David Parks is an American politician from Nevada. A Democrat, he is a member of the Nevada Assembly, representing the state's 41st district in Clark County. He has served in the legislature since November 1996.
He is not a candidate for re-election in 2008 but is instead running for the Nevada Senate in the 7th district, seeking to succeed Sen. Dina Titus who is running for Congress. Three Democrats and three Republicans have filed for the seat. The primary election will be held on August 12, 2008.
Educated at the University of New Hampshire, Parks served in the United States Air Force between 1967 and 1971, and was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. He then took an MBA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
A former assistant director of Clark County's Regional Transportation Commission, he was first appointed to the Paradise Town Advisory Board in 1991 and served three terms. He was elected the board's chairman in 1992 and served in that role until his election to the State Assembly in November 1996. He has been re-elected every two years and won in 2006 with 60% of the vote to his Republican opponent's 35%.
In 2002, longtime Republican opponent Tony Dane (who Parks defeated in 1996 and 1998) convinced a man also called David Parks to run for the Democratic nomination in District 41, against the three-term incumbent. Challenger Parks' name was removed from the ballot when he could not prove he was a resident of Clark County. Incumbent Parks won the general election.
He was appointed to the Governor’s Statewide AIDS Advisory Task Force in 1987 (serving until 1994) and again in 2002 (still serving). He is openly gay and was the first openly gay member of the Nevada Legislature. He is also currently the only publicly elected gay official in the state of Nevada and has benefited from the support of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
References
^ Clark County Elections Dept., Candidate filing 2008, <http://redrock.co.clark.nv.us/candfile/CandFile.ASPX>. Retrieved on 2008-05-19
^ a b Morrison, Jane Anne (May 24, 2002), "Challenger: Parks vs. Parks not political trick", Las Vegas Review-Journal, <http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-24-Fri-2002/news/18822938.html>. Retrieved on 2007-11-25
^ Cook, Tony & Coolican, J. Patrick (May 25, 2006), "Confessions of an ex-LV councilman", The Las Vegas Sun, <http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/may/25/566650412.html>. Retrieved on 2007-11-25
^ "2006 Member List" (PDF). Nevada State Health Division.
External links
Assembly homepage
Official campaign website
NewPP limit report
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Parks"
Categories: 1943 births | Gay politicians | LGBT state legislators of the United States | Living people | Members of the Nevada Assembly | University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni | University of New Hampshire alumni
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