ELECTION 2008
Candidate Zerull wants to cut spending, halt 'giveaways' to migrants
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MARILYN ZERULL
Age: 59
Party affiliation: Republican
Career info: Mother, homemaker and Air Force wife for 26 years
Community service: Math tutor, Boy Scouts of America volunteer, Tucson Community Food Bank, disaster relief projects
Previous elected office: Precinct Committeewoman in Legislative District 26
Top change you would make in office: Support tax relief
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Marilyn Zerull said she is an "empty nester" who decided to get more involved in the political process, became a precinct committeewoman and "loved it."
Now she's running for state Legislature and if she wins, she'll aim to reduce government spending "but not at the expense of the taxpayer."
Zerull is one of three Republicans seeking the Republican nomination in the Sept. 2 primary for the state House of Representatives in that district, which takes in most of the Northwest Side including Oro Valley, Casas Adobes and SaddleBrooke. Two of the three will advance to the November general election where they will face Democrats Nancy Young Wright and Don Jorgensen, who are unopposed in their primary.
Zerull said her life experience and common sense approach to problems form her campaign platform.
"When times are tough, you have to cut back," she said. "I'm willing to make those tough decisions."
She wants state government to "re-prioritize" and decide what's important to fund now so taxpayers won't be burdened by rising taxes.
She puts the responsibility for the home mortgage foreclosure crisis on businesses and on the individuals who borrowed money they knew they couldn't repay.
"I don't believe in bailing out the mortgage companies and homeowners for bad loan decisions," she said.
Regarding border security, she said illegal immigration has been costly to Arizona in the form of "too many giveaways: health care, education, law enforcement, the penal system.
"People have to come here expecting to make it on their own," she said.
Those who come here without the intention of becoming citizens are a drain on the economy, she said.
Zerull favors a state-sponsored guest worker program but doesn't want any noncitizen to be able to get a driver's license.
She likes Arizona's employer sanctions law, which punishes business owners who knowingly employ illegal workers.
She'd like "border hoppers" to be detained for a couple of months in a tent city-style jail here and "utilized to clean up trash in the desert caused by illegal immigration."
Zerull fully supports funding for education but wants more money to go to the classroom and less to administrators.
"I think administrators are paid too much as it is," she said.
She is against "breakfast (at school) for students" and subsidized "day care after school."
Zerull would raise teacher salaries and compensate teachers who get advanced college degrees. "I don't think one salary fits all," she said.
"We need to reduce property taxes and regulations and give breaks to technology companies who want to come here" to improve Arizona's economy and "keep educated students here instead of going out of town" for jobs.
The time has come to send them home.
RW