2 Assembly vets, Libertarian running for state controller
Three candidates, two of them with state Assembly experience, are vying to replace outgoing state controller Catherine Byrne, who decided not to run for re-election.
Democratic former Assemblywoman Ellen Spiegel, D-Las Vegas, and Republican Assemblyman Andy Matthews, R-Las Vegas, are facing off, alongside Libertarian candidate Jed Profeta.
Profeta could not be reached for this story.
The state controller is charged with managing state audits, managing transactions in state coffers and keeping receipts.
Spiegel served in the Assembly representing central and south Las Vegas from 2008-2010 and later from 2012-2020. Matthews is coming off his first term in Carson City, representing northwest Las Vegas. That difference in experience is one of Spiegel’s strongest selling points, she said.
“I’ve gotten bills passed with both Democratic and Republican governors. I have a good track record of success,” Spiegel said. “I know how to get things done, and I understand what this office needs.”
Before her political career, Spiegel worked as a project manager at a number of companies including The Weather Channel and American Express. Her favorite piece of legislation she got passed was a bill which provided resources and information to elementary school students so they could get glasses for free or reduced cost, she said.
“I was reading to a class during Nevada Reading Week… and the teacher stopped me in the middle of the book to tell me that over half the class couldn’t read because they had visual problems and their families couldn’t afford eyeglasses,” she said. “I’ve met people throughout the state where they’ve benefited and that’s just giving these children a future.”
Spiegel’s largest proposal is what she calls the “Right Track Program.” It’s a system that would provide provisional business licenses for those who can’t afford them, provided the applicant agrees to business mentoring.
“The mentoring will help ensure that they have a business plan… By doing that, we put them in a position where they’re more likely to be successful,” Spiegel said. “We get them into the system the right way, so that as they develop their business and their business grows, the state is able to get the revenue from that business.”
Matthews joined the Assembly after leading the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a conservative policy advocacy group. He also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2016 and worked as executive director of the Morning in Nevada PAC, for which he still consults.
“It is especially critical that Nevadans be able to know that their government is being responsible and efficient with their tax dollars,” Matthews said. “Bringing more oversight and more transparency to state spending is going to be job No. 1 for me.”
As far as the controller’s job, both Matthews and Spiegel want more transparency into what the controller does. Matthews said one of his goals is to expand the detail of the Controller’s Annual Report. When campaigning, both Spiegel and Matthews often have to explain to voters what exactly the controller even does, they said.
“I think the most important thing that our next state controller can do is bring more oversight and accountability to government spending, government transparency,” Matthews said. “We’ve got unprecedented amounts of money coming in from the federal government to our state and that money is being spent and I talked to a lot of people who have no idea where it’s spent or how it’s being spent. And I think they deserve to know.”
Contact Nick Robertson at NRobertson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @RobertsonNickJ.
