Republican – Legislative District 5 House

Phone: (928) 785-6318

Age: 48. (06/27/66, Los Angeles, CA).

Arizona since: Did not provide.

Occupation: Retired small business owner.

Marital: Married

Education: I believe in education for its own sake and not for a self-aggrandizing wall ornament. I have an insatiable hunger for knowledge and I’ve lost count of the total number of credits I’ve accrued from two year colleges.

Political experience: Executive director of legislative affairs, All American Dog Registry, since 2008; precinct committeeman since 2012; candidate, Quartzsite Town Council, 2010; candidate, La Paz County Supervisor, 2012.

Interests: News, politics, the law, dog show judge and exhibitor, sculpting, painting, jewelry making and anything to do with horses.

Two biggest issues: The fact that 42.3% of Arizona is federally controlled land and we only received $32,203,852 in PILT compensation last year, while the BLM “travel management plans” threaten to drastically reduce our access, I would work with the attorney general and fellow legislators to determine if and how the 1976 Federal Land Policy Management Act affects the 1910 Arizona Enabling Act in order to formulate and implement a legal plan of action to force the federal government to extinguish title. Immigration is and will continue to be a major issue and although that policy is set at the federal level, Arizona must remove any incentive for breaking the law. However, I am against the portion of SB1070 that requires people to produce identification upon demand as it is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment.

Budget priorities: Infrastructure, education and public safety should always be priorities. In order to make effective recommendations, I believe you need a governor who listens and a seat on the appropriations committee.

Fiscal philosophy: Conservative. The proper application of revenue generating policy should be to raise only the amount of money needed to fund legitimate functions of government. Redistribution of wealth removes the incentive for people to excel beyond their current financial status.

Common Core: Absolutely not. The federal government should not dictate education standards or assessments to the individual states. Arizona should opt out and set its own (higher) standards.

Gifts to elected officials: If all gifts over a certain amount had to be reported to the auditor general by both the giver and the recipient, there would be transparency and accountability.

Transparency in government: Transparency is paramount, and goes hand in hand with accountability. Open meeting law lacks incentive for compliance and should state that public officials found to be in violation by OMLET “shall” be fined, not “may” be fined. Three strikes and they “shall” be removed from office, not “may” be removed. Open records law must also be changed to remove the burden from the citizen so that upon a finding of fact by the ombudsman, the public body “shall” be fined a nominal amount each day until the public record is produced. The citizens should not have to take their government to court to force compliance.

Pro-life / pro-choice: For better of worse, Roe v. Wade is currently the law of the land, and I am not seeking election to force my personal morality on others. If the citizens of Arizona wish to address this issue at the state level, they can and should do so through the initiative process so that the Legislature cannot undermine their intent.

Public policy advice: Experts in their respective field who have proven themselves to be reputable. But it’s called “public” policy for a reason, so I also believe that you should always listen to your constituents input, including social media and resources such as http://www.azvoices.gov/.

Jones, Jennifer

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