Jakob Thorington Arizona Capitol Times//January 31, 2025//[read_meter]
Jakob Thorington Arizona Capitol Times//January 31, 2025//[read_meter]
Former Democratic state Rep. Laura Terech sat down with the Arizona Capitol Times to discuss her new role at the Secretary of State’s Office working on the Arizona America250 Commission, which is planning several events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of independence in the United States. Terech, who resigned from the Legislature in June 2024, also reflected on her experience in the state House.
The questions and answers have been lightly edited for style and clarity.
So what have you been up to at the Secretary of State’s Office?
I’m the executive director of the Arizona America250 Commission. Every state has one. We’re tasked with all of the public programming around the semiquincentennial. Our commission has broken out into a number of different committees so that they can narrow in on their areas of expertise. We’re a governor-appointed commission housed at the Secretary of State’s Office. We focus on things like tourism, municipal outreach and tribal affairs, arts, culture, museums, history, historic preservation and civic engagement. There are a lot of really exciting projects and I sort of help keep everyone moving and fundraising.
Can you give me some details on your event this April?
Our big kickoff event is April 18th, 2025. It’s called “Two Lights for Tomorrow” and this is a national initiative coming out of Wisconsin on the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride. They’ve called on state capitals across the country to display two lights. What we want to do is really turn this into the Arizona America250 kickoff event. We’re going to be inviting elected officials, notable community leaders, and members of the public to come and celebrate this with us. We want to put a big spotlight on the roof of the House and another on the roof of the Senate to really serve as a message of unity striped together, a light shining out of darkness as we think about striving for that more perfect union. We’ll have a military aircraft flyover. We also want to make it an educational experience so we’ll have historical reenactments and display tents to show this is what life looked like in 1776 in the original 13 colonies, but then also what was happening in Arizona in 1776 as well. Arizona wasn’t a state then but that doesn’t mean there was no history happening here and we wanted to tell that complete story.
What’s up with the traveling museum?
We got permission from Legislative Council to pick up the replica Liberty Bell. The challenges of moving that around the state are formidable, but not insurmountable. I think we’ll have some fun with that but we’re going to pick that up and tour it around all 15 counties and we want to pair it with historic documents, art pieces, interactive exhibits and stop at schools and community centers.
What else are you planning?
The Military and Veterans Affair Committee is planning on dividing the Arizona Trail, which runs from the southern part of the state all the way up to to Utah, into either 250 different sections or gathering together a group of 250 military members, veterans, their families and do a relay along that trail. We’re also in exciting talks with Arizona State University Gammage to host a history themed performance that will be a special celebration so I can’t say too much more than that yet.
How are you going to move the Liberty Bell?
We’re working really closely with Legislative Council. At first, I think they thought I just wanted to clean it and I was like, I don’t want to clean it. I do want to take it. Maybe we can clean it at the same time. They have some very specific guidelines that they’d like us to follow to ensure the safety of the bell. It won’t be in an open trailer heading down the highway.
How would you describe the significance of 250 years of this country’s independence
I am really excited about how people will use this as an opportunity to reflect on the values this country was founded on. I mean, we hear a lot about “striving for a more perfect union.” I think this is an excellent opportunity for us all to reflect on what that means. What does that mean for me personally? What does that mean in my community? Unity is often in short supply and I’m hoping this is an opportunity for us to come together and tell all of these stories because the American story is one of challenges and triumphs alike.
On to our favorite subject, the Legislature. What did you enjoy about being in the House?
I am going to link it to 250. I was a kindergarten teacher before I did this. So collaboration and communication are things that really appealed to me on a cellular level. One of the things that I loved about being in the Legislature – I still get to do so many of those things here. I meet Arizonans from across the state who are doing really interesting, wonderful work in their communities. This is a deeply non-partisan initiative. This is our country and our state – our history. And I like that I get to travel the state, meet all kinds of people and really focus on bringing Arizonans together, and I think that’s what I tried to do at the Legislature as well.
You played a vital role in that elections timeline fix bill last year. What do you take away from that experience?
That was born out of a lot of communication and compromise and it was built on the relationships that I already had with my colleagues across the aisle. When it came time for those really tough negotiations, we could do so in good faith and that’s important.
What was the hardest part about being a legislator?
Oh my goodness – the pay. I mean, I worked three jobs. I worked for a nonprofit. I substitute taught on Friday, so it’s really difficult to make a living. I like collaboration and compromise like I said, but then the idea of working together, that doesn’t get the clicks, right? That doesn’t get the social media engagement and things like that. It can sometimes seem like it’s a place where there’s outrage for outrage sake. There are plenty of things to disagree on and have really spirited disagreements, but at the end of the day, I wish there was more coming together. I can point to the election recount fix bill, the work that I did on Rio Verde or some of the bills of mine that I passed off to members across the aisle. We had good collaboration there but even that speaks to how dysfunctional the Legislature can be sometimes. To get anything moving, even small pieces of well-supported policy, it can’t come from a minority member, much less one in a competitive district. So, it’s a place with some dysfunction, but I am always hopeful there are great people there and I’m very excited to see what they’ll turn out this year.
Would you ever want to do it again?
No, and I say this with my whole heart. It was the honor of my lifetime to be there. I’m so glad I did it. I met so many people and did work that I’m really proud of. I think I made my community proud. I could have never imagined that when I was teaching my kindergarten students and the ceiling collapsed over us, which is what inspired me to run in the first place, that one day I’d be in a position to advocate for good education policy statewide. That’s an incredible gift. But I also learned through that experience that there are so many different ways to serve your state and broadening your perspective and seeing that it doesn’t have to look like any one thing has been really meaningful. It’s one of the things I love about being here. I can still do a lot of what I love from that experience in a way that’s not quite so divisive.
We can’t forget about the Arizona250 logo.
The secretary had this wonderful idea to put on a logo contest. Anyone could submit a design for it to become the official logo. We received beautiful submissions.The commission chose 10 to go forward for a public vote and our winner just happened to be this 17-year-old high school student (Riley Hammett), who through this process learned that she loves graphic design and applied to ASU and Northern Arizona University, and is now thinking about attending college as a result of his contest, which is so special. It’s been so wonderful to interact with her and her family and see how excited they are about this. Those are the kinds of stories that we can tell as a part of this project.
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