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Saturday morning, I attended a political forum at the Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, sponsored by the Social Justice Ministry, a church committee that encourages community participation in the electoral process. An impressive number of candidate s participated, including candidates from Districts 11, 13 and 14 for both the House of Representatives and Senate races, both candidates for the Pima County Attorney's office and one candidate for Pima County Sheriff.
With only 10 days before the election, these candidates took time out of their busy campaign schedules to talk about the issues with the crowd. Not only were the candidates happy to have the opportunity to talk with a voting constituency, but the audience of about 80 people showed a great deal of interest, demonstrated by their insightful and probing questions.
The aim of the Social Justice Ministry was to design the forum to address African American issues, and to invite the African American community to get the facts and vote as informed citizens - a right that people have fought and died for in the past. Yet, from the questions asked and the discussion that followed, there are many issues that are beholden to no community, nor specific to any party platform.
Many of the candidates brought up the Arizona Supreme Court ruling from two years ago that found the funding structure for the K-12 school system unconstitutional. In 1994, the Court found that there was a significant disparity between the funding that so me schools received, to the extent it violated the constitutional guarantee of equal educational opportunities for Arizona's children.
The issue is equal opportunity for all children in the K-12 system, while the problem is funding. The solution is revising the capital funding structure and infusing available money into the system. The candidates for the Senate race highlighted a partisa n problem of arriving at the solution, but all agreed that delay could no longer be afforded.
When the subject of school vouchers was raised, none of the candidates for the House supported the plan. All candidates that attended support the public school system in the state and believe that vouchers will only diminish the limited resources availabl e to public schools.
More to the point, all six candidates theorized that vouchers would only assist those who could afford any school of choice, while those with limited finances would be stranded in under-funded public education.
As for higher education, the candidates recognized that funding for the prison system has increased at a greater rate than that for the higher education system. The milepost for political success, as of late, seems to be to champion the fight against crim e. The result has been that legislatures shift resources to systems that are "tough on crime" - namely the prison system. The candidates' solution: To continue to buck the trend and be the voice of reason and advocate a constitutionally mandated higher ed ucation that is "nearly free as possible." Not an in-depth response, but one that was tempered for the occasion.
Both of the candidates for the office of County Attorney were on hand to talk about the all-important crime issue, but more interestingly, both candidates work in the County Attorney's office. Both stressed the need for tough action against a rising tide of crime. Whereas both supported prevention programs, one emphasized the importance of rehabilitation, while the other saw a limited use in rehabilitating hardened criminals.
Finally, both candidates supported Proposition 102, an initiative that would amend the constitution and give the legislature the power to dictate to the courts how juveniles are prosecuted for certain crimes - either as juveniles or as adults.
Although the forum was designed to address the African American community, the issues crossed all conceivable boundaries. The information was valuable to voters, and the objective of the forum was fully realized. All who participated, candidates and commu nity, walked away with a sense of accomplishment in that both were somewhat enriched by their participation in the electoral process.
David H. Benton is a third-year law student, member of the ASUA President's Cabinet and Arizona Students' Association board member. His column, 'Another Perspective,' appears Tuesdays.
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