Letter to the Editor
October 21, 2006
JUST WHAT DOES A CLEAR VISION FOR THE CITY OF FERNLEY MEAN?
When a statement like this is made in the Political Arena a voter should expect the individual making it to have a well thought out platform that they put forth forcefully in both the spoken and written word. And if this is not done, then voters need to look in other areas for clues. One method of ascertaining why a person takes given stances is to examine the required Contributions and Expenditures forms filed and signed by the Candidates. After all this is a window into what groups and individuals are willing to put their money up to assist a given candidate in their attempt to gain Public Office.
Specifically let’s look at the race for Mayor of Fernley. We have five candidates left in the race and according to three of them they received absolutely no outside contributions in the required filling period prior to the Primary Election. It doesn’t matter that your name isn’t on the primary ballot you still file the report. Of the two that filled, incumbent the Honorable David Stix Jr. and opponent Todd Cutler, one sees a drastic difference in what specific groups financially back each candidate.
Mr. Cutler received over 30% of his money from a single large developer operating in California and Nevada, and 13% from another developer building homes in Northern Nevada. In fact, over 75% of his total money for the primary can be traced to developer, contractor or related business’s. Over 15% of his money came from out of state and only 25 % of his contributors listed a Fernley Address. In the under $100 column (names need not be listed) he got 5%.
David Stix records a decidedly different following during the primary period. Over 80% of his donors show a Fernley address, no contributions from outside the state, and less than 7% of his money came from developer, contractor business. In the under $100 column he got 6% of his total.
This is not meant to demean any person connected with the development, construction or related business’s they are all a very important and necessary part of our community and we can not continue to build the better community that we want to live in and be proud of without them.
For the sake of Transparency in Government, when a person claims to have a vision it needs to be carefully defined and set forth so all know what it is.
W.B. Clegg
Fernley. NV
