Smith, Alan

Meet the Candidate

District:
15
Political Affiliation:
Democrat 
Phone:
515-943-1415
Age:
68
Occupation:
Retired
Education:
Bachelor of Business Administration: Finance
Biographical Info:

My Name is Alan Smith and I live in East Mesa off Ellsworth Rd. I am a lifelong Democrat. I grew up in Davenport, Iowa and graduated from Davenport Central High School. I went on to the state University of Iowa and graduated with a business degree in Finance. I worked as an auditor in the insurance field and was transferred and promoted several times in my 38 yr career. I have held positions of increasing responsibility in Iowa, Utah, California, Colorado and Hawaii. I retired from the insurance industry in 2016. In my career I spent many hours with small and large businesses across the Western United States reviewing financial records, building spreadsheets and doing financial analysis. I have also seen the economy move through several up and down cycles during my career.

Though retired, I have been very active these past 6 years. I remodeled a fixer upper home. After that, I volunteered one day per week at Head Start and 2nd Grade public school classrooms at Mesa Public School District’s Stevenson Elementary. I am an active board member of Walking Down Ranch, a non-profit in Lakeside AZ assisting homeless vets. I started a recycle program in my community of 830 homes and I continue to support the Democratic Party.

During my working years I coached kids baseball and basketball, was officer of the year for our Davenport Jaycees club, President of the Insurance Auditors Association of the West(the region covered 11 Western states), taught religion class, was a Scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop and I am an Eagle Scout.

I am 40+ years married to Karen, the love of my life, have three children and six grandchildren. We stay active walking our dog Copper, kayaking, swimming, hiking and bicycling. My passions, after family & friends, are following national, state & local politics; traveling and reading. I have had several “Letters to the Editor” published and traveled to 49 states & 17 foreign countries. I am way behind on my reading, but fit it in when I can.

Statement:

My name is Alan Smith and I am running for AZ State Senate in LD15*. I had no notion of running for office, assuming our redistricted LD 15 would have a full slate of candidates in the primary- a senator and two reps. Finding we had none at the official filing date, I was really disappointed, mad, upset. I just couldn’t allow the ultra conservative Republicans in our district a free pass in the general election.

I decided to step in and run a State Senate campaign offering an alternative to morally bankruts conservative Jake Hoffman. As Thomas Jefferson said, ” The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.” It is time to take that stance by electing a citizen legislator instead of a special interest focused professional politician.

“I will be your Citizen Legislator”

I am a lifelong Democrat who has assisted in campaigns, but never ran for office. I support:
● Our Democracy. It is under threat from false accusations of massive fraud which did not occur.
● Strong fully funded public schools, state community colleges and state universities.
● Women’s Rights and especially, women’s privacy and reproductive healthcare. This difficult choice is theirs and not a state legislature.
● Social Justice must be a priority. Our system must work for all people of ourstate, not just the well connected or rich.
● Gun violence can be reduced with common sense legislation.
● Water conservation in the desert is a must. AZ water use needs to be much better understood, so development can be properly planned.
● Infrastucture must be updated as our state continues to grow and age. We need innovative solutions to deal with transportation, energy, pollution,
communications & climate change.

I promise to do my homework, study our Arizona issues, implement progressive
changes and move Arizona forward with a better educated workforce, consistent tax
policy and solid long term water policies, while making us a safer state to live in.

Thank you for your support.

Alan Smith

*LD15 includes Queen Creek, San Tan and some of East Mesa(South of Baseline
and East of Power Rd).

Endorsements:

Save Our Schools Arizona

Survey

Response Legend

  • SSupports
  • OOpposes
  • *Comment
  • Declined to respond
  • Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Expanding background checks to include guns purchased from private individuals. S* All gun sales purchasers must be backgroud checked and this includes sales between private individuals.
2. Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law. S
3. Prohibiting abortion except when it is necessary to prevent the death of the mother. O* I am pro-Choice.
4. Allowing biological males that identify as transgender to play on female sports teams. S
5. Providing state funding to abortion entities that perform or refer for abortion. S
6. Allowing all parents to use tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts to enable their children to attend any public, charter, private, homeschool, or online academy. O* I do not support public money supporting discriminatory private schools. We already have school choice through "open enrollment." Our public schools are near the bottom in per student funding already and this would make it even worse.
7. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide. S* There must be some specific criteria established to implement this program similar to what other states have done.
8. Allowing parents to seek professional counseling for their minor child with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues. O* I oppose a parent taking a child to a phony "conversion therapist." I certainly support allowing parents to seek professional counseling for their children
9. Protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs. O* This is discrimination, plain & simple. If you operate a business doing business with the public, you may not discriminate.
10. Keeping the flat income tax rate in Arizona’s state tax code. O* The regressive flat tax was added at the last minute by the legislature, with little discussion on implementing it, to go around the will of the people for a tax increase on those making over $250,000 to support our schools.
11. Requiring any government entity, including schools, to inform parents about their child’s physical, emotional, or mental health. O* There should be no requirement, unless there is a threat of bodily or mental injury injury to the child or to others.
12. Establishing electric retail competition to eliminate the current monopoly system for electric utilities. O* As long as our AZ Corporate Commission properly does their regulatory function, I am fine with our monopolistic retail electrical system .