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 The Democrats Challenge GOP Rule In Northwestern District 12. By J.E. Relly NORTHWESTERN District 12 has two open state House seats in a 47-percent Republican stronghold with 14 percent independent or minority party voters. The Democrats are underdogs in the race, but since the '96 election when Democratic candidate Mark Osterloh trailed incumbent Dan Schottel by merely two percentage points--2,642 votes--the minority party has been invigorated with enthusiasm. And that was even with "Mark Osterloh in the race late," says Jonathan H. Kress, Pima County Democratic Party chair, of the candidate who began campaigning in August because he was busy counting valid signatures at the County Recorder's office for the ballot initiative that would include state health care for low-income Arizonans. The reality: The Democrats haven't captured a seat in the moderate Republican District since 1988. The Democrats are counting on swing voters who supported the well-respected retiring Rep. Winifred "Freddy" Hershberger, a moderate Republican, who receives praise from both sides of the aisle. And then, the independents.
With 41,755 registered Republican voters, 32,733 Democrats and 12,731 independent and minority party voters, the candidates are waging an aggressive campaign in the district that's somewhat party-blind. Since the August primary, when Huffman slung a little campaign mud in a flier dredging up the distant past of Republican candidate and talk show host John C. Scott Ulm (background that Ulm had openly discussed), the dynamics of the race have shifted. Huffman, 29, a UA political science graduate and former Eagle Scout, prefers not to talk about mailers, past or future, and says of the Ulm piece that went out one week before the primary: "[We] didn't do it to be underhanded or nasty." (Ulm, who lost his primary bid, has since openly supported Morales.) Huffman is not loose-lipped about whether he'll similarly target one of his challengers before the general election on November 3, but he does speak vehemently against Proposition 200 (Arizonans for Clean Elections), a campaign-finance reform initiative that Osterloh, 46, supported as vice chair, and which was endorsed by Arizona Common Cause and Arizona League of Women Voters. (An analysis by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimates it will cost $349,400 in fiscal year 2001-02, and $12.9 million in 2002-03, to run the program.)
"Follow the money," Osterloh says, referring to Huffman's individual contributions from David Mehl, owner of Cottonwood Properties ($200), H. Wilson Sundt, of Sundt Corporation Construction ($100), attorney/lobbyist John Munger ($250), with a chunk of change, as expected, from people in real estate, like Bill Arnold, who has led the charge against the tough new county ordinances designed to restrain development. Huffman dismisses questions about whether he's a green enough candidate in spite of his residential real estate background and ties: "I have a real stake in preserving the quality of life here," he says, jousting back at such implications by saying that he doesn't have the money to bankroll his own campaign. (Huffman has made only a $300 contribution to his own coffers.) To date, Osterloh has loaned his campaign $9,000 and has spent all but $1,381. He has about six dedicated volunteers. Six months ago he took a break from practicing ophthalmology to devote himself from 9 a.m. to sunset in a door-to-door campaign, on bicycle, visiting some 30,000 residences. He plans to mail fliers to gated trailer and foothills communities. Juggling his Long Realty schedule with campaigning, Huffman has been hitting the pavement since March, stopping by roughly 7,000 homes with support from a flock of 100-some volunteers. Then there are the neighborhood meetings and the guest appearances at his old alma maters of Cross Middle and Mountain View High schools, where he tells students what it's like to be a legislative candidate and talks about the function of the Legislature. In many ways, Huffman's prospective policies are a continuation of Hershberger's on kids issues and reforming Child Protective Services. (Hershberger endorsed Huffman in the race and has contributed $100.) Huffman's political roots stretch back to an internship with Sen. John McCain's office along with working on the campaigns of Sen. Jon Kyl and Rep. Jim Kolbe, who threw a fundraiser for him. Osterloh, too, has operated in the political playing field beyond the last two elections and his work on ballot initiatives. After returning to his native Arizona from an eye surgery practice in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he made his way around Arizona and the neighboring Nevada as a spokesman for the Clinton health care reform plan. The campaign for Morales, 34, began one year ago. To date: Morales and about 100 volunteers, including those walking for congressional candidate Tom Volgy and gubernatorial hopeful Paul Johnson's campaigns, have stopped by some 10,000 houses in the district. Teachers in eight school districts are campaigning for him and, not surprisingly, constitute a large swatch of individual campaign contributions, along with the $1,510 AZPAC contribution from the Arizona Education Association, as well as the $300 from Southern Arizona Educators PAC. Also of note, he received contributions from District 13 Democratic Committee ($100), Republican Oro Valley Mayor Paul Loomis ($150), former Sen. Dennis DeConcini ($100), Rep. Ed Pastor ($50), state Sen. George Cunningham ($25), and state Rep. Hershella Horton ($50). He's raised $8,854 in individual contributions to date, with $2,585 from PACs. He's loaned himself $1,584. A vociferous advocate for students, teachers and the environment, Morales has spent his life around politics: His father, Hectór Morales Jr., served on the City Council in the late '60s and as an assistant director of the community services administration during the Carter and Reagan administrations. His brother was an aide to former Congresswoman Karan English. Morales' politics appear more local. As president of Amphitheater Education Association, he backed a labor partnership with the physicians union at the former Thomas Davis Medical Centers. He supported the controversial linking of Pima County Interfaith Council with a literacy program at Amphi High School, with the caveat that religion is left out. He's also taken heat from the school district, he says, after he visited one of the potential building sites for Amphi High School and reported hearing the sounds of a pygmy owl, which he recalled from a recording played at a Kolbe town hall meeting. He was subpoenaed in front of his class to testify on the issue.
Why wasn't Schottel, 63, chair of the House Education Committee, endorsed by the union? Schottel says that he quit filling out the union group's survey several years ago because their primary focus is teacher's wages. Nonetheless, Schottel, whose wife was a teacher for 35 years, has been given credit for helping frame the legislature's Student's FIRST approach to revamping school funding; the property rights advocate also has been considered ineffectual and at the far-right at times. Two years ago, he considered introducing legislation to ban school support groups that include gay students. Yet Schottel's House seniority, some say, helped him bring a $1.2 million appropriation to Pima County over the next two years for the Challenger Learning Center, to be built at the Pima Air and Space Museum. Schottel, the best-funded candidate, has a war chest that topped out at $27,003, which includes $19,474 from loyal contributors: land speculator Don Diamond ($200), his daughter Jennifer Diamond ($250), Joan Diamond ($200), William Estes, Jr. ($100), Mehl of Cottonwood Properties ($300), Stanley Abrams ($300), real estate speculator Joel Abrams ($300), John Munger ($500), and several lobbyists. Schottel also was remembered by many of his usual PAC contributors, pulling in $7,525 from the likes of Phelps Dodge PAC ($300), Yuma Vegetable Shippers Association ($100), and ASARCO AZ PAC ($125). Schottel spent $19,051 by September 28 and has abandoned the six billboards that he used in the primary. His campaign with some 60 volunteers has included papering the district with 18,000 early voter ballot request forms and some 22,000 campaign mailers which include The Arizona Daily Star endorsement, a bit misleading since the daily endorsed him in the primary, not the general election.
Similar to the '96 election, Schottel won't be hoofing the district
on foot. "I twisted my ankle one month ago," he said
earlier this month. But that won't keep Schottel from reaching
voters. An early October fundraiser at the Oro Valley home of
Tucson Unified School District lobbyist Sam Polito was largely
to pull in cash for radio spots. He's also the sole candidate
in the district using a 25-second taped phone message of his
voice, which has been piped into some 6,500 households. He's received
several calls from voters who didn't realize the message was a
recording.
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The two open seats leave the challenge to three-term incumbent
Schottel, a conservative Republican; GOP candidate Steve Huffman,
a real-estate agent who ran and lost in the 1996 GOP primary;
Osterloh, a physician and lawyer; and Democrat Andy Morales, a
special education teacher and former teachers' union president
in Amphitheater School District. (Term limits prohibit Schottel
from running for the House seat again if he's re-elected.)
Huffman is refusing Political Action Committee money as he did
during his run in the last election. He raised $2,735 in contributions
between August 20 and September 28, bringing his total to $22,975.
He spent $20,969--more than any other candidate. Osterloh, who
is running on the clean campaign image, as before, is refusing
any contributions--PAC or individual. He's quick to point out
that PAC contributions are not the primary venue for donations
of influence. (Under the state's campaign finance laws, legislative
candidates can accept no more than $300 from each PAC--unless
it's a super PAC, then it's $1,510--or a total of $7,560 from
all PACs.)
For this, he thinks, he's won some of the votes in the pending
town of Tortolita, which has only 32 percent registered Democrat
voters. He's the only candidate in District 12 to receive the
endorsements of the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter and the
Arizona League of Conservation Voters. (Osterloh isn't seeking
endorsements and has only filled out the newspaper publishers'
and Project Vote Smart surveys.) Both Morales and Huffman are
endorsed by the Arizona Education Association.
