Editorial board suggestions for Mesa area elections

by Southeast Valley editorial board - Sept. 28, 2010 04:23 PM

Our View

The November election is quickly approaching. Here are the suggestions we have for people still deciding how to cast their ballot.

Race: District 18 Senate

Suggestion: Libertarian Andrea Garcia has the better shot of beating Pearce.

Source

It's time to retire Pearce from District 18 Senate seat

by Southeast Valley editorial board - Sept. 28, 2010 03:07 PM

Our View

It'll be tough to unseat Sen. Russell Pearce in the Nov. 2 election.

Aside from holding office for what seems like forever, Pearce has become a national celebrity in the immigration debate for championing Senate Bill 1070.

But of his two opponents, Libertarian Andrea Garcia has the better shot of beating Pearce. That earns her the nod for the District 18 Senate seat.

Pearce's focus on immigration instead of the economy is the last thing Arizona needs to dig itself out of this recession. In Pearce's mind, you're either for him or against him, with no room for debate or compromise.

He may talk a hard line on immigration, and that has won him fans, because, they say, "at least he is doing something about the problem." But SB 1070 has already been costly to Arizona in lawsuits, boycotts and hits to the state's image, and it does nothing to secure the border.

His pledge to punish children of undocumented immigrants in the next Legislative session is even more misguided. Never mind that his charades continue to divert resources and attention from other pressing issues, such as high-wage job creation and balancing the state budget.

Garcia, 39, is passionate about limiting the role of government, perhaps even more than Pearce. Yet she has come to radically different conclusions about much of the legislation Pearce has sponsored. She vehemently opposes SB 1070, photo radar and the state's same-sex marriage ban, saying they unnecessarily expand the role of government and restrict personal freedom.

Try as some might to pigeonhole her as a bleeding-heart liberal or paranoid conservative, Garcia is fully neither - a trait that might resonate with the growing number of independent voters in west and central Mesa.

Garcia, a respiratory specialist and founding member of the anti-photo enforcement group Camera Fraud, was once active in the Republican Party but joined the Libertarians early last year after she says she was pressured not to question decisions by Pearce and other party leaders.

She also is well-versed on the issues and key players, having worked with lawmakers via the Libertarian group Freedom's Phoenix. Even if she is a third-party candidate, it's likely she would have several willing ears at the Statehouse.

Give Democrat Andrew Sherwood credit. Though he was virtually invisible during the primary election, he has become more vocal during the general. The 29-year-old's heart is in the right place. He wants to boost graduation rates, attract high-wage jobs and see west Mesa thrive once again.

But he's not as well-versed in policy as Garcia, and some of his ideas, such as opening Ellis Island-type stations along the border, likely won't resonate with many district voters.

Garcia and Sherwood have been doing a lot of door-to-door campaigning, and both contend that many residents they visit are less than enthused with the job Pearce has done in office.

If that's true, and those people actually vote in this election, it would send a resounding message - not only to the Statehouse, but also across the nation that residents are fed up with the divisive, ineffectual politics that Pearce and others like him have offered Arizona for years.