Las Vegas – In an appearance on last night’s Face to Face with Jon Ralston, Democratic challenger for Congress in Nevada’s 3rd District, John Oceguera, refused to answer questions on a wide range of issues including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, the 2009 stimulus bill, Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the foreclosure crisis.
“John Oceguera’s comments regarding economic priorities for Southern Nevada were disingenuous at best,” said Assemblyman Mark Sherwood who worked alongside Oceguera in the 2011 legislative session. “While the City of North Las Vegas teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, Oceguera was taking more than $400,000 from the city coffers as an absentee firefighter. We don’t need those ‘priorities’ in Washington.”
Rather than provide his positions on the issues, or his solutions to the challenges facing Nevada families, Oceguera chose instead to resort to Democratic Party talking points. When asked by the host what Joe Heck could have done that he didn’t do, Oceguera again had no answers:· “You’re afraid to take a position on this bill,” said Face to Face host Jon Ralston, after Oceguera refused to answer whether or not he would have supported the Affordable Care Act in Congress.
· “I got close to a ‘yes’ out of him by the end of the first segment,” Ralston added, after a vague answer on whether the Affordable Care Act is worth the additional $574 million in Medicaid costs to Nevada.
· “I can’t get you to take a position [on the stimulus bill],” pressed Ralston, after Oceguera side-stepped his question on the effectiveness of Barack Obama’s 2009 $800 billion stimulus package.
· “This is what Democrats do,” continued Ralston. “They criticize Republicans for the Ryan Budget, and say they’re going to end Medicare, but then they have no plan at all to fix Medicare.”
Oceguera offered only one solution to help protect Medicare, which was to cut waste. He claimed he had done that in his job as Nevada Assembly Speaker, despite spending an estimated $30,000 of taxpayer dollars installing a state-of-the-art legislative gym after dozens of legislative layoffs.
“It appears that John Oceguera’s only priority is going to Washington, and not giving the voters of Southern Nevada the answers they need and deserve,” added Assemblyman John Hambrick. “It is unfortunate that he is continuing his lackluster approach to the challenges facing our community.”
