DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY DRAWS 2 ACTIVISTS

Democrats voting in the Assembly District 26 race will choose between Jan
Gilbert and David Love, two longtime activists for civil rights and social
causes.

Gilbert is the state lobbyist for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of
Nevada, a coalition of groups and issues-oriented activists, including the
Sierra Club, Citizen Alert, the AFL-CIO, social workers, Hispanics, gay
rights and women's rights advocates, and others.

"People know what they're getting," she said. "I would be open to all kinds
of ideas. I feel strongly about social programs and education."

Gilbert supports PLAN's proposal to boost state revenue and to raise more
money for education and social services.

David Love's activism goes back to the civil rights days of the 1960s. At
the University of California, Berkeley, he was part of a coalition that
fought for a new department in multicultural studies.

Health care, particularly for women and the poor, are among the key issues
Love would like to address if elected to office.

"A lot of working poor don't have access," said Love, a retired college
professor in health education.

With state funds, he said he would continue a now federally funded program,
that offers mammograms to poor women. Love also would seek more money for
child care, particularly for casino workers who earn little more than
minimum wage.

Education And Taxes

Gilbert said education would be her top priority.

"I'm convinced we are falling further and further behind other states in
per-student expenditures," she said.

A recent Reno Gazette-Journal poll revealed that a majority of Nevadans
would favor a boost in educational spending to raise per- pupil spending to
the national average.

Gilbert favors spending more for vocational education and more enrichment
programs, and she wants all children to go to kindergarten. She also would
like to start a pilot program for full-day kindergarten. The optional class
now runs for 2 1/2 hours a day.

According to a state report, Gilbert said, adding a full day of
kindergarten would cost $269 million over two years.

The PLAN proposal she supports to boost revenue includes two new business
taxes to bring in $341 million a year and an increase in excise taxes on
tobacco and alcohol to bring in another $43 million a year.

If taxes have to be raised to support state government, Love said, he
favors a gross-receipts tax on business.

Love said he doesn't believe a higher business tax would keep business from
moving to Nevada.

"They will come. This is a nice place to live if you like fishing, skiing
and golf," he said.

As for education, Love said, he'd work to make sure all schools are wired
for computers and he wants to reduce class sizes.

"All schools should have a computer lab for kids," he said.

Health, Social Services

Love said he'd use his position to pressure big corporations to provide
more support for child care services.

"People who work in the casino pay $90 a week for child care and many make
only $5.75 an hour.

He said he supports child-care programs for mothers on welfare who are
going to college. And he would also help welfare mothers with tuition and
transportation costs to go to college.

Love is also an advocate for grandparents raising children and now is
raising five grandchildren, which he said is why he has gone back to work
in the Reno Gazette-Journal's pressroom on weekends. He said he has lobbied
for a bill that provides state support for grandparents who have legal
custody of grandchildren.

Last legislative session, he lobbied for the Senior Rx program, which
provides up to $2,200 in aid to low-income seniors. He said that program,
which costs seniors $100 to enroll, should be free.

Gilbert said she would work to include parents in Nevada Checkup, a state
health insurance program for low-income children.

"We would get 65 percent from the federal government and allow parents of
these children to be covered," she said. "It would drop our reliance on
emergency room for main medical care. It would save us in the long run."

Other Issues

Gilbert said she supports a statewide ballot question in November that
seeks to legalize personal possession of three ounces of marijuana or less.
Voters will consider the question on Nov. 5.

"I don't think it's a problem. We have other problems in society, such as a
high rate of alcohol abuse. The amount is not large enough. It's not the
government's decision."

She opposes another ballot question that seeks to put marriage only between
a man and a woman into the Nevada Constitution. "It's unnecessary. It's
already in the statute," she said. "We would portray Nevada as intolerant.
It's not the role of government to determine the definition of marriage."

Love said he supports the use of marijuana for medical purposes, as now
allowed in Nevada, but not for recreation.

He said he is not sure about the constitutional amendment that would ban
same-sex marriages. But he does support the right of same-sex couples to
adopt children.

"Because there are lots of kids that would be adopted," Love said.

On the issue of labor, he said, he'd also work to repeal the right-to- work
law. Passed in the 1950s to support the warehousing industry, the law does
not require workers to pay dues to unions recognized to represent them.

"I'm all for unions," he said.

He'd also lobby to boost the minimum wage.

Love said he expects to spend more than $20,000 for the campaign.

Gilbert said she and her friends are walking door-to-door throughout
communities in the huge district, which stretches from Washoe Valley, to
Incline Village, to southwest, to the new northwest of Reno and Verdi.

She has raised $10,000 so far but doesn't expect to spend it all in the
primary.

"I'm trying to be judicious," Gilbert said.

If elected, Gilbert said she would not resign her job with PLAN but would
take a leave of absence when the Legislature meets.

"I will speak openly about my opinions," she said. "I could do a good job.
I have experience at the Legislature. I know how laws are made."

(SIDEBAR)

Candidate Bios

Jan Gilbert

Age: 55. Democrat.

Born: Boston, Mass. Washoe County resident for 20 years. Lives in Washoe
Valley.

Occupation: Lobbyist in northern Nevada for the Progressive Leadership
Alliance for Nevada (PLAN), and she and her husband manage a ranch.

Education: Holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of
California at Los Angeles. Studied a fifth year for teaching credentials at
Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles.

Political office: First run for public office. Lobbyist for 16 years at the
Nevada Legislature for the League of Women Voters and for nurses.
Co-founder of PLAN.

Community involvement: Member of the Nevada Department of Human Resources'
community block grant commission since 1993, a member of the welfare reform
task force from 1993-95; and a member of the state board of the League of
Women Voters.

David C. Love

Age: 64. Democrat.

Born: Fort Bragg, N.C. Washoe County resident since 1992. Lives in
northwest Reno.

Education: Berkeley High School in North Carolina. Bachelor's degree in
social sciences from the University of California at Berkeley and master's
degree in health education from State University of New York at Buffalo.
Worked on doctorate in vocational education/health care administration at
Rutgers University.

Occupation: Retired college professor in health education and works
part-time in the Reno Gazette-Journal production department. Worked as
community ombudsman for Nevada Division of Aging. Taught at Truckee Meadows
Community College from 1992 to 1995. Before that, he was a consultant to
community colleges on setting up health education programs and a director
of health and human services at three other community colleges and a
medical school. Served in the U.S. Navy from 1959-64 as a medic, leaving as
a petty officer second class.