About the size of West Virginia, ours is a district blessed with abundant natural resources, from water to solar energy, from minerals to timber; in fact, much of Arizona’s wealth may be found in LD-5.

Yet in this legislative district of over 23,000 square miles, less than 10% of the land area is available to private ownership, and two of the five counties in the district are counted as Arizona’s poorest. Nearly 90% of the available land is in some form of non-developable, non-tax generating public or government ownership, leaving little for individuals or people of enterprise and hard work to earn a competitive living. In Gila County, private lands amount to less than 3% of the entire county.

This is the foundational issue facing greater Arizona, where less than 25% of the state’s population resides, yet the majority of the state’s natural wealth may be found. This is also where cattlemen and farmers must daily find new and creative ways in which they can deal with a growing federal government and hundreds of over-reaching regulations written by people nearly 3,000 miles away. Self-proclaimed “guardians of the land” living hundreds of miles away greedily wait to file lawsuits to enforce compliance with federal regulations. When litigation or threat of litigation undermines honest hardworking Americans, a change is necessary.

I believe that when individuals are free to earn a competitive living from the land, they become the best stewards of that land. The days of environmental exploitation in this county and in this state are over. Good business recognizes the value of good land stewardship much more so than individuals who neither live on, nor earn their livelihood from the land.

Arizona is blessed with abundant energy resources, many of which are found in rural Arizona. I believe we should develop all domestic sources of energy from solar and coal to nuclear and wind. Arizona presently lacks a strategic energy development strategy; this also should be changed. I believe we can dig and develop while being good stewards of the environment; the two are not mutually exclusive.

In Phoenix, I will represent and be a voice for those individuals and communities who live on and earn from the land. From advocating for a healthy forest through timber harvesting, to finding ways by which local municipalities can expand their economic development, I will be your advocate in state government and I will take your concerns to the federal government as well.