State Senate candidates clash over campaign ads, budget

By Erin Dostal

Monday, Oct. 18, 2010 | 8:43 p.m.

State Senate candidates Michael Roberson and Joyce Woodhouse were pushed to explain negative campaign advertising and their plans to close the state’s budget gap during a brief debate Monday night on “Face to Face With Jon Ralston.”

Roberson, a Republican, and Woodhouse, the Democratic incumbent, are involved in a contentious race in District 5, which includes much of Henderson. Democrats hold a slight edge in the district with 46,910 registered voters. Republicans have 45,280 registered voters.

Ralston asked Woodhouse to explain some ads put out by state Democrats that accuse Roberson of advocating the denial of birth control to women and investigating women who have miscarriages.

Woodhouse distanced herself from the ads, saying they were not released by her campaign. “I do dislike negative campaigning greatly,” she said.

Roberson called the ads “garbage,” saying, “I would be embarrassed if I were them.”

Roberson asked Woodhouse to denouce the ads.

“I had nothing to do with them,” Woodhouse said. “They’re not good political pieces, I agree with that. But they are a follow-on based on what Mr. Roberson put on those questionnaires.”

Woodhouse was referring to questionnaires Roberson filled out for the Nevada Concerned Citizens group on which he described himself as “pro-life.”

In his campaign’s ads, Roberson calls Woodhouse a “loony, liberal liar” and an “extreme liberal” who voted for a “job-killing payroll tax increase during the middle of the worst recession in Nevada history.”

Ralston asked both candidates to estimate the budget deficit in Nevada and to describe their plan to bridge the gap.

Woodhouse said the deficit is about $3 billion, citing estimates by state economists. She said her solution was two pronged — slim down non-essential state functions and look for new sources of revenue. She said she was open to raising taxes, after all budget cuts have been made.

Roberson said the deficit is closer to $1 billion and accused Democrats of trying to increase the overall state budget by $2 billion in the next session. Roberson said he would not increase taxes but did not offer a specific way to make up the shortfall.

“The private sector’s broke, and they’re the ones that pay the bills,” Roberson said.

Woodhouse moved to Clark County from Montana 40 years ago to become a first-grade teacher. Later, she became a principal and director of the School-Community Partnership Program for the Clark County School District. She was elected to the state Senate in 2006.

Roberson is lawyer with Kolesar & Leatham, Chtd., a firm of business attorneys. He moved to Nevada in 2000 and serves on the Advisory Board for the Advanced Technologies Academy, where his wife, Liberty, is a teacher.