Dr. Jack Schofield announced his candidacy for election to the House of Representatives for Nevada’s Congressional District #2 on Veteran’s Day.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Schofield last summer here in Pahrump. I was impressed and want to introduce him to the voters of Nye County. He is unique.

He is a former Nevada State Assemblyman and State Senator. Born in 1923. In 1941 he was the Golden Gloves Welterweight Champion. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Utah in 1949, a Master’s degree from University of Nevada Reno in 1967, and a doctorate in Educational Administration and Higher Education from University of Nevada Las Vegas in 1995.

He is a veteran of World War II and a member of the famous Flying Tigers.

During World War II, Jack served as a B-25H Mitchell bomber pilot for the United States Army Air Force. Lieutenant Schofield was a member of the 22nd Bomb Squadron, 341st Bomb Group, 14th Air Force based at Yangkai, China. As part of the 14th Air Force Flying Tigers, Lieutenant Schofield and his crew flew combat for allied troops fighting in China. The Flying Tigers were renowned for their flights and bombing runs through enemy fire, over the Himalayan Mountains to deliver supplies and support the ground troops in the China-Burma-India campaign.

He is experienced.

He served as a Nevada State Assemblyman from 1970-1970, and as a Nevada State Senator from 1974-1978 where he fought for the rights of Nevada’s working people. Jack served as an instructor and administrator in the Nevada public school system for forty-four years from 1953-1997 and currently presides on the Nevada Board of Regents where he has held a seat since 2002. He remains active in the Civil Air Patrol as a lieutenant colonel and serves as the Government Affairs Advisory for the Nevada Wing. He is an entrepreneur and real estate developer. He currently sits on the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

He is a devoted husband and family man.

Jack and his wife, Alene Earl, recently celebrated their sixty-seventh wedding anniversary. They are the proud parents of six children, they have thirty-two grandchildren, and forty-eight great grandchildren. He has maintained a lifelong interest in weight lifting, nutrition, boxing, and still enjoys golf and tennis. He is honored to attend graduation ceremonies at the Jack Lund Schofield Middle School in Las Vegas. At his request, the middle school is proud to have the Flying Tiger as its mascot.

Jack is seeking the Democratic nomination in Nevada’s 2nd district. He is running to restore Nevada’s economy, protect America’s military veterans, and guarantee every Nevadan’s right to a proper education.

It is obvious he has devoted his life to public service. I can remember World War II and the history making flights of the Flying Tigers over the Himalayan Mountains.

Being a beneficiary of the GI bill I share Dr. Schofield’s support and advocacy for educational opportunities.

I will endeavor to follow Dr. Schofield’s campaign on the blog I write. Those of you who do not yet know of him can learn all about him on his campaign website at http://jack2010.com/. When you get to his campaign site be sure to read the “15 American Rights” on his home page. Those are core fundamental rights which I endorse as well.

When his campaign comes to Nye County I recommend you try to attend and personally meet Dr. Schofield yourself. I think you will find him, as I did, friendly, articulate, gracious and capable.

I just received an email from Progressive Change Campaign Committee informing me

Today, in just a few minutes, we’ll deliver nearly 90,000 petition signatures to Sen. Harry Reid’s office, asking him to show leadership and make sure that Democratic senators don’t help Republicans block a vote on health care.

The message is

“Sen. Reid needs to show strong leadership as Majority Leader. I’m one of nearly 90,000 Americans who signed this petition: ‘Any Democratic senators who support a Republican attempt to block a vote on health care reform should be stripped of their leadership titles. Americans deserve a clean up-or-down vote on health care.’”

Can you help make sure his office is swamped with phone calls from Nevada constituents starting at 10:30 am PT today?

You can call either 202-224-3542 or 1-866-SEN-REID (Toll Free). You can report your call here.

Keep the pressure on. Make the call. Instill some some backbone. Don’t let the Republicans block the vote!

Last Sunday I attended the Pahrump Town Hall Meeting at the Pahrump Nugget. Over 200 people attended, 50 of whom arose and spoke about the current health care system, the formation of that system being considered in Congress, or their personal experiences with the health care system.

Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign were invited to attend along with Congressman Dean Heller. Likewise invited were Congresswomen Shelly Berkley and Dina Titus though neither represents Pahrump. None attended or sent a representative. Only two of them even acknowledged their invitations.

Five chairs were set in front of the audience with their pictures appended to represent the Nevada’s Congressional Delegation.

A number of cameras recorded the event.

Dan Schinhofen, my fellow columnist in this newspaper, put the affair together. His idea, and a good one I thought, was to video the event and send copies of the video to each member of the Congressional Delegation. Since none of the Delegation had held their own Town Hall Meeting in Pahrump, or anywhere else in Nye County, residents of Pahrump was afforded no opportunity to discuss health care reform with any of their elected representatives in Congress. To his credit, Dan is seeing that the Delegation will hear from Pahrump whether they like it or not.

I doubt they will like it.

The reaction of the audience upon learning none of the elected Congressional members would attend or be represented by a member of their staff was negative. It was as though the audience felt they were being ignored. I could not escape the feeling that members of the audience can be expected to reciprocate by ignoring the Delegation on their next election day.

Having watched other Town Hall Meetings across the nation on TV I was not sure what to expect from the Pahrump audience. I was billed as being the Progressive liberal, Dan as the Conservative–opposite bookends of the political spectrum. And we are. We both were co-hosts of the event.

Though the event was not a political rally I could not help but scan the audience to see if I could identify any Democrats. Out of the 200+, I saw eight I could recognize.

The audience was well behaved. No banner waving, no orchestrated demonstrations. No AR15’s or handguns in view. As each spoke their allotted two minutes, the audience quietly and respectfully listened to each.

I saw the entire event as a classic example of grassroots democracy in action. The audience was attentive and engaged. I commend them for that.

The comments were a wide-ranging smorgasbord of views held by those that spoke. It displayed the intensity and seriousness with which they viewed the state of the current health care system and of their views of proposed reforms.

One man told of an experience with his wife who experienced cardiac emergency. He took her to Desert View hospital, learned there was no cardiologist to attend her. She had to be taken by helicopter to Desert Springs hospital in Las Vegas. He related the helicopter transport cost $16-18,000 and her stay at the Las Vegas cost another $26,000.

Two others shared their experiences in Canada’s health care system with ill loved ones in which they were told to take them home to die peacefully.

Distrust of government seemed to me to be the common theme throughout the audience. Fear of “socialized medicine,” intercession of government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors, inability of government to conduct any program successfully.

Only two of the number of bills wending their way through Congress were mentioned–HR 3200 and HR 676. Several speakers would refer to “the bill” without identifying which bill they were speaking. One of the problems, it seems to me to be prevalent, is that there has yet to be a single bill to arise for the public to address. There are several more, each from multiple Senate and House Committees. For example, the S 703 bill was not mentioned Sunday.

Until all the pending bills are digested into a single bill, it is almost impossible to evaluate the impact of health care reform.

The final item I would like to mention here is about the influence of special interest money on Congress’ treatment of healthcare reform.

I am nagged by the thought that perhaps one of the reasons, if not the reason, none of the Nevada Congressional Delegation appeared is that the actual constituents of the delegation is the health care insurance companies who feed so much money to members of Congress. Congress seems to be controlled and directed by those corporate interests, rather than ordinary citizens such as attended the Pahrump Town Hall Meeting. Perhaps that 200+ were forgotten the day after election.

Update: September 3, 2009. The Pahrump Valley Times stories about the Town Hall Meeting. Emotions vivid at health care forum and Obama proposal compared with Canadian health system.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., will be in Pahrump Monday, spokesman Justin Barasky announced this week.

Reid will meet with local officials, Barasky said, but disclosed only that he will meet with the Nye County Sheriff’s Department. Reid will be available for questions by the media for a halfhour Monday afternoon.

