Republican candidates speak at county GOP committee meeting

The Pinal County Republican Committee District 4 hosted a candidate forum Thursday night at the Maricopa Community Church during a regular meeting.

Republican candidates running for positions at the federal, state and local levels introduced themselves to community members and spoke about issues they are focusing on in their campaigns.

District 4 chairman Vincent Manfredi, a candidate for Maricopa city council, hosted the forum. Seven candidates in all spoke at the event. It was not a question-and-answer format, however, after every candidate spoke, community members got the opportunity to ask questions to the candidates one-on-one.

Here are some highlights from the forum:

• Vincent Manfredi – candidate for Maricopa city council

Manfredi said the three most important issues to him are the grade separation project on State Route 347, making it easier for businesses to come to Maricopa and trimming “some of the fat” from the budget.

“We don’t have a huge budget, so there’s not a lot of fat to trip,” Manfredi said.

But the way it can be done is by implementing Lean Six Sigma, he said. Lean Six Sigma is a business management practice that focuses on eliminating waste and making production more efficient. Manfredi added that adopting the practice would increase services while reducing costs – all without eliminating employees.

• Bret Roberts – candidate for constable of the Maricopa-Stanfield Justice Court

Roberts said when he speaks to the average citizen and tells them he’s running for constable, their initial reaction is, “Well, what’s that? I didn’t know we had that position here.”  

“For me, as a taxpayer, I kind of find that that’s a little unacceptable,” he said.

Some of the duties of constable include serving warrants, summons, eviction notices and restraining orders.

“I plan on doing more than that,” Roberts said. “I plan on … doing an information booth (at a community event). I plan on doing a quarterly report to the public. In that report, I will list anything that’s been done officially and everything that’s been done unofficially as far as community involvement.”

• Lyle Riggs – candidate for justice of the peace in Maricopa-Stanfield Justice Court

Riggs, a practicing attorney for about 19 years, said he’s served as a part-time judge in justice of the peace and municipal courts for the last three years.

“I have the education, the training and the experience to restore the community’s confidence in our local justice of the peace court,” he said.

• State Rep. Adam Kwasman – candidate for U.S. Congress, CD01

Kwasman listed his record for community members and attacked his primary opponent Andy Tobin, speaker for the Arizona House of Representatives, as well as his possible general election opponent U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat who currently holds the congressional seat.

“We need to make sure that citizens here are taken care of,” Kwasman said.

Kwasman spoke about repealing “Obamacare” and mentioned the importance of bringing infrastructure to the area, including the grade-separation project in Maricopa.

• Pinal County Superior Court Clerk Chad Roche – running for re-election

Roche said he’s probably the most fiscally conservative elected official in the county not on the county board of supervisors.

“We have never spent more than 95 percent of our budget,” he said. “We’ve never asked for a budget increase and as long as I’m in the office, we never will. We will always spend within our limits.”

Roche said his office is looking at a new program to increase services for people who are divorced, owed spousal maintenance and can’t afford attorneys.

• Mark Finchem – candidate for state House of Representatives, LD 11

Citing the political phrases “War on Women” and “War on Poverty,” Finchem said a lot of these movements have to do “with the Democrat label.”

“They like to make war on a lot of things, because it keeps what? People divided,” he said. “I think the big opportunity we have is to bring people together.”

Finchem noted his opposition for Common Core and vows to run a “kill bill” for Medicaid expansion “again and again.”

Finchem asked community members, “What’s the opposite of expansion?”

The reply: “Contraction.”

“I would support a Medicaid contraction bill,” he said.

• Vince Leach – candidate for state House of Representatives, LD 11

Leach said he is for creating more jobs and having less government. 

He expressed his support for several projects that would create more jobs in the state such as PhoenixMart in Casa Grande and the Rosemont Copper mining project in Pima County.

He expressed his opposition to Medicaid expansion and Common Core.

Finchem and Leach have teamed up with state Rep. Steve Smith, who is running for state Senate, to campaign together for the LD 11 seats at the Arizona Legislature. There are two House seats and one Senate seat up for grabs. 

Candidates who were listed on the committee’s agenda but could not attend were Maricopa Mayor Christian Price, who is running for re-election; Russ Kimball, a candidate for justice of the peace for the Maricopa-Stanfield Justice Court; Gary Kiehne, running for U.S. Congress; Andy Tobin, speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives also running for U.S. Congress, and state Rep. Steve Smith, who is running for the state Senate.