Ed Ableser

Democrat
Candidate for Arizona Senate in Legislative District 26
Phone: (480) 343-1602
Email: VoteEd@gmail.com
Twitter: @RepAbleser
4415 S Terrace Rd, Tempe, AZ 85282.

Name pronunciation: AB-lesser

Age: 34. (03/16/78, Los Angeles, CA).

Arizona since: 1996.

Occupation: Mental health family counselor, Ableser Family Counseling, since 2008; Southwest Behavioral Health, 2003-2008; group counselor, Bridges to High School, 2002.

Marital: Married.

Children: 1 (Brielle).

Religious preference: LDS.

Education: Doctoral candidate, justice and social inquiry, ASU, since 2007; M.A., counseling, ASU, 2004; B.A., political science and Chinese, ASU, 2000.

Political experience: Chairman, Young Democrats of Arizona, since 2007; state committeeman since 2005; chief of staff to executive VP, ASASU, 1998-1999; youth campaign chairman, Chrysler for U.S. Congress, 1993-1994.

Legis exp: House since 2007; appointed to Senate, 2006.

Memberships: Counselors for Social Justice; American Counseling Assn; Winner of 2004 City of Tempe Martin Luther King, Jr. Diversity Award; Boys and Girls Club of Tempe; Kiwanis Club of Tempe; Sister Cities of Tempe; Tempe Chamber of Commerce/Tempe Leadership; University Presbyterian Church; No More Deaths; Humane Borders, Childsplay; LDS-Tempe Stake.

Interests: Volunteering, homeless outreach, basketball, running, spending time with family, hiking and fantasy football.

Political influence: All the families and children I counsel daily remind me of how government can help people who are living paycheck to paycheck and barely getting by. They inspire me to advocate and pass legislation that helps our community and people in need.

Job creation measures: The best way to create jobs is to invest in new technologies. Arizona can create more jobs if we use our best asset, the sun. By making Arizona the Saudi Arabia of solar, we can not only create a cleaner and more sustainable energy source but also create a substantial amount of jobs. The second job creating initiative is to provide tax credits for enterprise zones, which will create growth within our cities, reduce blight and create more local and higher paying jobs.

Top Issues: My first main focus is to invest in our public education system, such as getting our children new textbooks, something the Republicans took away from our children in this year’s budget. The second main concern is to protect consumers from predatory practices such as illegal tow trucks, pay day lenders, outrageous interest on student loans and slumlord rentals.

Prop 100 sales tax extension: I support any measure that can provide more revenue to our unfunded public education system. Our children deserve better than 49th place in the U.S. for education funding.

Illegal immigration: I fully support my church’s (LDS) stance on immigration as a policy issue that must be handled by the federal government, as well as encouraging just and humane laws, providing a path for citizenship and promoting personal responsibility. No one should ever have an agonizing death trying to cross the desert in search of freedom and liberty.

Background & experience: As a legislator that has served for seven years, I have the institutional knowledge of how to properly navigate through a very dysfunctional state legislature. As a small business owner, I know the struggles of local businesses and how to best alleviate the tremendous amount of bureaucracy we have to go through. As a family counselor, I see the daily pain and suffering that most Americans deal with, from health and financial concerns to being on the brink of losing your home.

Pro-life / pro-choice: I believe abortions must be safe, rare and legal, when necessary.

One last thing: I am an ASU alumni and have successfully worked to create parity funding for all our universities as well as protected our campuses from allowing guns on them. I believe the vitriol and hate in American politics is the most harmful threat to our community. We must see past blind partisanship and do what we can so everyone has a hopeful and fulfilling life.

Campaign finance: public.