?Two men vying for the Arizona Senate District 6 seat this November argued their positions on spending, federally owned land and the role of government Oct. 18.
Arizona Reps. Tom Chabin [D-District 6] and Chester Crandell [R-District 5], made it clear they have very different opinions about what’s best for the people of Arizona at the Cottonwood Recreation Center in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters Greater Verde Valley.
Chabin, a Flagstaff resident who was originally appointed to the House and later elected to two more two-year terms, attacked the Arizona State Legislature for ignoring real issues while trying to advance an unrealistic conservative agenda.
“The issue is the Legislature itself,” Chabin said. “It’s made itself the issue for its extremely conservative agenda.”
Chabin said that while the Legislature focuses on issues like taking over federal lands and border militias, the Legislature ignores other problems like increasing tuition rates and funding problems with Child Protective Services and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Chabin was referring to the Arizona Declaration of State Sovereignty Amendment, or Proposition 120, a ballot measure Crandell supports that would declare “Arizona’s sovereign and exclusive authority and jurisdiction over the air, water, public lands, minerals, wildlife and other natural resources within the state’s boundaries,” according to Legislative Council analysis of the bill. Federally owned land and American Indian reservations are specifically excluded.
Crandell pointed out that the federal government exerts control over vast areas of state trust land in Arizona, land that could be better managed by the people of Arizona. Crandell said that a lot of money issues could be solved with the income associated with industries like logging and mining.
For the full story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 24, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
