Fike, Barbara

Running For:

State House

District:

28

Political Affiliation:

Democrat

Age:

73

Occupation:

retired teacher

Education:

BS and MA from NAU

Family:

husband and two children.

Religion:

United Methodist

Biographical Info:

Barbara is a second-generation native of Arizona. She grew up in Phoenix and attended Alhambra High School, going on to receive Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from NAU in Flagstaff. She has taught English, History, or Government/Economics for almost 50 years, in middle school, high school, and community college — mostly in the Deer Valley Unified School District and Glendale Community College. She is married to an architect and has two children who graduated from Sandra Day O’Connor High School and NAU. Her son is currently working on a doctorate at the University of Oregon, and her daughter lives and works in Phoenix. The extended family in Arizona includes a sister and a snowbird brother/sister-in-law in Phoenix and a father-in-law and sister-in-law in Peoria. At home, Barbara’s companions also include an elderly Labrador Retriever, a sweet rescue mix, and a sneaky black cat. She is very involved in her church, where she sings and plays handbells, as well as being active in Social Justice and History preservation organizations.

Statement:

My love of Arizona and my country was instilled in me from an early age by my mother. She was born in Clarkdale, only 6 years after Arizona became a state. She lost her only brother in a bombing raid over Italy in 1943, so she was always a dedicated patriot. While I miss her terribly, I’m glad she isn’t here to see what has become of us. We have taken a state proud of its progressive beginnings and a country beginning to live out its promise that a government of, by, and for the people would not perish, and turned them into vehicles serving corporate and personal greed at the expense of “the people”. We are spending time and money on culture wars (and real ones!) that we should be spending on the people of Arizona, bettering all of our lives. The culture wars only exist to distract people from the power and wealth grabs that a handful of people are making. Most Arizonans actually agree on many of the things that our current legislature is making laws against in order to placate political cronies. So much of the current government has forgotten that they work for the people, not themselves and their friends. I have only participated in our democracy passively in the past, but I acknowledge that it is time for all of us to stand up and do what needs to be done to save our promising experiment of democracy.

To save that democracy and protect the welfare of the citizens of our country, there are more specific reasons I am running. Democracy only works with an educated public, so I am passionate about saving public schools. I am equally passionate about saving our planet, notably water in the desert policies, so that we can even have a country.