Three Democrats vie for two positions in primary for District 15 House
By Glenn Gullickson

Voters will have a choice between two former lawmakers and a first-time candidate in the Aug. 24 Democratic primary for District 15 House.

Lela Alston, Ken Clark and Katie Hobbs are competing for two slots to advance to the general election. The seats are currently held by Rep. David Lujan, who is running for attorney general, and Kyrsten Sinema, who is running for state Senate. Ken Cheuvront is retiring from the District 15 Senate seat.

District 15 covers much of the “gayborhood” in central Phoenix and Alston, Clark and Hobbs have made efforts to woo the gay community. All three were all endorsed by Equality Arizona.

All three rode in April’s Pride parade; Alston and Hobbs on the Democrat’s LGBT Caucus float, Clark in a car with his Hungarian pointer, Ru. Clark attended the HRC dinner and 1n10 brunch, and posed for a NOH8 photo. Hobbs attended the HRC dinner and Alston bought a ticket for the Equality Arizona dinner.

Alston and Hobbs have formed a campaign coalition with Sinema. If all three women win it would be just the second time that an Arizona district had all-women representation, according to Hobbs.

Alston said the team was organized before Clark entered the race. Clark said he’s not concerned with opponents or teams, preferring to focus on his own campaign.

On the Republican side, the candidates are Caroline B. Condit and Paul Yoder. Luisa Valdez is running as a Green Party candidate.

Alston, Clark and Hobbs answered similar questions in separate telephone interviews.

Lela Alston

Lela Alston, 68, taught for 34 years in the Phoenix Union High School District before retiring as a career and technical education teacher. In 2008, she was elected to the school district’s governing board, which she said has added sexual orientation and gender identification to the district’s non-discrimination policy. An elementary school is named in her honor.

She was elected to the Arizona Senate in 1976 and served for 18 years. In 1994, she made an unsuccessful run for state superintendent of public instruction.

A Phoenix native, Alston has a master’s degree in child development and family relations from Arizona State University. She has two children and six grandchildren.

WHY RUN?: Alston said she decided to run after she became aware of “all the bad things happening at the Capitol that were directly affecting the schools and the families of our community … The process and the results were offensive to me.” She was particularly unhappy with budget cuts for public education.

BIGGEST ISSUE: “The economy has got to be the No. 1 issue,” Altson said. “Until we can turn that around there will be no dollars for education, health care, child care.” She said the state has to be careful not to overtax, but have the “courage to impose taxes for basic state services.” She said that the state needs to fund programs that train students for high-tech jobs.

LGBT ISSUES: Alston said she supported LGBT rights “back when it was not easy or popular … I am very definitely for equal rights and opportunities for all people,” Alston said. As for same-sex partners, she said, “I strongly support those relationships having the same responsibilities and benefits that marriage provides.” She favors benefits for domestic partners and same-sex couple adoptions. “The relationship is irrelevant … children need wonderful, loving parents.”

SB1070: “Immigration is a serious issue,” Alston said. “It is a federal issue. It is not a state issue.” She said the state’s new immigration law has “created terrible fear … for people documented and undocumented.”

Ken Clark

Ken Clark, 39, works as a real estate agent. In 2002, he was elected to the state House, but didn’t seek re-election in 2004. He served as director of the state energy office. For two years he worked in Bosnia, producing radio programming on conflict resolution.

In 2006, Clark was manager of Arizona Together, the campaign against a constitutional amendment that contained a one man/one woman definition of marriage.

Describing himself as an “Air Force brat,” Clark has lived in Arizona “on and off” since 1981. He moved to Phoenix in 1998. He has a master’s degree in international affairs from American University in Washington, D.C.

WHY RUN?/MAIN ISSUES: Clark said he has knowledge about three issues that motivated him to run — renewable energy, which he championed during his first term in the House; a diversified economy, which requires supporting Arizona business; and legislative redistricting.

“We need to do a better job of building a Legislature that is more responsive to voters,” Clark said. He said redistricting 10 years ago created fewer competitive seats in the Legislature. Clark said when candidates in safe legislative districts only have to win a primary election they are less responsive to voters. He acknowledged that District 15 has been safe for Democrats and said that gives him credibility on the issue that could result in putting his own political career in jeopardy.

LGBT issues: Clark said he is not optimistic that LGBT issues will advance given the Legislature’s make-up. But he said he’s supportive of marriage equality and adoption by same-sex couples. He said offering domestic partnership benefits provides less expensive insurance for everyone and helps to attract employees. He said he would like to see language on school bullying.

SB1070: “We need to fight that bill,” Clark said of the state’s immigration law. But he said he’s concerned that lawmakers “will probably try to further that kind of law and tighten it up. … I’m concerned that they’re going to push further and further in an escalation of tensions on the issue.”

Katie Hobbs

Katie Hobbs, 40, works as director of government relations at Sojourner Center, a domestic violence center in Phoenix, where she said she worked to create an LGBT outreach program.

Hobbs served as chair of the District 15 Democrats for three years, stepping down after the 2008 election, when she started her run for the Legislature. She was a sponsor for the formation of the state party’s LGBT Caucus.

A Phoenix native, she has a master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University. She and her husband Pat Goodman have two children.

WHY RUN?: “The government just doesn’t work for people and we need to make it work better,” Hobbs said. She said dealing with domestic violence and homeless and runaway youths as a social worker has given her experience with “trying to get people together, put all the opinions on the table and solve problems. That just isn’t happening in our state Legislature.”

BIGGEST ISSUE: Hobbs said education is the state’s biggest issue. “We have got to invest in our public education system.” She said she’s concerned about education budget cuts and thinks the Legislature needs to find staple funding that isn’t dependent on the sales tax.

LGBT ISSUES: The approval of Proposition 102, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, “was the biggest disappointment for me in the last election,” Hobbs said. She said she would “support, sponsor, champion” legislation in support of civil rights, including employment and housing non-discrimination. She supports restoring domestic partner benefits for state workers and she said the Legislature should require schools to deal with bullying. She would have opposed legislation that would have hampered adoption by same-sex couples.

SB1070: In opposing the state’s new immigration law, Hobbs said, “Any work for equality for any group is fighting for equality for everyone.” She said SB1070 is a “flawed solution to a really serious problem.” Hobbs said the state should work with the federal government on the issue.