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We are reshaping or challenging prevailing perspectives on current events. "Change The Narrative" reflects an intention to not only inform but also inspire listeners to engage with current events thoughtfully and proactively.
Announcer 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:03
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Dave
Rico White 0:30
and welcome, welcome to change the narrative where we are reshaping or challenging prevailing perspectives on current events. So change the narrative reflects an intention to not only inform but also inspire listeners to engage with current events thoughtfully and proactively. So welcome. Welcome, welcome. The yesterday is Alexis Hill, and Alexis is actually running for governor of the state of Nevada. Okay, because I have a problem saying that Nevada, Nevada. I got it. Nevada. Okay, hey, Alexis, welcome. Thank you. Welcome. So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Alexis Hill 1:10
Well, I have grown up in Nevada. I have been a county commissioner. I'm in my second term, and I have committed my life to public service. I really was inspired to serve my community because I tried to walk to school as a little kid and I didn't have a sufficient sidewalk. There were parts where I'd walk in the road, walk on the dirt, walk in rocks. And I told my parents, can we do something to fix this? And they said, go to the city council. They'll help you. So I went to the city council, and they said, Oh, you're sweet little girl, but they didn't fix the sidewalk, but that inspired me to get into local government. I worked in local government for over 15 years, and really love serving my community, and I'm frustrated with the state of Nevada. I want better for our community and our state, and that's why I'm running for to be the first female governor of Nevada and be our next governor. Yes, absolutely. I have a four year old and a two year old foster daughter, and I'm married.
Rico White 2:14
I know you are. I know about your daughter, the foster daughter, being married. You also have a BA from Texas, A and M, yes, I do. And a Master's in Public Administration from UNLV, yes, I do.
Alexis Hill 2:26
All right, you and are sorry. Oh, is it UNR, yes. Oh, and now UNLV, people have fully tuned out. But I love UNLV, by the way.
Rico White 2:33
Okay, I love UNLV too, but you and our and that's that's also good. Still, in Nevada, it's in where's it at Nevada? That's right, it's in Nevada, and you were also the executive director of Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, a nonprofit for kids and horses.
Alexis Hill 2:48
Is that correct? I yep, I ran a nonprofit for special needs kids. We put kids on horses, and it really changed their life. And then also ran Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival up in Lake Tahoe. So I've been in the private sector as well, so have been committed to serving this community.
Rico White 3:08
Okay, look at that. Look at that. So can you share your journey that led you to seek the position of Governor? Absolutely.
Alexis Hill 3:16
As a county commissioner, I ran on homeless services, we had doubled our homeless population in our community, and it was devastating. We needed to do something about it, and the county, at that time, did not want to take a leadership position and really take care of our most vulnerable people. So when I ran, I really shed a light on that. And community members were really excited about someone who wanted to lead on that issue, because it's an economic issue, as we know, and it's really a moral issue to take care of our community members, and so we have been a model in Washoe County for serving homeless people and getting them the resources that they need, but we just can't do as much as we really need to do because we do not have the revenues we need to support our most vulnerable community members. We and it doesn't just stop there. We need to support our schools. We're 48th and per pupil funding. You were just talking about that and devastating. And we could be, we could be doing so much more with our healthcare system, really investing in specialists, investing in insurance for all Nevadans, and investing in housing to make sure that people can live and work in the communities and thrive in the communities that they are part of. So I just see fundamental cracks in every level of our system. And after working in government for as long as I have and we are a we are not a home rule state for folks who are new to Nevada. We're a Dylan's law state, which means we have to go the. State every two years when they meet for 120 days and try to get something done. Do you think the people, the work of the people, gets done in that time? No, not necessarily. And so we deserve better. We deserve a government governor who wants to invest in Nevadans.
Rico White 5:14
Okay, okay. So what would you say are some of your experiences in your previous roles that shaped your leadership style,
Alexis Hill 5:23
oh, I would say honestly, being accountable to the voters on what I ran on, and so when I told the voters the county is going to be a lead on homeless services, we took that over. We took over the continuum of care, and have made a big impact in community members' lives. I think that being transparent about how government works, and I think that there's a lot of opportunity for us to ensure that community members have faith again in government. I think that the reason that we are under this administration that we're under right now is because people were like, burn it down. It's not working for me, and so we need to do better for them and actually deliver the services that they need. And listen, I'm a government nerd. I know how these things work. I've been studying it. It's a passion of mine, and I want to do the hard work. Okay, okay,
Rico White 6:19
so if we kind of switch directions to start talking about policy and your vision, what are your top three priorities if you're elected as governor?
