Two House seatmates with differing views and personalities are trying to get the Republican nomination to replace Sen. Dean Martin, now a candidate for state treasurer.
Termed out in the House, Rep. Ted Carpenter filed for the governors race on Jan. 19, abandoned that a short time later and, on March 2, amended his filing to run for the Senate, after Mr. Martin announced Feb. 17 he was going to leave the Senate.
On the same day as Mr. Martin’s announcement, Rep. Pamela Gorman, who is completing her first term in the House, filed an exploratory committee for the Senate seat.
“I knew nothing about it [Mr. Martin’s announcement],” Ms. Gorman said. “A group of senators encouraged me to get in the race and run, ’cause that is what happened.”
Mr. Carpenter, who says he provides integrity, experience and leadership that Ms. Gorman does not, had planned to run for the Senate several years ago. Redistricting would have pitted him against Sen. Dean Martin however, so he did not run.
“That’s what I mean by integrity,” said Mr. Carpenter, who could be described as a low-key legislator. His announcement earlier this year about his plans to run for governor was done on the Capitol lawn without much fanfare.
Mr. Carpenter recently won a court ruling. A three-judge Supreme Court panel ruled in July it did not have jurisdiction over an appeal that was filed after Maricopa County Superior Court knocked down a challenge to Mr. Carpenter’s nominating petitions.
District 6 in Phoenix covers an area north of Thunderbird, mostly between 51st Avenue and 16th Street. Republican voters hold nearly half of the registrations in the district, with Democrats and independents each with 26 percent.
Candidates: No bad blood
Usually, the more senior or termed out lawmaker in one chamber of the Legislature is the one to seek a vacated seat in the other chamber.
“I was a little confused and wasn’t sure why she was doing that,” Mr. Carpenter said. “I talked with her, and she said, ‘I’ll be running against you.’”
Ms. Gorman said, “I don’t begrudge him for getting into the race. I’m sure he’d prefer I wasn’t in the race because it would be an easier race for him.”
Both candidates denied there is bad blood between them, but are critical of one another on budget issues and other political matters.
“I voted for a fiscally sound Republican budget, which she didn’t do in many cases this year and last,” Mr. Carpenter said.
Ms. Gorman, a more outgoing personality, voted against 12 budget bills the past two sessions, missing one vote. Mr. Carpenter voted yes on all budget bills in 2005 and this year. Seatmates canceling out one another with their votes are one reason, Ms. Gorman says, she’s running for the Senate.
“Ted kind of toes the leadership line on things,” she said. “I’m not sure he reads the bills himself because when I’ve talked to him about bills, he often doesn’t understand what I’m talking about.”
A recent Gorman campaign mail piece misrepresents his voting record, Mr. Carpenter said.
Because of his experience on the Deer Valley School Board and as a founding member of a charter school, Mr. Carpenter says he has more experience in education.
“She just talks [education], I do,” he said.
Ms. Gorman attacks Mr. Carpenter’s votes on the school board supporting budget override elections, which she says increases property taxes for residents of the school district.
“He has to promote tax increases; that’s his job,” she said. “If you’re going to be anti-tax [in the Legislature], you have to be anti-tax every day of the week.”
Both candidates said increasing border security in the top priority to reduce illegal immigration.
“And manage the incentives for people to come across the border,” Mr. Carpenter added. “We need to have a business-friendly way of identifying who is eligible to work in the United States.”
Ms. Gorman said she is a member of a Homeland Security task force dealing with illegal immigration and is taking legislators from other states to visit the Mexican border.
On the campaign trail, Ms. Gorman says she has received complaints from constituents about Mr. Carpenter’s signs, which say “Re-elect Ted Carpenter State Legislature.”
The signs were used in his 2004 campaign.
Ms. Gorman, who is running a privately funded campaign, says the Clean Elections Commission might have to deal with the question of market value of Mr. Carpenter’s old signs and whether he should have to apply their cost to this year’s campaign.
Mr. Carpenter, who filed his $5 qualifying donations Aug. 15, said his signs are within Clean Elections regulations and not misleading
“Seems to me like it’s accurate and it’s probably fiscally responsible,” he said.
“Ted, honestly, has not been working that hard, from what I can tell,” Ms. Gorman said.
As of her June 30 campaign finance report, Ms. Gorman had spent $3,000 and had $20, 247 on hand.
She said she is using Kris Baker of Blue Point Consulting for one mailer, but otherwise is running her own campaign.
Mr. Carpenter’s consultant is Mike Bradley, he said.