No lawmaker works harder in Nevada on behalf of taxpayers than Bob Beers. He�s the man voters, journalists and politicians look to during the state legislative session to determine what the conservative footing will be in the face of expanding bureaucracy and liberal special interests. Beers made a name for himself in years past as a State Assemblyman, when he fathered everything from TASC � the Tax and Spend Control initiative designed to slow the growth rate of Nevada�s state and local governments � to the DMV rebates of 2004 that put money from a surplus budget back into the taxpayers� wallets.

Of course, Beers was just getting warmed up.

Elected State Senator in 2005, he continues to unveil a number of bills designed to protect taxpayers from a fleecing by big government. He even took on the issue of illegal immigrants, those who refuse to assimilate, by crafting the �Official English� language bill in the 2007 legislature, a move brought about by his concern that many of today�s immigrants have no intention of being Americans first and foremost. More recently, Beers crafted last session�s Senate Bill 328, which sought to get Clark County School District administrators inside actual classrooms at least one day out of the year. 

Also in 2007, Beers led legislators to make major changes in order to achieve accountability, including requiring principals to observe a teacher teaching before writing a performance review, and increasing Nevada homeowners� �homestead exemption,� thereby protecting their most important asset. Beers was instrumental, too, in preventing a tax hike by funding more than $2 billion in new road construction with existing government revenue.

Given his legislative accomplishments for smaller government, Beers is the clear-cut candidate for State Senate District 6. No one can match his conservative credentials in this state, and he is the obvious figurehead for a true conservative movement in Nevada. Without him, Republicans would not have the intellectual firepower necessary to keep the braying Democrats from enacting socialistic reforms across the board. He is a proven leader with a track record of unparalleled success and is a genuine voice for freedom at a time when people mistakenly look to the government for help and handouts.

Liberty Watch proudly presents readers with an informative, wide-ranging and fascinating interview with the State Senator.

Jim Rogers is so absolutely dead wrong on the issue of raising taxes to increase university funding, yet judging by a lot of what we read in the newspapers he is portrayed as a champion of education. How do you communicate the importance of avoiding economically disastrous public policy to the people in your district?
The Chancellor is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed because he knocks down a phenomenal income as a result of happening into a business that is essentially an unregulated monopoly. Economic theory says we allow monopolies when the investment required is too big to have society duplicate or triplicate, such as the infrastructure required to deliver electricity to our homes. We create strong regulation in the place of competition to ensure we consumers don�t get ripped off in the process. Rogers owns a bunch of television stations, where he enjoys government monopoly protection and virtually no regulation against unconscionable profits. Accordingly, he lives in a world of unconscionable profits. This is several times removed from we consumers. He jacks rates up frequently on advertisers, but they spread their increased advertising costs over so many of us that we hardly notice. And he buys a new summer home in an exotic location every couple of years. Good for him, perhaps. The real trouble is that he is completely removed from the reality that the rest of us live. We can�t just increase our incomes 10 percent every time our costs go up 5 percent. He doesn�t get that, so he thinks it�s no big deal for all of us to have our tax bills cranked up to fund increased education administration. I cannot make that point to everyone I represent, but I sure try.

Tell us about Senate Bill 328 last year and the success it has enjoyed since being implemented (despite having been watered down).
This bill started out because of my belief that, with five or six huge school administration buildings not attached to a school, many of our senior education administrators had lost touch with the fundamental mission of their jobs: the children. As I proposed it, SB328 would require administrators not working at a school site to teach one day per semester. The school district administration�s half-dozen lobbyists lost no time working behind the scenes to water it down, but they couldn�t kill it completely. By the time it found its way to the governor�s desk, it required them to spend a half-day per year in a classroom. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, when half the Clark County School District�s six-person PR department came to visit, probably to feel out what I had planned for the next legislative session. Joyce Haldeman, the chief of the group, said she had never heard as much complaining about a bill as she had about SB 328. Her fellow administrators complained and complained, then they did their half days, and came back rejuvenated and enthusiastic. Some even volunteered to do another half-day. It felt like a legislative home run to me. It really brought home how much of a privilege it is to serve in the state senate, and how intensely I hope to be able to do it again.

The history of the �Official English� bill is interesting. How does your support of this bill relate to your position on immigration?
America is built on immigration. Every one of my ancestors, as far as the genealogists can tell, were immigrants to America. What strikes me as scary about illegal immigration is that news stories say some don�t want to become American. That�s why I introduced the official English bill. I support, for example, English immersion in schools � teach children English first, then teach them reading, writing and arithmetic in English. The bill passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 19-2, but Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley refused to allow it to even have a committee hearing in the lower house. She and her immediate colleagues have provided most of my opponent�s campaign funding.

TASC and the DMV rebates have cemented your reputation as a proponent of true liberty. However, critics claim they have contributed to the state deficit.
TASC is pretty simple � our state and local government should stop growing faster than the underlying society it is supposed to serve, unless we voters give explicit approval to the expansion. It includes an implicit distrust of our politicians, because they have consistently grown the size and scope of government faster than �we the people� are growing. I�m stubborn, so you can expect me to continue bringing this in the Senate, where it has � so far � died on a 5-2 vote in the Finance Committee. I�ve heard some criticism this year about that DMV rebate, along the lines of �if we hadn�t given that surplus taxation back to our citizens in 2005, then we wouldn�t have today�s budget deficit.� I disagree. In fact, I think today�s budget deficit would be worse. All a �deficit� is is a plan to spend more than our revenue. Had we not rebated that money, the legislature would have started new programs, or expanded old ones. We would not have saved the money in the rainy day fund. Had the legislature been allowed to spend even more extravagantly than it did, then the spending plan would be even bigger today, and so would our deficit. I wish it weren�t so, but the past 40 years of steady expansion of state and local government�s size and scope says I�m right.

In addition to being a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), you�re also a computer buff. How important is technology to the future of Nevada�s economic development?
Very. At the corner of Sarah Avenue and Lamb Road, right here in Las Vegas, sits the largest intersection of buried fiber-optic cable in North America. It�s a freak of geography � everything coming in and out of southern California, Phoenix and Salt Lake City comes through us, and it happens at that intersection. Most companies with a national online presence have either their primary or backup servers within a quarter mile of that intersection. So technology is very important to Nevada�s economic development. We need to strengthen our higher education system in order to really exploit our natural advantages in this arena. Not the way Jim Rogers wants to, by raising taxes and enriching administrators, but by narrowing higher ed�s �inch-deep-mile-wide� mentality of starting new schools and not developing them. Instead, we should strengthen existing schools like the supercomputing center. This means turning the administration�s attention toward attracting grant and research funding from the private sector rather than trying to exploit taxpayers for more.

You�re also a well-regarded blues guitarist. What�s on your iPod right now?
Three Dog�s Night�s great 1970 album Naturally. I think it�s their best, though that�s a tough decision to have to make. My musical interests truly run the gamut � everything except opera, which I am embarrassed to admit I just don�t get. Lately, Ferde Grofe�s Grand Canyon Suite, anything by the Beatles, and Otis Taylor�s Recapturing the Banjo have been in heavy rotation. The past year and a half, I have been learning the 5-string bluegrass banjo rather than playing my guitar.

What�s the most rewarding aspect about your role as State Senator?
Every aspect. I love this job. You have no idea how humbling and awesome it is to field this position. I enjoy the debate, helping people in my district when the DMV or Department of Taxation calls foul balls fair, and hearing thoughts on current events from constituents. Almost every time I�ve changed my mind, it�s been because one or more constituents made a convincing argument.