When Democrat Ron Barber first announced he was running to finish Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term, a pack of Democrats—including state lawmakers Matt Heinz and Paula Aboud—decided to drop out of the special election and instead support him.
At the time, they expected that Barber, 66, would only serve out the remainder of Giffords’ term in Congressional District 8, leaving the door open for them to run for a full term this November.
But weeks later, Barber, Gabrielle Giffords’ former district director, announced that he’d also be running for the newly redrawn Congressional District 2, which includes central Tucson and much of Southern Arizona, including Sierra Vista and Green Valley. Most of Barber’s rivals, faced with the possibility of running against Giffords’ hand-picked successor, packed up their congressional campaigns.
But Heinz, 35, says he’d gone too far to turn back, even though he supported Barber in the special election.
“I do believe that my (current) opponent was the best person to fill the seat in the short-term,” says Heinz, an emergency-room doctor. “He was the person that Gabby wanted. I respect her, and out of that respect, of course, I supported him.
But Heinz says he’s the better candidate for a full term in Congress.
“Southern Arizona needs the strongest advocate and the strongest voice in D.C.,” Heinz says. “I have a proven track record of effective leadership during my four years as a state legislator.”
However, challenging an incumbent congressman who just defeated a Tea Party darling during a campaign in which more than a million dollars were spent building up name identification is proving to be an uphill battle. A poll released last week by the Barber campaign showed that Barber has a lead of more than 60 percentage points over Heinz.
The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research survey, which interviewed 200 Democrats and had a margin of error of 7 percentage points, showed that in mid-July, Barber had the support of 77 percent of voters, while Heinz had the support of just 13 percent.
The survey of Democratic voters was a subset of a survey of 503 likely voters in the general election (with a margin of error of 4.4 percent) that showed Barber 13 percentage points ahead of the likely GOP nominee, former Air Force fighter pilot Martha McSally. Barber had the support of 53 percent of the voters, while McSally was supported by 40 percent.
Heinz says he’s not “putting any stake” in the survey.
“It’s statistically meaningless,” says Heinz, who notes that the survey was taken before he’d begun his campaign in earnest by running a TV ad on cable television and sending out a mailer comparing himself to Barber.
Although he was known to occasionally cross party lines during his career in the Legislature, Heinz is positioning himself to the left of Barber. He’s particularly critical of Barber’s votes on two bills.
The first was a Republican-sponsored bill that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to waive environmental laws within 100 miles of the border. Heinz complains the bill, which passed the House but is unlikely to go any further in its current form, would undermine former Arizona Congressman Mo Udall’s signature Wilderness Act and many other environmental regulations.
“It’s bad policy,” says Heinz. “You can’t claim bipartisanship if you’re voting for a bad policy.”
Barber said in a press release at the time of the vote that he supported the bill because “border security is the No. 1 priority for the people who live and work along our nation’s southern border. There is no doubt that this bill will make our borders more secure. But this legislation is far from perfect, and I will work to make changes as it moves through the process.”
The second vote that Heinz criticizes was in support of a bill that allowed House Republicans to sue Attorney General Eric Holder in federal court to force Holder to turn over certain documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal.
“I don’t understand why my opponent chose to side with Republicans who are interested in a partisan witch hunt,” Heinz says. “It’s just theater to embarrass the attorney general on an issue that people feel strongly about.”
Barber has told the Weekly that he voted against a bill that held Holder in criminal contempt of Congress, but did support the effort to put the question of what documents should be public record in front of a federal judge.
“To me, that’s an essential thing that we have to get done,” Barber says. “No matter what the issue is, I don’t think it’s appropriate for Congress or the administration—no matter which administration it is—to hold back important information that will allow us to reach a fact-based conclusion about a matter as serious as Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious was a terrible idea, as were its predecessors. … Putting guns in the hands of cartel members and criminals is not what the ATF or any other federal agency ought to be doing, but having happened, it needs to be fully understood at what level it was authorized, and who actually signed off, and we owe it to the parents of (slain Border Patrol Agent) Brian Terry … to give them answers that they’ve been waiting for, for 19 months.”
