Danny Tarkanian discusses military issues at Fernley meeting

FERNLEY — U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian headlined February’s meeting of the Fernley Republican Women as he discussed a wide range of topics including military issues and veterans’ affairs.

Tarkanian, along with local candidates running for Lyon County offices, spoke Tuesday night at the Fernley High School library. Son of the late legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian and Lois, a Las Vegas city councilwoman, he is running against incumbent Sen. Dean Heller. He said Heller hasn’t supported the president and keeps changing his positions on key issues such as repealing the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

“Heller was one of the first (in the state) not to support Trump,” said Tarkanian, who has no idea if the president will support him or Heller.

Tarkanian, a Las Vegas businessman and attorney, said both the primary and the general elections will be battles. Every win, he said, will be against the establishment Republican and Democratic candidates. Tarkanian, though, is familiar to many voters in Lyon and Churchill counties. When he ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, Sharon Angle took first out of 12 candidates in the primary election, and Tarkanian finished second in both counties.

A veteran asked Tarkanian his views about care for military men and women.

“With all my heart, no one deserves more than those who put their lives on the line,” Tarkanian responded.

He said it’s important the nation take care of its veterans, especially with medical treatments. He said the county can spend billions of dollars on other countries, but funding for veterans appears to lag.

“Veterans should be the ones taken care of first,” he said.

Tarkanian, who supports President Donald Trump and what he’s done so far during his first year, said he’s glad the military is receiving more attention with spending over other programs than during the Obama administration. Congress increased spending for the military to upgrade systems and replace equipment.

Tarkanian doesn’t favor sequestration, which was passed in 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act but didn’t affect military and other government spending until 2013. Sequestration triggers automatic, across-the-board federal government spending cuts to reduce annual budget deficits. Tarkanian said sequestration is a “coward’s way out” for lawmakers to face the issues.

His thoughts turned to the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System in Reno.

“In Northern Nevada, you have one of the best facilities in the country, and many people are happy,” Tarkanian said of the hospital and other medical services.

He contrasted the service of the Reno facility to the one in southern Nevada where he’s heard many complaints about the services provided at the Las Vegas center. Tarkanian said he was pleased to hear about the success of Fallon’s new VA clinic, which opened in January. The Lahontan Valley Outpatient Clinic is a sprawling 10,000-square foot facility southeast of Fallon that will provide services to more than 3,000 veterans.

Unlike the majority of the elected Nevada delegation, Tarkanian favors the federal government using Yucca Mountain.

“The federal government will stuff it down our throats as a storage facility,” he said.

Tarkanian, though, doesn’t want to see it used as a storage site; rather, it should be used as a reprocessing facility, which would convert nuclear waste into reusable materials. Money derived from reprocessing the waste would then be used for state programs and could generate more than $90 billion.