Marcus Conklin
for Nevada
Issues
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Bipartisan Cooperation
With our state—and the nation—facing some of the toughest challenges many of us can remember, it becomes more critical than ever that we work together to find answers. I have always been committed to working with my colleagues in both parties, groups and individuals to find practical solutions to specific problems. I believe in listening---that is why I walk door-to-door, attend events in the district, visit schools and talk to parents, teachers and students, and participate in town halls and other forums to get citizen input.
Jobs
We must get Nevadans back to work. Job creation is the key to our economic recovery. We must continue to work to create new jobs in road and building construction and renewable energy development. We must also work to diversify our economy and create jobs for the future.
Here are some steps we have taken to move in that direction:
• I supported a jobs bill to create 8000 new jobs by funding road construction.
• I voted for incentives for renewable energy development projects that create Nevada jobs.
• A special legislative committee is making recommendations to the 2011 Legislature on ways to help Nevada become a manufacturing, distribution and transportation hub for the Western United States.
• As someone who has worked in the business sector on staffing issues and growing small businesses, I am pleased that we consistently rank high in national surveys on our business climate. We need to continue to work to make Nevada a place where high-paying industries want to relocate, including making a real commitment to improvements in education.Education
I believe strongly that we need to make a real commitment to education, even in these tough economic times. Quality schools are critical not only to our children’s future, but to our economic recovery and our efforts to diversify our economy.
Talking to teachers, parents and students as I have visited schools has provided me with a real understanding of the many challenges our schools are facing now—challenges we did not have when we were in school.
I believe our priorities must be—
• To recruit and keep the best teacher in every classroom.
• To continue to work to reduce class size.
• To return decision-making to the school level.
• To ensure dollars go directly to the classroom by reducing administrative overhead.
• Better accountability for school spending and the effectiveness of every program.Government Efficiency
Businesses and families are having to make tough decisions about their budgets—setting priorities, cutting costs and focusing on what is really necessary and important. Government must do so as well. We need to reform the way our government operates, and we began that process this past year.
We need to do more—cutting spending, consolidating or sharing services to avoid costly duplication and to provide the best service, setting priorities and measuring performance, making our budget process more transparent.
Steps we have taken to begin this process include—
• Establishing a state revenue stabilization fund, a forced savings account for our state.
• Cutting state spending by more than a billion dollars, while working to preserve essential services in our balanced state budget.
• Better tracking of unpaid taxes.
• Limiting expensive, outside contracts.
