As a doctor, I want to see our public school curriculum include wellness education, to prevent disease and ill health. Students need to learn about healthy diet choices just as much as they need to learn to avoid drugs. There is a rapidly escalating increase in diabetes in our society, especially among children, and an investment in education can turn the tide and save us much more in medical costs and disability costs in the future.

I oppose vouchers for private schools. A voucher system erodes public education by bleeding public schools of resources and could easily encourage economic stratifications in our society. Our public schools need more money, not less. Teachers deserve better pay, smaller class sizes, and adequate supplies for teaching. Dollars spent on early childhood education are the most efficient investment we can make in our children, so I support funding for Head Start programs and full day kindergarten. There is more to improving schools than simply instituting a policy of standardized tests and sanctions. Schools need to be fully funded and teachers adequately paid. We need a mechanism to evaluate our students for adequate progress throughout their education, however, given the questions that have been recently raised about the AIMS test, that may not be the most appropriate instrument. There must be money for professional training. And tutoring must be fully funded and clearly offered to parents.

Instead of cutting vocational education, we should strengthen it. College is not the right path for every student and we must help those with other interests find good jobs. By only teaching as if all students are college-bound, we are ignoring students who would prefer vocational training.


Arizona has plenty of sunshine, but putting solar panels on homes is not the most cost-effective way to generate electricity. Also, there is a shortage of solar panels due to the high costs associated with making the pure silicon needed for them. The most cost-effective way to utilize solar energy for the average household is with solar hot water systems. With proper oversight and the requirement that a licensed contractor install these, we can avoid the problems that occurred in the state in the 1980s. There should be more tax credits and incentives offered to citizens to encourage the installation and utilization of solar hot water systems, with a way to give the carbon credits to the state to assist with the funding for the program.

In addition to solar energy solutions, we must continue to decrease our need for fossil fuels by encouraging cleaner, renewable fuel sources and by increasing tax incentives on hybrid gas-electric vehicles. As newer technologies and innovations arise, we must be ready to partially subsidize infrastructure to assure viability and to expedite implementation.


I will oppose any legislation designed to back off the requirement to show that there is a 100-year assured water supply for new development and subdivisions.

There are areas of the state that still do not have active water management, including Sierra Vista, which has a water shortage problem already that threatens the San Pedro River. Flagstaff and other northern Arizona towns need to have their own Active Water Management Area Planning Areas.

About 79% of the water used in Arizona is used in agriculture and irrigation. As our cities and towns grow, they often expand over agricultural lands which can result in a net gain in water resources. But we need to take a hard look at which crops are being grown in the state to assess their long-term viability.

Our reservoirs in Arizona are at historic lows, and there is no end in sight to the drought. With global climate change, we may find that the drought will be very persistent. In addition, the Colorado River, the source of CAP water, is running low due to drought and reduced snow cap in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. We need to plan for water shortages and educate the public about water conservation. This should be taught in our public schools as well.


The role for state intervention in the immigration problem is limited. The state and federal governments should be enforcing existing laws, including those requiring employers to verify employment eligibility. The federal government should fully reimburse and fund the state of Arizona for the costs of apprehension, retention, and other associated costs of handling those discovered here without proper documentation. A functioning, robust guest-worker program is imperative to reconcile our need for additional labor forces with the need of Mexico's population for jobs. Stabilizing the Mexican economy must become a focus for the federal government as this is essential for resolving the issue. I expect Arizona to play a vital role as a trading partner with Mexico and a gateway and training center for people interested in becoming guest workers once a program is established.

Many of us are here because of immigration. The path to citizenship is not easy for anyone, even those here with green cards. Those who are following the rules should have an easier time obtaining legal residency. This would decrease the incentive for others to arrive or stay here outside the legal system. Undocumented immigrants should not receive automatic amnesty, but anyone who would like to become part of our country should at least have a chance to work toward that end.


I will not support legislation that intrudes on a woman's personal health care decisions. It is inappropriate for any legislator to second guess a medical decision. This is a matter for the patient and her physician. We must also remember that before abortions were legalized in this country by our Supreme Court, they were still conducted in secret, resulting in many women dying or facing permanent injury. We do not need to return to those days.


I will oppose any legislation that restricts or interferes with the ability of unions to organize and carry on their duties and activities.


We need to rethink our approach to planning regarding bio-terrorism and chemical disasters in the post-9/11 world. Pima County has its own emergency planning committee, but our state laws need to be strengthened to better direct them to actually plan for the consequences and to examine the transportation routing of some dangerous cargoes, notably railcars of chlorine.

The state needs to rapidly move all water and wastewater treatment to alternatives that do not include gaseous chlorine. The Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment plant in Washington DC converted from gaseous chlorine to a type of bleach water in just two months after the 9/11 attacks after realizing that if the wastewater plant had been the target that 100,000 people would have died within an hour from the poisonous fumes. It costs each DC household about $3/year to not have the threat posed by the chlorine gas. This would also reduce the rail traffic of chlorine through our population centers.


I oppose capital punishment. It is impossible to know anything with absolute certainty, even when seemingly irrefutable evidence appears to firmly establish guilt in our courts. Also, it is often much less expensive for the state to incarcerate prisoners for life without parole than it is to finance the lengthy appellate process involved with every capital case.


I stand for the equality of all persons under the law and I decry efforts to use our diversity as a political wedge. I support an employment non-discrimination law as well as official recognition of same-sex relationships by our State government. I will fight to return domestic-partner benefits to our State Insurance plan.

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