McKinney-James looks to extend her long list of governmental roles

The opposition may have more campaign money to spend, but Rose McKinney-James' camp has more efficiency in the way it spends the money it has, says the man managing the Democratic candidate's race for lieutenant governor.

"I'm not concerned that she (Republican Lorraine Hunt) outspends us," Michael Faust said. "We are confident we will win because of efficient spending."

That efficiency has kept McKinney-James' ads off television since just after the primary, but Faust says they are about ready for the cameras to start rolling again.

"We will run some TV ads real soon," he said.

He noted that his candidate was outspent 4-to-1 in the primary and still came up short by only 2,000 votes in Clark County.

Faust declined to say how much the campaign has raised or spent. The deadline for filing financial reports is Tuesday.

But he did point out that Hunt, a county commissioner, transferred more than $230,000 from her county commissioner's campaign to her lieutenant governor's race, which accounts for the large disparity in funding at the start of the race.

Recently McKinney-James indicated she had raised about $300,000. Hunt indicated she would spend in the neighborhood of $650,000 on her race.

Campaign reports filed in August showed McKinney-James had raised about $150,000 at that point compared with more than $400,000 by Hunt.

Faust said that, although Hunt started with a big advantage, "we've had a good fund-raising cycle."

Perhaps television advertising in the days before the general election will generate more public interest in a race that so far has failed to create much drama.

The two candidates have similar opinions on a variety of issues, but there is a big difference in their backgrounds.

Hunt began a career in entertainment but early on became a businesswoman.

McKinney-James has spent most of her adult life working in the bureaucratic maze of government -- from the local scene to the national -- and asserts she is the most qualified candidate to become the state's next "business ambassador."

Her strengths, she says, are her administrative experience, her work in economic development and her thorough understanding of how government operates, which prepares her to step into the role of governor during the occasions when that is necessary.

"I have substantive experience, having appeared before the (Nevada) Legislature in one capacity or another since 1983," the 46-year-old Democrat said.

Gov. Bob Miller supports her.

"If ever a person has the perfect credentials to lead Nevada's economic-development programs, it is Rose," Miller said.

In 1988, Miller appointed her to the Public Service Commission and in 1993 as the first director of the state's largest agency: the Department of Business and Industry.

The department has a $65 million budget, more than 600 employees and dozens of boards and commissions.

McKinney-James is a native of Detroit. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Olivet College in Olivet, Mich., and a law degree from Antioch School of Law in Washington D.C.

While in law school, and for a year after, McKinney-James worked as an intern and staff assistant to U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y., the first black woman to serve in Congress.

For the past two years, she has been president and chief executive officer of the Corp. for Solar Technology and Renewable Resources, a nonprofit company.

She is a former chief of staff for the director of Las Vegas' Intergovernmental Relations.

She was economic coordinator for Operation Life Community Development Corporation, project manager for the Nevada Economic Development Co., chief of staff for the Las Vegas city manager's office and commissioner of the Nevada Public Service Commission.

She is a past member of the Black Business Council, CASA Foundation, HELP of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, National Advisory Committee for Transportation of Hazardous Materials, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, American Bar Association and New Ventures Capital Development Board of Directors.

Her honors include being named the U.S. Small Business Administration's Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year (1993) and the International Shriners / Daughters of ISIS' Afro-American Woman of the Year (1989). She has also received the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce's Woman of Achievement Award for Excellence in Government (1989) and the Delta Kappa Chapter of Gamma Phi Delta Sorority's Public Service Award.

McKinney-James says that as head of tourism and economic development in Nevada, the lieutenant governor is in a position to have a great impact on the state.

"You can use the position as a bully pulpit to address a number of service issues," she says.

One of the most important issues is diversifying the economy.

"There must be a well-planned effort to diversify," she said, pointing out that coming from Detroit, she is well aware of the pitfalls of living in a one-industry town or state.

McKinney-James sees a lot of room for cooperation between tourism and economic-development organizations across the state.

Strategic planning is essential, she said.

"We need to work with the business community for an action plan in which they will be willing to invest," she said.

McKinney-James says she believes in managed growth, not controlled growth as advocated by some groups in the form of a growth "ring around the valley."

She said she would favor a "metro government for the county," similar to the merging of the Las Vegas Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff's Department.

She is married to accountant Fred James. The couple has two sons.

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