Alexis Hill 6:29
One the number one priority is we need to make sure that we stop giving away all of our money to major corporations and billionaires. They are walking through giant loopholes all over the place. We need to modernize our tax system. I'm not talking about taxing you and me, the working people. It's taxing the people who are not paying their fair share. And so I have proposals on how we can bring in money and support our higher education system, support our school districts, support our our adult education systems, and really help this state thrive. I want to bring on jobs in this state, but I want to bring on really good paying jobs, because right now we're bringing on jobs where we bring in Tesla, for example, and we are supplementing their employees health care because they don't pay them enough, and we're paying for they're one of the highest Medicaid recipients in the state. So I want to totally modernize Nevada's tax system, and I want to invest in Nevadans, because when we invest in Nevadans, we thrive. And the last time we did that was 1990 that's the last time the government revenues kept up with inflation, and now we've tripled in population, and we wonder why things are it's so hard to live here now, and we deserve better, so that's going to be a big priority for me. Can I say
Rico White 7:52
is this a bad word to you? Corporate subsidies? Yes, you were waiting for that. I was because I heard her talking about fixing things and market failures. That's something I just threw in there. But I read some stuff and saw some interviews that you were a part of and and corporate subsidies was something that you really don't believe in.
Alexis Hill 8:17
Well, listen, I believe in economic development, but everybody does. I know exactly. But how do you do it, and what are the goals of the state? Okay? Right? And I think we have been all too desperate, like going back to when I was a little girl and I wanted that sidewalk fixed, I remember thinking, I hope a rich person moves to my town and fixes the sidewalk. But I feel like that's how Nevada has been thinking too much. We aren't thinking. We're thinking about, how do we subsidize these major corporations coming in? For example, we subsidize data centers in the state to the tune of close to 70% and they're not paying their fair share, and high energy high water costs. That's just one example. And so I want to see how we can support our small businesses who are really struggling during this time, I want to see how we can support our working families, because when we have sustainable investments in people, our economy does thrive.
Rico White 9:10
So when we start talking about direct cash payments, tax breaks, grants, low interest loans, regulatory environments and things of that nature, you're just not because I saw that or heard or, I think when you were talking about trying to invest in education instead of all this other nonsense. I mean, is that something you believe in, or is that something that you really want to do or and if so, how would you go about doing that?
Alexis Hill 9:37
Well, I think, you know, on day one, the governor has a lot of power with executive orders, and we need to be looking at how we are operating in the Governor's Office of Economic Development. I think there's opportunity to support our small businesses. So small business loans for small businesses, especially with the Small Business Administration pulling back support. Support from our small businesses, especially if you're an immigrant small business, it's a horrible situation right now the state can step in and really support you and who, who's the biggest employer in this state small businesses. So I think there's opportunities to make sure that the state also supports that them. We we're one of the few states in the nation that doesn't support small businesses. We just support the big guys right now. Right now we do okay.
Rico White 10:25
As far as economic development is concerned. How do you propose to stimulate economic growth in Nevada? There we go, post pandemic.
Alexis Hill 10:36
Well, I think that we're we need, we need economic development. We need economic diversification, and I think that Nevada is prime for recruiting these kind of companies that we want to come in here, but not giving them a free ride. That's where I'm talking about, what are the goals? You know, when you're bringing in economic development, we can't recruit some of the companies that would want to come to Nevada because, because of our existing tax structure, which we don't have an income tax which, by the way, I'm not proposing that as part of my platform, I would be booed out of here. But also, I think that's just not the Nevada way. But we we need to make sure we have an educated workforce. We need to make sure that we have a place where people can live and thrive, and we are losing our quality of life right now in Nevada because we're not investing in ourselves. And so I think there's, there needs to be a balance there, and because the tax incentives are not upfront money, and Nevada is so low tax that we can't we haven't been able to do a lot of upfront money for recruitment, that it seems to be the easy, quote, unquote way to do these things, and I don't think it's well, I would ask the community, is it benefiting us? Are we in a better position? I'm not saying that we are. I think there's real opportunity to grow new industries throughout the state, especially in clean energy, making sure that we get great union jobs online, making sure that we even grow our medical field. I think there's incredible opportunity to have, especially Las Vegas, be a mecca for medical resources in the whole United States, but we have to do a lot of work to support that workforce and support those fields that we want to see here, and those jobs that benefit Nevadans and aren't the lowest paying jobs that actually make people suffer and make it so they they can't succeed.
