Hafen and Bradley face off for Nevada Assembly District 36

Gregory Hafen II is aiming to keep and Dr. Joseph Bradley is striving to take the Assembly District 36 seat this year and as these are the only two candidates for this seat, the winner will be determined by the 2020 Republican Primary.

Dr. Joseph Bradley

A former law enforcement officer, Bradley is a certified addictionologist working toward his doctorate in clinical psychology. He holds a master’s degree in substance abuse counseling and education and a diplomate in addictionology, along with many other certifications. In his career, Bradley has taught for several universities and is currently working with John Patrick University, where he wrote the program and is the professor for a master’s level class in health and applied sciences.

“I love to teach. At the end of the day, when I win, I even view this as a teaching opportunity,” Bradley said of his bid for assemblyman. “If you give people the facts of what’s taking place, educate them, then they are in a place to make an informed decision. When we just yell and scream at each other, what happens is, people often make emotional decisions that are uninformed.”

Bradley is heavily involved in the treatment community as well, helping veterans and first responders suffering with chemical dependency and PTSD, work that has earned him the endorsement of the Nevada Veterans Association. “When they looked at the totality of my work, they recognized me as the candidate best to serve that population I have to tell you, right there, I already feel like I’ve won,” Bradley said with obvious pride, summing up his career with the statement, “I’m in the business of helping and serving, it’s what I’ve done my entire adult life.”

Throughout his campaign, Bradley has been a harsh critic of his opponent, remarking that he found it quite frustrating that Hafen now has the power of incumbency behind him, even though he was appointed to the Assembly rather than elected by the voters.

“He didn’t earn it the first time and although I believe I will soundly defeat him, if he were to win, he wouldn’t have earned it this time because he had the benefit of incumbency, which he didn’t earn to begin with. Either way, he is not a worthy person to hold this position,” Bradley asserted.

Bradley considers himself to be the true conservative candidate for office, honing in on one of the most central topics for Republicans, that of taxes. Bradley has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, stating the he feels taxes are an excuse of poor leadership passed on to the people. “My opponent can’t say that. In fact, he’s left it open to raise taxes,” Bradley asserted.

On another subject of keen interest to those living in the Pahrump Valley, Bradley said he would be a staunch fighter for the protection of domestic wells. “If you’re a private well owner, do you really trust a water utility company?” Bradley added, alluding to the fact that Hafen works for the water utility company his family owns.

Bradley noted that he feels as if Hafen is putting on one face publicly and then taking a different position privately, stating, “It offends me because the job of a representative is to represent the will of the people… Here’s my stance: In many ways, my opinion is irrelevant. If I have an opinion but a majority of the people, my constituents, want something a particular way, regardless of my personal opinion, as a representative, it is my duty to represent their collective interest, not for me to dictate my beliefs upon them.

“I am not a political insider, I am not part of the bureaucracy, I am not part of the establishment and in fact, it seems like those categories dislike me,” Bradley continued. “They dislike me because I will be transparent and a true representative of the people.”

Bradley said when he is in office, he has plans to do Zoom meetings every week from Carson City to keep everyone apprised of exactly what is going on in the Legislature. “I will be the most transparent person you ever saw in our state government,” he concluded.

Voters can learn more about Bradley by calling 702-970-8413, emailing joe@electjoebradley.com or visiting www.electjoebradley.com

Greg Hafen II

Hafen is a fifth-generation Nevadan and a graduate of UNLV, with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He currently works as the general manager of his family’s utility service provider, Pahrump Utility Company and was appointed to his position as assemblyman in 2019, following the death of 2018 election winner Dennis Hof.

Touching on some of his accomplishments in the last legislative session, Hafen highlighted his co-sponsorship of a bill that opened the door for pharmacists to notify customers when a generic drug is available, which helps them save money versus the cost of non-generic versions. Another success story, he said, was his work on helping change the law that requires a student to sit out of athletics for a year when they start at a new school, so that law no longer applies to military families who move quite often in the course of their duty.

“One of the other things that I was very passionate about this last session was more of a general mentality, trying to explain the effect of different bills or ideas on the rural communities in our state. A lot of things come forward from legislators from the metropolitan areas and they didn’t necessarily think about the unintended consequences that would be passed on to the rural communities,” Hafen said. “That was one of my priorities, looking out for the rural portions of the state and making sure there wouldn’t be those unintended consequences.”

Despite his efforts, there were still some bills passed that do have a negative impact on the district but his hope is that he can go back next year and help fix those. In addition, he is eyeing several other items for the coming session.

“I want to bring my pro-Second Amendment bill back, which would allow concealed carry permit holders to keep their firearm in their locked vehicle when on a school campus. CCW holders are some of the most law-abiding citizens in the country and we should be allowed to protect ourselves and our families when traveling to and from schools,” Hafen explained.

On the education front, Hafen said the new funding formula for schools is something he is not a big fan of, as he feels it is going to hurt rural schools much more than those in Las Vegas. Thus, he want to assist with finding a way to lessen the impact on rural schools.

“A lot of what I am looking at are minor law changes that can have a big impact,” Hafen said. “A lot of it’s cutting red tape that is prohibiting volunteers and/or citizens from being successful.”

As for the aspersions from his opponent, Hafen took a moment to refute some of what Bradley has been saying. “My opponent claims I want to stop private wells. Fake news!” Hafen asserted. “I do not want to stop wells and my voting record proves that. No one fought harder than me to protect everyone’s wells. Half my family in Pahrump lives on wells.”

As for Bradley claiming himself to be the true conservative, Hafen remarked that Bradley has attacked the Nevada GOP and the Trump re-election campaign, while Hafen himself has been selected as the rural Nevada chair for that campaign. Hafen added that he has also earned kudos from the American Conservative Union, which named him the top conservative freshman and one of the top five conservatives overall based on the 2019 legislative session.

“I’ve always been taught, growing up, that you have to give back to your community and you’ve got to do what you are best at so I try to give back by doing this. I think I did a pretty good job this last legislative session, on such short notice and under odd circumstances. It was an absolute honor and I would love to do it again, to try to expand and actually have time to prepare and bring some good bills forward.”

Voters can learn more about Hafen by calling 775-727-1629, emailing gregory@hafen4nevada.com or visiting www.hafen4nevada.com