Budget issues separate Republican attorney general hopefuls

RANDI BAROCAS
Staff Writer

Arizona state Sen. John Kaites (R-Glendale) and Assistant Attorney General Tom McGovern have some budget disputes.

The two men, who are battling it out for the Republican spot on the Nov. 3 ballot against Democratic attorney general candidate Janet Napolitano, have different priorities when it comes to allocating funds for fighting crime and providing consumer protection.

"The real difference in this race between myself and my opponent is the vision that we have for the office," Kaites said recently in an interview with Jewish News. "I want to lead a crusade in Arizona against drugs and gangs and violence."

In addition to serving as a state senator, the 35-year-old Kaites is a partner at the law firm Struckmeyer & Wilson. He also has held positions as assistant attorney general and deputy county attorney. During his stint in the attorney general's office nearly a decade ago, about 40 percent of the office's budget went into fighting crime "at all levels," he said.

If elected, Kaites said he plans to devote more resources within the office for fighting crime and reprioritize the mission of the office "from where it has evolved under the current administration."

"If necessary, working with the current legislature, I'll seek additional dollars to fight drugs, to fight gangs and to fight crime in Arizona," he said. "I think that is really a distinguishing factor between myself and my opponent. I want to focus my attention on leading the war against crime."

Fighting crime is important to McGovern, 39, as well, but he doesn't make gang-related or violent crime the focus of his political platform. Rather, McGovern's top priority if elected would be "to make sure that the good work of the office is not gutted and eliminated by those that see the attorney general as the enemy."

"We do an awful lot of legal work for people who have no access to lawyers, no access to protect their rights, and no experience as to how to go about protecting what is guaranteed to them under the Constitution," McGovern said, citing the 14,000 consumer protection cases the attorney general's office handled this past year as one way of protecting Arizona citizens from crimes such as fraud.

"The majority of those victims were seniors citizens," McGovern said. "My opponent plans to (get rid of that office). I would not. I would keep it and expand it."

Even though the candidates have differing opinions on which kind of crime should be fought with how many dollars, they agree that Arizona's new hate crimes law is a good thing for the state. Both also were quick to take credit for helping to get the law passed.

Kaites, who stressed that he "helped shepherd" the hate crimes law through the state legislature "even in times when it was unpopular in my own party - because it was the right thing to do," - said he plans to "aggressively enforce" the law, which allows for stiffer penalties for crimes motivated by hate of others' race, religion or sexual orientation.

"(The hate crimes law) is appropriate because it allows the judge to take into consideration the nature of the hate crime at the time of sentencing," Kaites said. "It seems to me to be a very simple concept that if you are attacking somebody because of their beliefs, the color of their skin or their national origin, then a judge should be able to consider that an aggravating factor at the time of sentencing."

McGovern also strongly supports the hate crimes law, and he stressed that it was the present attorney general's office, led by Attorney General Grant Woods, "that got it here."

"Having fought so long to have it here, we're going to make sure it stays here and enforce it the way it was intended to be," McGovern said.

Both men said they would support more shelters for abused women and children - something Democrat Napolitano has promised in her campaign. Kaites and McGovern, however, said that while more shelters are needed, it is not the attorney general's job to get them built.

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Budget issues separate Republican attorney general hopefuls

RANDI BAROCAS Staff Writer

RANDI BAROCAS
Staff Writer