I recently sat down with Bob Worsley to discuss his candidacy for LD25. I posed the following questions to him and here are his responses.
1. In your travels throughout LD-25, what are
the top issues your constituents are concerned about?
●
Voters want lawmakers to move
past the anger, vitriol, and partisan political bickering. We need to embrace civility in our
legislative process and elevate the priorities of our state
legislature. We need to stop passing so
much new legislation, regulations and symbolic laws. Simplify, focus, and stop
fighting.
● Focus on the
economy; bring quality jobs and employers to Mesa and the East
Valley.
● Pursue real
education reform; balance the appropriate amount of attention to public and
charter schools and listen to the parents, teachers and students... no more lip
service about focusing on education. We
need to be more creative and innovative with our education policies.
● Real illegal
immigration solutions; not band aids and symbolic
legislation.
● Pension
plans; show example by reforming the elected officials pension retirement plan
so it’s viable long-term.
● Health
Care... Heavy cuts have been made to folks with severe disabilities; singles
can’t get coverage from state. Prepare
for Obamacare ramifications with either a President Romney or President
Obama. Health insurance costs are the
number one concern of small business owners.
● Balancing the
state budget without gimmicks and tricks... avoid another financial crisis. Replenish the Rainy Day Fund and no
unconstitutional sweeps of agency and board
funds!
2. What led to your decision to run for
political office?
●
I was “drafted” by a group of
conservative Mesa residents (many of whom are listed on my endorsements page) to
run for this open seat when it became clear that my opponent was going to run
after his Nov. 2011 recall defeat. I
decided to accept the challenge based on a desire to elevate the reputation of
Mesa, improve the dialogue coming from the people we send to the state capitol,
and enhance the focus of work at the legislature. I felt a desire to give something back to my
community and to serve as a resource and champion of economic growth and job
creation.
● Provide the
voters of Mesa with a choice:
○ A pragmatic
fiscal, social conservative nice guy with real world business
experience. No more “my way or the
highway” attitude.
○ A recalled 11
year hardliner politician with a fixation on anti-immigrant legislation who has
stopped listening to voters and has been plagued by scandals and has exercised
poor judgment in his actions and choice of words.
● A frustration
with the priorities of the state legislature.
I want to focus my attention on the economy
and job creation, improve our education and healthcare systems vs. a fixation on
media attention brought to Arizona and its elected leaders for extreme symbolic
bills that are not practical nor meet the common sense test. (i.e. militias on
the border, birth control legislation, regulating speech of teachers in the
classroom). SB1070 served a purpose by
getting the attention of the federal government, but now it’s time to move
forward and focus on other critical issues facing AZ.
3. What can you bring from the business
community into Arizona's political world to improve things for all
Arizonans?
●
Experience in the private
sector creating real economic growth. I
was the 1999 E&Y AZ Retail Entrepreneur of the Year. I know how to start and expand businesses and
create jobs.
● I can speak
to decision makers who are considering a move to or expansion in AZ and add
business confidence to the state legislature.
● I think the
state needs to settle down politically so entrepreneurs can build confidence to
start businesses and not have to worry about political instability and too many
new laws. We have seen an exodus of
professionals and businesses from AZ when we should be competing with
neighboring states to attract folks here.
This must be reversed otherwise we will see AZ’s economy struggle for the
foreseeable future.
● Shrink public
sector in all areas and grow the private sector.
● Slow down the
rate of new laws being adopted in AZ. We
are introducing bills at a breakneck speed.
This is not a conservative agenda nor one that our Founding Fathers would
have endorsed.
● Focus on new
business and jobs. I am serving on East
Valley Partnership and other organizations in order to help attract businesses
in all fields: medical, technology, colleges, real estate development,
development of Gateway Airport, etc.
● I would like
to host an evening each month for new business IDEATION or brainstorming
meetings. Many young entrepreneurs in
the East Valley have asked for this opportunity while we were having meet and
greets. I would like to host a
gathering once per month to bat around new business ideas. Stimulating this kind of thinking will create
new enthusiasm for business creation and will help our legislators get in touch
with the business owners and entrepreneurs we should be trying to help. The number of new business ideas I have heard
from the 3,000 or so folks that I have met in meet and greets would fill
pages.
4. How has your campaign gone so
far?
●
I feel we brought a first
class national style campaign to Mesa LD25.
At one point, we were operating at a 16% name ID in the district and
today we operating somewhere around 75%.
We were down more than 20 points in the polls at one point, and I now
believe us to be up with a comfortable lead. I believe very few Arizona campaign
teams have ever executed this kind of political operation at the local level and
have been able to accelerate in a short four months with such quality work. I am extremely proud of our team. We made significant progress in database
management, digital superiority on Facebook/website/YouTube, email and SMS
texting experimentation, positive earned media, effective and targeted direct
mailing campaign, unparalleled endorsements for a novice candidate, targeted and
varied TV, online video content, voter identification to focus attention on
folks operating at the margins, extensive door-to-door canvassing, road and yard
signage superiority, effective branding (Elev8 Mesa), lack of negative attacks
against my opponent, avoiding vitriolic debate formats, frequent polling and
message development, extensive vulnerability research and preparation,
organization of volunteer networks, number of meet and greets in homes and
businesses, etc. This campaign is an
example of the skills we can bring to the AZ state capitol: positive messaging
and branding, focus and disciplined execution, uniting and pulling alliances
together to achieve positive objectives regardless of previous political
allegiances, etc.
5. If elected, what is your #1 priority as the
Senator from LD-25?
●
There are so many, but my overall theme is to elevate AZ’s reputation
so AZ can get back to work. This will
happen by slowing down bill introductions and putting a stop to symbolic
lawmaking. Our economy wants to recover
so remove the handicap and headwinds created by our lawmakers hindering the
private sector. Release entrepreneurs to
create jobs and new businesses in AZ.
Gradually shrink the public sector and expand the private sector. Ban all lobbyist gift giving and perks to
lawmakers. Work on legacy issues to
improve business environment, education, healthcare and public safety. I’m proud of Mesa and I love this state. I want the voters, all voters, to be proud to
call me their state senator. Candidates
who are running for office are asking for the consent of the people to allow
them to govern. I promise that if I am
elected, I won’t forget that.
No comments:
Post a Comment