First lady fights good fight, and many benefit

Funding for autism services always was a priority for Gov. Brian Sandoval. "I felt those kids have been underserved," he said, citing long waiting lists for therapy services.

In his first budget, when times were lean, he couldn't do much beyond a pilot program.

But over the next two years, between state and federal dollars, more than $71 million will go to provide services for Nevadans with autism spectrum disorders.

The state money alone jumped from $11 million in the previous biennium to more than $30 million in this cycle. That's a tremendous amount of new funding put into the governor's initial budget even before Sandoval could count on adding additional tax dollars.

Jan Crandy, chairwoman of the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders, was pleased to see autism services become a major budget initiative for Sandoval.

The most recent numbers are chilling. Nevada school districts identified 6,217 children as eligible for services, with 545 in treatment programs and more than 500 on the waiting list. They remain on that waiting list an average of 207 days.

Did the governor's wife, Kathleen, nudge Sandoval to increase the dollars for autism?

"God bless her, it's important to her and me," Sandoval said. Then he started to praise how her efforts help Nevadans who might not even know it.

Kathleen Sandoval is Nevada's first governor's wife to hold a full-time job and combine it with caring for her family as well as first lady duties. The Sandovals have three children.

Her husband praises her for her other efforts to improve the lives of Nevadans, ticking off issues she works on including prescription drug abuse, homelessness, various programs for school children, and mental health.

Yet she is rarely recognized for it.

By her own choice.

Kathleen Sandoval is director of operations at the Children's Cabinet in Reno, the largest nonprofit in Northern Nevada. With a $15 million budget, It helped 11,000 people last year by providing services for families through public and private efforts. For 20 years, she had fought for children's rights.

She works to find and compete for grants. One of her achievements was to help obtain a grant from the federal Department of Education for pre-kindergarten. Only a few states would receive the grants, and Kathleen Sandoval worked so that the state will receive $40 million over the next four years, and the state will put up matching funds of $10 million each year. Many states competed for the money, but few were awarded it, he said.

"That's what she does, but she doesn't want the attention," Sandoval said. "She doesn't get the credit she deserves."

Mike Willden, the governor's chief of staff, said: "Kathleen doesn't like to toot her horn, but she fights for kids every day. I've worked with several first ladies, but I've never worked with anybody more passionate. She pushes hard to find resources and to do what is right. She's in the weeds."

This past session she didn't have to fight too hard for the autism money, because it was not controversial with legislators. They saw the need.

But Senate Bill 459, the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, was another matter. The bill provided protections for a person who summons help in an emergency involving a drug overdose, shielding them from arrest or prosecution if the drugs are illegally possessed. It also expanded access to an overdose antidote called naloxone.

"She defended and fought for that bill, she was at the table helping," Willden said.

It was personal. Kathleen Sandoval told lawmakers in the Assembly, where it faced opposition, that following a car accident, her cousin became addicted to painkillers. Later, her cousin used heroin, and eventually died of an overdose. Prescription drug abuse "devastates families," she said.

Opposition to the bill was by lawmakers who didn't want doctors to have to check a patient's prescription history, as the new law requires.

"She had to do inside fighting with the prescription drug bill. She was down there testifying," her husband said proudly.

SB503, the Breakfast After the Bell bill, requiring schools with large populations of low-income students to provide breakfast, was another bill she fought for, since it too faced opposition.

"She focuses on what she believes is right — kids, families, nursing homes, education, juvenile justice, housing for the homeless," Willden said. "She's in nearly daily contact with senior staff."

Kathleen Sandoval is known for her laugh which makes listeners want to laugh with her.

She seems to be more determined in her husband's second term, more outspoken.

Last summer, she made headlines when she publicly chastised the Washoe County School Board for not following the rules when it fired school Superintendent Pedro Martinez. The board questioned whether he distorted whether he was a certified public accountant. The governor appointed Martinez as a senior education adviser in January, but five months later Martinez moved to San Antonio to become superintendent of schools there.

"I hear she's wonderful," said Crandy, who luckily didn't need Kathleen Sandoval's help to advocate for autism services with lawmakers.

Although if she had, Kathleen Sandoval would have been there.

Jane Ann Morrison's column runs Thursdays. Leave messages for her at 702-383-0275 or jmorrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @janeannmorrison.