Son of a teacher and a building manager.
A Bachelor’s in economics.
A Master’s in international relations.
A Lieutenant Colonel in the Arizona Army National Guard.
A Financial analyst and auditor.
With that resume, Jacob Weinberg wants to take his considerable skills to the Arizona State Legislature as one of the next state representatives from Arizona Legislative District (LD) 13, an area that includes all or parts of Chandler, Gilbert, and Sun Lakes.
Running because he believes “Arizonans need someone willing to fight for them every day,” Weinberg, if elected, will focus on promoting housing affordability, water security, protecting veterans, and combating fraud in the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) State Private School Voucher Program.
Lieutenant Colonel Weinberg graciously took the time to interview with Blog for Arizona to discuss his candidacy for one of the LD 13 State House seats.
The questions and his responses are below.
Please tell the readers at least two reasons why they should vote for you for one of the LD13 State House seats this election cycle.
“The first reason is that I’m going to focus on practical solutions instead of partisan extremes, so things that will help the people of LD13, which is Chandler, Gilbert, and Sun Lakes. I have a track record of that through my service with the U.S. Army, 21 years, as well as 15 years as a financial statement auditor protecting the public good from corporate overreach and making sure that corporations follow the rules.”
“And then the second reason on top of those is that given my background in the military business world and sitting on the boards of charities active in other civic organizations, and my actions, my community advocacy, and leadership. It positions me as the best candidate for the legislative seat because I have those experiences in many walks of life.”
“Some of the things that I’ve learned in those experiences in the military, in the business world, and in civic organizations is to listen to people and find out what they want and how they can help you achieve your goals. And I believe the state legislature should be the same thing. You listen to people, and they will tell you what they want and how they want it. You see politicians telling people what they want. And I’m not that type of person. I’m not the one who’s going to tell you what you want and try to fit the square peg into the round hole.”
Please advise on at least three major issues that you would advocate for if elected to the Arizona State Legislature.
“We’re going to prioritize everyday issues like cost of living and safety. An article that came out recently said Arizona is the least affordable state or the seventh least affordable state in the United States, and there are several policies that our current legislature has been pushing that don’t help affordability and some that outright hurt it.”
“Also, aiming to improve public education. And that means reigning in the outstanding spending for ESA vouchers, which is going to reach a billion dollars this year, with significant amounts of fraud. So, making sure that what we, the people, voted on in 2018 is what the ESA voucher program should be. It shouldn’t be being used for diamond rings, lingerie, or parts for people’s private airplanes so they can fly to Europe. Taxpayers should not be paying for that stuff.”
“The second issue is that we have to address water security and long-term affordability within Arizona, and especially here in the East Valley and LD 13. There is a plan right now to build starter homes for people in Chandler, and right now it is unfortunately being held up at the state level because about 25 years ago, the state legislature put a rule, put a law on the books, saying that any spending on transportation and infrastructure within Maricopa County, whether it’s the county or municipalities, is limited and requires state legislature approval. To me, that’s the state infringing on local communities’ rights. And how this goes back to Chandler is that there is a plan to build starter homes to get kids out of their parents’ house, help them buy starter homes, build wealth, just like other generations have in the past. However, the infrastructure that we have is limited because this town, while it has money, cannot spend it on that because the state legislature won’t let it. They won’t pass legislation allowing for the city to spend money improving sewer, water, electric, and gas lines, everything that the city would need to build these homes and provide for its citizens. Unfortunately, the infrastructure is three or four decades old and cannot support the population back in the ’80s.
“ But now, as the East Valley is blowing up, it cannot support that. So that’s how you lower costs for housing. Same for health care and utilities. It’s the same thing, making sure that the resources we have go to the people who are funding it. I don’t want data centers coming in and taking electricity without paying for it themselves. There shouldn’t be a premium for low-cost electricity for data centers when SRP and APS have raised rates upon consumers multiple times just to suit these business needs that don’t add to the community. So there’s the electricity piece. And then with water, it’s with data centers, but it’s also with a lot of this. We’ve seen in the past couple of years that the attorney general has not renewed some of the leases for alfalfa that’s literally just getting shipped straight to Saudi Arabia to feed their horses and their cattle, things that they don’t want to grow themselves. So they’re using our resources and our water.
