North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee Sits Down with The Globe

North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, candidate for Governor, should have been born in Nevada but “got re-routed” when his dad was assigned to a secret post in England while serving as a  special agent in the United States Air Force.

After moving to Las Vegas at the age of 5, he grew to be a successful businessman, but soon realized “There is more to his life than making money and building businesses,” and added, “Service is the rent we pay for our time on this earth.”

Lee began his political career serving on the parking and traffic commission and served on several boards thereafter, until he successfully ran for State Assembly and State Senate.

Growing up in North Las Vegas, Lee continued his political career by promising to save the city by running for Mayor in 2013, as the city was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Lee told The Globe:

“I have been the Mayor of North Las Vegas for eight years and have been fixing my hometown by making it financial stable again. We went from junk bond status to an A bond rating in just seven years.

I couldn’t stand the fact that my home town was going to lose its charter and be split into Clark County and into Las Vegas. We would have destroyed Las Vegas with our debt. I didn’t want my city to fail or go bankrupt. I love my city. I didn’t raise fees or taxes. Many people were replaced with smarter people who worked hard to turn things around.”

Under his leadership, North Las Vegas is now thriving and attracting numerous companies like Amazon, Evanesce, and Nuro.

Prior to his run for Governor, Lee shocked Nevadans when he left the Democratic party after 25 years and became a Republican. This switch, Lee explained, was easy for him:

“I was never involved in the Democrat party. I never went to conventions or meetings. I was just a Nevada business man and one day I put my name on the list to run for office. I just wanted to fix my city and fix my state.

I have always had morals and values and those never changed. I love Nevada and I love my country. Socialism had left DC and went into Carson City and into the Nevada Democratic State Party. I needed to find a place and space to fight this wickedness. This wicked leadership of the Democratic party is not what red-blooded Americans stand for or support.

Biden is simply a puppet.  We are really living under Bernie Sanders.”

When asked why he chose to run for Governor, Lee replied:

“I am 47 years married. My wife Marilyn is a gift from heaven. I have seven children, 30 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. I want them to have the opportunity that I had.

I have never liked or respected Sisolak as a politician or businessman. I realized he was a puppet for the Democratic party. When no one will lead, that is when I have to lead.

The governor needs to be your family and your business partner so that people succeed in the state.”

Lee’s top three issues for Nevada are job diversification, education and voter integrity. The candidate explained his thoughts on job diversification in relation to the jobs created in North Las Vegas, telling The Globe:

“We have diversification of jobs in North las Vegas. As Mayor, every time there is a tragic event, casinos are shut down and this effects jobs. Residents were  continually losing their jobs from 9-11 to the pandemic. Jobs and diversification is important.”

When ask how he would solve the staggering unemployment created by the pandemic, Lee replied citing manufacturing jobs and other industry employment.

“North Las Vegas is positioned geographically to become the central point of ports. If you bring one company in, you bring in their sub contractors. In North Las Vegas,  I opened 18,000 acres and five new industrial parks.

In North Las Vegas, we aren’t building casinos we are building futures.”

With regard to Nevada’s education system, Lee claims that it is “malfunctioning”:

“All the revenues go to Carson City and our distributed to each county. I call the Clark County District the Steve Sisolak School District, the SSSD, as it belongs to the governor.

As North Las Vegas Mayor, there are more charter schools, parochial schools and private schools. We used more land in Las Vegas to build these schools. Everyone wants better for their children. For the 400 openings in these schools, we had 1200 applications. Parents need to choose where they want their kids to go to school.

The school district is too big. We need to segment the school district. We need trustees for each segment. Currently, when companies and their employees see the school district stats, they don’t want to move here. These kids in the district won’t be ready for 21st century jobs.”

When questioned about voter and election integrity, Lee stated:

“Does your vote count? Voter Integrity is important. Most people consider themselves loyal to the country. A vote is an expression of your patriotism.  If you feel your vote isn’t counted properly, you’re going to lose faith People need to have faith in the system.

The next election will be the most watched election due to 2020. We need to look at the voting process from top to bottom. We need to make voting available and honest. Every county has clerks and registrars. We need to make sure that dead people aren’t voting.

Hopefully the next Secretary of State will go through whole system. I will start the process to make sure people have faith in their vote.”

Lee ended the interview by touching on the rurals and Governor Sisolak’s mandates by claiming that “people are paying taxes for services they aren’t getting. The 15 rural counties are not getting supported by the Governor. There is such an anger there of being rebuffed and not getting services.”

In relation to his own battle beating Stage four cancer, Lee stated “when I had cancer, I had options to go anywhere, but I stayed here. No one told me what to do. I made a personal choice. This personal medical choice is what patients and Nevadan’s need. There should be a medical choice in vaccination.  Masks are a ridiculous signal. Feels anti-American to me.  I will lift all mandates as Governor.”