Heinz has been frustrated by Barber’s refusal to schedule more than one debate. That debate is scheduled to air on Arizona Illustrated on Monday, Aug. 20—barely more than a week before the Aug. 28 primary election.
In the meantime, Heinz is left to meet Barber’s surrogates, as he will this Saturday, Aug. 11, when he appears at a forum with a colleague and rival, state Rep. Steve Farley. The forum, sponsored by the Tanque Verde Valley and Saguaro Eastside Democrats, is from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Kirk-Bear Canyon Library, 8959 E. Tanque Verde Road.
Farley, who had also announced plans to run for Congress in CD 2, switched his target to the state Senate in the new Legislative District 9 when Barber announced his plans to run for the full term.
“Things don’t always work out as you planned,” says Farley. “While it was difficult to hear, Ron’s a great person to have there.”
This article appears in Aug 9-15, 2012.
Barber should have manned up and had at least two debates around District 2 BEFORE early ballots were sent out. He knows that in this district, the election is either made or not in early voting. Having Heinz face surrogates is cowardly.
As a Congressman, one of the reasons Barber stated as his reason for the AG civil contempt vote was his distaste for the President of the United State’s invoking his right to Executive Privilege, that he demanded more transparency.
So on a recent telephone “Town hall” meeting, I was in the queue from beginning until the end of the meeting, never getting to ask whether he supported the President’s supposedly secret order to support the Syrian rebels, presumably through Turkey? I don’t think that’s an out-of-bounds question for a sitting Congressman.
We need to know more about how our candidates for Congress will represent us on matters other than on Medicare (every Democrat will save it) and Social Security (every Democratic say they won’t privatize it but it needs to be tweaked but there’s no rush). We need to know how our Democratic candidates stand on issues other than immigration (they all support the Dream Act, a guest worker program, and in general overall immigration reform – which includes a pathway to citizenship).
The Rosemont mine is important to a lot of us and their position on it and what they would do to help us fight it (sorry Tucsonans who don’t live here and won’t have their water, air, roads, environment, tourism JOBs and other factors effected). Heinz is strongly opposed. Where is Barber. Giffords and Grijalva were both against it and helped us within the system to make sure the process was working as it should.
But there are much bigger questions that effect not only AZ-2 but the rest of the state, the nation and the world.
How will they work to get meaningful climate change legislation through Congress. Will they sit back or introduce or co-sponsor such bills? What stand will they take against DOMA? Barber has already refused to sign onto, with a large number, including the Democratic leadership, an amicus brief in a lawsuit against DOMA. Does this mean he is against gay marriage? Just where do the candidates stand on LGBT rights?
Are they willing to sign onto the ERA which has been introduced in every session of congress since 1972? Will they fight the ridiculous number of jobs bills introduced by the Republicans, and by jobs bills ,*cough*, I mean abortion bills? What will their monetary policy be. What is their position on Afghanistan?
Will they agree to sanctions against Iran but resist a preemptive war? Even if Isreal attacks first? Will they vote against any of the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war for the purpose of spreading democracy? Will they resist the forces in Congress who would want to force regime change in countries, such as Egypt, whose free election outcome they disapprove?
Will they continue to support NATO, OAS and our participation in the UN?
Will they stand up to the carbon-based energy producers and vote to repeal oil subsidies and designate that money into R&D for alternative energy. What will they do to make AZ the solar energy capital of the WORLD? In concrete terms, not pie-in-the -sky answers, like “Well, our best resource is the sun so we’re a natural fit.” Tell us something new and innovative.
A Congressman must have his finger on the pulse of his constituents and their needs, yes. But we need to trust that we have sent the right person to Washington to make the decisions we would make, or that are in the best interests of the country on national and international issues on a moment’s notice. A sharp mind with no regrets.
