Erin BreenChannel 2 News
The Special Election to find a replacement for now-Senator Dean Heller is getting closer, so we wanted to go more in-depth with our "Reality Check" reports.
This time instead of breaking down the campaign commercials for this race, largely focused on health care, we've decided to give the candidates a chance to tell you more about themselves. Things you might not have learned from watching their ads.
In Kate Marshall's case, it's that she knows finance, she's not afraid of a challenge and she's not afraid of the people who run the country's top companies either.
Marshall's background is as a lawyer prosecuting white collar criminals on Wall Street, not accounting as many might think for the state's treasurer.
Marshall came to Nevada in 1997 for a job in consumer protection and she believes she can make a difference in Washington, D.C. because she considers herself a political outsider.
"You can't play party politics, you have to step away from both sides and constantly be a voice for reason, a voice for the middle class," Marshall tells us.
She also says she's done that with S.B. 75, a jobs bill that takes effect October 1st. Some question how effective it will be at growing business in Nevada, but Marshall says she has no doubt. "EDAWN (Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada) did an analysis and believes it will create 370 jobs in the first couple of years and that was EDAWN's analysis not mine," Marshall explains.
Marshall also says everyone told her such a jobs bill couldn't be done because of constitutional challenges and other hurdles. Marshall says the fact that she cleared those hurdles shows she can overcome others.
Marshall has seen a lot of support from volunteers and big name Democrats. Tuesday House Whip, Steny Hoyer made a campaign swing through Northern Nevada.
Even with that support, Marshall is happy to show where she differs from the Democratic Party, specifically the need to keep Bush era tax cuts and avoid an off-shore tax holiday. "I disagree with my party because they didn't establish accountability and transparency and I believe the people need to know where there money is going," Marshall stated during last week's debate on KNPB.
We also asked Marshall this: "you go in as a freshman, how do you accomplish that?" This was her response, "you start at home with every bill. You ask where's the transparency? Where's the accountability?"
We're working with the campaigns of the other three candidates; Mark Amodei, Helmuth Lehmann and Tim Fasano to give them a chance to tell us what they want us to know about them.
Watch for those "Reality Check" stories over the next few days.
