Don Chilton

Don Chilton

Chilton, Don (Democrat)

Phone: (602) 770-8894

Email: donchilton@q.com

Website: www.donchilton.com

5701 E. Peak View Rd., Cave Creek, AZ 85331

(Mail: PO Box 28, Cave Creek, AZ 85327

Age: 60 (1/24/50, Springfield, MA).

Arizona since: 1994.

Occupation: Civil/environmental engineer; retired principal, Pure Water Engineering, 2008-10; VP/senior project manager, Rothberg, Tamburini & Winsor, Inc. (now Tetra Tech RTW), 2003-08; project manager, Burgess & Niple, Inc., 1996-03.

Marital: Married (Patricia, airline executive assistant).

Children: 2.

Religious preference: Lutheran.

Education: B.S., civil engineering, University at Buffalo, 1972.

Political experience: Ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in CD3 in 2006. Memberships have included: American Society of Civil Engineers, American Water Works Association, Water Environment Federation, AZ Water Association, National Society of Professional Engineers, Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honor Fraternity, Foothills Democrats and Literacy Volunteers.

Interests: Politics, reading.

Issues:

Political influence: Probably the main person who influenced my political development was Gandhi. It wasn’t just Gandhi and King’s writings on their own merit that influenced me so strongly, but the fact that their beliefs coincided so strongly with my own inherent beliefs. Like Gandhi, I believe that we must work together to solve important issues. In our own state this includes immigration, education, the budget and the economy. In the current political atmosphere people who are committed to working together are more important than ever.

Budget recommendations: If additional cuts are needed I believe that those agencies with the largest budgets will have to be revisited to see if additional cuts can be made. Equally important, however, is that as the economy improves and revenues increase, the Legislature must avoid a knee-jerk reaction to fund state agencies at pre-recession levels. I believe that the state must live within its means. This means looking at each agency as revenues improve, and prioritizing their funding. Since our revenues are so closely tied to sales tax revenues, a rainy day fund must be re-established to protect the state from repeating the fiscal crisis that we are now in. Other concerns: I believe that improving our education system should be one of the state’s highest priorities. Goals that I would work toward would be to improve the performance of our schools by combining data-based performance assessments of teachers with classroom observation to help teachers improve; funding all day kindergarten; providing mentors for less experienced teachers; creating smaller classes; and funding a sufficient number of teachers to be tutors to those students that need help. As a volunteer at Literacy Volunteers I am also an advocate of funding for adult education. Secondly I would work very hard for bipartisanship in the Legislature. There are many significant issues facing Arizona. These include immigration, balancing the state’s budget, improving our educational system and our economy, and addressing health care. I believe that we can be most successful in addressing these issues if our government representatives work together for the betterment of the people. I am committed to working with all members of the legislature, regardless of party affiliation, to find the best solutions to the problems facing us.

Fiscal philosophy: I would say that I am a fiscal conservative. I believe that the state should live within its means. As mentioned above I feel that as revenues increase we have to be very prudent as to their usage. Also, because the state relies so heavily on sales tax revenue and is therefore very susceptible to declines in the economy, a rainy day fund needs to be re-established.

Background & experience: I am a registered professional engineer in Arizona. For the last 35 plus years I have helped communities improve their water resources, including Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe and many other communities throughout the state. And I believe that my background will be of significant value in helping the Legislature to keep a focus on our natural resources, including being able to provide potable drinking water for our kids and grandkids. However, as important as I believe that this background is, it is not the reason that I am running for the Legislature. I am running because I have grown over the years from someone who has been passionate over numbers and designs in engineering to someone who is passionate about people and the problems that we face, and need to resolve, together. I look forward to working with all members of the Legislature to find solutions to the problems that we face including immigration, improving our education system, and balancing our budget.

Prop. 100 sales tax: I supported Prop. 100 for the following reasons: It writes the increase into the state Constitution and therefore it cannot be extended beyond 3 years without a vote of the people; two-thirds of the money raised is to go to education and the rest to public safety and health and human services. Those services would have been cut, if passage had failed, by $830M.

Pro-life/pro-choice: While I support a woman’s right to choose, I also support common sense regulation of abortions by states. I would like to see the funds that are spent by advocacy groups on both sides of the issue, as well as more federal funds, be spent on improving education in this country in deterring our children and teens from getting pregnant. Resources should also be spent on improving adoption procedures in this country.

One last thing: I am one of LD7’s two Democratic candidates for AZ House. My wife Pat and I have been married for 37 years and have lived in the same house in District 7 for the last 15 years. We have two wonderful children, Schyler and Joshua. I believe that I will bring a special perspective to the Legislature regarding future decisions on the use, conservation, and reuse of our states water resources. In 2006 I ran for the U.S. Congress in Arizona CD3, currently held by John Shadegg. During that campaign I knocked on just over 15,000 doors during a two-year period. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and especially the many people that I met and had a chance to talk to. This feeling was reciprocated by the voters in a very close primary election.

Campaign Finance: public.