Rico White 12:32
When you say, these, these jobs, what type of jobs are you talking about? I mean, blue collar workers, that type of job industry, or what exactly do you mean?
Alexis Hill 12:41
I mean, I think that there are many industries that we could be looking at. So when you invest in infrastructure, which you hear that word, what does that mean? Okay, so when you invest in your roads, when you invest in public transportation, when you invest in hospitals and schools and daycares, those are good, paying, sustainable jobs. Because you're building those facilities, you're maintaining those facilities, those are union jobs. And instead of folks, for example, driving Teslas through the Tesla tunnels that have been created here in Las Vegas, we could have teamsters driving actual busses and public transportation for our community and making it easier. We can't just continue to widen roads. We've actually got to create more opportunity for people to have alternative modes of transportation. I just went to a senior center and they they're happy that they have the resources that they do for their their transportation, but they need more frequent support and transportation to get around, and that's on all levels in Nevada. So those are things that when we invest in services for our communities, we all thrive, and so that's what I want to do as governor.
Sarah Fernandez 14:04
Okay, all right, that is very interesting. It's actually it's interesting because when you said earlier about Tesla, how the majority of the employees have to be on public assistance for Medicare purposes, that's something that a lot of people don't know.
Alexis Hill 14:17
Yes, look at the number one Medicaid recipients in Nevada. It's heartbreaking Walmart Tesla, but also they're our own people. State of Nevada. There are state of Nevada employees that do not make enough money, and they are on Medicaid CCD employees as well. So these are teachers aides, or, you know, support staff that work in our school district. We need to do better by them too.
Sarah Fernandez 14:43
What are your plans to support marginalizing communities in Nevada?
Alexis Hill 14:47
Oh, I think that there's a lot of opportunities to support our working families. So what I want to do is cap rents. I'm the only candidate out there that's actually talking about putting a. An emergency, temporary cap on our rents to make sure that people can afford to live in our communities. We just saw a news report that rents have yet again, gone up astronomically and people are struggling to live in our communities. I talked to a man who is on Social Security. He gets $2,200 a month, and his rent is $2,000 and so he is he's paying the bulk of his income on his rent. And so we also need to do better by our seniors and make sure that we're taking care of them as well. I completely agree with you on that.
Sarah Fernandez 15:41
I say that because I take care of my elderly dad. So that was, you know, a nudge. I totally agree with you on that, just real quick. What initiatives do you propose to enhance public safety and while respecting civil liberties?
Alexis Hill 15:56
Yeah, absolutely. Well, right now we have a governor who has decided that ice can have carte blanche in our state, he signed a memo with the Trump administration in September that also essentially allows for ice to do their operations here. And while they're quiet, as compared to other states, it's we have community members who are quietly being deported. Clark County, the what is it? The Harry Reid airport is one of the number one deportation airports in the United States, and so we have the state facility in Pahrump. We also have Henderson, who's also supporting ice activities. As your governor, I'm going to do an executive order to reverse all of that and require more transparency and accountability. But also, when you restructure your tax system, you have more money so that you can have more community policing to actually help people with the things that they need, domestic violence issues with making sure that neighborhoods are safe too. So I think there's a balance of making sure that we are pushing back on ice and pushing back to protect Nevadans, but also investing in public safety officers and firefighters essential workers who again, when you can hire more of these essential workers, your economy does really well, so I think there's also an opportunity to invest in those employees as well in the local government level. So I heard you use the
Rico White 17:33
words transparency and accountability. That was actually one of my my questions. So and the administration talks about having transparency and accountability and the best in the world, in the history of mankind. How do you plan to ensure transparency and accountability in your administration? Did you say that? Hear what I said, I love your administration.
