Vegas Law Talk

Kevin Krall: You're listening to
special programming sponsored by

Stovall and Associates law firm.
The content of this program does

not reflect the views or
opinions of 91.5 Jas and more,

the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas or the Board of Regents of

the Nevada System of Higher
Education.

Leslie Stovall: Good morning,
this is Vegas law talk. This is

Leslie Stovall. Today I have the
pleasure of having Shelley

Berkley, as my guest. I hope
everybody's doing well this

morning, and I hope you enjoy
our conversation. Shelley. Thank

you so much.

Unknown: And Leslie, I was
absolutely delighted when your

office called it's nice to see
you after all this time.

It has been a while it has been
a while. And I understand you're

doing wonderful.

Well, I think so I'm happy. My
family is healthy, Touro

University where you know, I'm
the CEO and senior provost is

blossoming. And so it's a good
life. And I'm grateful for it

isn't a wonderful we're sitting
here in UNLV is radio studio.

And what a wonderful facility.

It most certainly is. And as I
was sharing with you earlier,

when I was student body
president of UNLV, we were in

the process of getting this
radio station licensed for the

students at UNLV. And so to come
back now and actually see the

facilities and know what an
important function this radio

station serves for the students,
faculty and for the entire Las

Vegas community makes me very,
very happy.

Well, and it's wonderful. And
it's wonderful that you had the

opportunity to be involved in
that and see your grow.

Well, as you know, we're both,
you know, UNLV is our collective

alma mater. Back then, you were
a jack of all trades. So student

government ran the radio station
and did the yearbook and did the

newspaper and did all the
student activities. And now I

think things are a little more
sophisticated and mature. But

4045 50 years ago, things are a
lot different. You

know, and I agree with you. I
know when I was here at

undergrad and in grad school
that it seemed like students

were encouraged to be involved
in development of programs like

this. I know I got involved in
the setting up the Graduate

Students Association, and
administration was very open to

encouraging students to do those
kinds of projects. I don't know

how it is today. I hope it's
still similar to that.

Well, I would hope so too. But I
have to tell you the experience

i i received in student
government here at UNLV. And you

know, when I started it was
Nevada Southern University. And

then it changed to UNLV. But
when I started, we were just a

branch campus of University of
Nevada, in Reno. And that's when

a few years after I started
school here, things changed

dramatically. And, you know, the
rest is history when it comes to

UNLV. But if there wasn't
anything that I did in my

political career, which spanned
30 years that I didn't learn as

student body president of UNLV,
you know,

I was going to ask you if, if
you're interested in politics,

was encouraged or created by
your participation in the

student government here at UNLV.

I believe it was, I was student
body Secretariat at Valley High

School. And I part of the first
graduating class at Valley that

I gave actually, I was invited
to give the commencement address

and their 50th anniversary which
made me feel very having said

that, that so I was student body
secretary in Valley. And then I

started at Nevada Southern
University, which was just the

smallest little school and we
were all coming from the local

high schools and most of us
certainly me a first time

college goer, my dad was a
waiter on the strip, but most of

the kids that went to school
here had family working on the

strip, and we were the first
generation in Las Vegas that

actually went to college. And
this was a big deal, but my

experiences and student
government really set me on the

path that I that I certainly
loved as an adult.

Is this at UNLV where you met
Dina Titus? No,

I met her afterwards. I'm not
sure she was here yet. But I'll

tell you her father in law, John
right to the building is named

after was my history teacher.
And I just loved that because I

knew most of of the namesakes of
our buildings. It was such a

it's hard for people to
understand how very different it

was those many years ago, but
John Wright was my history

teacher, Paul McDermott was one
of the members of the Board of

Regents. And of course, a very
prominent businessman in town,

Flora dungun, the humanities
building, she was on the Board

of Regents. I mean, you can go
down the list of names of the

buildings, and I knew them there
was an intimacy there. That was

pretty striking.

Yeah. And there was a close
relationship between it seemed

like, at least instructors in
the political science

department, I got to know very
well. And me too. Yes, I agree.

