Arizona’s Priorities

My name is Alan Smith and I am running as a candidate for Arizona State Senate in LD 15.  I am running on Arizona Priorities including:

• Strong fully funded public schools, community colleges and state universities
• Women’s Rights and Women’s Reproductive Rights
• Common sense gun and weapon legislation
• Continued use of early & mail-in voting.  Counting votes using voting tabulators
• Statewide water planning and conservation
• Clean energy- solar, wind and electrical storage.
• Infrastructure improvements in transportation, mass transit, electrical grid and water
• LGBTQ+ rights
• Congresional bi-partisan bill for border policy
• State parks funding as promised in the voter’s initiative.
• Fiscal responsibility running our state’s finances.  2 years ago when I ran for state senate, AZ had a $5 Billion surplus.  In just 2 years this surplus is gone and the state is headed towards massive budget cuts due to a $1.5 Billion looming deficit. Ask your current state senator where this surplus went and why current state revenues are way, way down.

These core priorities will shape our decisions in many other areas of our Arizona state government. With your support, we can make these improvements for a winning future for Arizona.

 

Public Schools, Community Colleges and State Universities:

Our public schools are still reeling from the great recession that started in 2007-08 and they have never recovered. The cause: a school funding formula that is horribly out-of-date. We have legislators that see schools as a drain on state funds when schools MUST be our priority for a strong Arizona future. Just this year alone $1 Billion will leave public school budgets and go it to discriminatory private schools.  This is not school choice, it is welfare for the rich who can already afford private schools.  

• K-12 education is dead last in per student funding in the United States.
• Our legislature keeps passing expanded vouchers taking money from public schools to benefit private schools. Where does your child go to school?
• Our teachers are among the worst paid in the country.
• Our class sizes are too large.
• Not enough Certified Teachers.  Arizona is now using non-certified teachers.
• Teachers need aids in the classroom
• Charter schools are real estate boondoggles with their excessive state funding formulas and their hidden finances.
• Low performing neighborhood schools need our support to improve them.  Closing a neighborhood school due to performance is our failure, not the students.
• Brophy College Prep tuition is about $20,000 per year.  After a student uses their $7,500 universal voucher, this leaves $12,500 for the parents to cover.  My wife and I couldn’t afford this for our three children, could you?  School choice, I think not.

 

Women’s Rights & Women’s Reproductive Rights:

I originally wrote this on June 24, 2022– A horrible day for women pushing us back to 1973 and backroom abortions, dead women, forced pregnancies & rape victims going through an unwanted pregnancy and having the children of their rapists. Let women make their own decisions for themselves, not a Republican legislature.

 

• Pro Choice- Allow women to make their own decisions about their body and their future.
• We must offer unfettered access to birth control.
• Discriminates against the less fortunate who are unable to travel for an abortion.
• Totally goes backwards on what was “settled law” and ruled a constitutional right
• United States is not a Theocracy.  Religious beliefs have no place in our secular government.  Our government is based on science and facts, not an individual or group claiming divine inspiration.  
• The Supreme Court ruling against Roe vs Wade is a huge overreach of government oversight and creates many legal issues.
  • If a woman has a miscarriage, will she be arrested for murder of her child?
  • If a woman’s life is in danger due to a pregnancy, will your doctor stand by and not help you for fear of being arrested for performing an abortion?
  • If a woman is pregnant with a non-viable fetus, will she be forced to continue the pregnancy?
  • If the fetus is found to have severe birth defects, will the mother be required to birth and care for a child with tremendous needs and no real future?
• Our State Supreme Court took us back to an 1864 law outlawing all abortions and going after those who assist in one.  This was in a time when women were a man’s chattel or possession and women voting wouldn’t occur for another 50+ years!  
• We still do not have a Women’s Equal Rights Amemendment, though 38 states have ratified it.  

 

Common Sense Gun & Weapon Control:

Guns are the largest cause of death in children in the United States. Mass shootings with AR-15’s are happening every week. We need some sanity here.

• Sure, tout the US Congress 2022 restrictions, but it still leaves open a huge loophole- private sales  and gun show sales without background checks.
• Licenses must be required to own a gun. We need a license to drive a car, to fish, hunt, operate a daycare or cut hair. Truck drivers must have a CDL, shouldn’t gun ownership require gun safety classes and a license?  AR-15 and high velocity bullet purchases should require even more restrictive licensing.
• Do we really need military style weapons sold to the public? They are made for one purpose: to kill people.  Vote like your children’s or grandchildren’s lives depend on it.
• Police are scared to go into a building with an active shooter situation even though they have numbers, flash bangs, powerful guns, bullets and bullet proof vests. My opponent wants to arm our teachers. Do we give them AR-15’s?  They likely will be out gunned and likely not wearing a bullet proof vest. Is that an answer, really?
• Do we need 100 round magazines? If you miss a deer while hunting with a 100 bullet magazine for your AR-15, do you need another 100 round magazine?
• High velocity bullets. The damage military style AR-15 bullets do is horrendous. Two children in Uvalde TX were actually decapitated by them. Their destruction is total.  
• Our legislature could not even ban brass knuckles after the death of a Queen Creek high school student.  

