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Democrats given high marks in poll
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
Updated: Jun. 14, 2011 | 5:35 p.m.
CARSON CITY -- State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick were voted the best legislators of the 2011 legislative session in a Review-Journal poll of lawmakers, reporters and lobbyists.
State Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, and Assemblyman Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, were named the best freshmen. State Sen. Elizabeth Halseth, R-Las Vegas, was chosen the worst Senate freshman and senator, while Mark Sherwood, R-Henderson, was named the worst Assembly member and freshman.
Gov. Brian Sandoval earned a "B" grade for his performance working with legislators. In his last session in 2009, Gov. Jim Gibbons received an "F" grade.
Forty of the 150 ballots distributed by the Review-Journal were returned. Review-Journal staff members did not participate.
"This is a huge honor for me," said Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, who chaired both the Assembly Government Affairs and Taxation committees. "My goal was to work with all the freshmen. I am thankful to them. I'm all about policy and bipartisanship."
Voters' positive comments about Kirkpatrick included, "She works hard and is honest," and she "does things right."
Kirkpatrick, who completed her fourth term in the Assembly, said she wants to return to another session instead of running for what might be an open Senate seat.
Respondents either loved or hated Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who was named both the best and the third-worst state senator.
Horsford led the Democratic opposition to Sandoval, contending education and social services would be devastated without higher taxes. Ultimately he compromised with the governor, settling for continuation of $620 million in taxes that would have expired.
Poll voters called him a "passionate" leader. At times he even cried, such as when he mentioned during a hearing that his late grandmother had been in a nursing home for 25 years.
But some voters considered him a polarizing influence, saying he often resorted to "grandstanding" and "serves unions only."
The two-term state senator is expected to run for Congress.
As for Sandoval, several voters said the governor held the Republican caucus together. One voter called him "charismatic," but others rated him down for breaking his pledge not to extend taxes that would have expired at the end of June.
Frierson attributed his success as a lawmaker to his experience as a lobbyist for the public defender's office in recent sessions.
"I was most proud of my ability to work with everybody, across the table, with my colleagues in the Senate and with all the caucuses," he said.
One voter called Frierson a "future speaker of the Assembly."
Kieckhefer also had previous legislative experience, covering the 2003 session as an Associated Press reporter and more recently working as Gibbons' press secretary and as spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. Respondents called him someone who "works to find solutions" and "thoughtful and measured."
Halseth, 27, was called "immature" by one voter. Another said she "needs to learn decorum."
Since she has a four-year term, Halseth can improve in the 2013 session.
Sherwood, known for his conservative principles, often irritated Democrats with his floor statements, but in the end stood with Sandoval in support of extending taxes and passing the state budget.
Some voters called him "smart," but others said he lacks "people skills."
Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.
2011 REVIEW-JOURNAL LEGISLATIVE POLL RESULTS
Grade Gov. Brian Sandoval’s performance in running state and dealing the Legislature.
Lawmakers gave Sandoval a B. Many respondents gave Sandoval A’s and F’s, but even on most ballots where Democrats scored high, respondents gave him decent grades. Gov. Jim Gibbons received an F grade in the 2009 poll.
Identify the best members of the Assembly.
1. Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas.
2. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks
3. Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka
4. John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas
5. David Bobzien, D-Reno
Identify the best members of the Senate.
1. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas.
2. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City
3. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon
4. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas.
5. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno
Identify the worst members of the Assembly.
1. Mark Sherwood, R-Henderon
2. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas
3. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas.
4. Ira Hansen, R-Reno
5. Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley
Identify the worst members of the Senate.
1. Elizabeth Halseth, R-Las Vegas.
2. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas
3. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas
4. Don Gustavson, R-Sparks
5. Allison Copening, D-Las Vegas
Grade the performance of Senate freshman.
1. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno: B+
2. Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas: C+
3. Elizabeth Halseth, R-Las Vegas: D
G. Please grade the performance of Assembly freshmen.
1. Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas: A-
2. Teresa Benitez-Thompson, D-Reno: B+
3. Irene Bustamante-Adams, D-Las Vegas: B
4. Olivia Diaz, D-North Las Vegas: B
5. Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas: B-
6. Skip Daly, D-Reno: C+
7. Randy Kirner, R-Reno: C+
8. Elliot Anderson, D-Las Vegas: C+
9 . Cresent Hardy, R-Mesquite: C
10. Steven Brooks, D-Las Vegas: C
11. Richard Carrillo, D-Las Vegas: C
12. Kelly Kite, R-Minden: C
13. John Ellison, R-Elko: C
14. Ira Hansen, R-Sparks: C-
15. Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas: C-
16. Lucy Flores, D-North Las Vegas: C-
17. Pete Livermore, R-Carson City: C-
18. Mark Sherwood, R-Henderson: D
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"brasscasing wrote on June 14, 2011 12:11 AM: . . . hippy . . . ."
The "hippies" are completely in your imagination. Quick, Gilligann Beck is getting cancelled at the end of this month. Go dial him up! Run!
Please, this rag is the biggest libitard loving hippy newspaper...This must have been where the poll was conducted...And the 40 people must have been all the lefties commenting here...The only thing smart people use this paper for is in the outhouse...
$10,000 fee to be with ME says HE! lol..yeah..he's the BEST!
haters...
yeah well..who can argue with 40 people who claim Steven Horsford as THE BEST!
Lets write a story and put it on page ONE! Oh yeah... lol...
just another "shovel ready" moment for the dems
The comments here sound like a bunch of republican crybabies to me.
40 people? Who returned a poll? And this means what? Seriously?
When I arrived in Reno after 30 years as an organizational development consultant, I attended various city/county/state government and business mixers. I came away with a feeling of dread, thinking that these people, sucking at the teet of the casinoes but praying for more business hadn't a clue. They seemed the most inept group of non-leaders I'd seen in all my days as a consultant. Lack of business acumen, local government todyism and pathetic reliance on tourism have kept this state from ever becoming a truly functioning entity. With one of the narrowest business bases in the nation, a pathetic public public school record, infrastructure built on bowwowed money and a flagging say in national issues, Nevada's headed for the heap. Too bad. By the way, 40 people do not a poll make. Anybody who'd finished high school statistics would know that.
I have a dream.........don't be goin to Las Vegas and spendin yo'z money...keep hope alive...
laughing. this state is doomed. horsford is a total buffoon. dems are the reason this state is under water.