Year of the vanishing legislator

Two Yuma County lawmakers resign, one suspended in 2017

For Yuma County, 2017 was the year of the disappearing legislator, with two stepping down from their seats and a third sidelined by a sexual harassment investigation.

The county has a total of six state senators and representatives in the Legislature between Districts 4. All of the removals took place after the session ended in April, leaving the lineup intact through the four months of lawmaking, and the impact for the upcoming session unclear.

In early November, District 13 Rep. Don Shooter, R-Yuma, was accused of sexual harassment or making improper comments by several women including legislators, aides and the publisher of the Arizona Republic. He denied the claims, while House Speaker J.D. Mesnard suspended him as chairman of the appropriations committee and launched an investigation into the matter, which is still ongoing.

He said Dec. 21, he could not discuss the allegations or investigation, adding, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those in the community who have been supportive of me during this time of mass hysteria.” He is preparing for the next session, he said, which begins Jan. 8.

His accusers came forward shortly after Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein was fired from his own company following numerous claims he’d sexually assaulted or harassed women in the industry, leading to a torrent of politicians, entertainers and other leaders facing similar accusations.

House Minority Whip and District 4 Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, said the allegations against Shooter and other, mostly male harassers throughout the country this year, prompted Republican majority leadership to institute mandatory training at the Capitol on how to avoid these situations, or report them if they do happen.

She said she’s optimistic the climate change around the Legislature will be permanent, where other officials are rumored to have engaged in harassment as well.

“We’re not going to go back. It’s sort

of like the right to vote, we’re not going to go back, and we’re going to make sure the change continues to happen every day,” she said.

The first of the resignations came in July, when District 4’s Rep. Jesus Rubalcava, D-Gila Bend, announced he was stepping down to spend more time with his wife and three young sons. Dr. Gerae Peten, an educator and Democrat from Goodyear, was appointed to replace him by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

He’d been elected to his first term the previous November, but a random audit of his Clean Elections campaign account found bank records indicating he’d paid for personal expenses out of of that account, as well as incomplete documentation of spending.

Rubalcava said at the time, some of the issues were caused by a debit card linked by his bank to both accounts. He was the subject of a Citizens Clean Elections Commission investigation when he stepped down.

Last month the commission found probable cause that campaign violations occurred, and imposed a penalty of $52,377. Rubalcava filed a request for hearing in the case Dec. 22, starting the process of appealing the fine.

In an interview Friday, he said he could not talk about the case, but did say he doesn’t regret his decision to step down, because of the extra time he has for his family and his work as a special education teacher. “Regardless of what happened with Clean Elections, I think I would have stepped down.”

He said he was a bit let down by the legislative session, where he saw instances in both parties where he felt lobbyists and other players were having too much influence. “What hurts me the most is when what happens, in my eyes, is the best interests of Arizona and its citizens are not put at the forefront,” he said.

He said the bill he introduced which would have mandated some recess time for public school students, which was approved by the House with bipartisan support, got held up in the Senate by opposition from state education associations.

They were concerned about losing time for instruction and local control, and “didn’t care about all of the studies about the importance of movement,” he said.

He is still president of the Gila Bend Unified School District Governing Board, and he may try another run for the Legislature when his kids are older. “Cities and towns need strong leaders and people working at the local level, to build up the grassroots,” he said.

On Dec. 15, Sen. Steve Montenegro, R-Litchfield Park, from District 13, resigned to pursue the congressional seat vacated by the resignation of U.S. Rep. Trent Franks. Under state law his replacement must be a resident of the same county and political party, so the Maricopa County supervisors are again responsible for choosing his successor.

The congressional district Montenegro is running for doesn’t include any part of Yuma County,

but he emphasized in an interview Dec. 22, he will always prioritize the area’s interests.

“I want the people of Yuma to know that I love Yuma. Yuma’s my home. The folks in Yuma have always embraced me, and always allowed me to fight for them, and I’ve always loved Yuma, I will always fight for Yuma. Whatever office I’m in, Yuma has a champion in me,” he said.

He said he frequently came down to Yuma as a youth pastor, before he was elected to a district later redrawn to include Yuma County.

Of the legislators who weren’t stopped or slowed down in 2017, Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma and house minority whip, said 2017 was largely dominated by educational issues pushed by her party, including specific discussions about teacher pay.

“As members of the legislature, our responsibility is only to fund the public schools. The school districts are the ones that deal with teacher pay. And I think we brought that to the forefront, teacher retention, recruitment and teacher pay.

“So that was a big discussion, and we got a whopping 1 percent, not even an increase in pay. It’s a stipend (not guaranteed for next year), but we got the discussion going,” she said.

