LAS VEGAS - More than a dozen voters gathered in a classroom at Vegas PBS to watch Governor Brian Sandoval's State of the State address. Each person invited to attend the Impact Nevada focus group brought a unique perspective and background.
The newly-elected governor convinced some voters.
"I would give him an A," said voter Mandy Vaughan. "I voted for him, and I agree with everything he says. I like his Constitutional values."
Others disagreed. "I'd give him between a D and an F, predominantly because many of the things he talked about were things that… there were no goals or no benchmarks established for those things," said voter Leary Adams.
Most of the people gathered gave the address a C.
"He has some good ideas, but he's going to need a lot of help from the public and the voters," voter Liza Brown said.
"I liked his support for renewable energy, looking for new forms of supporting the economy," voter Daniel Henrriquez said. "I thought that he didn't elaborate enough on a lot of his plans."
With Nevada deeply hurting from high unemployment, bankruptcies, and foreclosures, these citizens have concerns.
"I was here, because I care about education - retired teacher," said voter Ronette Badalucco. "I thought this was a great way to hear what other people were thinking, and what we need to do in our state to fix things."
Nevada only has one governor who must consider numerous viewpoints. "It's always easy to provide your opinions about what somebody else is going to do," moderator Terry Murphy said. "When we ask ourselves, ‘Well, what would you do, and what specifically do you think needs to be done,' it's a difficult task."
Politics aside, these voters all agree on one thing. They want Nevada to return to prosperity. "He was optimistic. I want to be optimistic too," Badalucco said.
Impact Nevada is a partnership between 8 News Now, the Las Vegas Review Journal and Vegas PBS. It's an effort to keep politicians honest about campaign promises.
