Ed Ableser
Senators don’t often deign to move from the upper chamber to the House — even in the age of term limits — but Ed Ableser is stepping out of former Sen. Harry Mitchell’s shoes after being appointed to replace the long-time legislator in March after he resigned to run for Congress.
Mr. Ableser says that, even after being appointed to the post, he never gave running for the Senate seat a thought, as he had been laying the groundwork for a House run since he was narrowly defeated in the same race in 2004.
“I took it as a learning experience,” he said of his brief legislative service, noting he would likely feel more accepted in the House because senators “frown on you speaking” a lot on the floor.
Water, Mr. Ableser says, is the top issue in the state. Though water supplies are adequate now, he says the population of Maricopa County is scheduled to double in 20 years, which will inevitably leave some people without enough water.
“We’re going to see a huge disparity in the have-waters and the don’t-have-waters,” he says.
One of the solutions he’d like to see is a reliance on desalination plants to supply water for agrarian needs, which currently account for about 80 percent of the water use in the state.
“When you introduce a water source, it’s saving the groundwater aquifer that much more,” Mr. Ableser said.
Other top issues facing the state, he said, are education and health care. On the education front, he says the state not only needs to spend more on education, but it needs to make sure all schools receive equal funding. He said he plans to work on health care legislation that would increase access to the state-funded AHCCCS health insurance program and give small businesses incentives for providing insurance to employees.
“It truly is a right for everyone to have [health insurance],” he said.
Though most candidates in any legislative race rank illegal immigration as a top issue, Mr. Ableser said he doesn’t think immigration is a serious concern for the state.
“Immigration is more of a political rhetoric and a way of political gamesmanship,” he said.
One thing that separates him from his opponents in the primary election, he said, is his ties to the community. Mr. Ableser has lived in Tempe for 11 years, is a homeowner in the district and has been active in a variety of Tempe organizations.
“I’m actually part of my community,” he said. “When voters go to vote, they want someone who…has been serving their community already, not as an elected official.”
Mr. Ableser is endorsed by more than a dozen groups, including the Arizona Education Association, the Sierra Club and the Arizona Medical Association.
Angie Crouse
While working as a political researcher, Angie Crouse said she learned that Arizona was ranked near the bottom of the nation in education, health care coverage and state employee pay.
“I was kind of horrified and thought somebody should do something about this,” she says. “I never thought I would run for office — I’m doing this primarily because I don’t think I’m being represented here.”
Education, she says, is “far and away” the top issue among the voters she has spoken with. While much of the focus was on full-day kindergarten — the Legislature provided enough funding to fully implement the programs in all schools this year — she says a lot of people would like to see teachers get paid more.
Ms. Crouse says she can’t help but compare the education she received as a child in Massachusetts with that in Arizona.
“I want to see the same level of education I received in Massachusetts out here,” she says.
The way to do that is to decrease class sizes, increase funding and make sure money gets into the classroom.
“We clearly need to be prioritizing where the funding is going,” she said.
Ms. Crouse said she wants the Legislature to look at each school individually to make sure all schools get the funding they need to teach students.
Health care coverage is severely lacking in Arizona, Ms. Crouse says, in every area from prenatal care to the options senior citizens have for insurance and residential care. A group that often gets overlooked, though, are people in their 20s — especially college students.
As a college student, Mr. Crouse says she spent most of her 20s without health insurance because the cost was too much. She knows firsthand the financial peril a serious illness or injury could have.
“You could end up with a $20,000 hospital bill and have to declare bankruptcy in your 20s,” she said.
Illegal immigration is a concern for a large number of voters, Ms. Crouse said, and it boils down to two aspects: border security and reform. The state, she says, needs to focus its efforts on tracking down human traffickers, while the federal government needs to implement a comprehensive immigration reform package. She said she is apt to rely on the recommendations of the people whose job it is to secure the border.
“I’m definitely going to be following the governor’s lead on this one, because she has people that are down there doing that,” she said.
Many Tempe and Scottsdale residents also want to see increased funding for ASU, Ms. Crouse said, so it can become a highly respected research school.
“Let’s be known as a high-quality educational facility, not a party school,” she said, referring to ASU’s national notoriety.
Ms. Crouse is endorsed by more than a dozen groups, including the Arizona Education Association, the Arizona Nurses Association and the AFL-CIO.
