Incumbent Yeager seeking re-election against first-time candidate

A prominent Democratic incumbent with no shortage of campaign money is seeking re-election against a challenger running her first Assembly race.

Assemblyman Steve Yeager, 41, was first elected to represent Assembly District 9 in 2016. Since then, he has served as chair of the Judiciary Committee and is currently speaker pro tempore of the Assembly. He is a partner at Battle Born Injury Lawyers.

He is facing a challenge from Republican Barbara Altman, an 80-year-old retired jewelry designer who has raised no money, spent no money, and has virtually no campaign presence online.

If re-elected, Yeager said he wants to continue working on criminal justice reform. Nevada took positive steps over the past two regular sessions, he said, but there is still work to do.

He supports the implementation of a pre-plea diversion program for low-level offenders.

Yeager also supports reforming the civil asset forfeiture process, something he said generally has bipartisan support nationally.

“I think there’s just not enough due process in there,” he said.

Yeager has submitted a bill draft request for a work-in-progress piece of legislation that would seal criminal records for low-level marijuana offenders who were previously pardoned. He said the process now is time-consuming and can be costly. He suggested automatic sealing of records as a possible fix.

Evictions an issue

Yeager said he does not personally have any pandemic-related bills for the next session, but said the public health crisis has put evictions in the spotlight. He suggested lawmakers could address that process in the next session to give tenants more protections.

“We have one of the fastest eviction processes in the country and it can really be done with very little judicial oversight,” he said.

He said he wants to try to restore cuts made to health care. But if Nevada faces budget shortfalls for the next fiscal year and is forced to make significant cuts, he said he would look at education and the Department of Health and Human Services because they are two large budget items.

“If you back me in a corner and said, ‘You’ve got to cut somewhere among those,’ I would probably look first at state Medicaid and try to keep education where it is because that’s something we’ve really, really tried to prioritize over the years,” he said. “And I would hate to see further cuts there.”

He said he should be reelected because he is a hard worker who is accessible and can handle disagreement. He also said voters would benefit from sending a lawmaker with experience back to Carson City to make difficult decisions.

Barbara Altman

Altman said people think she cannot win. Regardless, she said she does not want to let Yeager walk into office.

“I know it sounds ridiculous that I would want to do this at this point in my life, because I’m retired and I can lie on the couch and eat bonbons, you know, and not do anything,” Altman said. “But I think I care too much about this country and I care very much about this state. It’s been very good to me and I am really upset.”

She backs school choice said her primary focus is education. She wants to set up an oversight committee to review what schools are teaching children. She also wants an independent audit of the Clark County School District to see how money is spent. She unsuccessfully ran for school board trustee in 2010.

Altman, whose campaign paperwork shows Social Security as a source of income, claims socialism is rampant throughout the education system. She said schools are not giving kids a proper education, leaving them unprepared when they reach college.

“Why are we dumbing down America?” she said. “That’s what I want to know. So the only reason you would dumb down America is to control the masses. I know it sounds very conspiratorial, but this is what’s going on.”

If elected, she wants to hire more workers to check on nursing homes to make sure seniors are receiving adequate care. Altman is the vice president of the Nevada Silver Haired Legislative Forum.

Should Nevada continue to feel the fiscal impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Altman supports cutting education.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.