Debate event showcases races for sheriff, commission, District 5 and justice of the peace

The Nye County Republican Club held its last debate event for local races on Wednesday night before this year’s general election day next week.

“This was the final debate that we did for this election cycle,” Nye County Republican Club President Joe Burdzinski told the Pahrump Valley Times after the event. “I think the people were excited about this debate, especially the sheriff’s debate, which was the first group, and it went very well.”

The debates were once again moderated by a Pahrump Valley Times reporter. Former Nye County Commissioner Frank Carbone was the evening’s timekeeper.

Nye County sheriff

Incumbent Joe McGill and challenger Dan Pineau took to the stage first in the nonpartisan race for sheriff of Nye County.

“The biggest problem that we have public safety-wise in Nye County is our staffing level,” McGill said when discussing public safety priorities. “Our staffing level is approximately 1.5 deputies per thousand. The national standard is 2.5 deputies per thousand. That does not include the detention center deputies as far as those counts. We need to increase our staffing. We have been doing so over the last four years. It is not to the level where it should be or where I would like it to be. And to be honest with you, I don’t just want to be at the national standard. I would rather be above standard. However, that’s difficult to do with the number of people who want to become peace officers in this country right now. It’s an across-the-country problem with law enforcement.”

“Drugs are simply out of control,” Pineau explained upon being asked about his public safety priorities. “They are in every community, every gas station, they’re in the schools. The sheriff’s office right now is not doing anything to fight drugs. There’s no task force. There was a task force here that ran for 20 years and it was called the Scorpion Task Force. They would do 250 to 300 felony cases a year on narcotics arrests and dealing with narcotics within our communities. When you have more drugs, you’re gonna have more crime. We have kids overdosing in the schools. We have overdoses here every day. When we have more drugs, crime is gonna be through the roof, which it is. With more crime, you know, we need more deputies.”

During the remainder of the debate, McGill and Pineau sparred with each other on various topics such as staffing, crime statistics in Nye County, campaigning, funding avenues, community involvement and narcotics.

Nye County commissioner, District 5

The debate for Nye County commissioner, District 5, was up next with Republican nominee Matt Sadler and nonpartisan Chris Lally.

Both candidates were asked about how they would approach retaining local young adults within the community’s workforce, and how specifically Nye County can incentivize young professionals to build their careers in their hometown after finishing college and skills training.

“We need to put some of these people in these high positions, have them be some sort of liaison, form public-private partnerships, to hold symposiums, to hold conventions, whatever you might want to call it, to woo over people that want to go ahead and start a business and industry out in Pahrump, and then get our young people excited about it,” Sadler said. “So often I think what happens is there’s not enough enthusiasm ginned up by the people in here that are powerful, that have powerful jobs, that they’re actually caring about these young people staying here. I moved my family from Las Vegas here to raise my sons, 8 and 16, and when they become of age they’re going to be looking for the nearest exit strategy out of here. I want them to stay here. I want them to maybe start a business. I want them to be in an industry where they can form a living, start their families out here.”

“We need to get people involved in trades. There’s a trade school here,” Lally explained. “So that would employ some of the young people too and get them really passionate about their town again. As Matt said, we want them to not have to feel like they’re gonna want to leave as soon as they turn 18 or what have you. We want them to think about a future here in our town, but we need to come together as a town and figure out what the heck that future is gonna be ‘cause it can’t just be nothing. It can’t just be Walmart. The Walmart family has billions of dollars. Does anyone in here have billions of dollars? No. And so we’d be doing ourselves a great service by coming together, Republican and Democrat and nonpartisan, all of us, and discussing who we want to be to the outside world.”

Pahrump justice of the peace, Department B

The nonpartisan contest for Pahrump justice of the peace, Department B closed out the evening. Current pro tem judge in Department B, Michael Foley and candidate Scott Oakley were both asked to describe their judicial philosophy in easy-to-understand language.

“The scope of the court is quite broad and my philosophy is that everybody is entitled to be heard and entitled to be treated fairly,” Foley said. “That’s the most important thing, fair treatment for everybody. As I say quite often, ‘When the black robe goes on, I have no friends, I have no enemies.’ Everybody’s the same to me and I try and listen to everything that they say and make the best decision that I possibly can with the information that I’ve got.”

“I have experience in a lot of areas that help me to understand and will show my expertise in a different realm, a different lens for the judicial system,” Oakley explained. “It’s time for the judicial system to be fair, concise and I’ll be able to work with those individuals on a very serious basis through the system itself because I’m a systems therapist and I understand the system and I will continue to learn like I’ve been learning for the past years with all my degrees and stuff.”

For more information about the Nye County Republican Club, visit nyecountyrepublicanclub.org.

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com