Listen, Learn, and Lead
That is the motto educator Suzanne Lunt would like to bring to the Arizona State House of Representatives as a member from the new Legislative District (LD) 14 in Gilbert.
Saying “in recent years, extremism and polarization have become the political norm,” Ms. Lunt is annoyed with the lack of civility and cooperation in the current legislature. She wants to focus on finding solutions to real time and real-life Arizona problems instead of the fringe culture wars and big lies espoused by the extreme wing of the Republican Party.
If elected, Ms. Lunt will focus on finding solutions to:
- Fully funding public education.
- Protecting the water supply.
- Workforce development that will move the state forward.
- Common sense gun reform legislation.
Ms. Lunt graciously took the time to discuss her candidacy.
The questions and her responses are below.
- What are two reasons you would like to run for a term in the Arizona State Legislature?
“We have so much partisanship right now at the state level, the federal level, all the levels. I’d like to make it so that we can have some people who would like to meet in the middle to discuss issues and instead of just being directly party line voting that I can give and take a little bit and so that we can actually get something done. That’s one reason why I’d like to run.
Another reason is I’d like to have more civility and collaboration. I noticed that there’s a lot of name calling, meanness, and that sort of thing. I’m a kindergarten teacher and so I’ve tried to teach my students to be tolerant, inclusive, kind, problem solving, and all those sorts of things.
One other thing. On a personal note, years ago I was in a really terrible car accident where I was in a coma and broken from head to toe and not expected to live. As I moved forward in my life, I have had different opportunities that present themselves. This is my chance to make a difference and to make the world a better place by being involved and making the most of what I’ve been given. That’s just a viewpoint that I have from having that special experience of having my life spared.”
- What are least two reasons voters should elect you over any opponent in the legislative race?
“My opponents have sent out their election flyer. I just got it in the mail and it says that their main focus is to help fix the election system by 2024.
I think that’s probably not the highest priority for our voters.
They have interested in strengthening our education system. Let’s work on boosting the economy and businesses. Let’s work on our water issues. Let’s think about common sense gun reform. Let’s do all of those things that are really important.
I don’t think that maybe my opponents are focusing on those things that really need to be focused on at this time.
I would like to work on water problems, education, and building a strong economy.
I was thinking about this question and I was thinking about how I could compare myself with one of my opponents, um, I’ve been thinking about, Laurin Hendrix, who I’m going up against.
I’m not sure that his behavior really reflects what our voters in our community would like to see. I’ve noticed a few ways that I feel like we could do better.
One thing about Laurin is as he was elected to our town council, he sued the town so that he could take his position a few weeks before he was actually supposed to. He calls himself the defender of the taxpayer, but this little thing for just a few weeks cost the taxpayer over $60,000 with all the legal fees and things. So, I wonder. Is he really a defender of the taxpayer? It just seems like that would cause a lot of discord as you’re coming into a new position. So, I didn’t really appreciate how he handled that.
Another example is he was the chairman of the community college district board, and he was voted to be removed from that position because he brought in so much discord. In an article from Arizona central, it said removing Laurin Hendrix is an important step in the fight over saving the ten-college district system from the political scavengers who’ve been out to dismantle it without laying a clear vision for the future. He had eliminated a 40-year-old meet and confer negotiations with the teachers. He even eliminated the football programs that were flourishing at that time.
Another example, if you pay attention to our town council meetings, where he’s currently serving, there are many times when he’s so argumentative. I tuned into one recently where there was a town employee who was presenting and he just kept coming after her again and again. He was so belittling, speaking to her in a very demeaning way. He would say things like “didn’t you have to go to college to get a job like this” and “can I get somebody better to answer these questions.” It was just totally inappropriate for that time and place. That makes me get a little fired up. We need somebody better who can treat people with respect and kindness and patience that can make us feel better about ourselves, about our community and that we may actually get something done. He has the tendency to vote no, no, no, no, no on things instead of being open to what can we do that’s best for our community. So that’s the difference between him and myself. I would, I would like to handle those situations in a much different way.”
- If elected what are at least four issues you will focus on at the legislature?
“Well, the first one being a teacher is of course I want to support public education.
The thing that caused alarm for me is the recent passing of the universal voucher system. I’m not opposed to school choice, but I am opposed to providing those opportunities with the tax dollar when there’s no, um, accountability or transparency. They don’t have to report their test results and one thing that really gets me is that we call it school choice, but really, it’s the school’s choice. Who will they allow to come into their school? Will they allow people with disabilities, with behavior problems, with parents who aren’t able to help support their teacher salaries?
