Printable VersionCandidates for two open federal seats in Congress will move forward in the primary election, and the upcoming ballot will actually decide who takes two seats in one state race.
Today’s News-Herald sent general questionnaires to the four Democrat candidates running for Republican Sen. John McCain’s seat; only one submitted answers. The Democratic candidates are John Dougherty, Cathy Eden, Rodney Glassman and Randy Parraz.
None of the Republican senatorial candidates McCain, Jim Deakin and former Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth responded.
District 2 U.S. Representative Trent Franks, R-Glendale, did not respond to the inquiry to submit information, but his only Republican challenger, Charles Black, from Kingman, did submit his comments.
Three candidates are vying for two open seats for the District 3 State Representative seat in the primary election. The primary election will determine who wins the entire election because no Democratic and no candidates from other political parties filed to face Republicans in the general election.
Candidates’ comments that were submitted for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and state House are in today’s edition of Today’s News-Herald.
Today’s News-Herald also has posted candidate questionnaires on its website for the following races: governor, state treasurer, state superintendent of public instruction, secretary of state, attorney general and Arizona corporation commission.
Here is a closer look at the difference the state house candidates would make in Mohave County and Lake Havasu City, if elected:
Challenger Ray Cullison II,
Republican, Kingman:
Cullison said to balance the budget he would cut funding back to 2006 levels because he said that’s all the revenue that being generated.
“I would like to see where we added (funding) after 2006,” he said. “The state was running just good on the budget we had and the income we had. Why all of a sudden over these years … somewhere we’ve added that I think we could cut.”
He said he would like to see more state-shared revenues, and he gets angry when he visits the Phoenix area and sees overpasses “going nowhere, meanwhile our infrastructure is suffering.”
Cullison also said the state needs to look at tax reforms for attracting businesses.
“So many companies have leap-frogged right over the state of Arizona because of tax reasons. I think we need to better serve ourselves to look at other states (and) what they are doing … and seeing where we go wrong and try to implement what is working.”
He said he would like to see tax incentives not only for large companies, but for “mom and pop” businesses, too.
Incumbent Doris Goodale, R-Kingman:
Goodale said the first places she would look to balance the state’s budget is the Department of Economic Security.
“I want to ensure there is a very good screening process in place when someone tries to come in to claim (they need assistance),” she said. “I believe we need to do a very friendly audit and justification.”
She also said she wanted to examine the State Department of Correction’s budget and what cheaper alternatives there could be to provide long-term medical care to prisoners.
She also said she would look at combining similar state departments to help save on duplicate costs.
Goodale also said tax reform is needed to help solicit businesses to spur the state’s economic growth.
“We have relatively modest home owner property taxes, but our commercial property is among the highest in the nation,” she said.
And Goodale also said she would continue to work to try to bring an Arizona State University campus to Lake Havasu City.
Incumbent Nancy McLain, R-Bullhead City:
McLain said one of her most important priorities is to fight for Mohave County against urban legislators during sessions.
McLain sees the cities within Mohave County as each serving its purpose: Kingman as the major manufacturing area because of Interstate 40 and the railroad, Bullhead City as retail to draw from Laughlin residents and visitors, and Lake Havasu City as a tourist destination.
“As far as my abilities to effect any changes in Mohave County, the best thing I can do is continue to work for reforms to our business tax structure. Our personal taxes are relatively low. Our business taxes are very, very high,” she said.
McLain said every time she thinks legislators have made progress in the tax structure to attract businesses to the state, “some folks on the other side of the aisle say you are giving a tax break to those evil corporations.”
And the current state representative used the word “dictator” twice when describing herself if she had complete control over state budget cuts to meet the deficit.
She said she would not only cut dollars, but also tell department heads exactly which funding can be cut and which funding must remain untouched.
You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com
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