By John McMahon
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Republican City Council candidate Ray Fontaine encouraged UA students to help him walk local streets and get out his message.
In a speech before the University of Arizona College Republicans Wednesday, Fontaine also called the city government "lethargic" and urged Tucsonans to "pay attention to their economic destiny."
Fontaine, a Republican candidate for Ward 1 (which includes the UA), identified the three most pressing election issues as crime, water and local government inefficiencies.
"What concerns me is that we're not taking opportunities to deal with lingering problems," said Fontaine, who described himself as "not a government-buster, but a bureaucracy-buster."
Fontaine likened the Los Angeles-New York business route to one developing between Seattle and Mexico City and said Tucson has the ability to be "the Atlanta of the Southwest."
"We have the opportunity with NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) to experience substantial economic growth," said Fontaine, who believes the coming years are critical because of Tucson's recent growth.
For the first time in Tucson's history, Fontaine said, the city's budget is larger than that of the county's, at $621 million.
Fontaine also stressed the need for the local government to upgrade its technological capabilities and run like a "public entrepreneurship."
"What I'm able to do is to start explaining to Tucson how we can improve the quality of service to the community by improving on efficiency and using technology," he said.
"It's a difficult time to be a Republican in a primarily Democratic town," Fontaine added, but he said he believes "the Republican tide will keep rising."
If Fontaine beats his opponent, Democrat Jose Ibarra, in the Nov. 7 election, he will become the first Republican ever to hold a Ward 1 city council seat.