The race for Nevada Attorney General is one of those races where both candidates have credentials, both have money and both have television ads on the air. And the ad that Adam Laxalt is running is all about his service. So, we checked the facts.
"Adam Laxalt is a former Navy prosecutor who helped put away thousands of war criminals and terrorist in Iraq," it says.
That's true. Laxalt was a Navy Judicial Advocate General or JAG. He was second in command of a team that detained and prosecuted 35,000 criminals in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. Government reports show that he was personally involved with 1,400 of those cases. That is a lot of cases in a short amount of time. It also makes his only courtroom experience all overseas.
"As Attorney General Adam Laxalt will aggressively prosecute violent offenders and drug crime."
That is true as well. But so will anyone else in that job just by enforcing our current laws.
"He's endorsed by Governor Sandoval and by 15 of 17 elected sheriffs in the state."
That's true. Governor Brian Sandoval has endorsed Adam Laxalt. And of the 17 sheriffs elected in the state, 15 have indeed thrown their support behind Laxalt. So have eight of the District Attorneys including Dick Gammick.
The ad's last claim is that, "Laxalt will expand services for military families."
And while that is his plan, it's a bit speculative. While Laxalt has put forth a plan saying that if elected he's reorganized resources to put a better focus on legal help for military families, that plan doesn't really explain how it would be funded other than to create a network of attorneys willing to work pro bono.
Some have criticized that his only legal experience is overseas and not in Nevada, but his claims of service are right on.
