Rick Gardner, Republican Assembly District 39

Hometown: Zephyr Cove

Contact information:

vote4gardner.com

Incumbency: None

Record of Service: Douglas County Planning Commissioner, two terms.

Appointed to the Redevelopment Advisory Committee for Douglas County.

Co-Founder: Gardner Enterprises (residential construction company)

Part of Tahoe's family-owned Red Hut Restaurants

Partner: Sierra Springs Water Ski Lake, Carson Valley

Education: Gardnerville

Zephyr Cove elementary schools

Whittell High School,

University of Utah, B.S. in finance.

California Western School of Law, J.D.

Platform: Of all the things I've built in my lifetime, the best is yet to come. I want to build a bridge of trust, understanding and progress between the community we all share and Assembly District 39. But I can't build it alone. I need your thoughts and ideas to help me form my action plan.

My wife and I talked about waiting to run for an assembly seat until it was a more convenient time in our life. But when this opportunity arose, we quickly decided that the time to run is now. After all, when you have ideas about how to build a better district and have the tools you need to get it done, why wait?

I believe I can play an important role in making our community even better while also helping solve problems caused by Nevada's growth. By doing so, I want to make our area a better place for my family to be raised. I also want it to become an increasingly desirable place for them to come back to after college.

Fiscal conservatism in all levels of government is a major priority. Caps on property tax increases need to be made permanent. And to encourage the engine of economic growth, our state taxes need to be kept low.

My background in finance should serve me well as I evaluate this essential subject.

It's a truism that government bureaucracy has become too bloated. I support balanced budgets and spending cuts.

A possible solution could be to install spending limits. However, they should not be limited to a point where state and local governments would be forced to run inefficiently.

I am firmly against using any budget surplus to fund programs that only cause future tax liabilities. Why ask our children to pay for our poor decisions?

Education.

Let's get smart.

I support school choice and believe that family is the key to creating successful students. Simply put, schools need to encourage parental involvement.

More tax dollars need to make it to the teacher and to the classroom and not get spent on unnecessary bureaucracy along the way. Let's make a smart investment in our children. The dividends will be enormous.

Government's Role.

Let's clarify things.

To my way of thinking, government should be limited to those tasks that are not best handled by free enterprise.

I feel that an individual's private property rights are essential. And with my practice in transactional real estate, I've become quite familiar with this concept on a daily basis.

I support the current system of limiting the term of the legislature to 120 days every two years.

Initiative-based legislation should only be used as a last resort. It serves its role to put pressure on legislators to fulfill the will of the people. However, it's also is a vote of non-confidence for the elected officials. If voters do not agree with the laws their lawmakers are enacting, it's clear to me that those officials need to be replaced.