Four Republican candidates came to the Cottonwood Recreation Center on Saturday, July, 16, to explain why they should be the one to fill the Congressional District 1 seat.
A forum was held, asking the candidates a broad series of mostly economic-based questions, put on by the League of Women Voters Greater Verde Valley.
Ken Bennett, Paul Babeu, David Gowan and Shawn Redd all attended.
Separating from the Pack
Bennett focused on his time as state senate president and as a business owner to highlight his qualifications. He pushed for easing regulations that harmed businesses and employees. He told a story of how the IRS nearly fined him $50,000 at his business.
He sold off-road diesel fuel. The off-road variety is dyed to have a visible difference as it is not subject to a road tax. Each pump has to have a sticker that states that the fuel is only for off-road use. Above those stickers, Bennett had also put a larger sign that said the same thing. On one pump, however, the sticker had fallen off. When the IRS agent saw it, she said that he was allowed one warning, but the next time the fine would come. He said it turned one of his employees into a full-time sticker checker.
He also said he opened communication while reworking the Election Procedure Manual, bringing in far more people involved in applying it.
Fiscally, Bennett favored the idea of the Penny Plan — roughly cutting a penny from every item in the federal budget — which he said would balance the budget within four years.
Babeu, a veteran Chandler police officer and current Pinal County sheriff, was the most vocal supporter of the Donald Trump candidacy. He advocated for border security and said that the lower rate of representatives of veterans in Congress has led to a lack in leadership.
The most fiery speaker of the four, he also said it was deplorable that in the Veterans Affairs scandal “no one has gone to jail,” and vowed to rectify the issue. He also said he would push to treat veterans better than sanctuary illegal immigrants, something he said was reversed currently.
Gowan pushed his experience as the main reason he was the most qualified. He said beyond principled ideology, he had worked across the aisle many times in his public service as Arizona House Speaker. He said on day one he would ask other representatives what he could do to help, knowing that in time, when his district would need help, he would be able to ask. He said he had formed coalitions in the past to get his agenda accomplished, and said this skill was necessary as Arizona has few representatives in the national House compared to other states like California.
In general, he would apply the same style of governance he did at the state level, calling Arizona “the freest state in the nation.”
Gowan also said he would instate a mobile office for the district to better hear the voices in rural areas of CD 1.
Redd, who has never held public office, nevertheless said he was the most electable candidate. He pushed that he was the most conservative candidate at the forum and cited his private efforts to get reform done in the district, such as getting the option for license plates for the Navajo Nation. An American Indian himself, Redd said he could reach a better cross section of people, and could focus on areas he had seen dominated by Democrats, specifically in minority areas. Still, he said he was just as comfortable speaking to more ethnically white areas.
Unified Ideologies
Aside from these differences, much of what was asked of the candidates had similar answers, which should be expected given they are all of the same party. Each said that any of them would be better than the Democrat option.
When asked about climate change, they said that they are for responsible stewardship of the land, citing how all Arizonans care greatly for their natural splendor, but that regulations have done more to hurt the economy than help the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency was a large target of their attacks.
The U.S. Forest Service was also cited as a large part of the problem. Both agencies, the candidates said, were too far removed from local control and accountability. As for the recent stories claiming that the GOP will try to take away all national forests and parks, they said that was not the case, but that a far greater amount of land in Arizona should be transferred to local and state control and more private land should be available, thus expanding the tax base. The PILT payments Arizona receives for its federal land had to be begged for, they said, and were not enough to justify the continued land ownership ratio.
As far as raising the minimum wage, an idea that has taken hold in other states and talked up at the federal level, they said raising it would have unintended consequences. Businesses would be forced to raise prices in a directly correlative manner and inflation would occur, therefore doing nothing to increase the standard of living. In addition, entry level jobs for youth would be lost.
Cleaning up government waste was also an overarching factor in their arguments, as well as repealing the Affordable Care Act — aka “Obamacare.” Selling health insurance across state lines was one piece of what is commonly asked of Republicans pushing to rid the country of the law — What do you replace it with?
These pushes to local governance and accountability are an attempt to reinstitute free market principles, something all of them said had been strayed away from.
An online search of each candidate will show more details on each one’s candidacy. The League of Women Voters also uploaded the entire forum onto YouTube.
