Adam Laxalt, right, with U.S. Senator Dean Heller and wife Lynne, and Nevada Secretary of State candidate Barbara Cegavske. Laxalt is running for state Attorney General. Not pictured, Nevada 4th Congressional District candidate Crescent Hardy. (Dave Maxwell photo)
A few of the candidates for statewide office and the House of Representatives were visible at the Sesquicentennial Celebration in Panaca on Saturday.
Adam Laxalt, running for State Attorney General, Barbara Cegavske, candidate for Nevada Secretary of State, Nevada Congressional District 4 candidate Cresent Hardy, and State Treasurer candidate Dan Schwartz were on hand.
Laxalt, a fourth generation native and grandson of former Nevada Governor and U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt, is a former Navy and federal prosecutor.
A 2002 graduate of Georgetown University Law School in Washington D.C., he served in the U.S. Navy in the Judge Advocate General’s office. He later volunteered to serve in Iraq with the U.S. Army and assisted in the prosecution and detention of captured enemy combatants. He served as a legal advisory to his field commander in Iraq, and working with law enforcement. He has also taught Constitutional Law at the U.S. Naval Academy.
A first-time entrant into the arena of public office, Laxalt is running for Attorney General as two-term Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is ineligible from running again due to term limits.
“The Attorney General,” Laxalt said, “is the top law enforcement officer in the state. You have to work on keeping families safe, have to work on making sure we are able to support all of our counties and all of our local communities in whatever areas they need and where they might be lacking.”
Laxalt, 35, said he has been endorsed for the office by 15 of the 17 county sheriff’s in Nevada. “They believe and trust that I will be tough on crime and be a tough prosecutor and keep our communities safe.” He has also been endorsed by Governor Brian Sandoval, Senator Dean Heller, and State Senator Pete Goicoechea.
“Another aspect of the office I’m excited and enthusiastic about,” he said, “is the Attorney General of a state has his own capacity to fight the federal government. In many other states, the Attorney General is battling away with this runaway Obama administration. There are so many areas right now where the federal government is not listening to the states, refusing to work with state and local officials, and won’t even take input on some of the major issues. Nevada has those problems and needs an Attorney General willing to sue the federal government and get in there and fight.”
He referenced Catherine Cortez Masto for refusing to bring suit that Governor Sandoval asked be filed on behalf of Nevada, and join other states in opposition to the Obamacare law being passed. “It’s important to know that the Attorney General is going to join these fights, and I will continue to fight against Obamacare. My opponent supports Obamacare, and we need to use as many powers as we have to get this giant, massive law off our backs.”
He said he will also fight the BLM on the sage grouse issue as possibly being listed as an endangered species. “There is near universal consensus among parties that the sage grouse designation will take some much authority from Nevada that we cannot do it. It will cripple our economy and it’s just common sense that we can’t go down that road. It will be my focus as Attorney General to look for every avenue to file lawsuits, and we have never had an Attorney General who has or will do that.”
Currently, Laxalt is practicing business law for a firm in Las Vegas, also with offices in Reno. His opponent in the November general election is Democrat Secretary of State Ross Miller.
