District debate
GOP District 23 candidate John Fillmore and Dem Barbara McGuire debate Sept. 27 in Casa Grande.

Legislative District 23 has long been a Democrat stronghold, but the times, as Bob Dylan said, they are a-changin’. With massive growth in recent years in Maricopa, Johnson Ranch, Casa Grande and Apache Junction, the demographics of the district have been changing and Republicans are gaining ground.
Two years ago, Democrats held a nearly two-to-one advantage, with slightly more than half of the district’s registered voters; Republicans accounted for only 27 percent of voters.
Fast-forward to today, and the scene is quite different. While Democrats still hold a registration advantage over Republicans, their lead has shrunk to only about 12 percentage points — half of what it was in 2004 — 42.6 percent to 30.7 percent.
The writing is on the wall, longtime LD 23 Democrat legislator Pete Rios says, adding that he knows his time in office is limited, despite his 21 years of legislative service. Add to that the actions of Rep. Cheryl Chase, who last year switched her registration from Democrat to Republican in the middle of her term, and it’s no doubt Republicans feel emboldened about their chances in the November election.
Two candidates from each party are hoping to fill the two seats available for the House of Representatives. Democrats Barbara McGuire and Mr. Rios and Republicans John Fillmore and Frank Pratt are each vying for a seat. Their comments below are from a Sept.27 debates sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and the Arizona Capitol Times.
District 23 covers much of central Arizona, including most of Pinal County and parts of Maricopa and Gila counties.
Barbara McGuire
As the district changes, its agrarian and mining history is becoming less and less part of the new economy, which Ms. McGuire says is increasingly high-tech. The state, she says, needs to do a better job ensuring students are ready for the jobs the 21st century will bring.
The United States ranks 16th out of 20 developed nations in high school graduation, Ms. McGuire said, and its students compare poorly to those in other countries.
“Technology in the classroom in Arizona and the U.S. needs to evolve,” she said, noting that schools need to do a better job emphasizing math and the physical sciences to prepare students.
When it comes to illegal immigration, Ms. McGuire said she supports the plan proffered by U.S. Sen. John McCain, which includes a pathway to citizenship for people currently in the country illegally. Still, the state needs to do what it can to keep people out.
“We need to secure the borders,” she said. “We need to know who’s coming and who’s going.”
The responsibility, ultimately, falls on the federal government, she said. The two things that are needed to increase border security, by Ms. McGuire’s estimation, are employer sanctions and prosecution of both businesses who violate the law and people who enter the country illegally.
The development in the district has caused some roads to snarl. Ms. McGuire said developers need to make sure roads are integrated into new communities to help keep traffic congestion to a minimum.
She also said the district’s representatives need to make sure the Department of Transportation knows how critical highway expansion funding is to the area, as money is given to projects on a need basis.
“We seem to sit at the back of the line for funding,” she said
Ms. McGuire also said there needs to be a commitment from the state to increase health care opportunities in the district. She cited the existence of only one hospital in Pinal County — located in Casa Grande — as evidence there aren’t enough places for rural Arizonans to get needed medical care.
Pete Rios
He’s one of 14 kids and the first in his family to graduate from college. He’s also the last Democrat to lead either chamber of the Legislature. His term as Senate President from 1991-92, in fact, marks the first time since 1978 that the Democrats controlled Senate. He’s seen things change, not only politically, but also economically.
Now, when he looks at the economy of the district, its traditionally rural nature is going by the wayside and being replaced by higher-paying high-tech jobs. If the district is going to be competitive in those fields, Mr. Rios said, higher education needs to be better.
“If we really want to attract high-tech businesses to this part of the state, we need an educated workforce,” he said.
The best solution is allowing community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees. Mr. Rios worked with Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-17, on a bill last year to allow the colleges to offer four-year degrees in certain subjects. The bill ultimately failed, but he said it was important in getting concessions from the universities to expand higher education into the state’s rural areas.
