Jared Lord is running for governor as a Libertarian. KNPR News sent out a questionnaire to candidates. Here are his responses.
Question: Education in Nevada is ranked dead last or close to it. What does it need to improve?
Clark County School District needs to be broken up into multiple, more manageable districts. We waste a tremendous amount of money on an administrative and bureaucratic class that should be going towards education. We short change our teachers, cut hours on janitors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and go without getting new textbooks all in order to pay for administrative raises. We have thousands of administrators making at least 6 figures. First step towards fixing this is eliminating about 75% of those positions, which would require breaking CCSD up into smaller districts. We also need to be looking at best practices in successful districts nationwide, and adopting what will work in Nevada, which should include giving more control to the parents and teacher, as well as the students themselves.
Question: Mental health is becoming a growing problem in the state. To fix it would require a lot of money. Where would that money come from?
I worked in the mental health field for many years back home, and have seen first hand how we fail these individuals. I have plans to free up a great deal of funds in the state by making the state more efficient, and even automated when able. This means deep cuts at the administrative level to prevent diminished or interrupted services. Cutting bureaucracy to increase efficiency will both free up money to expand services, and save the taxpayers money. I want to see innovative solutions, rather than the increase taxes and throw money at bureaucracy as a "solution." There is no such thing as state money, only taxpayer money, and it is our duty to use this money responsibly, efficiently, and effectively in all areas, not just education or mental health.
Question: Housing costs are going up in Reno and Las Vegas, and both metropolitan areas are having a difficult time providing affordable homes or apartments to the growing numbers of people moving there. How do you propose increasing investment in affordable housing?
It seems counter-intuitive that as building efficiency and technology have increased, costs of rents have increased as well. The libertarian perspective seems to always be to blame the government, but I suspect other factors involved. Historically, low income families would pile extended families into one apartment in order to minimize costs. Many regulatory guidelines discourage this practice. Provided this is not a safety issue, or creates a public health emergency, I would be in favor of relaxing some of these regulations. If the landlord and tenet (sic) agree on occupancy, rent, etc, it's not really our place to second guess. Anything our state is doing to help should be consistently evaluated for efficiency and efficacy, because all too often state help creates a burden that increases costs. Another instance I see that impacts affordable housing is property taxes. I would also like to see our current income requirements for tax abatement caps be raised.
Question: Was it a good idea for Las Vegas to invest $750 million in room taxes to build a stadium for a professional football team? If not, why not? If so, how do you think it will benefit Nevada?
This was not a good idea at all. If you were to look at the history of tax-funded stadiums, no city or state has ever gotten benefits that exceeded the cost. The latest figures I have seen have stated that for 4 consecutive quarters the room tax has failed to generate the revenue expected, which makes me worried that the legislature will try to make up that gap by taking money from the citizens, either through a tax increase, or through a reduction in services and benefits. This team would have been more than welcome to build this stadium without state assistance, and had the needed funds to make it happen. This deal was literally corporate welfare, and long term, it will harm Nevada.
Question: Does Nevada need to enact any laws related to background checks to obtain a weapon in the state?
I don't believe that taking rights away from law abiding citizens for the acts of criminals is the right thing to do, so I would not support most attempts at changing the current laws. Statistically, violent crime is at a 60 year low, and school shootings are at a 20 year low. These tragic events we see on the news are much more violent than they were in times when they were more common. The sort of partisan hatred going on in recent years have a lot more to do with these incidents than what law-abiding citizens choose to own. We live in a world where people dehumanize one another over politics, race, religion, sexuality, and sports teams. I would argue that looking into ways to bring communities together by focusing on commonalities will do much more to prevent further tragedies than tinkering with the rights of people who didn't actually do anything wrong.