In this November’s election, the voters of Legislative District 18 (LD 18) will have the opportunity to select a State Senator and two State Representatives to represent them in the state legislature. Without question the most highly qualified candidates are in incumbent State Senator Sean Bowie, incumbent State Representative Mitzi Epstein and State Representative candidate Jennifer Jermaine.
Incumbents Sean Bowie and Mitzi Epstein have served LD 18 with honor, distinction and accountability as they have advocated for the vital interests of LD 18 taxpayers. As a highly engaged citizen activist, Jennifer Jermaine has proven herself more than capable of supporting these public interests as well. These public interests are not partisan. These vital interests are public education, public safety, women’s rights and much more.
In contrast to some craven politicians in the state legislature, incumbents Sen. Bowie and Representative Epstein showed no hesitation in opposing Senate Bill 1431, which was an education funding scam all the way. Senate Bill 1431 was the deceptively entitled Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) voucher program, which would have sucked away millions of dollars from our public education system, and pumped these millions into elite private school where 95 percent of Arizona’s children do not even attend.
When SB 1431 was passed anyway by the legislature and signed by Gov. Doug Ducey, Sen. Bowie and Rep. Epstein were very supportive of the citizen efforts to put SB 1431 on the ballot as Proposition 305 so that people can vote it down.
Frank Schmuck who is running against Sen. Bowie has already proven himself an exceptionally dishonest politician, even by lying politician standards. In a paid social media ad, Schmuck argues that Sen. Bowie left women “defenseless” against “sexual predators”. Certainly, the Arizona Police Association, Arizona Fraternal Order of Police and the Arizona State Troopers Association would not have endorsed Bowie if that was true. Schmuck insults the intelligence of the voters by thinking we are even dumb enough believe this.
LD 18 Incumbent State Representative Jill Norgaard, who should be replaced, proved herself to be a subservient Doug Ducey stooge regarding SB 1431 when she voted for it. In what must be the most bizarre advertisement of the election season, Norgaard pretends to fly around LD 18 with nothing but her outstretched arms, without a broom in fact. By supporting the virtual prohibition of woman’s right to freely choose to elect an abortion or not, Ms. Norgaard proves how clueless she is with the most basic women’s rights values held by mainstream LD 18 voters.
LD 18 does not need an outright liar like Schmuck or a clueless ideologue like Norgaard to represent us in the legislature. We need people with integrity and intelligence who can solve real problems for real families. We need representatives who understand issues such as truth, competence, education, healthcare, women rights and a litany of other policy issues. That is why I will be voting for Sean Bowie, Mitzi Epstein and Jennifer Jermaine, and urging others to do the same.