Chandler-area lawmaker hopefuls debate on variety of issues

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

A debate and a Q & A provided voters with some more insight about the candidates who would serve a state legislative district that’s almost entirely within Chandler.

Three of the four Legislative District 13 representative candidates took questions during a recent Arizona Clean Elections online “Zoom” call. That was followed by a one-on-one question-and-answer dialogue between a Clean Elections interviewer and LD 13 Senate Democratic candidate Kristie O’Brien.

Republicans Janet Weninger, a House candidate, and Senate candidate Julie Willoughby declined Clean Elections’ invite to participate.

Willoughby is vacating one of the two House LD15 seats to run for the lone Senate seat, while Weninger, a political newcomer, is vying for one of the House seats her husband, Jeff, vacated for his unsuccessful run for Chandler mayor this summer.

Chandler’s outgoing mayor, Kevin Hartke, and Janet Weninger were the two top vote-getters in the July 21 Republican primary and advanced to the Nov. 3 general election. Two other political newcomers — Racquel “Rockee” Armstrong and Jacob Weinberg — were unopposed for the two House Democratic Party nominations.

The Clean Elections forums that are held online don’t lend themselves to a smooth back-and-forth debate, so even the few questions posed to the three House candidates that had built-in rebuttal options didn’t lead to the traditional debate one might expect if candidates were in person.

Both the House and Senate candidates voiced positions tied to their party and their previous public statements. It wasn’t until the final few questions, about breaking from party, changing one’s mind and on this year’s ballot propositions, that many new and/or nuanced positions were stated.

When candidates were asked if they planned to vote in favor of Proposition 319 — which would prohibit the government from using traffic photo enforcement systems without voter approval — Hartke said he will likely support it, but he wants to learn more first.

“I believe the focus is on photo radar cameras in this case, rather than Flock cameras, in this particular case,” Hartke said. “We’ve incorporated quite a few, within our system. There’s a few more details about this concerning cities that already have them and long before this would go. I’d like to know more about it. These have been proven to have a dampening effect (on traffic safety), but it’s awfully hard to enforce these right now ... I’m leaning to say yes, but there’s more I want to understand.”

Later, when the candidates were asked to weigh in where some of the most frustrating street conditions are located, Hartke said he wanted to speak about water mains instead.

“I want to address the sewer gas that we’re (Chandler) experiencing out of some of our sewer lines, that are also coming up in the middle of roads,” Hartke said.

Armstrong, a high-level university administrator by trade, answered a question about times that the candidate’s “own party gets it wrong” by addressing the state’s K-12 school voucher program.

“A lot of people I speak with just want the whole voucher program go away,” Armstrong said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say the party gets it wrong. But a lot of families are benefiting from the voucher program in different ways. That program allows parents who feel a school can’t meet their child’s needs or who have special needs are using this program. The key is making sure we have guardrails.”

Weinberg made a pledge in the direction of bipartisan collaboration in his closing statement.

“I don’t care where a good idea comes from,” Weinberg said. “The important thing is to take care of people who take care of you.”

In the Senate interview, O’Brien said one of the state’s No. 1 priorities should involve water issues. She also said the rise of rent or mortgage payment amounts is one of the cost-of-living problems the legislature should address more aggressively.

“We’ve got folks here in the East Valley paying rent amounts that used to be a down payment on a home,” O’Brien said. “We’ve got to tackle that right away.”

Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

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