By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
About 30 people assembled at the Old Logandale School on Saturday, Nov. 9, to meet with Nevada State Assemblyman Gregory Hafen. It was the first in a series of events organized by state-wide parental rights organization Power2Parent.
Hafen served his first session in the legislature earlier this year. He was appointed to the position in Dec. 2018 by a joint committee of County Commissioners from Nye, Lincoln and Clark counties. The appointment was made after frontrunner Republican candidate Dennis Hof died just a few weeks before the 2018 election. Hof’s name stayed on the ballot and he went on to win the election posthumously. This required that a Republican be appointed to fill the seat.
At Saturday’s event, Hafen admitted that the 2019 legislative session had been a tough one. The fact that the Republicans were in a super-minority in the Assembly made it particularly hard to stave off activist measures, he said.
“There were a lot of national liberal agenda items that had nothing to do with Nevada that were shoved down our throats,” Hafen said.
Hafen spent a few moments summing up some of what he felt were the worst of the more than 1,000 bills presented at the legislature.
One would allow drug dealers convicted of selling marijuana to children to work in childcare facilities. He said that he had been instrumental in getting this bill killed.
But others couldn’t be stopped. “The tax bill, for example, was just unconstitutional,” Hafen said. “Passing it without a 2/3 vote showed a blatant disregard for the State Constitution and I hope that it will get struck down in court.”
He admitted having been deeply saddened by a bill that allowed minor girls to receive abortions without parental consultation or consent. “That was a sad situation that it passed,” Hafen said.
Hafen, who is facing an opponent from Las Vegas in the Republican primary next year, encouraged the crowd to go out and vote in the June primary election.
“I don’t know how the rural residents out here feel, but I think that Las Vegas has a lot of representation already in the legislature,” Hafen said. “A lot of those Las Vegas legislators don’t have the first concept of what is going on in the rurals.”
Hafen explained that he is a fifth generation Nevada resident who understands both the rurals and urban areas well.
Hafen is the General Manager of Pahrump Utility Company, Inc., a privately held water and sewer utility. He said that he understands Nevada water law well and has already had the opportunity to work with Moapa Valley Water District General Manager Joe Davis in preserving water rights in the rural areas of the state. Davis, who was in attendance, said that there had been eight bills presented at the last legislature that would have been bad for the MVWD.
“It was nice to have a responsive legislator like Greg who would pick up the phone and ask how a bill might affect us,” Davis said. “It was good to have our perspective represented there in Carson City.”
Attendees asked Hafen about his views on education reform in the state.
“Education is big for me,” he responded. “Nevada is dead last, or next to dead last, in the nation in education. There is absolutely no reason for that.”
Hafen said that the Clark County School District, as fifth largest in the nation, is no longer working. “It is just so big that it doesn’t operate effectively anymore,” he said.
Hafen said that he is in favor of keeping control as close to the people as possible. “I believe in local control in addressing tough issues,” Hafen said. “It is best to allow communities to develop a plan and decide how to solve problems.”
Hafen said that he is a big proponent of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. “I believe that the First Amendment is strong and it is there for a reason,” he said. “The Second Amendment is there in case someone tries to take away the First Amendment rights.”
