Gray: Sun City resident legislator says farewell, thanks to constituents

I have had the honor to serve my community of Sun City in the legislature since 2011, and as I leave political office this year, I wanted to tell you how much I have appreciated this opportunity.

After moving to Arizona, I served on the Sun City Home Owners Association Board of Directors, which watches legislation that can impact Sun City. I realized how important it was to have legislators who understood our community and would work to protect our interests at the state capitol.

So, I ran for office in 2010 and was elected to the House of Representatives, and after that to the Senate. At that time our state had lost more than 300,000 jobs because of the economic downturn and our state was in desperate shape. The legislators in office before I started had to not only make a lot of serious budget cuts, but they also had to mortgage many of our state buildings to have the resources to not make further cuts.

During the time I was in office, we focused on creating a business climate that would help grow the businesses we had and attract new businesses to our state. We were fortunate to see success in that area and not only increased our jobs by more than 500,000 and we also diversified the types of companies that came to our state. And the companies we attracted not only added more jobs, but they were higher paying jobs as well.

The result of all this was that our state revenues increased to the point where we were able cut taxes for people and still increase our funding for the critical needs we have in our state.

Throughout my time in the legislature, I was also able to help stop some bills that would have had a very harmful effect on Sun City and support bills that helped protect our community.

This month starts the next term for our legislature, but I decided to retire from office so I will not be down there. Still, I encourage you to make sure you are involved because we need your help to make sure our community is protected.

I want to thank you for your support over the years and let you know I am extremely grateful for the privilege of being able to represent you at the capitol. The motto of Arizona is Ditat Deus, which is Latin for “God Enriches.” From my experience I would agree because he has enriched my life here. Thank you for the privilege of being able to serve you and this community!

Editor’s Note: The Independent welcomes all points of view. Email your opinions, pro or con, to AzOpinions@iniusa.org.