“ And that’s why agriculture uses 72 percent of the water in the state. And alfalfa farms use over 50 percent of that, according to the state agricultural website. So, we need to make sure we’re more efficient with how we use water. If things are getting shipped overseas just because Arizona is a great place to grow things, then I don’t think they should be allowed to use our water or they should pay a significant premium on top of whatever the average person pays, because why should a corporation have more rights than the citizens of Arizona just to walk over our water, over something that we the people own?”
“We can do a few things with health care. One is banning PBMs and making sure that pharma companies don’t own their own pharmacies, and it is within the state, and they jack up prices on everyone else who’s buying their pharmaceuticals. And of course, those costs get pushed straight to the consumer.”
Please describe your campaign strategy to reach voters and drive up voter turnout for your race, including your outreach to independent and McCain Republican voters.
“The first thing we’re doing is going door to door knocking for those unfamiliar with canvassing. Knocking, advocating, selling myself to the people, and finding out what issues are important to them, which is the previous one. Some of the previous issues are the ones that people have been telling me at their door when I knock on it. So it’s direct neighborhood outreach and community outreach, going out, finding people, finding out their issues.”
“If they want to buy in on me and support me, there are several ways. I’ve gotten a few people who want to come out and canvas with me with the community outreach, talking about my policies, telling them how it’s going to help them, because at the end of the day, how you win over voters, independents, Republicans, Democrats, and those who are the swing voters, which this district has a ton of, is just promoting policies that make sense, that help people by improving their lives and improving their education, improving the affordability, and making sure that utilities and health care costs don’t go through the roof.”
“For the veterans specifically, LD13 has a significantly higher portion of veterans compared to a lot of others, compared to most, I think, if not all other legislative districts within the state. I have a strong veteran’s network.I’ve been endorsed by a couple of veterans organizations so far, and there are a couple more that I’m aiming to get the endorsements of that are going to talk about how my policies help veterans. With that comes this large veteran’s network that I’m a part of, where several have volunteered to come out and knock on doors, specifically of veterans, saying, “He is going to fight for your VA health care.” He is going to fight for veterans’ rights. He’s not going to call them suckers and losers. He’s not going to try to privatize your care so you won’t have VA benefits, but you’ll have to go to the highest bidder for your health care.” We signed a blank check to the people of the United States, payable with our lives. In turn, the United States and the state of Arizona promised to take care of us in certain ways. Now that the current administration is attempting to renege on those promises, somebody needs to stand up for them.
“When people see that I’m standing up for veterans, that I’m standing up for the average person, that’s how we’re going to increase voter turnout and reach McCain Republicans as well as independents.”
Is there anything not covered in the first three questions that you’d like the readers to know about you and your candidacy for one of the LD13 House seats?
“I’d like to talk a little bit more about my background as a financial statement auditor. We see in the Arizona Republic that there’s a significant amount of fraud, and there’s almost zero accountability in the school voucher program. I think that we need to hold people accountable, our elected officials, as well as people who use taxpayer dollars. As someone who has set up audit plans for Fortune 500 companies to make sure that they’re following rules and regulations, I’m the perfect candidate and will be the perfect legislator to create a program where we make sure that there is no fraud, waste, or abuse in the ESA program. That some of these things that I mentioned earlier, like diamond rings, lingerie, and fuel and parts for your private airplanes so you can fly to Europe on our tax dollar, aren’t done when I’m sitting at the legislature.”
Please click here to find out more about Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Weinberg and his candidacy for one of the Arizona State House seats in LD 13.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.