And it was nice. It was really
interesting. You yourself came

back after law school. You got
involved in state politics, you

sat in the were you in the
assembly or

was in the assembly. And,
interestingly enough, and this

so this was, in a way, this is
still a small town, even though

when we moved to town and 63,
there were approximately 80,000

People in the Las Vegas Valley.
Now, of course, well over 2

million, but and when I was in
office, I made it a point to

meet everybody that came in. But
for many years when I was in

Congress, Clark County, or my
congressional district was the

fastest growing district in the
United States. Now,

you were before you went to the
House of Representatives you

were on or was Yeah, you were on
the Board of Regents.

I was on the Board of Regents
for eight years. And that was

during the Tarkanian Maxim
years. At the beginning, believe

me when I tell you, when I would
get phone calls from people,

they were not going to get me
into school, can you get my son

and nothing can? Can I get a
ticket to the Thomas and Mack I

want to see the rebels play. It
was the hottest ticket in town

and so exciting. And of course
that came to an end. But it was

an exciting time. And then of
course, you paid the price for

an exciting time. And the town
was very, very divided. And we

as a member of the Board of
Regents, we got you know, a lot

of people were either very
supportive of you or very

hostile to

you. With regards to Tarkanian
leaving the school. Yes. And

I was, much as I admired a maxim
for really taking this

university to the next level, I
felt that TARC had been treated

very, very unfairly. So

Well, I think a lot of people
agreed with you at the time. And

you know, I think, Maxim I don't
know, maybe he could have

handled things better. I don't
know.

You know, it's it's past history
now. And of course, the

university has moved on. But
those are very exciting times, I

have to say, when the rebels
were playing in their heyday, I

mean, the Thomas and Mack was
vibrating. It was I read there

was so much energy, so much
excitement and and I remember

tarts last game, you know,
standing there looking around

thinking, Are we crazy, we're
throwing this away. So,

unfortunately, but you know,
things move on and the school is

certainly become far more
mature. We have so many more

graduate programs and the Law
School, which we didn't have

when I was a student,

you were instrumental in
bringing the law school to UNLV

where you're

not, that's a slight
overstatement. But I have a

border region that before that
when I was student body

president, they put me I was the
student representative on the

committee that was deciding
whether or not we should bring a

law school to a UNLV because
obviously the natural place

would be where the Judicial
College was up in Reno. But we

we did, I was on that committee
that I graduated, went to law

school, ran for office, came
home, got appointed to the Board

of Regents 20 years after I
graduated, they put me on the

same committee. Nothing had been
done. And so I vowed that I

would not leave the Board of
Regents until we had a law

school and Carol harder was
very, very excited about it. Jim

Rogers and and Mr. Boyd, I mean,
they saw the possibilities and

funded it.

Those are the big contributors.

Boys School of Law. And you
know, 20 years after I made the

motion to bring the law school
to UNLV. My son graduated from

the Boyd School of Law, so it's
been great for us

and your son is now running for
judicial position.

My son Max is running for
justice of the peace. So I'm

very, I have to say it now I was
in office for 30 years, Leslie

and I, you know, I became very
accustomed to a political

lifestyle. But I have to say,
when you're your son, your child

is running. I was driving down
West Sahara, and I saw one of

his signs, I practically drove
off the road. I was so excited.

i Oh, my gosh, look at that
side. So, yeah, it's a different

perspective as a mother, and
then when you're the candidate.

Well, it's a wonderful thing. So
you finished up your term in the

House of Representatives in I
think 2013.

Yes, January 3 2013. was my last
day I worked up and this was an

example set by dip Brian,
Senator Brian, he worked in till

12 noon, when his successor was
sworn in, and Dix. The staff

came in and said, you know,
Senator, you have to leave now.

And he picked up and left his
desk and close the door. And

that was it. And I thought that
that Dick, Brian is worthy of

emulating so when my time came,
I did the exact same thing.

