Vince Leach has long been on the wrong side of voter rights and decisions for legislation that help the citizens of Arizona since he first served in the House in 2015.
At Blog for Arizona, he has been cited as one of the worst legislators in the Grand Canyon State.
In the 2022 elections, Mike Nickerson is vying to politically retire Mr. Leach at the polls.
A pastor with a doctorate in historical geography, Nickerson believes this election, like other crucial political contests in history, is a pivot point with the future of Arizona and American democracy at stake.
Nickerson is running to protect voter rights and democracy.
He also is running to fully fund public education, protect the water supply, and promote green energy.
Mr. Nickerson graciously took the time to discuss his candidacy for the Arizona State Senate in the new Legislative District 17.
The questions and his responses are below.
- What are at least two reasons you want to run for a term in the Arizona State Legislature, against Mr. Leach?
“As the former chair of the Saddlebrook Democrats, I have been saying that this is the most important election in our history because we’re at a pivot point of losing our democracy through voter suppression and gerrymandering. I decided that I needed to do more than just encourage others, so I decided to run to make a difference in our legislature.
“This is a pivot point because of the amount of voter suppression and it’s not just in Arizona. But in our state, several bills that passed focused on making it harder for Native Americans to vote. Then, in the legislature, there was a bill that said it doesn’t matter how the people vote for president, the legislature will decide the electors for the Electoral College. Luckily, it didn’t pass in 2021, but we have three more sessions before the 2024 presidential election.
Gerrymandering has gone on for a long time, but our supposedly Independent Redistricting Commission took it to new extremes in 2021.”
“We’re getting to a place where too many people don’t have the values of integrity and equality. We need to get back to those basic values. When I was growing up, both parties agreed to them. Certainly politicians bended the truth to their orientation, but now they just outright lie.”
“I felt I needed to speak up and what kind of pushed me over the edge was when former F.B.I. counter terrorism expert Frank Figliuzzi (an NBC/MSNBC security commentator) spoke at our annual gala. He was pointing out that today, domestic terrorism is probably more dangerous to our country than foreign, and that people who are domestic terrorists have decided their strategy is to work more locally on the legislatures, school boards, sheriffs and other local offices.
“I’ve got an uphill battle because the district has been gerrymandered to have a 8.8% Republican margin, but if I get 60% of the Independents and they vote at the same level as the Republicans, the Democrats, I can win. I also expect to get some Republicans who still hold to the values of integrity and honoring our Constitution rather than those who now follow a flawed idol.”
“The other reason to run against Leach is that he is a lightning rod of controversy. He’s not somebody who’s going to sit down with Democrats and other Republicans to find good solutions for Arizona.
- Why should the voters elect you over Mr. Leach?
“Well, I bring to the office a solid understanding of history and politics.”
“My PhD is in historical geography. That’s why I say when I’m talking about this being a pivotal election, it’s not just talk. There have been a few pivotal elections in the United States, for example in 1860 with the election of Lincoln and 1876 when a deal was struck to end reconstruction.”
“We are at the point of possibly losing our democracy and we can’t let that happen.”
“Having been a pastor for most of my life, I’ve worked with people who had highly differing opinions. Together we would come to solutions by focusing on our commonalities rather than our differences.”
“People do not want rhetoric they want solutions that move us forward as a state and country. I know how to do that. I mean, it’s a matter of bringing people together, listening to them, but then saying we’ve got to move forward and these are good ways to do that together.”
“My campaign is not going to be anti-Republican. It is going to be anti-Trump Republican. We are here, in this particularly precarious place because of Trump Republicans. I will be pretty negative about them and that’s where all true Republicans should also be.”
“I’ll say, if you believe in the Constitution, this time, this election, you need to vote for Democrats. If you want your party back, if you want your country back, for this time, for this election, you need to vote Democratic.”
“Quite frankly, Leach has shown his true colors, because he was one of only six Senators who voted against the waiver of the expenditure limit for education. Even the leader of the Senate Republicans urged everyone to vote for the waiver. Mr Leach’s defense of his vote was, “well, I’m for the students, not for institutions or buildings. Well, he also said that he supported every student getting a voucher. Of course vouchers are only useable when given to an institution, like an unaudited charter or for-profit school . He is not against institutions; he is only against public institutions that are accountable.
He’s against public education and public education is what has made this country great by enabling people of all backgrounds to achieve their potential.”
“He’s against democracy and he’s a lightning rod for controversy.”
- If elected, what are four issues you will focus on in the legislature?
“Well, the first one you won’t be surprised is voting rights. We have to undo the voter suppression measures that have been passed by the legislature so that the vote of every Arizona citizen is counted.”
“You notice, they (the Trump Republicans) didn’t say anything about the State Senate wasting $200,000 of our tax dollars, and now we learn it was much more than that, on the Cyber Ninjas audit. That’s the antithesis of supporting our state constitution and being fiscally responsible.”
“The second issue is the funding for public education.”
