On the Record With Lisa Cole, GOP Candidate for Assembly District 4

Lisa Cole, GOP Candidate for Assembly District 4, describes herself as a mother, business owner and problem solver. In fact, the tag line is on her businesses card. These attributes led her to run for office in a Clark County assembly district left open after Republican Assemblyman Richard McArthur launched a failed run for state senate.

In 2022, Democrats decided to not run a candidate against McArthur, despite their redistricting efforts to reduce the district’s republican advantage. But, this year they have chosen Ryan Hampton, a candidate who has a larger national profile, but carries quite a bit of baggage in relation to his advocacy for the legalization of all drugs, including fentanyl.

In relation to skyrocketing crime due to democratic legislation that reduced penalties on retail theft, drug trafficking and possession, Hampton publicly stated that “Lombardo should be ashamed of himself” for advancing stronger criminal justice laws, which ultimately died at the hands of the Democratic majority.

Despite Democrats’ efforts, Cole has significantly out-raised her opponent in fundraising, in a district that Governor Lombardo won by six points. Cole has earned Lombardo’s endorsement as the governor seeks to preserve his veto from a Democratic supermajority in the state legislature.

In the following interview with The Globe, Cole provides insights on the issues impacting her constituents and Nevadans at large: the economy, water, energy, land development, housing, and crime.

Explain your background in navigating land rights, groundwater rights, and development.

I started in 2001 on the Apex Industrial Park project. I was their water resources manager, so that’s where I started working on water rights permitting and developments. We obviously have water issues in Nevada, so the complexity of navigating new regulations and a Supreme Court case, is something that I am intimately familiar with.

Has there been an increase in regulations that have impacted development or homeowners and can you further expand on the state Supreme Court decision?

There tends to be more and more regulation over many things. Every other year the legislature meets, and they seem to always have new laws that they want to put on the books or change existing laws. That’s always a struggle for people, because it seems to me the legislature and the agencies involved don’t do a really good job of letting people know that a law has changed. I think that puts people and businesses in a bad position.

I’ll give a perfect example. When the legislature met last session, there were new rules when it came to sewer. Homeowners and landowners who have any water service from the water district had to make sure they were connected to sewer. In my particular district, there are a lot of homeowners that are on septic systems. Many people who bought land, say 10 years ago and want to develop it using the current septic system, can’t because they have to connect to sewer which can be extremely costly. This costly impact could be a homeowner on a culdesac or a half-acre lot, or a small developer who wants to build four or five homes. These new costs, as determined by the regulations from the legislature, become exorbitant to the point where it kills these projects. So, what do they do with the land? They have to sell it.

Water law can be very contentious. “Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting,” as they say. As a freshman legislator, I would work with someone on legislation due to the Nevada supreme court case. In that case related to the Lower White River flow system, the supreme court said that the state engineer has sole authority to manage groundwater. My concern is that we don’t want the courts to determine water law. I think that we need to have some piece of legislation that has nuances to rein in and put some boundaries on the state engineer’s authority. Because the way that I read that court case and that opinion, it grants unfettered authority to a person who is appointed. It seems that it grants to0 much power to one body to determine and grant the allocation of water and water rights.

Did that case compel you to get your law degree?

For the most part, yes. I actually started working in the legal arena through dealing with lawyers on a regular basis back in the 2001- 2002 time frame with Apex. John Entsminger, who now runs Southern Nevada Water Authority, was the general counsel for the authority. Apex had a a lawsuit with them, and I participated in settlement negotiations. As I got more and more experienced and worked directly with lawyers, I just got to the point where I said, “Why am I doing this? I just should go to law school.” So, I did.

What is your idea about land development from an affordable housing perspective and how does that tie into water?

So first, when I talk about housing and affordable housing, I try to be very careful in my words. You know, affordable housing in large part is a defined term under HUD. It has to do with median income and a certain percentage of voucher programs sit in that that space. So, we definitely need more of that, but we also need more homes just for the ordinary working person who is, perhaps, above that threshold but they still can’t afford to buy a house. So, it’s achievable housing or affordable housing. It’s all in the same bucket for me.

The fact that 90 percent of Clark County is owned or controlled by the federal government, largely through the Bureau of Land Management, is a problem to address this issue. The governor is doing a really good job in trying to look at all of the tools in his in his arsenal, including working with the federal delegation on trying to address some of those issues. We have to do that. We also have to pursue some of the avenues that are existing under the Southern Land Policy Management Act.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority and the water district has done a pretty amazing job of reducing our overall water use in Southern Nevada. We use less water today than we did 10 or 15 years ago, even though our population has exploded and how much development we have had. They spend a lot of time and effort on conservation, and it’s been really important for us and a key to continue to grow our economic layers. If water hits a drain in Southern Nevada, it gets back to the lake. It’s not a consumptive water use. So, we can continue to develop as long as we’re doing all of those things.

What compelled you to run for office?

I was in a Review-Journal article back in June of last year, and that article came up in a Google search when the governor was looking for people to endorse in races. His team reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to run, and I had never really considered it before. But, as soon as I got that opportunity, I saw it as a way for me to really help on a broader scale. I have a skill set that I use with my clients to help them cross the finish line on their projects, and I do that very well. This is an opportunity for me to use that same skill set to help others, help the entire state, and make it so that development is a little bit easier for folks. It felt natural to say “yes” when they asked me that question. Of course, I had long conversations with my husband.

What have you learned during your first experience on the campaign trail and what are the public’s main concerns?

Since it is my first time, everything I’ve done on the trail has been new to me. I’m naturally a very humble person and I don’t toot my own horn. But, I had to get over that because what I do at the door is toot my horn. Asking for their vote and telling them that I am the right candidate in the race was probably the oddest thing for me, but I have figured it out and am confident in my expertise and my desire to do what is best for my community. I believe I am up to 53 endorsements, so I know my message is working. I have also out-raised my opponent, so I have proven I can go toe-to-toe against someone who is making a lot of noise but isn’t addressing the main issues and concerns in this district.

Everybody is very concerned about the cost of living. Inflation has done just so much damage to people and their savings. It’s not unique to my district. Crime has been a hot topic for a lot of people. I’ve seen so many doors that have a security door, and you can tell that it was an add-on to the home–it wasn’t something that was intended to be there. People are very concerned about their safety.

On the topic of crime, Governor Lombardo’s agenda certainly includes and seeks to reverse some of the the soft-on-crime policies and the criminal justice reforms that have happened in the last few sessions and that have definitely caused some problems. Retail theft is through the roof. I personally have seen it a couple of times at Target where people just head out the door with a cart full of items as I’m checking out and paying my bill, which is higher than it needs to be because those people just stole a cart full of items.

As legislators, we need to rein those bad pieces of legislation back in, and I am sure that Democrats have heard this from their constituents as well. I’m hopeful that we can all work together to address these issues. Because, as you know, even if all of the governor’s candidates win, he’s still not going to have a majority. So, we need and have to work together on behalf of all Nevadans.

The first thing I do is let my constituents know that I’m in the exact same boat. We’re all feeling the crunch. Going to the grocery store is just a massive surprise.

In large part, as state legislator, I really can’t deal specifically on inflation, but utility costs are something that definitely goes through the legislative process. Depending on the season, whether it’s their natural gas bill, power bill, or even their water bill, costs there have gone up significantly.

Legislative mandates, when it comes to renewable energies, are good to a degree, but there has to be balance. I feel, and I fear, that we’ve gone a little bit too far too fast, and it’s coming at an increased cost to my constituents.

That’s where my issue is. Our legislative policies shouldn’t ride on the backs of ordinary people.