With the 2018 election season upon the valley and two of the most influential county seats to be decided by voters, Pahrump residents Andy Alberti and Bill Newyear are once again organizing a Commissioner Candidates Forum.
The event is set for Monday, March 19, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Pahrump Senior Center and the entire community is invited.
The Commissioner Candidates Forum will take place in a typical debate style, with each contender given the chance to provide an opening statement, followed by prepared questions which will be posed to all candidates. Everyone will have the opportunity to address the prepared queries with a time limit imposed to ensure the event moves at a reasonable pace.
Once the prepared questions have been tackled, the audience will be able to participate in the forum by posing their own. In this portion of the event, residents will be allowed to ask the entire panel of candidates or individual candidates about their position on a particular issue.
“We sit around on Thursday mornings and talk about what is going on in Nye County,” Newyear explained of the purpose behind the event and what prompted him and Alberti to host their first in 2016. “And people always talk about this and that and the next thing, but it all boils down to the county commission is where it all starts. If you get good people on the board, a lot of the problems, perceived or real, will not occur.
“We give the candidates all a chance to speak their piece so the people can see who the serious candidates are and who the flakes are,” Newyear continued. “We’ve invited all nine of the candidates that have declared and we’ve had some RSVP already. We are hoping they will all be there.”
The forum will include those registered for the Nye County Commission District 4 and 5 seats.
In the District 4 race, there was a field of five candidates as of Wednesday, March 14. These include Leo Blundo, Ron Boskovich, Tina Trenner and Walt Turner as Republican contenders and Richard Goldstein as the sole Democrat registered.
Of the five, Blundo, Trenner, Turner and Boskovich have all confirmed their intention to participate. Goldstein detailed that he would not be attending due to the fact that he will be in the hospital for surgery that evening.
In the District 5 race, incumbent candidate Dan Schinhofen has filed, along with fellow Republicans Dwight Lilly, Debra Strickland and Leo Marchetti.
Lilly, Strickland and Marchetti stated that they will be attending the forum.
Schinhofen, however, has decided not to participate.
Newyear said he hopes the Commissioner Candidates Forum will prove to be a success and provide the community with the opportunity to get to know a little more about those who want to represent them in the coming years.
“We’ll have eight or 10 prepared questions on a list, all having to do with things that are pertinent to what is happening here in Nye County,” Newyear said. “It will give people an idea of where these candidates stand and hopefully help make sure they are educated voters in the upcoming elections.”
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes