Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) has announced the legislative debate schedule for their qualified candidates. Log onto www.azcleanelections.gov for updated info, but here’s the preliminary schedule for contested State House legislative districts in the Tucson area (for the August 24 primary):

C indicates “Clean” candidate, T indicates Traditionally funded candidate (per CCEC website)

July 07, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 26 Republican Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College Northwest Campus
7600 N Shannon Road
Tucson, AZ
(Wade McLean- C, Terri Lynn Proud – T, Rep. Vic Williams – T)

July 08, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 27 Democrat Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College District Office
Community Board Room
4905 E Broadway
Tucson, AZ
(John Martin Bernal – C, Eric Bustamante- C, Dustin Cox- T, Bob Gilby – C,
Sally Ann Gonzales – C, Sami Hamed – C, John Kromko – C, Dr. Macario Saldate – C)

July 13, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 28 Democrat Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College District Office
Community Board Room
4905 E Broadway
Tucson, AZ
(Rep. Steve Farley – T, Ted Prezelski – C, Mohur Sidhwa – C, Tim Sultan – C,
Bruce Wheeler – C)

July 20, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 30 Republican Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College East Campus
8181 E Irvington Road
Tucson, AZ
(Brian Abbott – C, Rep. David Gowan – C, Kurt Knurr – C, Parralee Schneider – C,
Doug Sposito – T, Rep.Ted Vogt – T).

Not all legislative candidates in these races are running “clean” so refer to their website for further information (link is “2010 Candidate Listings with Funding Amounts”). 133 candidates are participating “clean” out of the total of 267 statewide candidates running.

“Participating candidates are required to attend the event and traditional candidates are encouraged to attend” per CCEC. Two will be elected from each Legislative District for the
Arizona House of Representatives.

For further info, email them at ccec@azcleanelections.gov, or call 602-364-3477, toll free (from 928 and 520 area codes) 1-877-631-8891.

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The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted today 5-0 to appoint Ted Vogt to the LD 30 house seat vacated by last week’s appointment of State House Rep. Frank Antenori to the LD 30 State Senate seat. That senate seat was previously held by Republican Jonathan Paton who resigned on Feb. 22 to run for the U. S. House in Congressional District 8.

Per state statute, the LD 30 precinct committeemen and women met on March 10 and voted to submit 3 Republican names to the Board, to choose the successor to Antenori. (See A.R.S. legal explanation at bottom). If a Republican resigns, then a Republican must be appointed by the Board of Supervisors in his/her place. The Board is currently composed of 3 Democrats (Sharon Bronson, Richard Elias, and Ramon Valadez), and 2 Republicans (Ray Carroll and Ann Day).

Supervisor Carroll (whose district 4 includes LD 30) made the nomination this morning, saying that Vogt was the “lead vote getter” in the selection process. (Vogt had been nominated as well by the precinct committeemen/women for the vacant LD 30 State Senate seat).

Ted Vogt

LD 30 Chair Vogt was the top vote getter in the March 10 selection meeting and he is a UA third year law student and former Captain in the U.S. Air Force (served 6 years). The other two nominees were Parralee Schneider, a Tucson realtor and 3rd VP of the State GOP, and Doug Sposito, a small business general contractor and former LD 30 Chair.

Vogt will serve out Antenori’s term, when the General Election on Nov. 2nd will determine the 2 state house reps. in LD 30. Vogt got his B.A. from Yale University, and clerked under U.S. Senator Jon Kyl and Vice President Dick Cheney on homeland security matters.

Several Republican candidates have already filed to run for these house seats in LD 30, and will all compete in the August 24 primary:

–incumbent House Rep. David Gowan
–Kurt Knurr, a systems engineer for a Defense Contractor, www.kurt4az30.com
–Parralee Schneider, one of the nominees listed above
–Doug Sposito, one of the nominees listed above, former candidate for this house seat in 2004 and 2008.
–Ted Vogt, appointed today to this house seat

Candidate Brian Abbott also recently filed to run for this seat, and is a partner in a telecommunications consulting & contracting firm. According to him he is a Republican, though no party affiliation is listed on the state campaign finance website.

Democrat Andrea Dalessandro, (a retired tax accountant and instructor), who also was a candidate for LD 30 state house in 2008, is the lone Democrat in this field so far. See: www.andreaforaz.net.

Excerpts from A.R.S. 14-1202 as to this selection process:

“2.Those elected precinct committeemen shall nominate, within twenty-one days after notification of the vacancy by the secretary of state if the legislature is not in regular session or within five days if the legislature is in regular session and by a majority vote, three qualified electors to fill the vacancy who meet the requirements for service in the legislature and who belong to the same political party and reside at the time of nomination in the same district and county as the person elected to or appointed to the office immediately before the vacancy.”

“4. The state party chairman of the appropriate political party shall forward the names of the three persons named pursuant to paragraph 2 of this subsection to the board of supervisors of the county of residence of the person elected or appointed to the office immediately before the vacancy occurred. The board of supervisors shall appoint a person from the three nominees submitted.”

Tonight 82 certified precinct committeemen/women of LD 30 selected Ted Vogt, Parralee Schneider, and Doug Sposito as nominees for the vacant House Rep. seat in that legislative district. Rep. Frank Antenori resigned last week Wednesday to assume the LD 30 State Senate seat, having been appointed by the Pima County Board of Supervisors at their March 2nd meeting.

State law (A.R.S. 14-1202) requires 3 names (with more than a majority of the votes cast) be submitted to the Board of Supervisors for their final selection.

Nominations from the floor were: Ted Vogt, Doug Sposito, Parralee Schneider, and Randy Graf, who all gave 5 minutes speeches about why they should be selected for appointment. Each person to be selected had to get 42 votes.

Vogt is the current LD 30 Chair and a 3rd year law student at the U of A, Sposito was the former LD 30 Chair and is a small business general contractor, Schneider is a realtor and former Republican Party officer for the County Party and LD 9 (now LD 30). She was also recently elected to be 3rd Vice Chair of the State GOP. Graf is a former 2 term House Rep. in LD 30 and was the Republican challenger for CD 8 in 2006, and is now a part-time consultant for the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine.

Both Vogt and Graf had been selected for nomination by the LD 30 precinct committeemen/women for the previously vacated State Senate seat in last week’s voting.

1st round winners: Vogt with 50 votes and Schneider with 46

2nd round winner: Sposito with 48 votes

All three of these nominees have filed to run as candidates for one of the 2 LD 30 house seats in the August 24 primary. Current LD 30 House Rep. David Gowan is also seeking re-election.

Attending tonight’s meeting: LD 30 State Senator Frank Antenori, GOP National Committeeman Bruce Ash, State GOP Chair Randy Pullen, 2007 Ward 2 City Council candidate Lori Oien, and 2007 Ward 4 City Council candidate Dan Spahr.

The Board of Supervisors will be meeting on Tuesday, March 16 to vote on these 3 nominees and appoint one to this LD 30 state house seat. The meeting is at usual at 9 a.m. at 130 W. Congress, first floor board meeting room.

If you wish to express comments to the Pima County Board re: any of these nominees, contact information is below:

District 1, Ann Day, 740-2738, ann.day@pima.gov
District 2, Ramon Valadez (Chair), 740-8126, jennifer.eckstrom@pima.gov
District 3, Sharon Bronson, 740-8051, district3@pima.gov
District 4, Ray Carroll, 740-8094, district4@pima.gov
District 4, Richard Elias, 740-8126, district5@pima.gov

UPDATE 3/16/10: Vogt appointed by Board of Supervisors, click here.