Conrad Tolson
Special guests for June were Brad Miller, candidate for County Attorney, Tara Walter, candidate for Superintendent of Schools, and Doug Wolf, incumbent and candidate for County Assessor.
Brad Miller has served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a JAG for 15 years and has practiced law in Arizona for the past 17 years; he also runs his own legal practice. Previously he worked for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Sex Crimes Bureau where he prosecuted sex crimes against children, and sex trafficking.
He shared his opinion on the integrity of recent elections and emphasized that we need more attorneys willing to fight the two-tiered justice system and fight for equal justice for all.
Tara Walter has over 20 years of experience in education, with experience teaching students from kindergarten up to high school. Over the past 12 years, she has served as an assistant principal and “Turn Around” administrator, using her expertise to dramatically improve scores of the schools where she has served by improving communications, teacher training, and support and getting parents involved. She was very involved during COVID-19, getting proms and in-person graduation back.
She is running for Superintendent of Schools because she feels the current Superintendent is not getting out and visiting the schools in her district.
Arizona schools are rated near the bottom nationally, and Pinal schools rate below the state average. She wants to improve Pinal’s score. One of the ways she thinks that can be done is by getting all the districts on the same curriculum. Some students move around from one school to another during the year, and lack of consistent curriculum between schools puts them at a disadvantage.
Walter is one of two candidates running for Superintendent, so the winner of the July 30 primary will be our next Superintendent.
Doug Wolf was born in Minnesota and has a B.S. in business administration. He was first elected in 2012.
Pinal’s tax base has been growing thanks to new businesses and construction, thus reducing our tax burden. For example: 106 new subdivisions were approved in 2023 v. three in 2012. However, county growth hasn’t hurt our water supply; Arizona uses less water now than in 1960 because housing uses less water than the agriculture it is replacing.
The RR Republican Club meets monthly, usually at 9 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month. If you would like to visit our club to learn more about what’s going on in our community and state, contact Ceil Levatino at [email protected] for meeting times and locations.