Candidates for Senate District 20 want less government

A longtime California politician and a Boulder City business owner are both hoping to see fewer government regulations on Nevadans if elected.

Republican Jeff Stone, Libertarian Brandon Mills and Democrat Brent Foutz are all running for state Senate District 20, which covers the southeast and northeast edges of the Las Vegas Valley.

Mills opened his business, which produces supplies for police departments and hospitals, months before the pandemic forced businesses to shut down across the state. His company was too new for most government loans, which required six months of operation prior to the pandemic. Now he is hoping to see voters tell elected officials what to do, and not the reverse.

“I’m a military vet, an Army vet,” he said. “I’ve seen government up close and the inefficiencies of what it can be.”

Mills is raising three children, including two who are in the Clark County School District. He said he worried government programs for education only helped schools that were failing.

“Government programs are incentivized to fail,” he said. “When they fail, they can petition for more money. If they succeed, they’re able to accomplish their goal with what funding they have.”

Mills said he refused to run for a specific party because he felt both Democrats and Republicans become corrupted by corporations and special interest groups.

“I don’t want to be a politician,” he said. “I want to be for the people, (be) there for the small businesses, for the parents sending their kids to messed up schools. I want there to be free market solutions rather than government solutions.”

Stone moved to Las Vegas in 2017 after retiring from the California state Senate. He first got into politics in 1995, running as a councilman in Temecula, California after local politicians did nothing to stop the graffiti being sprayed on his business. He then worked full time on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors before being elected to the state Senate. In 2019 he served as the western regional representative for the U.S. Department of Labor.

Stone, a former pharmacy owner, is hoping to see more medical students stay in Las Vegas by encouraging the state to provide more residency slots. Although he wants to work to make prescription drugs affordable, Stone did not want to take money out of drug company profits.

“If drug companies can make money for research and development, we can not only prolong people’s lives but have a good quality of life as we get people older,” he said. “There’s a very delicate balance there. A lot of these drug companies are philanthropic.”

Stone said he believed there was evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election. He wanted to require citizenship status on state drivers licenses and allow residents to file civil lawsuits against people they suspect were committing voter fraud.

“Increase criminal penalties for those that aid and abet criminal fraud,” Stone said. “Citizens should have the opportunity to file a lawsuit against someone they believe committed voter fraud. If you think someone is cheating, you go get it and get the legal fees returned to you.”

Stone said he wanted to ban sanctuary states and critical race theory, although he could point to no example of either in Nevada.

Foutz declined multiple requests for an interview.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.