Congressman-elect Hardy to visit Pahrump, Tonopah

Congressman-elect Cresent Hardy wants to get to know residents in and issues facing constituents in his district.

Hardy will hold a two-hour public meeting Monday in Pahrump starting at 8 a.m., before heading north to Tonopah.

The first meeting will be in the County Commission chambers, 2100 East Walt Williams Drive in Pahrump.

“It’s important to me to go to where the people are and not wait for them to call to hear what’s on their minds concerning our government,” Hardy said. “This tour is just the first step in a my unwavering commitment to constituent service.”

Hardy will then travel to Tonopah, meeting business leaders at the Mizpah Hotel at 1:30 p.m. before visiting various local businesses.

These meetings are part of a larger tour of the Fourth Congressional District before the freshman lawmaker takes office in January. Hardy will make 10 stops on this first trip and “expects to hear directly from the people of the district about what they expect from Congress and from their Representative,” according to the announcement.

Hardy, a Republican, defeated first-term incumbent Democrat Steven Horsford 63,466 votes to 59,844 votes in the Nov. 4 election, a margin of victory of 48.5 percent to 45.7 percent.

A Mesquite resident, he leaves his state assembly seat.

Hardy has been assigned to House committees that deal with resource programs and transportation.

The posts were confirmed last week by Hardy chief of staff Alan Tennille.

Hardy, who will take office on Jan. 6, will sit on the Committee on Natural Resources, which oversees the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and other federal land and water agencies. The post is a fit with Hardy’s district that includes northern Clark County and all or part of six rural counties in central Nevada.

The Mesquite Republican, a general contractor and construction company co-owner, also will sit in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that handles legislation on highways, waterways and airports.

Tennille also announced Hardy has hired Sonia Joya to be his district director in Nevada. Joya, Nevada director of government affairs for the Hill International construction group, has also worked in various capacities with Governor Brian Sandoval, former Gov. Kenny Guinn, former Sen. John Ensign and former Rep. Barbara Vucanovich.

“Transportation infrastructure is something where my expertise is, I was a manager for years in the construction industry,” Hardy said. He also served on the Clark County Regional Transportation Commission.

Hardy indicated his appointment to the Natural Resources Committee will allow him to advocate for the transfer of some of the federal public land to the state of Nevada.

The Nevada Public Land Management Task Force will present its recommendations on what lands could be transferred to the 2015 session of the state Legislature.

“Natural resources is a natural fit as you know I’m a state’s rights individual, there’s areas of public land that can be state public land,” Hardy said. “I don’t know how far we’ll get but we’ll do everything we can to change the direction.”