What did what was your What were
you most felt best about when

you were in Congress? The what
you accomplished

VA Hospital in North Las Vegas.
It started out. I had a

veteran's Advisory Committee, I
had a Hispanic advisory, African

American women, you name it. I
had an advisory committee for

it. That included the veterans.
So we had our first meeting, I

was a young freshman at the
time. And when it was over a

group of the women vets, mostly
from World War Two and Korea

came over to me and they said,
We want our own advisory

committee. We don't want to be
with the men. Okay, so we

started a women veterans
Advisory Committee first

meeting, they said, We need a
mammogram machine at the VA

clinic. Because without it, you
know, we a lot of us don't drive

anymore, we have to get
transportation to the VA clinic,

and then they give us kind of a
prescription to go get a

mammogram, then we got to go
back and get it read. And so I

decided, you know, working with
my staff, we were able to get a

mammogram machine. And at the
ribbon cutting, and I still have

pictures of it. At the ribbon
cutting, I made a quip at the

podium that you know, next time
we're going to get an MRI

machine, someone came over to me
one of the, I guess, people that

worked for the VA, and they said
think bigger. And I said bigger

than an MRI. And they said you
need a hospital here, you've got

over 200,000 veterans in the Las
Vegas Valley. And if anyone is

really sick, they gotta go to
Long Beach. And they are away

from their family away from
their support system. And that's

when my mind started going. And
that's not going. My mind is

still started moving moving.
That's, that was a big priority

for us. And even and you could
see how things have changed so

dramatically in Washington.
During the time that we were

getting the funding and moving
towards acquiring a VA hospital.

The Democrats were in the
minority. So I was in the

minority party and was able to
work with the majority party to

get the approval and the funding
for a VA hospital. And that I

don't think would happen
anymore. And I don't think so.

And that is very fortunate. Yes.
And it's beautiful. 44 acres.

That's a wonderful facility. VA
hospital.

It's I'm very, very proud of
that. That probably was my one.

My one most significant
accomplishment.

It's a wonderful thing. So we
thank you very much for it's my

pleasure. Well, you are now the
CEO and Provost of the Toro

University both here in Nevada
and the northern campus of Toro

University.

That's exactly correct. And you
know, after after I I lost the

Senate seat and I was sitting on
my couch feeling really sorry

for myself thinking what am I
going to do with the rest of my

life? I love public service, but
I don't have a job to be a

public servant with anymore. And
I received a very fortuitous

phone call asking me if I would
like to be either head of Toro.

And you know, I said immediately
I have no academic medical

background at all. Just because
my husband's a doctor doesn't

qualify me to run a medical
school. And they said, Well, we

still want to talk to you. And
in two and a half weeks time

from the initial phone call, the
day after Thanksgiving of that

year 2014, I decided to do it.
And best thing, one of the best

decisions I ever made.

Well, you sound like you enjoy
it very much.

I absolutely love it. And we are
educating the next generation of

health care providers for the
state of Nevada and beyond.

I didn't realize I was doing
some research that poro is the

largest medical school in the
state of Nevada. Is that

correct?

Yes, we had 4200 applications
last year for 180 slots in the

med school. usnr has a little
over 60 students graduating a

year UNLV, around 60, they'd
like to go up to 120. And I'm

sure they will. And in my
opinion, every one of those

students and future doctors are
needed in this state. So I'm

thrilled to be a part of that.

One of the things if I
understand that you're

interested in in your position,
we're residency programs. So

what's the significance of
residency programs?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked. And
again, this is newly acquired

information for me, I did not
know, eight years ago, and I

took the job little over eight
years ago. When you finish your

four years of medical school,
you're still not a doctor. I

mean, you're a doctor, but
you're not practicing. Uh, you

need three years minimum
residency, before you could

actually practice. And so those
are it's called graduate medical

education. It's the residency
programs. Nevada has about 48th.

In the United States, when it
comes to providing residency

programs. They're expensive to
create. They're funded by

Medicare, and Medicare funding
is way down. And so if you are

in a growth state like Nevada,
there was no way for you to keep

up. So rather than waiting, and
I think this is a tremendous

tribute to our legislature, and
Governor Sandoval, and now

Governor sisolak, they recognize
the need for doctors, we have a

tremendous physician shortage in
this state. And we

have for many, many years,

ever. And the only way to
correct that because here's the

interesting number 70% of
doctors end up practicing where

they do their residency you have
we don't have residency

programs, all of these future
doctors that are getting their

education here have to leave
town, and 70% of them are not

coming back to Nevada,

how does it look for the future?
Do you see the funding coming

from the state legislature that
will help out significantly

that we have in when Brian
Sandoval was governor, he was

the first one to recognize the
need and funded along with the

legislature, I think $10 million
biennium happened a few times.

