Low Taxes
As a Senior Research Analyst for the Arizona Tax Research Association, I have worked diligently to hold the line against tax increases and to advocate for job-creating tax cuts. As your State Representative, I will continue this effort. I will protect your tax dollars. I will work to reduce the high tax burdens that repel businesses from the state—businesses that would put Arizonans to work. Arizona businesses pay the 10th highest property tax rate. As consumers we are also subject to the 6th highest sales tax. With these high taxes we send a clear signal that Arizona is “Closed for Business.” I will fight to reduce taxes and reverse that message. To strengthen and diversify our economy, Arizona must be known as a freedom-loving state where hard work and ingenuity are well rewarded. We must display a firm commitment to the free market principles that made our nation great.

Fiscal Responsibility
From 2004 to 2008 the state’s annual expenditures increased by nearly 62%—a rate that significantly outpaced population growth and inflation. This run-up in expenditures was not sustainable. Yet, this temporary burst in revenues resulting from the housing boom was spent on annually reoccurring expenditures. When revenue growth showed signs of slowing in fiscal 2008, our former governor, enabled by the Democrats in the Legislature and a handful of Republicans, refused to slow the rate of growth in expenditures. Budget gimmicks and borrowing were used to increase spending even further. This fiscal irresponsibility turned what would have been a manageable downturn in revenues into an unprecedented budget crisis. We must demand more foresight and more fiscal responsibility from our elected officials. We must prohibit spending from growing at such unsustainable rates. When the current downturn in the business cycle ends and revenues begin to increase again, inevitably there will be efforts to borrow or use budget gimmicks to increase spending before we have even closed the structural deficit. I offer a firm commitment that I will be fiscally responsible. In recognition that the state cannot continue to spend money that it does not have, I will not support spending increases funded by a budget that is not structurally balanced.

Economic Growth
The current recession has eliminated 300,000 jobs from Arizona’s economy. For those families directly affected by these layoffs, there are likely very few issues that require more urgent attention. Serving in the Legislature, I will do everything in my power to remove the government induced barriers to job creation. As mentioned above, Arizona currently ranks 10th in the nation for the highest business property tax rate, 6th for the highest sales tax rate, and 22nd for the highest corporate income tax rate. These unusually high tax rates make up the largest obstacle to job creation. By working to reduce these burdens, our economy will restore these lost jobs and put Arizonans back to work.

Exceptional Schools
Elementary and secondary education is a vital service provided by our state and local governments. In Mesa, we have much to be proud of in our school system. For example, Mesa Public Schools has the highest graduation rate among the schools in the nation’s 50 largest cities. In 2009, one out of every four of the district's graduating seniors was offered one or more college scholarships. The average value of the scholarships offered to each of these students exceeded $45,000. Mesa schools have been recognized as Blue Ribbon Schools. Mesa students have been selected as Flinn Scholars. In 2009, 20 Mesa graduates from four of the district's high schools were honored as National Merit Finalists. Each of Mesa’s high schools was recognized in the “2009 Best High Schools Search” by U.S. News & World Report. Mesa students consistently earn ACT and SAT scores that exceed the statewide and nationwide average scores. Mesa students took 2,172 advanced placement tests last year and passed 83% of the exams with scores that qualify for college credit. Teams and individuals from the district’s schools have won countless competitions and championships in academics, athletics, fine arts, and other extracurricular programs. In short, our district has excellent schools and many great choices available for parents and students. Mesa Public Schools is a great place to get an education.

As a state legislator, I will support the excellent work currently provided by our district and charter schools. I will also support statewide reforms that can continue to improve our public school system. I support efforts to improve accountability in our school systems. I support school choice and competition. I support school systems that are more responsive to parents and students' needs than to the demands of labor union leaders. I support directing more of our finite school resources into the classroom where they can have the greatest impact on students. I support removing the inequities in our school funding formulas. Our school systems should reward and retain the best teachers while providing as many students as possible the opportunity to learn from these outstanding educators.

Border Security
We must secure our border. The utter disrespect for life and for the law exhibited by the human and drug traffickers across our southern border is appalling. Securing our border is a matter of national security. We need the National Guard on the border to defend the rule of law.

Pro-Life
Whether one agrees that the government should protect the life of the unborn or not, all honest readers of the Constitution will see that there is no constitutional right to abortion on demand. When Supreme Court Justices invent constitutional rights to suit their preferences, they abuse their power and make a mockery of our constitutional form of government. As is eloquently described in our Declaration of Independence, protecting and preserving the unalienable right to life is a fundamental reason that governments are instituted among men. I fully support the pro-life movement. Protecting the life of the unborn, the most innocent and defenseless among us, must be a primary obligation of good government.

Pro-Second Amendment
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bare Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Second Amendment couldn’t be more clear. The founding generation knew all too well that governments can become oppressive and that a free people must always maintain the ability to form themselves into a militia to protect their security and their freedoms. I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.