A final note: Pat Flemming (AZ House LD14) and Matt Heinz (CD2) will be at Kristofer’s Bistro at the Amado Territory Ranch (I-19 Exit 48) On Sun, August 12 from 11:30-1:00 for a Chat with Pat and Matt. Everyone is welcome but special invitations go out to southern Pima and Santa Cruz County residents.
I wish Matt Heinz would stop using Mo Udall’s name as if he knew what Mo thought. Matt only came to Arizona in 2004. Barber has been here 40+ years. I knew Udall and had two private meetings with him once. One with the Chairman of the Democratic Party, and one with John Denver. Yes, Udall was an environmentalist because his brother was the Secretary of the Interior. But he was more of an advocate for Native Americans and protecting their land and their border with Mexico. Mo would worry more about making sure the Papago (now the Tohono Oodham) were protected from harm than perhaps harming the desert. Myself, I no longer camp near the border or in the mountains in the Chiricahuas for fear of running into drug people or illegals. Those groups have no respect for the environment but we can’t confront them in order to protect the lives of trees and plants? Give me a break. Barber did the right thing on that vote.
Heinz acts as if he hasn’t sided with the Republicans. Come on. He supported a bill to give $5 Million to Sheriff Paul Babeu to fight crime in Pinal County. Why is Matt fighting for the constituents of Pinal County and not his own district? And why did Sheriff Babeu spend the nite at Heinz’s house after the bill made it through the Legislature? Do other lobbyists have such arrangements with legislators?
Matt Heinz has told me he opposes funding the Arizona Office of Tourism and when asked about supporting tax incentives for the Film Industry, he gave no response. Tourism and the Film Industry are two clean industries for Arizona that generate a lot of jobs and and lot of revenue, decades before Heinz even knew where Arizona was.
Matt claims his being a “doctor” qualifies him to talk about Obamacare. Give me a break. He is a part-time “ER” doctor on salary. He does not have any first hand experience of dealing with owning your own practice or medicare or what the average person has to deal with when it comes to medical service. I have had the unfortunate experience of having to use the “ER” where Heinz works 12 times in the past two years and find it very lacking. From two misdiagnosis to long waits to poor handling of records and who is doing what, its a joke among those of us familiar with it, that we wait until Monday mornings when the real doctors come to work and can really read and understand records.
Matt is a political opportunist and wants to be a politician. He moves from district to district until he finds one where he has a shot at winning. I remember when he first came here he ran against Gabby Giffords for Congress. He had just arrived in the State and no one had ever seen him do anything in the community or with the Democratic party, yet here he thinks he can just run for Congress. What does Matt do for the community or local non-profits? What has he given back to Southern Arizona?
For me, I choose to support someone that has been a part of this community for more than 40-years. Someone that wants to help and serve. Someone that did not grow up wanting to be a politician, but because of circumstances, has chosen to become a leader and work and listen to my needs. Ron Barber is definitely the choice of the demographic of this district.
Three comments (two replying to crinkster and one to BigMatt):
1. Crinkster: Barber’s stand on Rosemont is perfectly clear – he is against it. At every public talk when he has been asked, he has spoken at length about his concerns with it. In this respect he does carry on Gabby’s position.
2. Crinknster – judging a candidate on just one or two votes sooner or later will backfire on you. It just did. BigMatt points out an especially egregious vote by Heinz on the $5M gift from the Rs to Pinal Sheriff Babeu. The Republican legislature did that out of spite to punish Pima county and especially Sheriff Dupnik. None other than Frank Antenori proclaimed that action as “political payback.” So, Heinz’s vote was …. ?
3. BigMatt: A 100-mile zone suspending environmental protections is ridiculous. Does the border now extend to north of Tucson? If there are hot spots near the border that need special attention and resources, let’s do it. A 100 mile zone suspending environmental protections is not the way.