Our Endorsement: Democrats Heinz, Patterson best for Az House in District 29
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Only in District 29 did a southern Arizona incumbent legislator fail to make it out of the primary and into the general election.
The South Side district's Democrats failed to advance six-year veteran Rep. Tom Prezelski, whose pragmatism and mastery of governance's details will be missed.
The district's voters can make up for that mistake, however, by sending Democrats Matt Heinz and Daniel Patterson to the state House of Representatives. They're running against Republicans Juan Ciscomani and Pat Kilburn.
Heinz is a doctor who has worked as a resident at Tucson, University and Veterans Affairs medical centers. He would bring to the Legislature real-world knowledge and a strong advocacy for bettering health care.
Heinz favors increasing middle-class access to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which he calls an "extremely efficient" method of delivering medical care.
Heinz's vision of health care goes beyond what happens in the doctor's office. Safe communities and a stable educational system are other components of a healthy Arizona.
He opposes Proposition 101, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit laws that infringe on rights of Arizonans to purchase health insurance of their choice.
Heinz says the proposal would constrain the state's ability to fix a broken system that fails to insure more than 1 million Arizonans. He says Prop. 101 is "disguised" as preserving choice but actually ratifies the status quo.
Patterson, an ecologist, didn't get our endorsement in the Democratic primary because we felt he was vague on many issues. But he clearly has done his homework since visiting the Citizen's Editorial Board this summer.
Patterson's signature issue, "economic justice" for South Side District 29's working families, resonates loudly in these shaky times.
He recognizes that Arizona's economic well-being is too tied to the sales tax, and has the guts to argue that further tax cuts are not a good idea given Arizona's spiraling budget deficit.
Also, he argues that an increase in the state's gas tax, which has been unchanged since 1996 and is the 10th-lowest in the nation, would increase needed revenues for transportation.
We particularly like his view on the state's prisons. Patterson believes "safe, smart cutbacks" are possible. He calls mandatory minimum sentencing rules set by the Legislature "a costly mistake" that force the state to lock up too many nonviolent offenders for too long.
Ciscomani, who runs a personal finance program for University of Arizona students, says "true educational reform" is his key issue.
He wants more money for classrooms and less for administration. So does every candidate running this year.
But he supports vouchers, which would funnel public money to private schools, to increase parental choice.
Apart from church-state separation issues, vouchers sap money from public education. And, as Heinz and Patterson point out, open enrollment and charter schools already give parents plenty of choices.
Kilburn, a former Border Patrol agent who also has held other government security jobs, is rightly concerned about the state economy.
But we can't agree with his call to "change our whole attitude toward public education." He wants the state to order school districts to improve test scores or face funding cuts. That's not the way to make schools better.
The Tucson Citizen endorses Democrats Matt Heinz and Daniel Patterson for the state House of Representatives in District 29.
It is time for a CHANGE and that change is "Kilburn":http://www.kilburn2008.com and "Ciscomani":http://www.juanciscomani.com/about.html !!!!
I do not know where the Citizen editorial board gets Kilburn's position on eduction from, but here is his position straight from the horses mouth:
"EDUCATION":http://www.kilburn2008.com/issues.html
Our education system which ranks 50th out of 50 states is definitely in need of renovation. We need to look at our education system, work with our school boards and radically change our system of education. The good news is that at a rank of 50th we can’t go any lower. Arizona has a pupil/teacher ratio that is higher than any other southern border state, even California is lower. The K12 budget from the JLBC (Joint Legislative Budget Council) was $4.4 Billion dollars and the largest budgetary expenditure. Arizona needs to do several things to take us from a ranking of #50 to a ranking of #1:
Lower the administrative overhead costs of each school system. The administrative costs in some school systems is 30-40%. This money should be going to the teachers and students;
Prop 301 in 2000 was intended to provide merit pay for the best teachers. Instead, in many areas, it was spread out to all teachers. We should demand an explanation why the money was not used as required.
We must put more power in the hands of the school principals and teachers. Arizona has some great teachers, but unfortunately, there are some bad teachers, and we need to help them find another line of work. I have been an instructor and there are people meant to teach and others are not. Rewarding good teachers and removing bad ones can truly assist in changing the system.
There are many other ways we can correct our failing education system and we can get it done by examining new methods of teaching like “E-Learning (using distant teachers to teach students watching a monitor or computer), using adjunct teachers from industry, attracting the best teachers from around the United States and even outside the country, and turning the education system around.
It all sounds good to me!