The Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission debate between John Huppenthal and Penny Kotterman for Superintendent of Public Instruction will be held on September 15 on Horizon KAET Channel 8 at 7 p.m. It will hopefully be online their website shortly thereafter at http://www.azpbs.org/vote2010/. Online right now are the Gubernatorial and Treasurer televised debates.

Alternatively, the debate video will be online within 72 hours at the Citizens Clean Election Commission website: http://www.azcleanelections.gov/home.aspx. According to their website, Huppenthal is participating in “clean” elections (so this debate is mandatory for him), Kotterman is running traditionally.

John Huppenthal, Republican, State Senator (LD 20) who chairs the Senate’s Education Committee, www.johnhuppenthal.com.
Huppenthal graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School (private) in Tucson, then earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Arizona University, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Arizona State University.

Penny Kotterman, Democrat, Former teacher, and former President of the Arizona Education Association (AEA), www.pennykotterman.com. Currently she is the Associate Director of New Programs and Policy at the Arizona K-12 Center in Phoenix. She grew up in Illinois, got her B.S. in Special Education at Western Illinois University, and her M.S. in Education Administration from Illinois State University.

Current Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is termed out, and is the Republican nominee for Arizona Attorney General.

9/16/10 UPDATE: video online now, click here.

John Huppenthal

Penny Kotterman

Coming up on Thursday Sept. 9, the Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission (CCEC) debate between “clean” candidates running for LD 27 State Senate and House of Representatives. There are 2 open seats in the House race as both current Democrats Rep. Phil Lopes and Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford are termed out.

Ms. Cajero Bedford just won the Democratic nomination for State Senate in that same district, and faces little opposition in the General Election, only write-in Republican candidates Duke Schechter and Jaime Vasquez.

The CCEC debate is at PCC West campus
West Campus Student Lounge
2202 W Anklam Rd
at 6 p.m.
and the video of this debate will be available online w/in 72 hours, at http://www.azcleanelections.gov/home/video/generaldebatevids2010.aspx

However there is lots of opposition for the 2 Democrats Sally Ann Gonzales and Dr. Macario Saldate nominated in the August 24 house primary. Their websites are: http://www.votemacariosaldate2010.info/, and www.www.votesallygonzales.com. Gonzales is President of Guadalupe Community Development Corp., and is a former 2 term District 10 House Rep.(1996 to 2000), former Tribal Council member & Secretary of Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona (1992 – 1996). Dr. Macario Saldate IV, is the Director of Guadalajara Summer School,and a retired UA Educational Foundations & Administration professor.

Republican Robert Compton, a service technician at Hamstra heating/cooling company (www.thatcomptonguy.com) is making his first bid for public office. Green Party candidate Solberg ran before for this seat in 2008, and is the owner of Kent’s Tools (a small business on Grant Road), www.kent4house.org. Chaplain Gene Chewning (www.votechewning.com) ran for this seat in 2006 as a Republican, and is now an Independent seeking one of the these two House seats as well. So there’s one of each– Republican, Green, and Independent, facing off with the 2 Democrats.

All candidates are participating in the “clean” elections program.

Choose between 2 of these 5 candidates for LD 27 House of Representatives. LD 27 has
the following registered voters: 40,600 Democrats, 16,156 Republicans, 800 Libertarians, 295 Greens, and 24,290 Independents, for a total of 82,151 voters (from Pima County Recorders website, click here.)

UPDATE 9/15/10: CCEC video online click here.

Gene Chewning

Robert Compton

Sally Ann Gonzales

Dr. Macario Saldate

Kent Solberg

The final provisional ballots cast on Tuesday August 24 for the Arizona primary have been counted, and the Secretary of State website has posted the final unofficial results (click here). Tom Horne prevailed by 899 votes over Andrew Thomas for the Republican nomination for Attorney General (out of a total of 555,699 votes cast in that race). State law (ARS 16-1661) would mandate an automatic recount should the vote total be less than 200 votes between these 2 contenders.

Horne declared victory yesterday August 30 on various news media, and Thomas finally conceded this morning August 31. Horne is the current Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and Thomas is the former Maricopa County Attorney, and was the 2002 Republican nominee for this AG position (losing to Terry Goddard). Horne’s website: www.electtomhorne.com.

During the primary campaign, Horne accused Thomas of using his Maricopa County Attorney’s office to launch politically motivated prosecutions against his alleged enemies, even Superior Court Judges who ruled against him. Thomas, in turn, accused Horne of supporting amnesty for illegal border crossers, and criticized him for a lifetime trading ban imposed in the 1970s by the Securities and Exchange Commission, while in law school.

Horne now faces Democratic nominee Felecia Rotellini, a former Assistant Attorney General and former Superintendent of the State Banking Department, now the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI). Rotellini is in private practice and her website is: www.feleciaforarizona.com.

Rotellini faced off in a tough primary with State House Minority Leader David Lujan and former Assistant Attorney General Vince Rabago (former Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party). Rep. Lujan was in a close race with Rotellini on election night and was only losing by 350 votes, but the gap widened by August 26 to 3203 votes, when Lujan conceded. The final unofficial tally showed Rotellini received 2427 votes more than Lujan.

The upcoming Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission debate between Horne and Rotellini is scheduled for

September 08, 2010 (UPDATE:Debate canceled on 9/3/10 as neither candidate is participating in “clean” elections, further UPDATE 9/8/10 debate may be back on as “non clean elections.”)
Candidate Debate
7:00:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Televised on KAET Horizon Channel 8 (Phoenix)

Tom Horne

Felecia Rotellini