Nevada’s cowboy commissioner

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, right, is shown standing next to former two-time world champion bareback rider Jim Houston in a photo that hangs outside Collins’ office.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins walks to his desk carrying a jug of water and a bottle of whiskey in the office of his North Las Vegas home.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A picture of former U.S. President Bill Clinton with Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, a longtime Democrat, rests among some of the memorabilia collected over his long political career at his office at the Government Center in Las Vegas.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, clad in worn Wrangler jeans and a Western shirt, left, talks with constituents Michael Dias and Melanie Stambaugh, right, at the end of a zoning meeting at the commission Ccambers.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, right, meets with members of his staff Sarah Kirkpatrick, administative specialist, left, and Chris Due, executive assistant, at his office at the Government Center in Las Vegas.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In 2004, before Tom Collins’ first term as commissioner, a friend sent him a note that was vintage old West. “Remember your roots and don’t do business with outlaws or snake oil salesmen,” he warned. “You don’t want to be with them when they are eventually run outta town.”   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, 64, climbs out of a cattle pen at his home. Collins, who grew up riding a horse to school and still considers himself a cowboy, insists he’s an elected official who gets things done, rather than a politician.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, 64, helps keep cattle in a pen so Rick Griffith, left, can apply worming medicine at Collins’ homestead in North Las Vegas.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)