Gary Tupper

Gary Tupper says his son’s medical problems led to a decision to run for governor, but he’s not a one-issue candidate.
Mr. Tupper, a 47-year-old Gilbert resident, contractor and financial planner, filed his qualifying signatures last week as a Republican candidate, after earlier filing as an independent.
A father of four children and working toward a master’s degree in family and child counseling, Mr. Tupper says the state’s “cycle of services” is dysfunctional, the way to solve illegal immigration problems is to eliminate poverty and corruption in Mexico, and that he stands apart on the issues from other Republican gubernatorial hopefuls.
Mr. Tupper discussed a variety of issues and his chances of winning the September primary election in an interview at Arizona Capitol Times on June 6.
Tell us about your son.
My son was repeatedly drugged into a comatose condition… this was actually a prescribed overdose and, for many years, we were led to believe that this was the result of a muscle condition known as congenital myasthenia gravis [a rare inherited disorder that affects the transmission of signals to the muscles, usually in young women] .
(Mr. Tupper later learned his son, whose problems began at age 5 and he wound up in a mental hospital, had been misdiagnosed, but his medications, including anti-psychotics, continued under court order.)
We went to everybody. We went to CPS [Child Protective Services], we went to law enforcement, we went to the courts, we went to the Governor’s Office, we lobbied the Legislature to get something done there, back to the Governor’s Office, back to the Attorney General’s Office, [the Arizona Medical Board], the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners…
After seeing the system not work, just completely fail in this case, which is so dramatic, one day I woke up and said this has got to change. The vast amount of money is going to social services, and if it’s not being addressed effectively, then we need to look at that waste and inefficiency.
There’s a tremendous amount of apathy, incompetence, lack of education.
We’ll come back to issues related to medical care in a while. Why did you change your filing to Republican from independent≠
I saw that there was room for moderation in a party that had become very conservative — to the point that it was starting to alienate people. I thought it was a good opportunity to come back and see if we can bring back what had been the traditional Republican Party.
You have said the Republican Party has forgotten its roots and you are in total disagreement with Republican-approved spending in the Legislature.
Absolutely. Napolitano opened the door to a $2 billion increase in the budget. At first, the Legislature was taken aback by that, but now that they see the money’s on the table, they’re kind of jumping into the game. It’s Christmas at the Capitol in June.
Are you opposed to all tax relief this year≠
We first have to look at government reform job by job, agency by agency. Where is our money going≠ I think we need to look at that first, then look at tax relief. We need to look at property tax limits and start looking at income tax, but it’s going to be very difficult if they’re going to increase this budget $2 billion.
How long do you think it might take to evaluate every department and agency≠
It’s certainly going to take four years. I think the governor and the Legislature are doing a great disservice by increasing this budget without reform first.
When you say state government needs to be reformed, what specifically needs a makeover≠
We’ve been around. We’ve got our 6,800 signatures on the street, traveling around the state, meeting people, finding out what their concerns are. In this process, you run into teachers, corrections officers, state employees, law enforcement officers, state representatives. What you see is a huge disconnect from the upper levels of management and the rank and file, who, in many cases, feel they’re underpaid, but that’s not the biggest reason they’re unhappy.
In many cases, they feel they’re not being allowed to do the jobs they’re supposed to do. I would think the overall morale because of that is lacking.
What judicial reforms do you propose and why≠
I was actually talking to an appellate court justice, who’s relatively well known. We were talking about the issues of child protection and families. What you see in courts is mom wins or dad wins… but it’s never a situation of what’s best for the family. We need to start to bring more into the conciliation services. In many cases, judges aggravate the situation. We need to reverse that trend. We have to accept that many families are broken and we have to work in that context to reverse the trend, rather than put them in a court situation.
So, I was talking to this appellate court justice and asked what do you do when the judge makes a mistake≠ Basically the court’s opinion is you have one chance… and that case is over and that’s the end of it. If you later substantiate there is abuse or if there is perjury in that case, or there’s a change in circumstances, the opinion of the court is that case has been decided, we have many other cases. The [judiciary] is not correcting its own mistakes, and that’s something that needs to be addressed.
You have said the AIMS test is “unproven.” What would you as governor propose be done in the testing area≠
The state just finished what are called alignment studies, which are content studies to determine whether that test is actually testing what it’s supposed to test. So now, the state has established its own guidelines as to what it believes students should learn. The first question is does the AIMS test for that [what students should learn], and then what is the validity of that test as far as predictive value for success in life and does it predict a certain amount of knowledge≠
The other question is if we are already using parts of the Terra Nova standardized test [for grades 2-9], what is the real advantage to the state to have its own test, and how does that compare to these national standards≠
On issues of abortion, religious freedom and other personal liberties, you separate yourself from Republican Len Munsil. Give us your analysis of his campaign for governor and how you intend to achieve an identity apart from your fellow Republicans.
I pretty much stand alone from the rest of the Republicans. I would commend all of them. When we have a debate or forum, they agree pretty much on the same thing. We really need to step back and take out the emotionality of issues like immigration and look at what is the dollars and cents solution to this≠ When you have it so emotionally charged, it’s a poor ingredient for making a good decision.
