Andrew Sherwood

Democrat
Candidate for Arizona House in Legislative District 26
Phone: (480) 773-1005
Email: sherwood.andrew@gmail.com
Website: http://sherwoodforaz.com/
Twitter: @SherwoodForAZ
610 N Ash, Mesa, AZ 85201.

Age: 31. (10/11/80, Tucson, AZ).

Arizona since: Birth.

Occupation: Director of marketing, Great Spaces, since 2011; professional dog trainer, 2003-2011.

Marital: Single.

Education: B.I.S., American history, ASU, 2007.

Political experience: Chair, LD18, 2010-2012; Democratic nominee for Arizona State Senate, LD18, 2010; member, Democratic State Committee.

Memberships: Bd member, People to People Int’l; AZ Democratic Party.

Interests: Rock climbing, traveling.

Political influence: I learn about the political process by watching and listening to other voters, activists, and elected officials. Todd Landfried has been a close friend of mine and taught me about the importance of seizing every opportunity when it presents itself and to examine each problem from all sides. That way you can see where to look for the best solution to any given obstacle. I am always looking for individuals that know how to engage someone they disagree with in a way that is respectable to the public and doesn’t degrade their political opponent. Few individuals possess this quality. One person who excels in this talent is John Loredo.

Job creation measures: A program to strengthen and grow opportunities for small businesses to grow and find new markets. Also, restoration of education funding to universities and college so they can support programs in fields where Arizona has or should have a competitive advantage such as renewable energy, engineering, and space sciences.

Top Issues: Education and job creation.

Prop 100 sales tax extension: I might support extending the sales tax. The sales tax was implemented to help restore education funding because the Legislature was slashing the budget and gutting education. Therefore, the sales tax might be a reasonable way to try and help an already failing education system. Also, the sales tax benefited several other public services that I have not watched as closely as education. I would want to be briefed on where they are at with their financial obligations and what the projections are for the upcoming fiscal year.

Illegal immigration: We need to find better solutions than SB1070. The best solution that I have seen proposed is from the Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform. They have suggested that we created “Ellis Island type” stations along the border that can handle the massive flow of immigrants. These stations would perform background checks, match employers to employees, and perform other necessary services that would free up law enforcement to chase the drug cartels and other aliens that truly are caustic to our society. The other benefit this system would have for Arizonans is that it would be better public policy. What we see from SB1070 is that when the state is perceived as politically unstable, we lose huge amounts of revenue from tourists and businesses that leave Arizona.

Background & experience: During the last few years, I have had the pleasure of working with my community in a position of leadership. As a previous candidate, I learned how to work with all the different political outlets of the party. As a District Chairman, I learned how to serve all the members of my community, including the ones I rarely heard from or disagreed with. And finally, during the recall of Russell Pearce, I developed many friends in the Republican Party that worked with me for the common good of Arizona. The political experience combined with being a former small business owner and college graduate has given me the tools, the connections, the experience, and the trust to work with my fellow Arizonans at the State Capitol.

Pro-life / pro-choice: The government does not have the authority to regulate what a person can do with their body. If government does anything, it should support programs to make the need for abortion as rare as possible.

One last thing: I am an independent-minded Democrat, who will consider all sides of an issue and work to find the best solutions for the people of Arizona. I have promised to be very transparent in the bills I sponsor. I will reveal who my fellow authors are and state what the justification is for the bill. If elected, I will be ready and willing to speak with any constituent, regardless of their political party affiliation, and give their ideas all due consideration. Finally, my focus will be in improving economic opportunities for small business and putting Arizona’s educational system back on a path toward excellence rather than the Republican path to lower achievement, lower rankings, and reduced opportunity for our children. Arizona’s children are its future and we owe it to them to give them the tools to succeed instead of taking those tools and opportunities away because we are afraid to invest in them.

Campaign finance: public.