Alexis Hill 17:59
I love it. Let's just put that on. Well, I think one of the things that I see is a big problem in politics as money in politics. And of course, I'm talking about that as the lead, the smallest funded, or the least funded candidate and the governor's race, what were you gonna say?
Rico White 18:16
I'm not gonna say anything. I'm just gonna listen.
Alexis Hill 18:19
Okay, and so, but I also I have small dollar donors. You know, over 400 small dollar donors the last reporting cycle. Have even more this reporting cycle. But I think what we need is to do campaign finance reform in this state, we have the most lenient laws, if you looked at most recent articles talking about the bundling that our current governor is doing, and even my opponent in the Democratic primary, it's there's a lot of dark money out there in our politics. I think we also need to tighten up ethics laws, because, again, when people lose faith in government, we lose opportunity to fight for democracy. And I think that that's an essential part we have got to deliver for people and show people that government's going to work for them, and we also have to show that we're going to look at ways to ensure that that government isn't above the law. And I think that people are seeing that like not just on the federal government, but I think they see it throughout the country and certainly in our state, it's problematic and for transparency and accountability. I think that, you know, one of the things I want to do as governor is ask departments to look for fraud, waste and abuse, and reward that as well. I think that there's opportunities to find ways to support great accountability within the administration, within the state.
Rico White 19:45
Okay, you like that
Sarah Fernandez 19:46
answer? I like it. Do you she's from Nevada.
Rico White 19:52
She's from Nevada, Nevada, Nevada, Nevada. So what measures will you implement to engage. Citizens and the governance process.
Alexis Hill 20:02
Oh, I love that. You like that. Yes. Okay, so I've been talking to people around the state, and we're calling it the Ask Alexis anything tour. And this tour ain't stopping till Well, hopefully it will be going on forever, because I want to make sure that I connect with people. But one of the things that people say is like, we we don't feel like we have a voice. We don't feel like we matter. One of my slogans is Nevadans first, and that's like, yeah, it's about time for Nevadans to go to come first. So we have many boards and commissions, and the governor appoints many of the people who serve on those boards and commissions, and I think we need to make sure we're putting experts as well as community members representation of the state throughout those boards and commissions. And I want to see more presence from the state in Las Vegas. I want to see us move more of the governor's office staff down to Las Vegas. I want to see us invest in more of the state offices down in Las Vegas, because this is a community that I feel like is fully underrepresented by the state and is not engaging. Has not been able to get leadership from the state to really solve the most pressing problems that are happening. Okay? Homeless Services, right? Public transportation, you name it, we really need a governor who wants to pull these local communities together and find solutions. If you ask any community who has implemented light rail, for example, and other states, how did you do it? They said it was from the top down. The governor made it a priority, and our mayor made it a priority, and our county commissioners made it a priority, and we all aligned and we fought for it together, okay? And that's what we need. We need true leadership to bring people together and get things done for this state. And it's just not happening right now. It's all
Sarah Fernandez 22:04
about teamwork. Teamwork. Make the dreams work. That's exactly it.
Rico White 22:09
What about some Intergovernmental Relations questions? How do you plan to collaborate with local governments and stakeholders, which you were just talking about, to address
Alexis Hill 22:20
state issues, right? I mean, it's not happening right now. I'll tell you, as a county commissioner,
Rico White 22:26
I'm gonna be neutral.
Sarah Fernandez 22:28
You brought the question. She's just honestly,
Alexis Hill 22:31
I know I have to stay in the middle, right, right? I can't sway anything. Oh, I get it. I will tell you. So tell us. As a county commissioner, I am asked, and I'm happy, to solve the problems, giant problems that every that we're facing nationwide, worldwide, like housing crisis, with no resources, no leadership, and it breaks my heart, because we're losing really Great Nevadans who can't live here anymore, and who can't build opportunity for their families anymore. It used to be that you could work two income household and the casinos and buy a house, and that that is gone. So I think that there's real opportunity for us to pull local governments together create accountability on the state level, certainly, but also create opportunity for local governments to find resources from the state. Because right now, it's like the state's not there. We really need more support to get these to solve these major problems that our constituents expect us to solve.
Rico White 23:42
Okay, that was good. I turned my head for a second. You're fine. Okay, I'm sorry. Oh, I do have something to ask. Oh, what about I forgot where I read it, or I heard about it, or the need for the Native communities? Yeah, I saw some pictures with you. Doing some hands. Yeah, look at that.
