John Jay Lee (born August 20, 1955) is an American entrepreneur and politician who served as mayor of North Las Vegas. He is a former member of the

Nevada Senate The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the pr ...

, representing Clark County District 1 (2004–2012), and a former member of the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member district ...

, representing District 3 (1996–2000). Due to changes to the state law aligning local elections with state elections, Lee's second term was extended by a year and he was able to run for re-election in 2022. However, he did not run for re-election and instead ran unsuccessfully for

Governor of Nevada A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Early life

Lee was born on the U.S. Air Force Base in South Ruislip, Middlesex, England where his father was enlisted. At the age of six, he moved to North Las Vegas, in Clark County, Nevada. He attended Lincoln Elementary School, Quannah McCall Elementary School, St. Christopher's, Marion E. Cahlan Elementary School, Bridger Junior High and

Rancho High School Rancho High School is a zoned, and magnet high school in North Las Vegas, Nevada. It is part of the Clark County School District. Opened in 1953, Rancho High School was the third public high school founded in the Las Vegas Valley, after Las Vegas ...

. As a boy, he was active in the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

and earned the rank of

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle S ...

. Lee's first job was as a dishwasher at the Silver Nugget on Las Vegas Boulevard. In 1975, he started working in the plumbing trade, using the family station wagon as his plumbing truck. In 1991, Lee started Vegas Plumbing, Inc., a non-union plumbing company which he owns and operates today.

Political career

Lee began his political career by serving on myriad city and county boards, including: *One Citizen's Advisory Commission, Las Vegas Valley Water District: Member (1994–1996) *City of Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Board: Member (1995–1997) *Clark County Comprehensive Planning and Steering Committee: Member (1995–1998) *City of Las Vegas Parking and Traffic Commission: Vice Chairman (1995–2002) *Regional Transportation Commission: Chairman, Citizen's Bus Shelter Advisory Committee (2007–2008) *Clark County Shooting Range: Chairman (2002–present) *

: Member of Executive Board (2003–present) Lee was elected to the Nevada Assembly in 1996 and served in the Assembly until 2000. He was elected to the Nevada Senate in 2004, where he served as a member of the Legislative Operations and Elections, and the Energy, Infrastructure, and Transportation committees. He was also chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, where he worked with city and county officials throughout Nevada to make government more responsive to the needs of residents. On August 1, 2011, Lee announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress for the 2012 election cycle. This campaign ended less than four months later when he instead announced that he would run for re-election, which he lost to Pat Spearman in the Democratic primary.

North Las Vegas Mayor

On April 2, 2013, Lee was elected Mayor of North Las Vegas defeating incumbent Mayor Shari Buck. Lee assumed office on July 1, 2013. At the time of his election, North Las Vegas was facing large monetary challenges including a deficit of more than $150 million. Lee has made the expansion and enhancement of North Las Vegas Libraries and parks two of his biggest priorities. In addition, his administration redesigned business licensing procedures, attracting new businesses to the city. Lee also initiated a plan to use state tax credits as an incentive to increase development at the Apex Industrial Park, an effort he claims could eventually result in the creation of up to 116,000 jobs to the area. Lee was re-elected in 2017. On April 6, 2021, Lee announced he would switch political affiliation from the Democratic to the Republican Party, citing what he called the "socialist takeover of the

Nevada Democratic Party The Nevada State Democratic Party (NSDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Nevada. It has been chaired by Judith Whitmer since March 2021. It is currently the state's favored party, controlling all but one of Nevada's fo ...

Personal life

Lee met his first girlfriend, Marilyn Ruesch, in high school on a blind date. They married and had their first two children to the family a year apart. Today, they are the parents of seven children and twenty-eight grandchildren. His daughter, Alana, was

Miss Nevada The Miss Nevada competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Nevada in the Miss America competition, and the name of the title held by that winner. The first Nevadan to compete at Miss America was Carol Lampe in 1 ...

2011. In 2007, Lee was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, which he overcame in 2009. Lee is an active member of the

Executive Board. His commitment to the Boy Scouts began through his affiliation with

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church). In October 2014, child pornography was allegedly found on his personal iPad. In 2015, former police chief Joseph Chronister alleged that Lee received special treatment from law enforcement officials who intentionally did not do enough to investigate him. Lee denies being responsible and claims he was the first to notify authorities. In September 2015, the case was dropped by the FBI, citing a lack of evidence.

References

External links

Nevada State Legislature - Senator John Jay Lee official government websiteProject Vote Smart - Senator John Jay Lee (NV)
*''Follow the Money'' - John Jay Lee
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campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, John Jay 1955 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American politicians American construction businesspeople American gun rights activists American plumbers Latter Day Saints from Nevada Living people Mayors of places in Nevada Members of the Nevada Assembly Nevada Democrats Nevada Republicans Nevada state senators People from North Las Vegas, Nevada