U.S. Senate Candidate From Moapa Makes His Case

While he is a newcomer to politics, Moapa resident Bill Parson makes it clear that he is not a newcomer to the race for Harry Reid’s U.S. Senate seat in 2010. In fact, Parson points out htat he was one of the first candidates to officially file in the race.

While higher profile would be Republican candidates have talked about it and have been tentatively testing the water, Parson has jumped in with both feet. In April, Parson took an early retirment from his position as Senior Project

Parson was the guest speaker at a Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon held on Thursday, August 20 in the Old Overton Gym. There he spent about an hour discussing the issues with about two dozen local business-people.

Parson is originally from Texas. He came from a poor family with a father who had received only a third grade education. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he served for 25 years. After his retirement from the Marines, Parson went to work for government contractors, managing various defense projects. He moved to Nevada in 1988 and lived near Lake Topaz. He moved to Moapa 11 years ago. Bill’s wife, Linda, is a Math teacher at Mack Lyon Middle School in Overton.

Parson described himself as a strict states rights advocate. He believes that the federal government has moved away from the intentions of the U.S. Constitution and has taken on powers that should be relegated to the state. Parson named off a list of federal departments that, he said, should be eliminated. These included the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development. “Decisions on these things don’t belong with the federal government and should be returned to the states,” Parson told the Chamber members.

On the topic of recent legislation, Parson gave his rule of thumb. “Any member of Congress who voted for the 2009 budget, TARP or cap and trade should be voted out of office,” he said.

On the subject of health care, Parson recalled that a lot had been said by those in Congress about maintaining competition in the system. “But as soon as you introduce the word ‘free’ you don’t have competition. If the federal government is providing free service how can their be competition?”

On the topic of federal lands in Nevada, Parson goes back to his state’s rights platform. “The federal government needs to pass those lands that are not needed for national defense back to the states to own and manage,” Parson said. Parson felt strongly that decisions about public lands ought to be made by the residents of the state. “Why should a group in California or New York be able to dictate what happens on our land?” he said.

When asked about his stand on Yucca Mountain, Parson took a pragmatic approach. He felt that the research on the site shows that it is scientifically sound as a repository. But he didn’t feel that the original goal for the site is still relevant. “Securing a spot that will be able to store the nuclear waste material for 10,000 years, as was the original intention, is no longer the right answer,” he said.

Parson said that much of the nuclear waste material can now be reprocessed and re-used. “Yucca Mountain could offer a facility to hold those materials and a reprocessing center could be built here to strip the useful elements from the materials,” he said. “But Nevada should be heavily compensated for such an arrangement.”

Parson took issue with the claims by Senator Harry Reid that he has “killed Yucca Mountain”. “He has only defunded it,” Parson said.

Parson points out that federal law has required the nuclear energy industry to put oney into a fund to research and build a Yucca Mountain repository. “Their ratepayers have paid higher energy costs for years to put money into that fund,” Parson said. “Harry Reid has just said ‘I’m not going to spend their money’ that’s all. He has introduced no bill to repeal that law. I think that is very disingenuous. It is a political move to have it both ways.”

Parson admitted that, in terms of campaign funds, he is far behind his opponents. He is running his campaign on his own savings and keeps a tight budget. Reid, on the other hand has raised $11 million for the race.

But that doesn’t dampen Parson’s spirits. “Over the years I have developed a habit of getting a lot done on a very tight budget,” he said. “I have abandoned the conventional wisdom that says you have to raise a lot of money in politics. I believe that to win this election it will take a grass roots movement.”