Richard Gardner, candidate for Assembly

Party: Republican

Office sought: Assembly 39

Age: 45

Number of years in office: None

Occupation: Owner Gardner Construction, lawyer

Address: 11 Tall Pines, Highway 50, Zephyr Cove

Phone number: 588-5613

Family: Wife, Kelly, 4 children

Education: Juris doctor, bachelor's degree in finance

Previous experience: Former two-term member Douglas Planning Commission, Douglas County Redevelopment Advisory Committee

Religious or civic organizations you belong to: member of California, Nevada and Washington state bar associations

Reason for running: I take pride in my ability to listen, build consensus and problem-solve. My overarching goal is to do what's right for all we hold to be good and worthy in District 39.

The key issues are always going to be taxes and spending. We're going have a budget surplus . We're going to have to work on keeping taxes down like they are. I would say we're over-taxed because we keep running budget surpluses. There are going to be a lot of issues relating to finance. That's probably one of my biggest assets. I have a finance degree and was a financial analyst before I went to law school. If you don't have an understanding of the money you're lost.