Montenegro also said he concentrated on education last session, as well as deregulating business and voter protection laws, as he prepared for a statewide campaign for secretary of state in 2018, which was scrubbed in favor of the congressional seat.

“I was at the forefront of making sure that we were ushering good legislation in education and deregulating. It was also a year where we were on the lookout and vigilant that no legislation would harm Yuma’s water or agriculture. And we were able to stop legislation introduced which always aims at water, and potentially affecting Yuma’s water,” he said.

Sen. Lisa Otondo, R-Yuma, also said teacher pay has been addressed, but legislators must find about $900 million more to bring it up to the national median.

She added, “The most controversial bill passed in 2017 was the massive expansion of the state’s school voucher program. The bill takes badly needed funding away from our already struggling public schools. Furthermore, it only benefits those who can afford the difference between what the voucher covers and what a private school actually costs.”

Fernandez, Otondo and other legislators expect water rights and use to be a major topic for the upcoming session, as Gov. Doug Ducey’s office is expected to propose several new laws based on the findings of the Governor’s Water Augmentation Council and

other sources.

“We know it’s going to be a very big deal coming into next session,” Fernandez said, so she and the other District 4 legislators have been getting briefed on issues which could affect Yuma County, which has some of the most senior rights to Colorado River water in the state.

This means the county’s water users would be among the last to see cuts in river water deliveries if the federal government declares a shortage on the river, which has come perilously close to happening the last few years as the level of Lake Mead hovers just above the minimum level.

Yuma and in particular the agriculture industry has worked to protect these water rights from Phoenix and other areas whose rights would be affected much more quickly.

“Right now, we don’t know what the plan is that Gov. Ducey is working on,” Fernandez said. “I know he’s been keeping people in the loop in the ag field, but we haven’t been invited to the table. But we want to be prepared once we find out what’s going on, want to have the general background so we can make some educated decisions on how we’re going to proceed. With that issue, I think we’re right where we need to be.”

Shooter also said he is concerned about how Yuma’s water rights will fare under any proposal that comes from Ducey.

“Yuma has the best protected water rights on the Colorado River including the Upper Colorado River basin and the Lower Colorado River basin therefore it is not in Yuma’s interest whatsoever to relinquish their number one position to anything the governor proposes as such it is my duty to strenuously oppose that proposal,” he said.

The budget is also facing a $100 million shortfall at this point, Shooter said, so that will be consuming much of his time. The number of lawmakers resigning to run for another office, including Montenegro, could also be a factor, he said.

“So we may have a new temporary senator representing us who’s not as experienced and familiar with the Capitol, so I will try to do everything I can do to help them represent District 13, and protect our water rights and other issues that are important to us,” he said.

Otondo said one way to close the budget hole could be to step up tax collection efforts, as well as more regular reviews of state tax credits.

“We need to get our State finances in order. We should rehire Department of Revenue Compliance Staff so we can recapture lost revenues. Also, the legislature should establish a sunset review of all income tax credits to proactively assess and debate the continuation of each. Ineffective tax credits need to be

eliminated,” she said.

Fernandez said voters have other priorities in mind, too: “The one thing I hear more about from Yuma constituents, and this is male, female, young, old — the fact that we need to invest in our infrastructure.”

Millennials and other younger voters want better conditions on roads and freeways, she said, while older ones also see road work as a driver of jobs like the WPA projects during the Great Depression, which they remember firsthand or hearing about from their parents.

She said cities around the state are in a bind because “they’re unable to plan ahead, because they don’t know how much money they’ll be getting from the state,” with funds swept from or restored to the budget every year. “We need a set amount, this is what you’re getting, plan three, five, 10 years ahead.”

She said she is also hoping to start a bipartisan women’s caucus for the Legislature this year, where members can work across the aisle on issues such as education and health care.

Otondo said she’s been meeting with constituents about numerous issues in between sessions, including upcoming water proposals, addressing the opioid epidemic, Highway User Revenue Funds, medical marijuana and criminal justice reform.

The school voucher expansion proved so controversial opponents were able to collect enough signatures for a statewide referendum, but Otondo said it still might not reach voters in November 2018.

“I predict the Republicans will pass a bill to repeal and replace the voucher bill for the purpose of getting Prop 305 off the ballot,” she said.

Fernandez said a legislator’s work is far from over when a session ends in Arizona.

“I’m excited to get back. I feel like I never left, it’s been a very, very busy interim,” she said, having sat on an ad hoc committee looking at the state’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement system and Democratic party leadership matters.

District 4 Rep. Darin Mitchell, R-Avondale, and Peten did not respond to requests for comment.