Dr. Lonnie Hammargren is nipping at the heels of the current front-runners in the lieutenant governor race. Now with early voting underway and the primary election date closing in, the retired neurosurgeon is working tirelessly to ensure victory.
Hammargren's experience as a former lieutenant governor has allowed him to put together an impressive platform. He's got big plans for boosting tourism, strengthening the economy and reforming Nevada's healthcare industry. Hammargren's life work as a practicing neurosurgeon was cut short because of the high cost of medical malpractice insurance in Nevada.
"Nevada still needs a long-term solution as our health care industries have been crippled by massive and time-consuming lawsuits," Hammargren said. "Nevada is amongst the lowest states for the number of physicians per person."
He's also proposing changes in healthcare delivery to service Nevada's poor and elderly, with emphasis on veteran's heath services. Hammargren was a physician and surgeon in the Vietnam War and a practicing neurosurgeon in Nevada for 34 years.
While serving as lieutenant governor in the second half of the '90s, Hammargren worked to get more direct flights into Las Vegas from the Pacific rim and Europe. If elected he plans to continue his work as an ambassador for Nevada.
"I previously helped establish direct flights from Tokyo, Germany and London during my previous term," Hammargren said. "I plan to revisit the Pacific rim countries of China, Taipei, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore to encourage direct flights from Asia to Las Vegas as a port of entry. We also need to encourage China to drop visa restrictions and support the excellent programs fostered by the LVCVA and NDA."
The lieutenant governor gets to introduce two bills during their term. One bill Hammargren has in mind will bring the position of lieutenant governor in line with the way other states view the position.
"I supported a plan with bill drafts to change the election of the governor and lieutenant governor so that they are the same political party," Hammargren said. "This is to make a smoother governmental process so the lieutenant governor could be an integral part of the governor's office implementing the governor's plans. Most states have this system and our own federal government saw the folly in electing presidents and vice presidents of different parties many years ago. They changed to our present system of jointly electing president and vice president."
In addition to serving four years as lieutenant governor, Hammargren has also served four years on the Nevada State Board of Education and six years as a university regent. He was the Chairman of the Nevada Economic Development Commission and Nevada Tourism Commission for four years.
In the 1994 lieutenant governor's race, Hammargren handily won a four-way Republican primary and won the general election by a 9.5-percent margin statewide. This time he has to win a heated five-way race in the primary with three top contenders: Hammargren, Barbara Lee Woolen and State Treasure Brian Krolicki.
Ironically, Woolen is encouraging voters to do something she hasn't done for 12 years - vote in the Republican primary. Hammargren's other opponent, Krolicki, recently sent out a mailer from the treasurer's office that had the look and feel of campaign propaganda. It doesn't take a neurosurgeon to see who the best candidate is. LW