Illegal immigration, Mr. Rios says, is a “morass” that the federal government has allowed to “fester” for several generations. The responsibility for solving it is largely a federal one.
“There are a few things the state government can do, but there are a lot of things it cannot,” he said.
Employer sanctions are one of those things: though Governor Napolitano vetoed a Republican-backed sanctions bill, he said the majority party failed to consider a tougher employer sanctions package offered by Democrats four times in the House last year.
In order to solve the crushing traffic dilemmas posed by overloaded roads in and out of both Maricopa and Johnson Ranch, the district’s representation needs to step up to the plate, he said.
“We need to fight for our share of the money,” he said.
Additionally, Mr. Rios said he estimates the state will have a $1 billion surplus to deal with next session. He said he would favor $200-300 million in tax cuts and increasing funding for universities to retain professors.
John Fillmore
An Apache Junction businessman, John Fillmore is not shy about being a self-made man who pulled himself up by the bootstraps to become successful.
“I have a Masters [degree] from the University of Hard Knocks,” he says. “I’m a self-starter.”
The number one issue in the state, Mr. Fillmore says, is securing the border to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into Arizona.
“Our state is being overrun,” he said. “We’re paying for that.”
The solution, he says, is a state-issued identification card given to all citizens. That, coupled with meaningful employer sanctions, would help take away the jobs and social services that attract so many of the illegal immigrants to the state. Plus, it would get the attention of the federal government.
“What we need to do is force the federal government to get off its rear end and act,” he said, adding that local police agencies need to enforce immigration laws. “We can’t wait for the federal government — we must act now.”
Mr. Fillmore also advocates consolidating school districts to reduce the overhead costs associated with them. He suggested only allowing four or five districts per county, a move he says would eliminate about 150 districts immediately, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
He is also critical of the recent growth in the state budget. Though the economy has been healthy enough to handle the 20-percent-per-year increases in the budget — attributable, he says, to Republican tax policies — he said the economy tends to be cyclical.
“It’s not going to be rosy forever,” he said.
Transportation is a vital issue to the district’s success, Mr. Fillmore said, and the lack of attention paid to Pinal County is obvious when one drives from Phoenix to Tucson and the highway begins at four or five lanes, narrows to two in the middle, and widens again at the end of the trek.
“Pinal County is like a clogged artery in the middle of our state,” he said. “There must be a stronger voice to speak up.
“We need more roads — Johnson Ranch chokes. We haven’t had the leadership and the drive.”
Frank Pratt
Immigration is definitely a top priority for small business owner Mr. Pratt, though he readily acknowledges the state’s ability to control it is limited — not just because it is a federal issue, but also because the state only controls only about 100 miles of the land along the border, with the federal government, U.S. Army and a Native American tribe.
Still, he says it is important for the state to do whatever it can.
“We need to do everything we can to get security in our neighborhoods,” he said. “What we need to do is concentrate on the areas we can have an impact on.”
He suggested that the state enter into an agreement with the Tohono O’odham Nation to let the Department of Public Safety patrol the area to stop human smugglers bringing people across the border from Mexico.
The battle for transportation dollars, Mr. Pratt says, is two-fold.
“We want to protect the funding we have and accelerate the construction of our highways,” he said. “If it takes kicking and screaming…to get money down here for roads, I support it.”
Transportation is so bad in Pinal County, Mr. Pratt says, that ideas previously dismissed out of hand — toll roads, for instance — need to be considered in order to reduce traffic congestion and move people from one place to another.
“We have to look at all the options we have,” he said.
Looking into the future, Mr. Pratt says the job market of the district, like many rural areas, is shifting to technological jobs.
“We need a well-educated workforce if we’re going to attract the kind of jobs that are important to the future of Pinal County,” he said.
The best way to do that, he says, is to let community colleges offer baccalaureate degrees.
“We can get some of our students in the rural areas a four-year degree for less dollars…much better than we can by sending our kids off to universities,” he said.