government to function ethically, properly and effectively. We need to build the infrastructure necessary to meet the demands of the global economy – but we can’t do so if we don’t have a state government that can plan intelligently and with the best interests of everyday Nevadans at heart, free from the influence of special interests. We need to invest in a better education system for our young people to attract the industries of the future – but we can’t afford those investments if we squander our resources on political pork or giveaways based on lobbyist connections rather than the public interest.

For all these reasons, the road to a better future must be built on a foundation of trust. But, at the moment, that foundation is lacking. Many of Nevada’s ethics laws set a lower standard than other states. For instance, the Better Government Association – an independent, non- partisan government watchdog group committed to fighting waste, corruption and inefficiency in government – last year ranked Nevada 34th in the nation on ethics laws. We ranked 31st on freedom of information, 22nd on open meeting requirements, and an abysmal 40th on conflicts of interest. We need to further limit lobbying activities, contain conflicts of interest, and clean up the contracting process. These are problems across not just state government, but government statewide. It’s time for a change, not only in leadership but in the way Nevada government operates.

Of course, if you’re going to build a foundation of trust, it helps to have experience restoring trust elsewhere. And that’s just what I’ve done.