David Schapira
As a high school teacher, David Schapira says he has seen firsthand the impact education funding has on students. When the Legislature challenged a voter-approved initiative to increase school funding, he got involved in politics, eventually running Terry Goddard’s campaign for attorney general in 2002.
It’s no surprise, then, that he says education is the top issue for voters, and the Legislature still isn’t doing enough.
“I think the Legislature’s failing us on education,” he says. “The successes they’ve touted the last couple months are a smokescreen. We need someone at the Legislature who’s been on the front lines in our state and knows what [schools] need.”
In addition to education, Mr. Schapira says voters are very concerned about the lack of health care access in Arizona. He says the state-funded AHCCCS insurance program needs “drastic improvement” and the state ought to provide incentives for employers to offer health insurance to employees.
“If we don’t invest in it now, we’re going to pay for it later,” he said. “It costs us more money in the long run.”
Although it’s on many voters’ minds, Mr. Schapira says the state needs to be careful how it handles illegal immigration and border security, since it is a federal responsibility. What the state can do, it is doing poorly, he says, as it is failing to stop the supply and demand in immigration.
The chief concerns should be stopping smugglers and identity thieves and penalizing businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, Mr. Schapira said. The Attorney General’s Office needs to have more money to prosecute the people committing identity theft, but he says the Legislature has a vested interest in making sure that doesn’t happen.
“I think it’s because we’ve had a Democrat in the Attorney General’s Office the last eight years,” he said. “If they don’t have the money…[the Legislature] can blame the AG. They did it to Janet [Napolitano] and they’re doing it to Terry.”
Mr. Schapira is also critical of the “deaf ear” the Legislature has turned to higher education — especially ASU, the largest employer in the district, which has seen large tuition increases the past several years.
“We’re falling drastically behind,” he said. “When the state fails us, the Board of Regents has one choice: to raise tuition.”
Although he would be in the minority party if he is elected to the House — Democrats are currently outnumbered 39-21 and they are unlikely to gain many new seats — Mr. Schapira says he will be able to work effectively across the aisle with Republicans.
“I have a history of building coalitions,” he said.
Among others, Mr. Schapira is endorsed by the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association, the Arizona Human Rights Fund and the Arizona Nurses Association.
Rhett Wilson
Of the four candidates in the Democrat primary election, Rhett Wilson is the only one to have ever been elected to public office. For two years in the late 1990s, he sat on the Kearny Town Council, before an unsuccessful bid to become mayor in 2000.
“I really enjoy making a difference in public service,” he says.
His work on the town council, Mr. Wilson says, gives him an advantage when it comes to working with people who have opposing viewpoints.
“I know what it’s like to look at problems from a solution standpoint, not a partisan standpoint,” he said. “That’s the way I would go into the Legislature.”
As one of three candidates under the age of 30 — Ms. Crouse is the oldest, at 36 — the 27-year-old Mr. Wilson says the open legislative seat is the perfect opportunity to get some youth into the Legislature.
“It’s a good year for a young person like myself to get involved in the process and get the next generation of leaders into the Legislature,” he said.
He says more voters have asked him about immigration than any other issue.
“All voters are really disgruntled about what government has done or not done in regards to immigration,” he said. “There’s a lot of frustration out there.”
Mr. Wilson says the state needs to pump more resources into stopping human trafficking and identity theft to help stem the tide of people crossing the border illegally.
Education, he says, is another hot topic for voters. Though it was a priority last session, Mr. Wilson says that’s only because Governor Napolitano made it one.
“I think voters understand there is an innate feeling…at the state government level that education isn’t a priority,” he said.
His top concern is the too-large high school dropout rate, which results in half of all black and Hispanic students not graduating.
“I think, 15, 20 years out, there’s going to be a negative impact on the state’s economy,” he said.
He says his experience “across the spectrum” with education issues — he’s worked in adult education, high school settings and in the college environment — makes him the best candidate to meet the district’s education needs.
With nearly one million Arizonans lacking health insurance, Mr. Wilson says the state needs to address health care costs. He believes more attention needs to be paid to the record profits that insurance and pharmaceutical companies have realized, even though the number of people with insurance is dropping.
“I think those are two industries that are bilking the American public, and it’s happening wholesale in Arizona, too,” he said. “People need to know who’s squeezing the public out of health care.”
Among others, Mr. Wilson is endorsed by the Boilermakers Local #627, the Maricopa Community College Faculty Association and N.A.I.L.E.M.