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The 2020 primary election is on the horizon, and several candidates are vying for seats in the Arizona State Legislature.
There are three candidates competing for Arizona State House District 27 in the Democratic Primary, Aug. 4 — incumbents Reginald Bolding and Diego Rodriguez, as well as Catherine Miranda.
The district covers parts of Phoenix, Tempe and Chandler.
The Daily Independent fielded several questions to each candidate primed to be listed on the ballot ahead of next month’s primary. Some answers have been cut for space. Mr. Bolding did not respond to numerous requests for answers to this questionnaire, via phone, email and social media.
Catherine Miranda
Age: 55
Career and education: Bachelors degree in elementary education and a Masters degree in educational leadership; former school teacher and school administrator
Political experience: Roosevelt School District board member from 2004 to 2008; state representative from 2010 to 2014; state senator from 2015 to 2019
Years as an Arizona resident: 55
Family: Son, daughter, three sisters, one brother
What makes you to the best candidate to represent your party in the November General Election?
Experience and roots matter. I have served in the very district I was born, raised and educated in. After representing this community in the state house and state senate for eight years, my community has counted on me to be there for them, to be visible and to fight for them. I have done just that and look forward to representing them again when elected.
What are the three most important issues you will tackle if elected?
I will lead in our recovery of the pandemic. Focusing on our students first, I will monitor COVID-19 cases as they continue to rise and fight for schools to remain closed. Once we can get a handle on contact tracing and start to see our COVID-19 curve flatten, recovery in education, healthcare and our economy will be priorities.
What is one commendation and one point of improvement you can work on regarding public safety in the next term?
I don’t agree on how the governor has handled this pandemic. Five months ago at 500 COVID-19 cases per month, contact tracing could have been under control. Now we are five months late and almost at 5,000 cases per month, which makes it almost impossible to catch up.
We can improve by starting with a mandatory wearing of the mask to help slow the spread. We can also improve our issues we face daily by visiting what this pandemic has shown us to be our strengths and weaknesses. For example, we now know our technology weaknesses when we shut schools down earlier this year.
In response to COVID-19 budget deficits, how can the state adopt long-term structural changes to its budget in the foreseeable future?
Long term structural changes will take time to build. We will be facing close to an 11% unemployment rate by the end of the year because of the pandemic. We need to build better in our rainy day fund. That fund is strictly for emergencies and the state hasn’t used it for true emergencies. We could have been able to support our small businesses during a lockdown for three months with a better funded rainy day account.
What can you do to help improve the economy and business community?
We need to discuss the angel investment tax credits that are available for our small businesses. We also have research and development tax credits that can help our universities with their continued innovation toward our economy.
What should the state’s involvement be in the public education system, especially since most of its funding comes from the state budget, and the way education will be delivered is likely to change because of the pandemic?
As our COVID-19 numbers remain rising here in Arizona, I will strongly disapprove of schools opening. At this time, the state should be aggressively planning on technology access in all communities, help for working families and support for all teachers to effectively teach online.
What are your plans to improve the transportation infrastructure throughout Arizona, keeping in mind that the way we get around in the future will be affected by how the pandemic plays out?
We recently celebrated the July 1 kick-off of our United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The deal is not at risk of being discarded or renegotiated, but there are various issues that will complicate its roll-out because of the pandemic. USMCA has the potential to boost the U.S. economy by $68.2 billion and create 176,000 new jobs. These funds will help infrastructure needed to be effective working with our tri-national partners.
Diego Rodriguez
Age: 50
Career and Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Finance; Law Degree
Political experience: State representative LD27 from 2018 to present; Democratic Nominee for Maricopa County Attorney 2016
Years as an Arizona resident: 28
Family: One daughter, one son
What makes you the best candidate to represent your party in the November General Election?
I stand and fight for my district and its values. We believe in strong families who have access to fully funded public schools, affordable healthcare, and jobs that pay a living wage. We believe in integrity, honesty, transparency, accountability, compassion and inclusivity. My constituents know I can be trusted to represent their best interests.
What are the three most important issues you will tackle if elected?
Fully funding public schools with stable and protected revenue, ensuring Arizonans have access to affordable healthcare and good jobs.
What is one commendation and one point of improvement you can work on regarding public safety in the next term?
We must rebuild trust in our public safety institutions. We must address how our laws are enforced and justice is executed in the court. We should immediately end qualified immunity and rethink how much money we put into our social service areas such as mental health, homelessness and schools.
In response to COVID-19 budget deficits, how can the state adopt long-term structural changes to its budget in the foreseeable future?
I do not have enough information about our state revenues to answer this question right now.
What can you do to help improve the economy and business community?
Stable working families build stable productive economies. If we make sure to take care of our working families, our economy will recover faster.
What should the state’s involvement be in the public education system, especially since most of its funding comes from the state budget, and the way education will be delivered is likely to change because of the pandemic?
I have met with two school district superintendents to discuss this issue. The state must provide a stable revenue environment so schools can plan accordingly. We must give schools the additional resources they need to develop new models of teaching which includes providing every child with access to technology and the internet. The state must also take the lead in helping parents get access to and pay for childcare that can work with new school schedules.
What are your plans to improve the transportation infrastructure throughout Arizona, keeping in mind that the way we get around in the future will be affected by how the pandemic plays out?
This again is another question that is hard to answer without more information about our revenue picture. However, I would support increasing our basic road maintenance budget and building more electric/alternative vehicle charging stations.
Philip Haldiman is a third generation Arizona native with brief residencies on the east and west coasts.
He has bachelor’s degrees in Theater and Journalism at Arizona State University, and is an award winning journalist with more than 15 years worth of experience in reporting and editing.
Most recently, he took first place for investigative reporting and third place for best sustained coverage or series at the 2023 Arizona Newspapers Association awards.
In his free time, he produces an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
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