And then when Governor sisolak
came in, he continued it. Now

they cut it slightly during the
pandemic, because I had no idea

what the state budget was going
to be like, but there was still

funding. And now I'm hoping that
people are getting out and about

hoping praying that things are
going to get back to normal.

We'll know what the budget is
for the state when the

legislature convenes. And
hopefully there'll be additional

funding, if we're waiting for
the feds to fund Medicare to

help us out. We're going to be
waiting and awfully, but you and

I won't be here anymore. So I'd
like to see this done. Before we

leave.

You're also interested in health
care reform?

Yes, we have a system where we
need to ensure that people are

insured, and that they can they
have access to affordable health

care. And I think that is
something that's very important.

This

is what I don't understand is
how people can say someone

should not be entitled to health
insurance and not and then

ignore the fact that those
persons are going to require

health care anyway. And the cost
shifts to the taxpayer

in the end we pay for it one way
or another. It's more expensive

when you I shifted over you are
100% Right let's

i i listened to people argue
against universal health care,

and I just go you don't you
realize how much more expensive

it is and that you're gonna pay
it anyway. Plus, it's very

uncaring. How could you be so
cruel?

I, in the end, if somebody is
terribly ill and they don't have

insurance, they're going to end
up at the UMC emergency room.

And we're that's our tax dollars
that are Hang for that. So I

would rather see everybody with
affordable health care insurance

so that they can take care of
their own needs. And you

know, that begins with children
that begins. Neonatal that

begins during pregnancy, if you
don't support those people, you

have the health care expenses
over a lifetime lifetime.

endodontic disease.

As a matter of fact, I'm awfully
glad you mentioned that. United

Healthcare just gave Touro
University a $2.6 million grant

to create a prenatal program. So
we're in the process of creating

that program and going into
underserved communities to

provide prenatal care to women
that don't can't afford it. And,

again, they were gonna live
longer, live healthier and save

billions of dollars of taxpayer
money.

zactly. Right. So I was going to
ask you, when we were talking

about you coming over to the
show, I asked you some of the

topics that you were very
interested in. I'm not sure

which one to address, or
dashcam, about at this point. I

know voting is a really key
topic for you. What is your

concern about voting this year?

Well, you know, you and I talked
about this off air. Look, I

think people are very confused,
unhappy, frustrated, angry at

the political system right now.
But I am encouraging everybody

because I hear all the time, I'm
not even going to vote next

time. I don't care any more than
I don't like any of them, I

don't care. I don't care if
you're a Democrat or Republican,

they all are terrible. But my
opinion is this is the time that

good citizens roll up their
sleeves and get involved. I

don't agree with everything the
Democrats are doing. And I don't

agree with everything that,
obviously the Republicans are

doing. But I know this my vote,
My voice matters as a citizen.

And if I sit this out, if you
sit this out, then who is going

to be running this country. So
let's as citizens, Let's

appreciate our democracy and the
fact that we have a right we

have a voice in this country,
and our responsibility as an

American citizen, to do our
part. And that is at the very

minimum, to go to the polls as
an educated voter, and cast your

ballot, if you don't like the
person that wins, there's

another election in two years, I
promise you, there's always

another election around the
corner. But if you don't

participate, vote, just shame on
you. I

think of it in terms of a duty,
it is something that we must do,

so that we join everyone else,
and determining who will hold

those elected positions to sort
of steer our government, from

election to election,

I couldn't agree with you more
or less than, you know, I'm the

granddaughter of immigrants that
came to this country, they

couldn't speak English. If they
hadn't gotten out of Europe,

when they did, they would have
been exterminated in the

Holocaust, I wouldn't be sitting
here talking to you now. They

came here, just so that their
children and their children's

children could have a better
life, a better life in this

country includes participating
in the political process. That's

right. And, and by doing that,
we keep our country in hopeful,

optimistic, and welcoming. Our
country is truly a country of

immigrants. My generations back
came from Ireland, then from

Scotland. And,

and it saved them this country
that I suspect they came during

the potato famine, years and
years ago, they would not

probably have survived if it
wasn't for the United States

welcoming them,

they'll try and and I think
everybody should embrace the

fact that we're a country of
immigrants. And that's a

wonderful thing.