I separate myself on the issues, especially with Len on the religious right. The religious right is a very important constituency. There are a lot of things I’ve learned they hold dear and I have respect for their opinions and beliefs. I don’t believe those beliefs are shared by the majority of Arizonans. They need to be part of the equation. I don’t think they should control politics in the Republican Party of Arizona and the general populace of Arizona.
We hear from time to time that people are scared — literally scared — of Len Munsil and the possibility that he might be the governor. That he would bestow on Arizona his particular beliefs. People want religious freedom in Arizona and that needs to be protected.
The exit of John Greene from the primary race leaves you as the only pro-choice Republican candidate. Advantage or disadvantage in Arizona≠
It’s a disadvantage in Arizona because it’s widely believed that if you are pro-choice in Arizona, you’ve automatically lost the primary. The thing that would change that would be the growing number of independents. If those citizens turn out to vote, that could change the equation, but it’s a pretty poor prognosis for a political campaign for a pro-choice candidate.
So, your strategy then would be to go after the independent vote.
Absolutely.
Both Mr. Munsil and Don Goldwater have made border security their top priorities this election year. Expand on your thoughts about illegal immigration, specifically how you think the United States and Arizona could become more involved in helping Mexico reduce its poverty and political corruption.
I think one of the things we’ve overlooked, and it’s extremely important, the political election in July [for president of Mexico]. That really should be the focus of news as to which one of those candidates [Felipe Calderon, Roberto Madrazo Pinitado and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador] is going to start resolving those issues, to make business more productive in Mexico…”
Let’s say you were governor and the election [in Mexico] were coming up. Would it be appropriate for the leader of the state to try to influence the outcome of that election≠
I don’t think it’s a matter of influencing; it’s a matter of putting it in the spotlight. They have a debate tonight.
What about having a debate in southern Arizona≠
Absolutely. Say, you want the job, what are you going to do here and what can we help you with, rather than having this adversarial environment. As the governor of Arizona, you really need to start hammering the federal legislature. What we have here is everybody wants to change the equation. When the executive branch of government doesn’t do its job, as it’s failed for so many years, the Legislature has a tendency to want to make new laws to compensate for that failure, and that happens here in Arizona all the time. How ‘bout if we just registered everybody who is here and enforce the federal laws that we already have. Why does it have to be a pathway to citizenship≠ Why is amnesty even in the question≠
Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Munsil appear to be looking past the primary and going after the governor on the stump. Since you are less known at this point, will you be campaigning against them≠
If we are able to get the message out… it will be based on a presentation of the issues and the solutions proposed. We have a very good chance of winning the primary against the competitors in this election. I think that’s how you have to run the primary: Who is the best choice to beat Janet Napolitano≠ Even the people who support Munsil — and we hear this regularly — do not believe Munsil can beat Napolitano. If we present a moderate, then we have a better chance, if not a complete chance because one of the issues you face here is people don’t want a conservative governor and a conservative Legislature. People are afraid of that type of thing.
They [Napolitano and Munsil] have chosen to run publicly funded, saying it’s the only way they can compete financially. Why have you chosen to run privately and how much money have you raised≠
I don’t know that that’s the only way you can compete. I think we really have to question if it should actually be called Clean Elections when you see John Greene can’t raise money, Jan [Smith Flõrez], she can’t get anywhere near her signatures. John probably didn’t even try very hard. Don is struggling and shouldn’t be struggling. How clean are Clean Elections when people who have names can’t get the contributions≠ Barb Lubin just resigned from the [Clean Elections] Institute. I wonder what that tells us.
The whole concept was that somebody like me would be able to run. We probably could have qualified, but was it worth the time≠ You can’t spend all your time panhandling for $5 and running for governor at the same time. I don’t see how it’s clean when you have someone like Napolitano who has a base and gets her money immediately, and Len, who has a base, and gets his money within a very short period of time. And the whole concept was that anybody could run, but anybody can’t run.
As you know, one of the problems we’ve had is getting press. What happens is it’s difficult to raise money in the first place, and when you’re out raising money and they read the paper, and your name’s not in there, they don’t believe you’re running. and that takes away from the credibility. Back in November when we saw this happening over and over again, I just said we’re not going to raise any more money, we’re just going for the ballot. The amount of money you have to raise as a grassroots candidate, a political outsider, to win an election is phenomenal.
If you were elected, what would you propose as far as changes in medical regulation, specifically the Arizona Medical Board≠
I think there has been a certain amount of lawlessness. What we’ve had is poor executive leadership in Arizona for so long. Hopefully, Tim Miller [executive director] will turn the Medical Board around. The Osteopathic Board needs to put a focus on these cases. You really have to question how valid that board is. There needs to be an oversight committee for all of those boards.
Doctors need to try to clean up their own house. If a doctor does make a mistake, then we need to make sure that doctor gets the training he needs.
If caps aren’t the answer to malpractice reform and the subsequent problems of increasing the physician population in the state, what are the answers≠
The answer is better judicial reform. There is a tendency in the Legislature to tell the judicial branch what the limits [on awards for personal damage] should be. That’s not the solution for medical malpractice or tort reform. What the judicial branch needs to do is establish its own limits and make sure judges rule within those guidelines. We can reduce attorneys’ fees, have a more efficient system and we don’t have to worry about having the Legislature dictating what the judicial branch would do.
Thanks for coming down.