Unlike the comedic circus act of rotating term limits that is Gail Griffin and David Gowan, I actually respect the citizens of Arizona, and would never abuse the will of Arizona voters by abusing term limits for State Legislatives. Although not part of the circus yet, Lupe Diaz is already starting to show a bad record.

I want to do things like:

1. Expanding AHCCCS and fund rural clinics in LD-19.

2. Fully fund community colleges and skilled trades in rural counties, like Cochise, Graham, and Greenlee Counties.

3. Defend border communities and protect migrants from state-level criminalization.

4. Block state abortion bans and protect medical privacy of Arizonans under Arizona law.

These are some of the policies of our current, former, and, in their eyes, future representatives:

1. Gail Griffin, “The Porn Czar” - Proposing a bill to tax internet pornography to fund a border wall and Introducing bills to shield landlords from city regulations and ease eviction processes.

2. David Gowan - An owner of a fireworks business proposed bills to specifically allow the sell of previously illegal aerial fireworks, which pose a particular risk to veterans with PTSD, wildlife, and animals. Additionally he extended the days of sale for fireworks in 2019; that bill passed into law.

3. Lupe Diaz - Continuously double and triple downs on his defense for Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA)s, which have crippled public schools in counties like Cochise County where parents have to pay out of pocket for the education of their child.

The Problem: Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, pronounced as “Access”, is Arizona State Medicaid. The same Medicaid that H.R. 1 has gutted. As a State Representative I want to expand AHCCCS, not gut it, and I want to fund Rural Clinics. Diaz has no idea how to solve the rural clinics being shutdown or the loss of jobs from H.R. 1, and Gowan does not want to expand AHCCCS.

Unlike Gowan and Diaz, I actually have a plan. Expand AHCCCS, fund rural clinics, and when that fails the failsafe is Arizona SHIELD.

During my congressional campaign, before deciding to pursue the state legislature, I talked to rural clinics in Graham county. The first question I asked a senior medical staff member was, “How will the cuts with H.R. 1 effect your profession and this clinic.” With tears in his eyes, he told me, “It would effect me a lot. I will lose my job.” Among other hard questions, I also asked him about the jobs that will be lost and the future of the clinic. He admitted to me that the cuts would likely end with the firing of about 50% to 75% of hospital staff and cause extreme back ups. He said, the only thing keeping the clinic alive is the fact that the pharmacy is in-house. Meaning the hospital can survive thanks to the help of the pharmacy sales. Another controversial topic has been whether “illegals,” as the Republicans call them, receive care from Medicaid. So I asked, “Does Medicaid actually cover undocumented immigrants.” He told me, “Well yes and no,” “We do not ask for proof of citizenship, but in order to even qualify for the programs here you have to be a citizen. The only care that is provided beyond that is necessary, immediate care, not preventative or ‘unnecessary’ care.” So, quite literally, undocumented immigrants only receive care that would keep them alive. Additionally, since eye care is not “necessary,” those services of the low income facility are not offered.

In the example of Graham County, the closest hospital if the rural hospitals of the county close are in Sierra Vista (Cochise County), if those stay open, and Tucson (Pima County). From Safford that is a driving distance of about 2 or more hours, which is not realistic for a rural community.

My Solution: Expand AHCCCS and properly fund rural clinics, through aggressive state budget meetings. When the corrupt Republican lawmakers in the State Legislature fail us, rely on Arizona SHIELD and similar organizations to save Arizonans.I vow to never take Super PAC money or get corrupted by billionaires. I can accomplish this because I have no desire to be a career politician. I am running to make a difference. Once I make a difference, I have no issue letting another, younger person take over after me.

Donald Trump should not be the President. He should have been impeached months ago if the Republicans and Democrats had a spine.

Well I have a spine. The President is not my boss. The Minority and Majority Leaders are not my boss. The Democratic Establishment is not my boss. My constituents are my boss.

The Problem: Arizona schools are funded 49th in the country, and are ranked 51st, after D.C., in terms of education quality. Arizona schools are struggling and that’s not ok.

Gowan has a history of voting to cut K-12 funding and Diaz has voted to expand ESA vouchers. Both continuously insult the honor that is public schools. They have no idea that the vast majority of people go to public schools. Poor people go to public schools. Well off people go to public schools. I went to public schools. To people like Gowan and Diaz only the “privileged” get to go to private schools. To people like Gowan and Diaz, parents with no education qualification know more about the education of their child than state certified and funded schools. Every parent has the right to give their child whatever education they wish, but that does not mean public schools get to suffer because of that. In fact, this was Diaz’s response to pushback on ESAs:

“The ESA gives parents the right and funding to pull their children from public school and enroll them into charter schools, private schools or to home school them. So, by parents choosing what they feel is best for their child's education, the amount of funds the public school receives for the remaining attending students was lowered. Seems the public schools do not like that there are different educational options for parents and their children. The benefit of ESA is that parents choose what is best for their child. The ESA has transferred the money from one educational institution to another. 
No impact on the State budget.” 

In other words, Diaz is ok with the collapse of the public school system so the few, aka the religious extremists and the rich, can indoctrinate their children at the expense of everyone else.

My Solution: Heavily regulate ESAs. ESAs should ONLY be reserved for extreme circumstances that greatly effect a child’s education ability. This includes, but is not limited to special needs students. In these cases the public schools would not lose funding.

Every parent has the right to pull their child out of public schools, for any reason, to include religious teaching, but the state is not responsible to provide that parent with funding; basically, if a parent wants to pull their child out then they can pay for it themselves.