The senator’s office will also be hosting a conference call next Friday on health care reform. Nevadans who want to phone in their comments must first log onto http://reid.senate.gov/.

Reid’s office expects 50,000 Nevadans may call in to comment on the hotly-debated plan by the Obama administration. [Pahrump Valley Times]

Democrats are being asked to rally and demonstrate in support of Senator Reid and healthcare reform to counter the demonstrating Tea Baggers.

Prepare your signs to carry in support of Senator Reid and healthcare reform. Contact Margery Behrens at (775) 910-9159 or via e-mail at margerykaybehrens@msn.com and let her know you intend to participate in the counter-demonstration. You may want to wear an Obama T-shirt or other clothing showing your support for President Obama, Senator Reid and healthcare reform at the demonstration. It is recommended you be on your best behavior at the demonstration. Show the Tea Baggers you are mature, intelligent adults capable of expressing your support in a peaceable manner. Don’t forget some bottled water and a hat to ward off the sun.

Now is the time for all good Democrats to come to the aid of their party.

Dan Schinhofen

Received a phone call from my friend Dan Schinhofen this morning. Dan is a conservative and writes a weekly column in the Pahrump Mirror. He espouses the conservatives view of politics.

Jack Wood

I am a progressive Democrat. I also write a weekly column in the Pahrump Mirror. I espouse the progressive view of politics.

Dan and I can take different views and argue about them without either of us having a handgun strapped to our waists or an AR-15 slung over our shoulders.

Dan phoned me this morning to inform me that since no one else in Pahrump has done so, he has arranged with the Pahrump Nugget to hold a Pahrump Town Hall Meeting on the timely question of Healthcare Reform, here in Pahrump, Nye County, Nevada.

Nye County, for those of you who don’t live in the county or the state of Nevada, is a bright red county, as opposed to blue. The Republican Party owns it, runs it, and holds the political power.

It is as good a place as any for our own Town Hall Meeting. I tip my hat to Dan for getting it set up. The Democrats sure didn’t.

Here are the details:

When: Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 3:00 – 5 p.m.

Where: Pahrump Nugget, intersection of Highways 160 and 372

Moderators: Dan Schinhofen and Jack Wood

Master of Ceremonies: Yet to be determined

Everyone is invited to attend and participate. Dan has undertaken to invite Senators Harry Reid, John Ensign, Congresswomen Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus and Congressman Dean Heller.

The event will be televised on Pahrump local TV channel 30.

Show your support for a Clean Energy Plan

Let our elected officials know we need green jobs.

Host: Nevada State Democratic Party

Type: Meetings – Informational Meeting

Date: Monday, August 10, 2009

Time: 8:30am – 10:00am

Location: Steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus

Street: UNLV campus at Tropicana and Swenson

City/Town: Las Vegas, NV

View Map

Email: kirsten@nvgreenvote.org

Description

Friends,

Last year, Americans voted overwhelmingly for change, including an energy policy for the 21st Century.

Members of Congress are working to jumpstart our economy and create new, green jobs in Nevada by passing a historic Clean Energy Plan. Unfortunately, big oil and gas companies are using scare tactics to stall this work and are organizing a protest Monday against any sensible reform to our nation’s outdated energy policy.

PLEASE JOIN US — Monday, August 10, at 8:30 a.m. on the steps of the Cox Pavilion of the UNLV campus — to let our elected officials know we need green jobs and a Clean Energy Plan now! It’s important that we show our support for a Clean Energy Plan.

Join other Nevadans to send a public “thank you” to Sen. Harry Reid for the work he is doing to support a Clean Energy Plan in Congress and call on other senators to vote in favor of jobs that can’t be exported overseas. Sen. Reid recognizes that we must harness Nevada’s vast solar, wind and geothermal energy potential to stabilize our energy costs and create much-needed jobs!

Free parking is available in the Cox Pavilion parking lot on the UNLV campus at Swenson and Tropicana. For more information, please go to www.rebuildnevada.org. To RSVP, please email kirsten@nvgreenvote.org.