There are many things that would make it so that private schools may say, no, you’re not the right fit for me. And so to me, it comes across as another way of segregating with the haves and the have nots. That worries me.
I think that our students are going to be best served when they can have experiences with all kinds of students, when they’re able to mingle with people who have disabilities, who have skins that are different colors and with different behaviors. They can learn patience and tolerance and inclusiveness.
It really worries me that we would have that going on while the money gets taken away from our public school system. We should be thinking about how can we strengthen our public schools who serve all students instead of how do we keep taking away from that.
Another issue that I’m very concerned about as is the rest of our state water issues. We need to think about how we can have more conservation and how we can develop some new ways of continuing to improve our water supply with, groundwater and deciding how we’re going to manage the rivers that provide water for our state.
We need to think of creative things like desalinization and how we can treat water so that we can reuse it. I was pleased that in the new budget for next year, that they put a chunk of money towards that. I think that’s a good step.
Another thing that I’m concerned about is I would love to see some common-sense gun reform. I know that we’re all concerned about keeping our Second Amendment Rights. Of course, I believe in that, but I think that we can do more to protect our communities and our children.
We could have licensing laws. We could have red flag laws. We could have background checks. I mean, there’s some really simple things that I think we can come together on to decide how can we make it safer? I think we should start there.
Also, as we’ve just had another mass shooting on the 4th of July, I wonder why do we need to have those automatic weapons that can kill so many, so brutally, available to citizens and I think that’s really a topic that we need to think about.
If the federal government doesn’t say and if they leave it more to the states, then this will be a really important topic for the legislature to consider.
Another issue is business and the economy. We want to develop our state to be of interest to businesses that would like to be here. We want to support small business, large businesses, and it all goes back to our education. We need to develop a workforce who’s ready to work and that will attract businesses. We can give incentives to businesses who provide jobs and, contribute to our tax system. We can certainly give those tax incentives to them. But I think that we need someone who’s ready to listen and learn about business and how we can attract more.
I’ll just mention quickly that with the overturning of Roe versus Wade, I think that we need someone who is really sensitive to the issues who can think about how we can support women and families so that we can re be really sensitive to the challenges that we’re facing with that. I definitely would be interested in being part of that dialogue so that we can make sure that we’re doing things that are equitable and supportive for all women and families. And of course, we’re all pro-life. We want everyone to live a happy, healthy, productive life. I’m there to support for sure.”
Do you support Universal Pre-K?
“Well, I would love that. But before we get there, I would love to see our state funding full day kindergarten. Right now, kindergartners are only funded at 50%. So, I think before we move to that, let’s make sure that we are funding the programs that are already in place.”
Do you support expanding Kids Care to more children in poverty?
“I believe that kids need to have those resources that are needed. I would need to have more details on all of that, but yes, I want to support kids and what they need for sure.”
Do you support funding the police?
“We need to fund the police. We need to give them the training that they need. We need to make sure they have everything that they need. I love the Gilbert Police Department. I think Chief Solberg has been a wonderful example of how to treat people with kindness and how he tries to make Gilbert a really welcoming place for all people. So, I appreciate his example and I think that we should fund the police as we should fund everyone who’s providing great services for our community.”
Do you support comprehensive immigration reform?
“I think there is a place for immigration reform.
We’ve got to make it possible so that people can come and make a new life here and that they can contribute to our economy. I think that we can definitely do some things to make it so that people can more easily and legally enter so that they can promote and add to what we have here in Arizona.”
- Is there anything not mentioned in the first three questions that you’d like the readers to know about you or your candidacy?
“On my website. I have the little motto, listen, learn, and lead. And so I am not an expert in all things. I’m a teacher and, and I’m really a great expert on that, but there are lots of issues to consider as a legislator.
I love to listen to people who. I want to listen to all kinds of people. I want to listen to my colleagues in the legislature. I want to listen to my constituents. I want to listen to what their concerns are and then I want to learn what are really the issues that we need to address and then lead out. I want to take action so that we’re not just continuing to complain and complain. Let’s actually get something done. Listen, learn and lead. My website is, luntforAZ house.com and you can learn more about me there. You can also make a donation if you’d like to. I’m running against a well-funded machine and I would love to have support there so that we can have a change in our Arizona politics. And I would love to serve LD 14 for Arizona.”
Please click on the below social media sites to find out more about Susan Lunt and her candidacy for the Arizona State House.
https://www.luntforazhouse.com
https://www.facebook.com/luntforhouse
https://www.instagram.com/luntforhouse/
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