Steve Court

Steve Court

Court, Steve (Republican)

Phone: (480) 246-1035

Email: scourt@azleg.gov

Website: www.electstevecourt.com

1509 N. Spring, Mesa, AZ 85203

Age: 59 (7/21/50, Massachusetts).

Arizona since: 1974.

Occupation: Retired since 2006; owner, Brimley’s White Glove Chem-Dry, 1994-06.

Marital: Married (Susan).

Children: 4.

Religious preference: LDS.

Education: B.S., business administration, Lowell Technological Institute, 1972.

Political experience: AZ House since 2009.

Memberships have included: Boy Scouts of America, PADI.

Interests: Scuba diving, camping and traveling.

Issues:

Political influence: Ronald Reagan.

Budget recommendations: We need to pass the Adams jobs bill to attract new businesses to Arizona and to encourage existing businesses to stay and expand. This will do the most to increase revenue. If more cuts are needed, we need to prioritize spending to make sure that we are adequately funding key areas (public safety and education) and be willing to eliminate some areas of state government. Thus far we have mostly cut spending, but we haven’t really reduced the size of government. Other concerns: 1) Education reform. We made a great start this past year with “move on when ready” and “3rd grade retention.” We need to continue to make reforms that concentrate on student outcomes rather that dollars input. 2) Budget reforms. Stop the use of debt/rollovers and greatly reduce the reliance on fund sweeps. Truly balance the budget by matching expenditures to revenues.

Fiscal philosophy: Don’t spend it if you don’t have it.

Background & experience: I have worked for 20 years as an accountant/financial analyst for Motorola and have been a small business owner for 10 years. The economy went through several downturns when I was with Motorola, and I have seen that we could cut expenses by 20 percent or more and still function. The state can do the same. I have grown a small business from the ground up, and I know the importance of small business on the economy. We need economic policy that will encourage small business growth as well as encourage large industry growth.

Proposition 100 sales tax: Oppose. In the stagnant economy that we are in, a shift of $1 billion a year from the private sector to government is sacrificing private sector jobs in favor of public sector jobs. If we had passed the jobs bill, then we would have been encouraging economic expansion to offset the negative effect of the tax increase.

Pro-life/pro-choice: Opposed [to abortion] in all cases except for rape and incest.

Campaign Finance: public.