The GOP is not letting any grass grow under it’s feet. It is busily identifying freshman and sophomore members of Congress it will target and seek to oust from their elected office. [Blue Jersey]

One of those targeted by the GOP is Representative Dina Titus who represents Nevada’s Congressional District #3. Titus isn’t alone, there are 70 on the targeted list. Republicans are working together in their grassroots organizations. The following statement from the GOP says:

Hi friends, Below you will find a list of 70 districts that the NRCC is targeting this cycle. As Chairman Sessions stated earlier this week at a pen and pad briefing, “There are people proactively coming to us. We are doing far less recruiting and more catching.” With that said we have the opportunity to focus on many more districts and some unusual districts that haven’t been targeted in a long time. We are very excited about our prospects in 2010 and look forward to having your support! If you have questions about a particular district please shoot me a note.

Here in Nye County, Nevada in Congressional District #2. The only grassroots endeavor I am aware of that is working to unseat Republican incumbent Dean Heller (ProjectVoteSmart) is the national Organizing for America organization. I’ve heard of no such local grassroot effort being mounted by the Nye County Democratic Party.

Cindy Trigg, a Democrat, in Northern Nevada had announced she was a candidate for District #2, but dropped out about a month later.

Paul Reeves, of Pahrump, announced he is a Democratic candidate for District #2 last Monday, August 3 at an event sponsored by the Pahrump Chapter of Democracy for America.

Jack Schofield, of Las Vegas, has indicated he is also a Democratic candidate for District #2, and is expected to publicly announce his candidacy soon.

So far as I know both Reeves and Schofield are running on their own without encouragement or assistance of the Nevada State Democratic Party or the Nye County or Clark County Democratic Parties. Nor have I heard of any recruitment efforts by the state or local Democratic organizations to find a competent, viable and electable candidate to run against Dean Heller.

Heller, being the incumbent, has the full GOP organization behind him. Makes it very lonely and difficult for a Democratic Candidate.

An open message to Paul Reeves and Jack Schofield.

I just ran across this Group on Facebook. The group wants to find a Democratic Candidate to run against Dean Heller in District #02. I thought perhaps you both would be interested.

They write:

We need a good, urban Democrat from CD-2 to run against Dean Heller in 2010 and here is why.
Jill Derby was the closest candidate to come to a victory in 2006. In 2000, when Tierney Cahill ran against Jim Gibbons, she received 1700 more votes than Jill Derby did when the percentage of voters per party were approximately the same! We need a good candidate like with the political skill and connection to Nevada like Jill with the story and Reno-Tahoe metro area residence like Tierney.
CD-02 has always been represented by Republicans from the Reno-Tahoe metro (Reno, Sparks, Carson City). Dean Heller is from Carson City, Jim Gibbons from Reno and Barbara Vucanovich from Reno. We need a different strategy if we want to stay competitive. We need an urban Democrat to run for CD-02.
Jill Derby has set the foundation for a good race to be had in 2010 but we need to take another look at the rural strategy.
Prior to Jill Derby running, the last time there was a viable candidate was 1992 with Reno Mayor Pete Sferrazza (41%) running against Barbara Vucanovich (52%).
Jill Derby shows no sign of entering the 2010 race. Cindy Trigg is out. Who is going to step into the ring from the Reno-Tahoe metropolitan area?

Perhaps both of you might like to let them know of your existence.

Mr. Paul Reeves

Interview of Paul Reeves

Here is the post on Red State, a conservative Republican blog:

Head’s up: there is a rumor circulating in the House of Representatives that enough Blue Dogs have caved on health care for Nancy Pelosi to get the bill to the floor this week. The memo to Republicans assuring them there’d be no vote could have been a ruse to turn down constituent heat enough.

Democrats are growing fearful that August recess will turn the Blue Dogs cold and want something out by Friday.

It appears they may have the votes to do that.

CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN RIGHT NOW.

Go here and get the number. Call now.

OK, you progressives out there. You want healthcare? Then get off your buns and battle with the opposition. If you want it you have to fight for it.