 

LGTBQ+ Rights:

June 24^th, 2022 was also a horrible day for the LGBTQ+ community. Their lifestyle is about loving, sharing & caring. That days Supreme Court ruling will make them the next target to take away their rights. Texas is already on board with that.  Will other conservative states like Arizona be far behind?

 

 

• This community was granted the constitutional right to same sex marriage. This is also “Settled Law.” Is it targeted next? Clarence Thomas thinks so.
• Again, this is a huge overreach by a government. Next the government will be ruling what type of sex is legal or even if birth control should be available.
• Prior to 1967, Supreme Court’s Clarence Thomas could not have legally wed his wife in some states.

 

Early and Mail-in Voting:

I personally love mail-in voting. Doing my civic duty at my leisure at my dining room table reviewing the candidates and issues is the best way to vote. No drive to the polls, long lines, long waits, anxiety over your speed, heat, rain or thirst. Mail-in voting allows you to take your time, educate yourself and do pros and cons.

• My opponent co-sponsored a bill to eliminate early and mail-in voting and require us to vote in-person on election day only. 
• 90% of Arizonans vote by mail and like it.
• Voting locations could not support everyone voting if it was all done in one day in a building. Think of the lines outside for an July primary. 
• It would take weeks or months to tally the vote and determine a winner since my opponent doesn’t trust vote counting machines or tabulators.
• Distances in AZ can be very far, especially on our tribal lands.  Mail-in voting must be retained.
• Jake Hoffman, my opponent in the November general election, doesn’t  care how you vote. He signed a fake document with a stolen or forged state seal stating Donald Trump won our Arizona presidential election and our 11 electoral votes.  His actions totally ignored the will of the voters of Arizona.  Our 2022 elected attorney general did an investigation and recently indicted 18 individuals involved in the conspiracy to steal the election.   The 11 fake electors were all criminally charged with nine felonies. Jake Hoffman is one of two still left in the legislature.

 

Statewide Water Planning & Conservation:

Our state is depleting our groundwater. Studies show our current groundwater use is unsustainable for Arizona’s long term future.

• We must assess our water baselines and not exceed the ability of the groundwater to recover. Active Management Areas must cover the entire state, not just certain portions.
• Running out of water is not an option.
• Wells must be licensed and water levels monitored.
• Great care must be given when trying to attract water-using businesses.
• Water conservation and innovation measures for agriculture, industry and residential must go forward.
• There are better methods available to irrigate crops using less water.

 

Border Security and Border City Support:

We must work with the federal government to secure our borders. Our United States Congress must pass the bi-partisan immigration reform bill.  Immigration reform is long overdue and can no longer be ignored.  Our state has been living with a lack of action and courage in Washington DC. Contact your US Congressperson and push for change.

Border security priorities:

• Enhanced border surveillance using infrared cameras, sensors & drones,
• Our border portal are very important to Arizona’s economy.   They must be modernized for efficiency while strengthened for detection of drugs, human trafficking and other contraband.
• More manpower supporting our immigration policies: border patrol agents, case workers and judges.
• Closing the border as the bi-partisan bill required.

The AZ legislature must support our border cities and the issues they face with the migrant influx.  It is not their burden alone to handle.

 

State Infrastructure Improvements:

Our state continues to grow and age. To grow successfully we must continue to invest in:

• Transportation planning and investment
• Electric car charging stations
• High speed internet
• Electrical grid upgrades
• Generate more renewable energy.  Our state receives more sun than any other. We should lead the country in solar.
  • Rooftop solar needs to be a better investment for a home or business owner.
  • Community solar implemented.
    • So renters can benefit.
    • So communities can have more efficient localized solar farm installations.
• Innovated battery storage technology studied at our universities and implemented in test neighborhoods.

 

Alan Smith for State Senate
in Legislative District 15.  

He is your only chance to have a Citizen Legislator

Note: LD 15 boundaries are South of Highway 60 and East of Power Rd and includes East Mesa, Queen Creek and San Tan Valley.