The downfall of political debates in Nevada and beyond

One of the Republicans was Treasurer candidate Drew Johnson.

He even made a joke about it in his opening remarks.

I'll start by addressing the elephant in the room, kind of no pun intended.

I think I'm the only Republican here tonight.

And...

I don't know if the other Republicans are scared by NPR.

I like Terry Gross.

I was on Car Talk when I was like 20.

So I ain't scared of NPR.

I'm here because even if more of the crowd tends to be more liberal, I'm running to be Nevada's treasurer, not a Republican treasurer.

The great thing about the treasurer's office is when it's done well, it's a fairly nonpartisan, bipartisan position.

In the event moderated by my colleague James Wolfgang Perez earlier this week, Johnson leaned on his experience as a public policy analyst and government watchdog.

He sparred over the future of the Millennium Scholarship with Democratic candidate Tia Mathis Coleman, who currently works as the state deputy treasurer overseeing the college savings division.

The scholarship, which is based on GPA and test scores, has helped more than 177,000 Nevada college students over the last three decades.

But the future is unclear.

Due to a lack of funding from dwindling tobacco sales, it's estimated the Millennium Scholarship will not have enough money to cover all eligible students by 2027, according to the Nevada Independent.

Let's hear what the candidates proposed.

Yeah, my goal isn't necessarily more eligible students.

That's kind of the problem that has been created by the current administration that has bankrupted it.

So several of the things that I would change is make it a little bit more competitive.

Governor Gwynn, when he came up with the idea for the program, it was the best and brightest, not everybody.

And so what I would want to do is have the top 20% in every graduating class eligible.

I would also stop the six years that you can tap into the scholarship and make it four years, eight semesters.

But the main thing I would do, rather than begging every couple years for the legislature to bail the program out, which isn't a solution, it's a hope, is to take our unclaimed property money, which we have hundreds of millions of dollars every year, that we can put into a fund that can draw interest and create a lasting source of revenue for this vital program.

The program right now has been held together with tape and bubble gum, and we need a serious solution, which hasn't been provided over the last six years.