Douglas County Republican files for U.S. Senate

Douglas County Republican Richard Hamzik filed for the U.S. Senate on Monday, saying John Ensign didn't do much when he was in the House of Representatives and it's time to elect someone different.

"He has the money and I have the ideas," said Hamzik, 45. "Looking at his record, he was just a mediocre guy up there."

Ensign is the party's nominee and has raised about $2 million to run for the seat from which Richard Bryan is retiring. Ensign was in the House for two terms before losing one of the closest U.S. Senate races in history to Harry Reid in 1998.

"Democrat or Republican, it doesn't make a difference," said Hamzik. "They seem to be more concerned about getting re-elected once they get there than anything else."

He said he has signed a pledge not to serve more than two terms in the Senate if elected and that he is willing to "warranty" his performance.

"You buy a car, you get a warranty," he said. "If you elect a politician, why shouldn't you?"

He said his promise is to reverse a trend in which Nevada puts more tax money into the federal government for education and everything else than it gets back.

"If I can't do that for the state of Nevada, I won't seek re-election," he said calling on "John whats-his-name" to back his promises with a warranty.

Hamzik is an integrated circuit designer for electronic equipment. He said he is a Republican but that he didn't put that on his campaign literature because he wants to represent all Nevadans in the Senate.