And I am sure that your grandma,
whoever came great grandparents

bears that they could not have
had an easy time here when they

got here. I'm sure they
struggle, the same way minded.

You know,

I think that's the story of most
immigrants is that your struggle

and you find that the struggle
was worthwhile. And it teaches

you that it's, it's worthwhile
to go through the struggle and

to become a citizen and
participate in our, our country.

I couldn't

agree with you more. And neither
one of my parents, I mean, they

were newly you know, they were
born in the United States, but

they came from definite
immigrant parents. They neither

one graduated high school, but a
generation later. I mean, the

most important thing in our
family was getting an education.

My parents didn't care if my
sister and I were pretty if we

were popular mattered that we
got good grades so we can make

something of ourselves. And
that's why UNLV was so

significant to us

than you know, you and I could
sit here and talk about the

importance of education. And and
the greatest renewable resource

we have in this country are
children and education,

educating our children. And
that's another topic that people

should talk more about.

I know. And, you know, it's,
it's just so frustrating,

because we need to desperately
improve our education system

here in Nevada, we fund it very,
very poorly. And then we

complain that our education
system isn't stellar. Well, you

get what you pay for You sure

do. And I don't understand how
come a teacher and my families,

a family of teachers, why they
are paid less than, say, a

fireman or a policeman or a
nurse,

I think, you know, in, in our
society, in our culture, that

people are valued by what they
make. I mean, it's not it could

they could be wonderful people
and all of this, but in the end

that I have my daughter in law
is a teacher. I mean, it's

shocking how how little she
makes, and how necessary she is.

I mean, she is a vital person.
And

where would any of us be if we
didn't have good teachers, from

preschool, all the way through
university graduate schools, but

those, those early years are, as
we all know, are some of the

most or the most important
years. And those people who

dedicate their life to doing
that should be well compensated

because the job is so important.
And listen, it's not an easy

job, you have to be well
educated, well trained, you

really know, half have to know
what you're doing to be

successful.

It is it you are 100%, right.
And, you know, I was honored

with having a school named after
me, Berkeley elementary school.

So I go down there, I try not to
be intrusive, but one when

invited, I go down to see the
kids and go into the different

classrooms. And I'm looking at
these kiddies, and that they're

the future of this community,
the state our nation, and they

deserve better than we're giving
them.

They do. They do. Absolutely do.
And hopefully someday, things

will funding will be corrected.

I hope. So. It's an even let me
even mention this when I was in

the state legislature. So this
is like a million years ago. I

was part of

this doesn't seem that long ago
show.

Oh, it is. But it's gone very
fast, though. Very, very now.

It's going too fast. You know, I
was part of this group. We were

the Young Turks in the
legislature that talking about

economic development, and as
much as I love the gaming

industry, and I really do, I
recognize that we have to

diversify our economy, bring in
hype good, high paying jobs for

our people. And me started going
there were a group of us started

throughout California, in trying
to encourage businesses to

relocate to Nevada, and these
were fledgling tech businesses

at that job sure don't exist
anymore. And they've been bought

up by the big guys. But they
said back then, and this is

1983. They said, You know, we
love your climate. We love your

location. We love this that. But
we don't love your education

system.

You've got to have good
education system for all

businesses. I don't. It's not
just tech, all businesses,

finance, okay. engine
manufacturers, all businesses

require and look for good
education systems. And I think

you're right, I think that's one
of the reasons Nevada has had

trouble doing economic

development. And you know, I'm a
member of the board of the Las

Vegas Global Economic Alliance,
our mission is to encourage

businesses to come here, and
we're still battling with the

education factor. And until we
recognize that it's an

investment in ourselves in our
future, that and our future

economy. Nevada is still going
to be struggling. And that's

unfortunate.

Once again, it's short
sightedness, right. It's kind of

like health care. It's like,
well, we're not going to spend

the money on this. Because
whatever. Not realizing or not

recognize or just simply
ignoring the fact that you

invest now.

You pay now pay later, and
you're gonna pay more later, or

later. Yes, indeed. That's

right, Shelly. It's been
wonderful. Unless it's great to

see you. My pleasure. My
pleasure. And thank you again,

you're very

welcome.