1 Phoenix council race lacks drama
Unlike the crowded, sometimes combative races for Phoenix City Council seats brewing in Districts 4, 6 and 8, campaigns in District 2 to represent northeast Phoenix have stayed at a low simmer.
There have been no high-profile candidate forums. No false arrests. No Twitter fights. No mailers laden with mudslinging zingers.
For months, there wasn’t even a real race: Until late April, incumbent Jim Waring, 45, was the only confirmed candidate in District 2. While signs for other races cropped up around Greater Phoenix, it seemed the Republican and former state senator would have a lock on re-election.
Then Tatum Ranch resident Virgel Cain, 67, jumped into the race —
precisely because it seemed Waring was a sure bet, he said.
“I’m running because I kept looking at the races ... and Mr. Waring was there by himself. I think it just gives voters a choice,” said Cain, a former member of the Cave Creek Unified School District governing board. In 2004, he ran as a Democrat for the Arizona House of Representatives but lost.
“I’m not a professional politician,” Cain said. “I come from the neighborhood. I come from the grass roots up.”
To wit, the race has remained a relatively low-key one, if also financially lopsided. According to the latest campaign-finance reports, Waring has brought in $100,000 for his re-election, compared with $175 for Cain. That has not seemed to rattle or excite either one, as both claim to have pressed on with mostly “grass-roots” campaigning, continuing to knock on voters’ doors through the summer heat.
In many respects, Cain and Waring do not differ wildly: Both candidates have said their highest priority would be bringing well-paying jobs to northeast Phoenix, an area of mostly middle- to upper-middle-class homes. Both have praised Mayor Greg Stanton for his leadership on citywide issues, as well as for focusing on development of a biomedical center near Mayo Clinic Hospital at Loop 101.
Both have said that Phoenix’s recent changes to its pension system are a step in the right direction, though Waring said the city could have done far more. Both disagreed with the council’s decision last year to give City Manager David Cavazos a $78,000 pay raise, saying it sent a negative and poorly timed message to residents.
Where they do differ is in ideology. Cain’s strongest campaign accusation thus far has been that Waring has brought partisanship to a nonpartisan office, which he said at times has lent an uncomfortable atmosphere to community meetings for District 2 residents.
“I want to make sure that we Early voting begins Thursday for the City Council elections in Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8. The Phoenix city clerk must receive ballots no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 27. In print: Look for more information about the races in Valley & State: » Wednesday: District 4. » Thursday: District 6. » Friday: District 8. Online: Find more details about each candidate, including videos, biographical information, positions on key topics and their answers to
questionnaire at phoenix.azcentral.com. run all of the City Council offices on a nonpartisan basis. I tell people: ‘We don’t have Democratic potholes, and we don’t have Republican potholes. We have potholes,’ ” Cain said. “(Waring) has been more partisan than I’d like to see, let’s put it that way. ... Those are nonpartisan offices for a reason, because you’re serving all the people in the district.”
Waring has often been the lone dissenting vote on a nineperson council — continually opposing, for instance, decisions that ultimately ended an enterprise fund for Phoenix’s struggling municipal golf courses. The vote meant the courses would stay open, but Waring has repeatedly emphasized that he feels it is unreasonable for the city’s general fund to support golf.
However, Waring has defended his tenure as councilman, saying his office returns “Democratic and Republican and independent phone calls” without fail. He said he decided to put an elephant on his campaign signs not to bring partisanship to the race but because it’s one of the first questions voters ask him.
“I think some voters, maybe not all, but some voters, would see a Republican as more fiscally conscious, more interested in saving taxpayers money, maybe more interested in privatization, and I think those are meritorious things to be putting out there,” Waring said. “I am conservative. I don’t think anybody would argue that point. I think it’s a conservative district.”