- David Parks (politician)
-
David R. Parks Member of the Nevada Senate
from the 7th districtIncumbent Assumed office
November 2008Preceded by Dina Titus Member of the Nevada Assembly
from the 41st districtIn office
November 1996 – November 2008Preceded by Larry Spitler Succeeded by Paul Aizley Personal details Born December 22, 1943
Boston, Mass.Political party Democratic Residence Las Vegas, Nevada David Parks is an American politician from Las Vegas, Nevada. A Democrat, he is a member of the Nevada Senate, representing the state's 7th district in Clark County. He was elected to the Senate in November 2008, prior to which he had served in the Nevada Assembly since 1996.
He has announced his candidacy to succeed Rory Reid on the Clark County Commission in 2010.[1]
Contents
Early life and career
Educated at the University of New Hampshire, Parks served in the United States Air Force between 1967 and 1971, and was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. He then took an MBA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Political offices
A former assistant director of Clark County's Regional Transportation Commission,[2] he was first appointed to the Paradise Town Advisory Board in 1991 and served three terms. He was elected the board's chairman in 1992 and served in that role until his election to the State Assembly in November 1996. He was re-elected comfortably in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.
He was not a candidate for re-election to the Assembly in 2008 but instead ran for the Nevada Senate in the 7th district, seeking to succeed Dina Titus who mounted a successful bid for Congress.[3] Three Democrats and three Republicans filed for the seat. In the primary election held on August 12, 2008, he faced a well-funded opponent[4] but prevailed easily, winning 74 percent of the vote in a three-way race.[5] He faced Republican Lindsay Nicole Madsen in the November general election, winning easily; he garnered 68% of the vote to her 32%.
In 2002, longtime Republican opponent Tony Dane (who Parks defeated in 1996 and 1998) convinced a man also called David Parks to run against him for the Democratic nomination in the 41st Assembly district. Challenger Parks' name was removed from the ballot when it became apparent that he was not a resident of Clark County, nor indeed of Nevada.[6] Incumbent Parks won the general election.
He was appointed to the Governor’s Statewide AIDS Advisory Task Force in 1987 (serving until 1994) and again in 2002 (still serving).[7]
Personal
He is openly gay[2] and was the first openly gay member of the Nevada Legislature.[8] He is also currently the only publicly elected gay official in the state of Nevada and has benefited from the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
References
- ^ Wyland, Scott (November 16, 2009), "Parks jumps into County Commission race", Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com/news/breaking_news/Parks-jumps-into-County-Commission-race-70248322.html, retrieved 2009-11-17
- ^ a b Morrison, Jane Anne (May 24, 2002), "Challenger: Parks vs. Parks not political trick", Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-24-Fri-2002/news/18822938.html, retrieved 2007-11-25
- ^ Clark County Elections Dept., Candidate filing 2008, http://redrock.co.clark.nv.us/candfile/CandFile.ASPX, retrieved 2008-05-19
- ^ McGrath Schwartz, David (2008-05-06), "Given $50,000, he decides to run", Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/06/given-50000-he-decides-run/, retrieved 2008-08-13
- ^ Pope, Jeff (2008-08-13), "Scroggins to face Sisolak in race for Woodbury’s former seat", Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/13/scroggins-face-sisolak-race-woodburys-former-seat/, retrieved 2008-08-13
- ^ Cook, Tony; Coolican, J. Patrick (May 25, 2006), "Confessions of an ex-LV councilman", The Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/may/25/566650412.html, retrieved 2007-11-25
- ^ "2006 Member List" (PDF). Nevada State Health Division. http://health.nv.gov/docs/SATFMembers.pdf.
- ^ Ball, Molly (2009-03-31), "Robocall attacks Parks for transgender legislation", Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/politics/Robocall_attacks_Parks_for_transgender_legislation.html, retrieved 2009-04-01
External links
James Settelmeyer (R, Capital District)
Mike McGinness (R, Central Nevada)
John Jay Lee (D, Clark 1)
Mo Denis (D, Clark 2)
Valerie Wiener (D, Clark 3)
Steven Horsford (D, Clark 4)
Shirley Breeden (D, Clark 5A)Michael Roberson (R, Clark 5B)
Allison Copening (D, Clark 6)
David Parks (D, Clark 7A)
Mark Manendo (D, Clark 7B)
Barbara Cegavske (R, Clark 8)
Elizabeth Halseth (R, Clark 9)
Ruben Kihuen (D, Clark 10)Michael A. Schneider (D, Clark 11)
Joe Hardy (R, Clark 12)
Dean Rhoads (R, Rural Nevada)
Sheila Leslie (D, Washoe 1)
Don Gustavson (R, Washoe 2)
Greg Brower (R, Washoe 3)
Ben Kieckhefer (R, Washoe 4)Democratic (11) • Republican (10) • Nevada Legislature • Nevada State Assembly • Nevada State SenateCategories:- 1943 births
- Gay politicians
- LGBT state legislators of the United States
- Living people
- Nevada State Senators
- Members of the Nevada Assembly
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni
- University of New Hampshire alumni
- Nevada Democrats
- American LGBT military personnel
- United States Air Force personnel
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