Wade, Morgan given voice in election forum

Although two of the candidates at Saturday’s election forum — Democrat Henry Wade, candidate for the Pinal County District 4 Board of Supervisors, and Tyrone Morgan, the lone Independent running for Pinal County Sheriff — did not participate in the debate because they do not have opponents in the Aug. 28 primary, both were given time to speak.

The three-hour primary forum included races for Congressional District 1, Supervisor and Sheriff and was co-hosted by InMaricopa.com and the Maricopa Monitor.

Wade was first to address a packed house.

“What we have today in Maricopa … is an opportunity to seek leadership,” Wade said.

He said although at first glance it appears development is thriving, the majority of projects being done in the city are the completion of older projects, and there is a lack of new projects being approved.

“We’ve seen growth here in Maricopa, but we haven’t necessarily seen vision,” Wade said.

He added that as a member of the planning and zoning commission “one of the things I’ve been concerned about is we have not been very busy.”

Wade then called for increasing economic development by leveraging the city’s location within the Sun Belt corridor.

Pointing out that District 4 is a newly formed district, Wade said, “We need to have an inaugural supervisor who comes in and sees what needs to be done.”

Wade also brought up the issue of State Route 347, which connects Maricopa with the Valley, being known as “the most dangerous road in America” because it is used to transport drugs, humans and poses other dangers.

He emphasized the need for every department, including the sheriff’s office, the assessor’s office and the county recorder to work together.

“I would like to see them all be responsible to our growth and development as well; at least be a partner in what we’re doing,” Wade said.

Morgan opened his statement Saturday saying the sheriff’s office “has been politically hijacked.”

He cautioned against what he said are the corruptive influence of politics in law enforcement.

“I would suggest to all of you that law enforcement cannot be politically motivated,” Morgan said. “Law enforcement has to be fair and equal to everyone.”

He said that, during 30 years of law enforcement, every law he saw get passed was nonpartisan.

“Those laws apply to everyone, fairly and equally,” Morgan said. “We need to make sure they are implemented the same way.”

Morgan then went through his own list of experience, which included 17 years in law enforcement, being a supervisor and vice mayor of the town of Florence.

“If you’re going to vote for the guy that has the most experience in law enforcement, the most experience in Pinal County, and the right background and ethics to run this agency and do the right things for the right reason, you will have to vote Independent in a general election,” Morgan said.