Darin Fisher

Democrat
Candidate for Arizona House in Legislative District 18
Phone: (480) 577-2172
Email: info@fisherforarizona.com
Website: www.fisherforarizona.com
Twitter: @FisherForAZ
814 E Desert Trumpet Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85048.
(Mail: 4747 E Elliot Rd, Ste 29-590, Phoenix, AZ 85044)

Age: 46. (10/29/65, Binghamton, NY).

Arizona since: 1992.

Occupation: CEO, owner, Vision Community Mgmt., since 2002.

Marital: Single.

Religious preference: Protestant.

Education: B.S., accounting, DeVry, 1996.

Political influence: It isn’t one person, but rather the nearly 65 employees of my businesses and their families I help support that have had the greatest affect. For a dozen years, they have caused me to remain acutely aware of the day-to-day impact of the actions or inactions of our state government and the very real consequences of its public policy decisions.

Job creation measures: We cannot have meaningful employment growth without transforming Arizona into a regional leader with a 21st century economy. We need to focus on core areas and facilitate new startups and relocations of businesses in the high-growth sectors of transportation, technology, telecommunication, financial services, energy, entertainment, and biomedicine. Creating this economy requires a superior workforce, which graduates from world-class public schools and universities. Arizona must commit to funding education, retrofitting or building new, technology-focused campuses, educating and employing the highest quality teachers and support professionals, and holding students, families, and schools equally accountable for the success of our educational system.

Top issues: Ultimately, everything flows from and through the budget in one form or another. My top priorities will be a focus on working to create and execute a new, forward-thinking approach to education from how we finance the public model, delivery methods of instruction which integrate technology, alternative certification programs to bring fresh ideas and concepts to the classrooms, and strengthening and encouraging continuing professional development for teachers and paraprofessional staff. Second would be a complete review and restructuring of Arizona’s piecemeal tax code in favor of a true tax policy to meet financing needs for the next 20+ years.

Prop 100 sales tax extension: I recognize the need for extending this increase due to an abdication of responsibility by the governor and the Legislature. This tax was designed to sunset in the spring of 2013 because our elected officials promised to craft and implement a long-term solution to our underfunded education systems and broken financing model as demanded by a majority of voters. Three years later and they have only succeeded in further gutting education funding and leaving us with a potential deficit in excess of $1 billion next fiscal year. This is neither fiscally responsible nor conservative behavior.

Illegal immigration: The Supreme Court has ruled that immigration policy, although flawed, is still the purview of the federal government. Arizona, as a stakeholder in this debate, has a vested interest in enforcement of immigration policy and seeing the border, its citizens, and property secure. Moving forward, what is needed is comprehensive reform, which accomplishes the enforcement goals of Arizona and its contiguous border states by recognizing the need for security and penalizing employers who knowingly utilize illegal labor. This is balanced and strengthened by acknowledging the economic need for policies such as the Dream Act, guest worker programs, and educational visas.

Background & experience: I am neither hyper-partisan nor an ideologue bent on political division. I focus daily on compromising and finding workable, common sense solutions that can gain a true consensus to move my clients forward. As a business owner, I live and operate in a world where these are not concepts to be denigrated and attacked but rather are celebrated and, most importantly, effective. Managing nearly 120 non-profit corporations, responsible to 400+ board members, and allocating tens of millions of dollars in operating budgets, I have honed operational, financial, and communication skill sets which translate well to the constitutional responsibility bestowed upon a legislator.

Pro-life / pro-choice: I believe a woman’s reproductive and family planning decisions are a matter for her personal conscience and should include her family, medical care providers, and personal and faith-based support structures as she deems appropriate. I respect the right of any woman to make deeply personal health care decisions free of governmental interference.

One last thing: We need policy driven debates that happen in the full light of day. Citizens should be convinced that their elected representatives are advancing Arizona’s priorities and not merely parroting special interest groups for financial gain. I will gladly champion legislation that restricts their influence, limits gifts to elected officials, requires full disclosure of financial and in-kind benefits, and creates not an illusion of transparency, but actual transparency and open government.

Campaign Finance: private.