Board picks Dunn to fill House seat
Yuma farmer will replace ousted Rep. Don Shooter
Farmer Tim Dunn was appointed by the Yuma County Board of Supervisors Monday morning to fill the seat in the Arizona Legislature vacated when the House of Representatives voted to expel Rep. Don Shooter earlier this month.
The board voted 5-0 to appoint Dunn after the first board-nominated candidate, Paul Brierley of the Yuma Center for Excellence in Desert Agriculture, failed to get three votes, with Supervisors Darren Simmons, Lynne Pancrazi and Martin Porchas voting no.
Yuma native Dunn told the board while answering a series of five questions that he has been active in rural policy on the state and federal level, taking on a role of educating legislators and members of Congress through farm tours and other avenues: “I enjoy doing that kind of thing.”
He added, “Why I’m considering the Legislature, what I bring to the table is from a rural community, I have a church background and I serve on the church board of directors, I understand the needs of people whether we’re helping the needy, or we’ve got someone who needs help with water, so I have a diverse background when it comes to serving the community.
“I’ve been to Congress, I thrive upon service, whether it’s giving tours to a state senator or whether it’s giving food to the needy on the south side of Yuma.”
Dunn was one of three nominees for the House seat sent by the Republican precinct committeemen from the Yuma County portion of District 13, after meeting the state statute requirements of being from the same county and political party as Shooter.
The other two names they submitted were Brierley and Cora Lee Schingnitz, a retired teacher and active Republican who told the board, “To be honest, the reason I stepped forward is that we needed three candidates, But I have been interested in politics and state politics and that kind of thing.”
Brierley and Dunn announced their intention to seek the appointment before the local party leaders met to select their nominees last week. Brierley said he’s been active in Republican politics and rural issues since well before moving to Yuma three-and-a-half years ago, and like Dunn had held leadership roles with the Arizona Farm Bureau.
Brierley was director of organization for the bureau at its Gilbert headquarters for eight years, and prefers rural life but has many
connections throughout the Phoenix area, including the current House Republican leaders. He said this is especially important because 70 percent of District 13’s voters are in Maricopa County.
“This is something that, when I look at it, my whole life has brought me to this point, where I’m uniquely qualified to do this. With the background that I have, the network that I have, the knowledge that I have and the passion that I have for rural Arizona, I’ll be a great spokesman for Yuma County,” he said previously.
Partisan politics rarely figures in Board of Supervisors’ votes, but since there are currently two Republicans and three Democrats, Board Chairman Tony Reyes said he and the other Democrats, Pancrazi and Porchas, would let the GOP members take the lead.
After Supervisor Russell McCloud nominated Brierley and then Simmons tapped Dunn, Reyes joked, “Well this is how it should be all of the time, the Democrats making the decisions.”
Simmons said after the meeting, “I hated going against Russell because we’re from the same party, but I had to vote how I felt.” He said Dunn, Brierley and Schingnitz all were quality candidates who could do the job, but choosing between the first two was especially difficult.
“(Dunn) appeared to have more interest in Yuma County, he had vested more into Yuma County,” he said. He said the majority of emails and comments he’d gotten from constituents in the last few days favored Dunn, “but it was pretty close.”
Porchas also said Dunn appeared to have more public support from constituents from the comments he got, and those residents had the same deep-seated concerns about protecting local agriculture and its senior rights in the state to use Colorado River water.
“One of the things I look more at is roots, from here, Yuma County, and obviously a business owner who knows how really important the water rights are, that the rest of the state is always eyeing our water rights,” he said.
Losing the position the county’s in now would be disastrous for the local economy, he added: “We’re so rich in agriculture here because of the water.”
After the vote Dunn said he was planning to drive up to Phoenix with his wife Monday afternoon and hopefully be sworn in this morning, so he could take on as much of a role in the ongoing session at the Capitol as possible.
Pancrazi, who was a state legislator for 10 years before being elected a county supervisor in 2016, said “I can tell you from past experience this is going to be a very tough job, and with Tim being there, he’s going to need the support of every single person in this room to help make sure that Yuma County’s interest especially water (rights), are taken very seriously.”
Dunn will serve for the rest of the session, and has said he plans to run in the Republican primary and general elections this year for a two-year term from District 13. Many feel Yuma’s voice at the state Legislature has been diluted since the county was split into two legislative districts in 2012, and it will feel the loss of the oncepowerful Shooter, who headed both the Senate and House appropriations committees during his time at the Capitol.
Schingnitz said, “I think Yuma County used to have a very strong voice in the Legislature; it was very powerful, and somehow we feel like we’ve become the stepchildren out here, because of the borders.”
Shooter was expelled by a 56-3 vote of the House Feb. 1 following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations that found he had violated the Legislature’s policy in 10 of the reported incidents.