Alexis Hill 24:05
Doing my homework. I love it. I love it. I plan to meet with every tribal council before the primary. We're working on that and making sure that we understand their needs on the ground. Listen, they're very similar to our local governments. They don't have enough resources to take care of their people. They don't have enough water, you know, they they have concerns about economic development and economic diversification. They have issues with public safety and their people, if they are missing or murdered, and that not not actually finding ways to solve these crimes and coordination with the state and local local police. So the these are issues that we really need a governor to focus on, and that this is something that I have a passion for. I've been working with tribal communities as part of my career as a county commissioner, and I think it's important. And we understand they're sovereign nations, but they are also in our state and an essential part of who we are as Nevadans certainly, and need to be part of the dialog and conversation, and not just on a committee, but actually part of the administration, which is back to that question on marginalized communities. I mean, we need to make sure that all of our community members are part of this administration. I This is not about Alexis. This is about us. I ask people all the time, I'm like, Who do you think runs this state? And I hear all sorts of answers like, Oh, I think it's gaming or Oh, I think it's mining. I don't hear, Oh, I think it's the governor, or Oh, I think it's me. I think you should. I think we all should be part of running this state, and we need a governor who actually fights for us to do that, and we've given special interests and outside seat at the table. Does this
Rico White 25:52
name mean anything to you? Evelyn Pacheco, yes, yeah. She was the representing like blue collar workers, and did her thing over five year period, I think it was, and she started the Nevada women in trades nonprofit. And you were instrumental in some way, or you were shaking hands and talking to her or congratulating her.
Alexis Hill 26:17
I mean, she's a leader in the trades in our state, and she, she goes to the legislature like the rest of us, and tries to advocate for women in the trades, and I want to support her as governor and the bills that she wants to see passed, I think there's real opportunity to support more diversification in the trades. Those are great jobs. We everyone if you want to be part of the trades, regardless of sex, regardless of race, you should be able to be part of the trades. And so we need to make sure that the state is supporting all Nevadans who want to be part of it. And what does that include, also making sure that there's enough work for trades people to, oh, we got, yeah, to actually work. Because right now, especially in southern Nevada, our trades folks are having to go up to Northern Nevada to get the work. So we need to get the work down here. And that's part of that infrastructure plan that I've been talking about, that, that jobs plan that we need. Okay, that sounds good.
Sarah Fernandez 27:19
So what message do you want your voters to remember when they say your name? Alexis Hill, what do you want them to remember? What is it that of your campaign that you want them to be like, Oh yeah, that's what I want.
Alexis Hill 27:31
I'm hoping that they will be excited for change in Nevada and modernization of our state, and really having a leader who cares about the people and understands the struggles of community, and really wants to roll up I want to roll up my sleeves and support our community. I want to support our state, and I think there's a lot of work to do, but I'm so excited to do it, because Nevada is a land of opportunity, and it should be for all of us, and it was when my grandpa came here as a minor, and my dad came back here to start a small business, and same with my mother. And so I think we need to make sure that this is still the land of opportunity for the rest of our state and for my children and your children,
Rico White 28:17
Okay, last but not least, we got one minute. I think, How can voters contact you or get involved with your campaign?
Alexis Hill 28:26
I'm on all the social media platforms except for x at Alexis for Nevada, and I'm also my website is Alexis for nevada.com, and it's F, O, R, not the number, and I have a Las Vegas office off of sunset. You can come by and visit me. I have open houses weekly there. We're doing phone banking. We're doing texting. There's a lot of ways, oh, postcard writing. When I went to the Senior Center, a bunch of seniors wanted to help with postcard writing. So we're active, engaged, getting out there. And if there's a group that you want me to speak to and you want to get to know me more, I'll speak to anyone. If you know, if there's two people I'm there, well,
Rico White 29:10
this has been a great show. It goes so fast, you know, I could sit here and talk to you like for another half an hour, hour. Thank you. But again, we are coming to the conclusion, thank you for tuning in. And again, with our guest, Alexis Hill, who's running for the governorship of Nevada, that's right, because I can't Yeah, one more time, Nevada, that's right. And I'm here with my sidekick, Sarah Fernandez, and I'm your host, Rico white and again. Thank you for tuning in. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai