UPDATE 3/28: Watch John at TheDGT.org’s Monday Zoom on March 25th!
With a famed Bruce Willis’s “Die Hard” name and the looks of Bill Nye, the Science Guy, Arizona Legislative District (LD17) State Senate Candidate John McLean believes “in true public service, where legislators put the community’s interests above their own.”
That would be quite a change from current LD 17 State Senator Justine Wadsack, who never met an extremist MAGA position, no matter how unpopular she did not like.
Running on a common ground platform designed to appeal to Democrats, Independents, and like-minded Republicans, Mr. McLean is running on a nonpartisan agenda of:
- Women’s Reproductive Rights.
- Supporting public education.
- Safeguarding Arizona’s water future.
If elected, he will also work to ensure fiscal discipline at the Legislature, Arizonan’s constitutional rights, access to preventive health care, and support for law enforcement.
Here is the full recording of John’s appearance at TheDGT.org:
Mr. McLean graciously took the time to interview with BlogForArizona’s David Gordon and discussed his candidacy for the State Senate in LD 17. The questions and his responses are below.
- Please tell the readers at least two reasons you decided to run for the LD 17 State Senate in 2024.
“I’ve been following the state legislature with great interest for the past five years through Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. Great information there! I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated with Republican leadership in the House and Senate. Basically, they block any sensible legislation from ever getting assigned to a committee, so good bills never make it to the floor for consideration. The way I see it, the current Republican leadership is actively working against the wishes of the majority of Arizona voters.”
“So the good bills are getting blocked. The poorly written bills that get a hearing often impose statewide mandates on issues that are better decided at the local level. I faced this problem while advocating for sensible legislation in animal welfare for Pima County. While the Board of Supervisors were very supportive, they were unable to take any action based on state pre-emption. There are many examples of such pre-emption, such as the State’s lawsuit against Flagstaff’s minimum wage ordinance and punitive measures threatened against Tucson’s recently passed prevailing wage ordinance. As a resident of Pima County, I am very frustrated that things we want to do are being preempted by the Republican-controlled state legislature.
We’re lucky that Katie Hobbs has plenty of ink in her veto pen.”
- Please tell us what are at least three issues you will be running on in 2024.
“I think the first one is women’s reproductive rights. They’ve been under attack since the long-standing Roe decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, which means it’s up to the states to protect women’s rights. I’m hoping that the Abortion Access initiative will enshrine women’s rights in the State Constitution, but if not, we’ll have legislation behind that to make sure women’s reproductive rights are protected. I would add that women’s reproductive rights go way beyond abortion access, such as the right to contraception. Even if the initiative passes, there’s more that the legislature has to do.”
The next issue (of equal priority) is restoring full faith, funding, and respect for public schools. I went to public schools in Phoenix. My children went through public schools in Tucson and had a great public school education. Our public schools are still outstanding. You can see the ratings. Many public schools have “A” ratings. But we’re losing dedicated teachers, hemorrhaging talented teachers. Unless we stem the tide, our public schools will be imperiled. So, we start with the teachers, giving them the respect they deserve and compensating them commensurate with their importance to Arizona. A quality public education system is critical for all our young people and critical to the future of Arizona.”
“The third issue is an urgent and long-standing problem. That’s addressing Arizona’s water future. We know Central Arizona Project deliveries are going to be curtailed in the near future. We are rapidly depleting our groundwater supplies. The rapid drop in the water table is a huge problem. Here at my own house, I’ve had dozens of cottonwood trees die over the last couple of years because the water table has dropped. You can see that up and down the Tanque Verde Valley and across Arizona. So, water issues, CAP water, and groundwater are very important. We have to learn to manage and conserve our shared water resources.”
Do you support funding law enforcement?
“Absolutely. There’s no question about it. But I think our sworn peace officers are asked to do things that are outside of law enforcement. For example, dealing with mental health issues, people who have drug crisis, homeless encampments. To me, those aren’t law enforcement issues. We need to have other responses to non-criminal activities with the idea of precluding and preventing criminal consequences resulting from these societal problems.”
Do you support a secure border?
“Without a doubt, the secure border is a federal priority. They need to straighten that out. But when people come across the border, it becomes a humanitarian issue on Arizona’s doorstep, and we have to provide humanitarian relief. We also must get reimbursed from the federal government so that the citizens of the state don’t have the financial burden of providing needed services for these immigrant populations.”
Why should voters in LD 17 pick you over your Republican opponent?
“Wadsack wants to destroy public education. I want to support and enrich public education. There couldn’t be a starker contrast. When the Legislature had to vote on the override of the Aggregate Expenditure Limit last March, Wadsack voted no. The consequence of not having that override would be that schools would have to close in the middle of the term. 800,000 students in the state of Arizona would be thrown out of school. The parents of those 800,000 students would have to leave their jobs to take care of their children. The economy of Arizona would have collapsed. So, there couldn’t be a starker contrast. At the legislature, one of the things I’d like to work on is a permanent fix for the aggregate expenditure limit issue. Having to fix this in the middle of the school year is nonsense.”
“A second reason is that I support preventive medical care for everyone in our state. Wadsack doesn’t believe in preventive care. There was a very well-considered bill that included dental benefits in AHCCCS, the state’s healthcare program. I watched the video of the Committee hearing, and doctors, dentists, social workers, and healthcare professionals provided evidence that preventative dental care will save money for AHCCCS. So not only is it better health for Arizonans, but it also saves taxpayer money. Through Requests to Speak, there were 431 people and groups commenting in favor of this bill. Only 13 comments against it. The vast majority of the citizens in the state supported the bill. Wadsack didn’t even listen to the citizens’ testimony. She totally disregarded citizen input and voted no on this bill. She doesn’t believe in health care. I believe in healthcare. Very simple. Couldn’t have a starker contrast.”
“The last issue is freedom of speech. There is a bill that’s going through the House and Senate right now. I’ll refer to the relevant portion: the bill would prohibit any state, city, or municipality or any college or university from ‘political and social activism’ without defining what political or social activism is. Imagine a Pima County Health Department official advocating for preventive care. Wadsack would consider that to be social activism and sue the county. I mean, it’s just so absurd. I believe in the First Amendment. She does not believe in the First Amendment. Again, I don’t know how you can make a starker contrast between the two candidates.”
Please explain how your campaign will persuade Democrats, Independents, and like-minded Republicans (McCain Republicans) to support your candidacy in 2024 and turn out for you.
“My assertion is that common sense approaches to women’s reproductive rights, quality education, and a secure water future will appeal to all voters. I consider these to be non-partisan issues. If people focus on the issues that impact their day-to-day lives, they will look for solutions that address their interests. These are not partisan. I’m going to focus on issues rather than partisan politics. I think that’ll be very appealing. I’m going to spend the bulk of my campaign effort in conversations with the Independents and moderate Republicans and find that common ground. I think voters will find that the way I speak about policy will align with their everyday interests.”
- Would you like the readers to know anything else about you and your candidacy for the LD17 State Senate that I covered in the first four questions? Please explain.
“My professional career is in engineering. What an engineer does is solve problems. Over the 40 years of my career, I’ve been presented with challenging technical problems, and I’ve come up with robust solutions. The engineering mindset is a problem-solving mindset.
“With respect to leadership, I took on ever-increasing responsibilities at Arete Associates, which I brought to Tucson over 30 years ago. When I was CEO, I converted the ownership of the company from founder-owned to 100% employee-owned. As the leader of an employee-owned company, I sought input from every employee, from the most junior staff to the most senior scientists and engineers. So, I’m used to listening to diverse points of view and coming up with solutions that are fair for all of the constituents. That kind of skill is going to go a long way in the State Legislature.
“So, problem-solving coupled with consensus building is the way to get things done for the State of Arizona.”
For more information about John McLean and his candidacy for the State Senate in LD 17, please click on the social media sites below, including an earlier interview with the blog for Arizona’s Larry Bodine.
www.facebook.com/JohnMcLean4AZ
@JohnMcLean4AZ