Editor’s note: The three candidates for governor were asked by Arizona Capitol Times to provide a “closing statement” in their quest for the state’s highest executive office. Their statements are published here in the order they were received.
Barry Hess, Libertarian
I seek Arizona’s governorship because I want to fix Arizona and leave the next generation their birthright of individual freedom.
This governor has a track record: She oversaw Arizona going to “worst crime rate in the nation” for the last two years of her four-year term as attorney general, and kept it for all four years as governor. Feel safer?
She took our 44th ranked (based on 23 factors, not funding as she has insinuated) schools to 50th for the second year in a row, that’s not a fluke—that’s a trend. She ran up taxpayers’ costs with all-day babysitting. Are you content to use your children as guinea pigs for a politician who pits the government school administration against their education?
She took Arizona’s ranking of 25th under Jane Hull (it took the Alt Fuels scandal to get that low) to 50th by the venerable C.A.T.O. Institute to be named, “the most fiscally irresponsible governor in the United States.”
In four years she has more than doubled the state budget. Yet she has the unmitigated gall to say she turned the state around from a deficit to a budget ‘surplus.’ Anyone who can balance a checkbook knows that you can have a little cash in your pocket, but if you have a mountain (tens of $billions) of liabilities—you don’t have a ‘surplus.’
After four years of this governor, more people illegally enter Arizona than ever before. That fact speaks for itself.
Health care is less affordable than ever because of government involvement. She refuses to lower the costs by making government smaller.
She gleefully took your tax dollars to pay her “campaign team” thousands per week and then broke her promises to actually campaign and her agreement to three televised debates. We should issue an “Amber Alert” because she ran away from her abysmal record.
I offer real, practical alternatives like lowering violent crime by allowing you to defend yourself.
I’ll better education by putting it into parents’ hands, instituting competency tests and opening up competition with vouchers. Smarter students, not baby-sitting, benefit all of us.
I’ll open government finances to the public while rooting out rampant corruption.
I’ll completely shut down our border to illegal entry.
I’ll get government out of your personal health care business, which will lower costs so that you can afford to be healthy.
I’m the only candidate who refused to take money stolen from you for my campaign, and I’ll work to eliminate the personal income tax as well as property taxes so you can stimulate the economy in your local area.
I offer you the chance to cast a vote you will be proud of. See my Web site, www.HessForGovernor.Com for details.
My message for Arizona is: If you want to fix nothing, vote for the incumbent. If you just want to fix blame on the incumbent, vote for the other challenger. But if you want to fix Arizona, vote for the candidate deceptive pollsters only referred to as “other.” I’m “Other.”
Governor Janet Napolitano, Democrat
Throughout this campaign, my focus has been on the future of Arizona — the new direction of our state’s economy, the success of our schools, the influx of new families and how we manage that rapid pace of growth.
As we look toward that brilliant future, the priorities are clear:
Education remains key. Our economy is becoming high-tech; we need to educate our children in a way that prepares them for these high-dollar jobs and a higher quality of life. The work of the P-20 Council — aligning elementary and high school curricula with real world demands — is critically important.
We must handle the growth of our economy and our communities the right way. Transportation planning is critical; those dollars need to be stretched and invested where they will count the most. We must make sure to think of how different factors impact one another as we continue to grow. It’s absurd to build new communities without thinking about roads and highways, as well as water supply and space for schools.
We must remain focused on keeping Arizona safe and secure. We are better prepared for fire than we’ve ever been; the stage was set this year for devastating mega-fires and because we were pre-positioned and ready, we caught fires early — almost as soon as they started — and, so far, we’ve been able to protect homes and lives.
And my administration has been serious about protecting our border. I had to pound on the federal government’s door for a long time, but we finally got them to listen. The National Guard is now at the Arizona-Mexico border making it possible for Border Patrol agents to do less paperwork and more law enforcement.
We’ve also made great progress developing state enforcement techniques that work.
We’ve had more success than any other state in following the money trail to find criminal syndicates that smuggle human beings.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is using new technology that can spot the stolen cars and trucks used to move illegal immigrants across the border before they’ve done their damage.
And I’m especially proud of something we have called ACTIC — the nationally recognized Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center. We’ve used it successfully for everything from tracking criminals in the Phoenix area to tracking potential terrorists who attempt to move across our border.
Science and research investment is critical to advancing health care and to the future of Arizona’s economy. Economic advantage results from ideas, inventions, and the ingenuity inherent in science and technology; that’s why I will continue to support investment in bioscience and the new economy. Training of new doctors and nurses through our university programs — including the new medical school in Phoenix — will allow us to meet the growing demand for health care providers in Arizona.
Tuesday is Election Day. Wednesday begins a new day and a new era for Arizona. I look forward to the next legislative session and continued opportunities for Arizona’s success.
Len Munsil, Republican
I have a run a campaign based on ideas, character and leadership. I have aggressively but fairly critiqued Janet Napolitano for her policy failures and bad ideas, while defending her against personal attacks.
Napolitano has not run a campaign for re-election. She expects a coronation. She has failed to show up for debates, and as one newspaper pointed out, has provided no vision or ideas for a second term.
My vision for Arizona includes secure borders, a tough approach to crime, lower income and property taxes, improving public schools through accountability and merit pay for teachers, increasing parental choice in education, and promoting strong families.
Details are available at www.lenmunsil.com.
The litany of Napolitano’s “accomplishments” in office is stunning — the nation’s worst crime rate; the nation’s worst educational system; continued significant problems with Child Protective Services, and a complete failure to address our citizens’ top concern — illegal immigration.
Her willingness to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants less than two years after 9/11 and her embrace of an anti-American 9/11 “Memorial” help explain why she has failed to secure the border, and demonstrate she does not recognize the seriousness of the threat to our citizens posed by radical Islamic terrorists.
She cannot explain exactly what she did to turn around our economy — because in reality, her proposals to borrow money, raise taxes and spend more money were never followed. She is now running for re-election based on economic policies she opposed, including tax cuts she did everything in her power to kill.
Napolitano claims to be running a positive campaign. Yet she has presided over Democratic Party lies and deceit and personal attacks on me.
The Democratic Party gave $100,000 to a committee that tried to trick Republican voters into voting against me in the Republican primary. The Democrats funded these phony committees — which were given conservative-sounding names — so they could falsely accuse me of taking a position actually held by their own candidate, Janet Napolitano.
When the Democrats’ dirty tricks failed to defeat me in the Republican primary, the same organization then sent e-mails and made phone calls to hundreds of thousands of Arizonans making false and ridiculous charges against me and my family.
When asked, the Democratic Party told the media they knew nothing about it. Only after we filed a complaint, nearly two weeks later, did the Democratic Party admit they paid for the whole thing!
These types of dirty tricks create cynicism, distrust and discouragement among voters.
Napolitano is the leader of Arizona’s Democrats. Apparently deceitful tactics and lies from the party she controls are OK with her if they help her get re-elected.
Napolitano’s failed leadership is also reflected in her record-setting number of vetoes. And it’s not just Republicans who don’t trust her leadership — three Democratic legislators have switched parties since she took office as a direct result of her treatment of members of her own party.
As Sen. John McCain said when he endorsed me, Arizona needs a governor we can trust.