Still seeking name recognition, Kent Volkmer prepares to become county attorney

123
Kent Volkmer

When Casa Grande attorney Kent Volkmer defeated County Attorney Lando Voyles in the Republican primary, it was an eye-opening upset. Volkmer is alone on the ballot for the General Election and will take the oath of office in January. He dissolved his private practice, Wallace, Volkmer & Weagant, as he prepares for the transition.

A graduate of the school of law at the University of Akron (Ohio), where he also earned an MBA, he and his wife Kristina moved to Pinal County nine years ago. They now have three sons, age 6, 5 and 2. In October, he sat down with InMaricopa to discuss the campaign and his plans for the office.

Why he thought he might win despite a late start and with little name recognition:

About the last month before the primary, I started getting a lot more positive feedback. We started getting a lot more social media traction. We hit the various advertising agencies pretty hard, getting stuff out in the paper, InMaricopa and the other various entities, and we started getting more and more positive feedback. We slightly modified our message from what they did wrong to what I can do to help us. It became a more positive message; we saw a positive return. We’d done some internal polling, which told us that I had a real chance.

Why he and his wife moved to Arizona from Ohio in 2007:

About the third year of law school, my wife, who at that time was a teacher for Akron Public, woke me up for the third time when about 20 inches of snow had fallen and said, “Honey, I need you shovel the snow so I can get to work this morning.”

Why he ran against an incumbent in his own party:

There were a lot of things I didn’t like that had happened. When I first came to this community, in the legal community and in the courthouse it was a very collegial atmosphere. Everything was running pretty smoothly. I believe when Mr. Voyles entered, he changed things too rapidly, too quickly and went to too far of an extreme. And I think that’s damaged the legal community. I think that damaged, quite frankly, justice occurring in our justice system.

His predictions for the transition:

My biggest concerns right now are we’re spending too much money and we’re not getting enough bang for our buck. Our conviction rate is not where I’d like it to be as far as trials. We’re spending more money than we ever have before, and I want to find out what we can do to fix that. I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with a number of the judges, a lot of administrators, a lot of people at the county [and talk about] things that they see from the outside that they think our office does well. I’ve spoken with almost all the Board of Supervisors personally, both incoming and outgoing, and say, ‘Hey, what do you see from our office?” All of them have been wonderful. They said, “We really like this. We don’t like this. These are some things we think you could do better.” There‘s a rift between my current administration and the Board of Supervisors. We need to mend those fences, because we need to work together.

On working with a new sheriff:

I’ve had ample opportunity to speak with Kaye [Dickson] and Mark [Lamb], and I want to make it very clear I think both are qualified and capable candidates. Our county wins no matter who we put in office. My biggest issue is, is it the dog wagging the tail or the tail wagging the dog? There is at least an impression that the sheriff had undue influence on my office. That’s not going to be the case any longer.

His most difficult case as an attorney:

It was a first-degree murder case where my client shot and killed his best friend. It was a self-defense argument. It was a difficult case for the state. There was a lot of negotiating back and forth about what the appropriate resolution would be. I know it was difficult for the jurors. It ended up being nine weeks of jury trial, and it was very moving – very, very difficult situation. Within the last month, a juror found me speaking at an event and came up and was talking with me about the case again because it was one of those where I don’t know if there was a right answer. That one sticks with me, it really does. I don’t know that I’ll ever forget that case.

 Why he advocates for outreach to juvenile offenders:

We can, in my opinion, reduce crime down the road if we address the kids now, meet their needs, give them what they need whether it be counseling, whether it be services, whether it be just a good role model now so they don’t lead down this line when they’re in their 20s and they commit a crime and ultimately we send them to prison.


This story appears, in part, in the November issue of InMaricopa.

InMaricopa Spotlight: Kent Volkmer, the incoming county attorney (video)