“Arizona is number 48 in education funding. Hey, at least we aren’t 50 anymore. We’re 48. We need to fund education instead of giving tax breaks to those with the highest incomes, which is what the legislature did.”
“All people ought to pay their fair share. Right now, people with the highest incomes pay a smaller percentage of their taxable wages than people who are trying to make ends meet.”
“I think we can build a consensus around a third thing I’d be interested in and that’s water. I mean, without it, we’re dead. It is in everybody’s interest to find solutions to the water issue. That’s where I think I can find a way to build consensus around some ideas about how you get that done.
For example, funding a multi-billion-dollar desalinization plant in Mexico may be necessary in the long term, but we’re in a crisis now. Our universities and business sectors have technology now that may conserve water used in agriculture. We should be studying these technologies and develop state support for those that will give us the most immediate impact.”
“The fourth issue is renewable energy. We should be the state leading in solar, period. Yet our Corporation Commission, does not require net metering. We could have a huge amount of solar energy produced at no cost to the state or to any company, if we just allowed net metering. With it, a lot more people would put solar on top of their house, because it would become economically beneficial to them by lowering their utility bills. But of course, the utility corporations and the Corporation Commission right now are the ones who don’t want solar on top of your house, regardless of what they say. If they wanted it on top of their house, they’d have net metering.”
Do you support Universal Pre-K?
“Yes.”
Do you support expanding Kid’s Care?
“Yes.”
Do you support funding the police?
“Yes, including more for training and expanded expertise to move toward wholistic response – having response teams equipped to try de-escalation whenever feasible.”
Do you support a secure border, coupled with immigration reform?
“Yes, with immigration reform and a secure border that isn’t just for show like the fence Trump built that allows drugs to be passed through the slats. We need a secure border that uses modern technology to secure it and that has trained border patrol officers who understand how to work with situations, so they don’t escalate.”
- Is there anything not mentioned in the first three questions that you would like to tell the readers about you and your candidacy?
“So, I take history seriously and I think we’re at a pivot point, much like we were, in the 1860s and ’70s. At that point, after the 15th amendment, in many places in the south, former slaves made up the majority of the people. And for a few wonderful years, the majority ruled and we had African-Americans as Congressmen and at least one African-American U. S. Senator.”
“However, what happened then was the Corrupt Bargain in 1876 where a group of people decided that they were not going to try to convince the majority to change their minds. Their answer was to disenfranchise the majority. They did this through different laws that became known as Jim Crow laws, including not correctly counting the votes and through intimidation. African-American voters quit voting in large numbers, at the end of the Reconstruction period, because of voter suppression and intimidation through beatings and lynchings.”
“I was reminded of those times on January 6th, when they had that fake gallows up there and said they were going to lynch Mike Pence, one of their own Republicans, just because he wouldn’t go against the Constitution and against the laws of the country. That’s intimidation.”
This is exactly what the Trump Republicans have decided today.”
“They’ve decided that they can’t win a free, fair election. And so, what they’ve done is they’ve set up all these ways in which they suppress anybody from voting who they think might be not on their side from voting. Model bills are drawn up and sent to our legislature and Trump Republican legislatures across the country.
“That’s what makes this election very important. They’re running many Trumpists who believe in alternative realities, focusing on secretary of state, candidates like Mark Fincham, who think that unless the election went their way, then it had to be fraudulent. Remember secretaries of state are the ones who count the vote.
“Trump Republicans will do whatever voter fraud it takes to get their candidates elected. That’s a real problem. We have to do something about it.”
“Luckily, we have had Secretaries of State, both Republicans and Democrats in the last election who took their job seriously, especially the one in Georgia who supported Trump, but was more dedicated to the Constitution and counted the votes correctly.
And so, I would ask all Democrats, all Independents, and real Republicans, the ones who have not succumbed to idol worship, to vote for me, but also up and down the ballot you need to vote Democratic this year, because if you don’t, our 2024 election may not be in a democracy with a free and fair vote.” Also, for real Republicans, you need to vote Democratic this year to get your party back to the principles it has always espoused.
“We are at a pivot point in our nation’s history. You will decide which way we go with your vote this November.”
I believe elections should not be bought, going to the person with the most money. Therefore I am running as a clean elections candidate. In order to qualify I need 240 $5 contributions from LD 17. You can go to the Secretary of State’s website and make the contribution through E-Qual at https://apps.azsos.gov/equal.
I think it is important that they know I am a Clean Elections Candidate.
If you think people may not know what clean election candidates are you could add, Clean Elections Candidates can only raise $4323 of seed money. The $5 contributions go to the Clean Elections Commission which funds that candidate $17,200 for the primary and $25,900 for the general election. Most traditional candidates spend between $100,000 and $150,000.
Please click on the below social media sites to learn more about Mr. Nickerson and his candidacy for the Arizona State Senate.
Website: www.MikeNickersonforAZ.com
Facebook: Mike Nickerson for AZ
Twitter: @MikeNickersonAZ