Here’s the choice for voters in Legislative District 10: a longtime Democratic party leader and advocate for children, or a Republican newcomer who is a citizen soldier and an advocate for veterans.
Democrat David Bradley is seeking a third term as state senator, and Republican Randall Phelps is running for the first time.
Bradley has raised about $35,900, with large donations from Pinnacle West’s political action committee and from Daniel Ranieri, CEO of LaFrontera Arizona. Phelps has raised about $2,935.
MEET THE CANDIDATES
Bradley’s political life began when he was a teenager; his father ran for a State House seat and lost by 10 votes.
His political career has included serving as chairman of the Pima County Democratic Party, four terms as a state representative, a lost race for Corporation Commission, and two terms as a state senator.
Bradley says the job is often about answering constituents’ requests for help with regulatory red tape, such as problems with professional licensing. He tries to look at every bill through the lens of how kids would be affected, Bradley said.
“One of the cooler moments” of his career came on the last day of the most recent legislative session, when a bill he’d worked on for a year and a half to expand school choice vouchers for disabled kids up to age 22 from the current limit of age 18 became the “center of a storm of hubris.”
A measure to reinstate KidsCare was tacked on to the bill, leading to a close vote that restarted the KidsCare Medicaid program for about 30,000 children.
Phelps said he, too, would have voted for KidsCare.
Phelps grew up with Mike Oxley, who went on to become an Ohio congressman. They imagined a future in which Oxley was president and Phelps was the Air Force One pilot. When Oxley died on Jan. 1, it was a turning point for Phelps, who’d been on the periphery of politics as a pilot for a number of candidates, and he decided to get involved.
He’s had mixed results in his dealings with politicians in his personal life.
When he got turned down for a V.A. home loan and lost an appeal, he wrote to his then-senator and got dismissed. But Sen. John McCain helped him get his benefits back when he retired one day short of his 20 years in the Army Reserves, and McCain also helped him resolve a spat with the IRS, he said.
But “why do we have to go through a senator to get anything done in the government?” Phelps wondered aloud.
“It’s just a stalemate. It’s just sad what’s going on,” he said. “Blue” or “red,” people want politicians to work together, Phelps said.
VETERANS ISSUES
Phelps, who served in Vietnam and in Operation Desert Storm, said his top issue is helping veterans get jobs and start businesses.
Phelps said the average age of a military retiree is 47. “We need to keep veterans here” and working in the aviation industry for employers such as Raytheon, he said. Whether he’s elected or not, he said he plans to work with Startup Tucson to help veterans start their own businesses.
He supports exempting $5,000 of military retirement pay from state income taxes, up from the current $2,500.
Bradley, who served in the Navy for eight years as a cryptologist, warned against a piecemeal system of tax cuts and exemptions.
EDUCATION FUNDING
Phelps supports more funding for K-12 schools and career and technical education. He said the Legislature should look for efficiencies in state government to pay for teacher pay raises.
Bradley supports more funding for early childhood education programs and community colleges. He said for-profit colleges need more oversight by a state agency.
He proposes making a portion of in-state college tuition tax deductible. Phelps agreed that proposal should be on the table.
Bradley also proposes replicating the community schools model used by Flowing Wells to add existing social services and nonprofit resources to schools. He said he’s trying to get conservatives to buy in by demonstrating long-term savings and teacher retention.
