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Name: Barbara McGuire

Office seeking: State Representative, District 23

Party registration: Democrat

Age: 54

Occupation/employer: State legislator, small-business owner 20 years

Family: Husband Jim, with 2 grown children and one teen grandchild

Religion: Christian

Income: $24,000 as legislator

Residence: Kearny

Education: Ray Schools District. Central Arizona College, Various professional certifications.

Offices held/run for: State legislator 2007-8

Civic activities/organizations: Salvation Army Extension Unit director 17 years; Sheriff Posse member, NRA member, Winkelman Natural Resources Conservation District member.

Why are you running? I am seeking re-election to be able to better serve my district and state. I have already learned the essentials of being a legislator and how to make law and represent constituents; I can achieve more for my district and the state building upon relationships established during my first term. I am the only incumbent House representative for District 23. I am the only state representative of recent experience on her resume and my experience will help move our district and the state forward. I can watch things happen, or I can help make them happen. I choose to help make things happen in a way that best serves all Arizonans. We can grow a better Arizona by managing and directing growth to provide jobs and for future generations to come, by supporting affordable universal health care, by supporting science, technology and math initiatives (STEM) that encourage students to meet the work-force needs and the global economy of the 21st century, infrastructure needs, and these and many other issues are what will help us prosper and provide quality of life that I want to be continued to engage with for the citizens of Arizona.

What is the biggest issue facing my constituents: Presently it is fuel costs and the economy followed by health care, education and transportation.

Favorite local hangout: Home with family.

NPR or FOX? Am not sure of the inference of that question. FOX from local news. NPR is not available where I am other than via Internet. FOX is more of what my constituents listen to. I like NBC and others.

How long have you lived in Arizona? Lifetime of 54 years though we have family ties that go back to the mid 1800s.

What kind of vehicle do you have? What kind of mileage does it get? 1996 Plymouth Voyager Van. 28 mpg.

If I could have dinner with any living person, I would choose: Madeleine Albright

If I had my own reality show it would be titled: "Life of the Public Servant"

First job: Working in a hardware and lumber store.

On a federal level, I think the Bush tax cuts may have added more profit to corporations and wealthy individuals that was not actually re-invested. So, the answer is that tax cuts to the wealthy won't necessarily grow the economy. The tax cuts to the typical Arizona citizen, however who is not wealthy and seeks disposable income could have an effect. State income tax if cut would actually be the most real income that could be spent and benefit the normal person's life in Arizona while also providing local stimulus. We should more focus on generating wealth by building assets that would create economic growth. We know we need the transportation and other infrastructure. There is allowing for alternative, eco-friendly investment also. One local example is the Eloy theme park, which is private investment, a world-class attraction. Tucson and Phoenix along with the Golden Corridor in between is expected to directly benefit from that. There are other ways to grow the economy. Incentives for business to compete with other states and countries in addition with tax cuts or as stand-alone can be offered. There are some places in the world that we should be competing with. Dubai, Ireland and some Asian nations for example. Arizona has the resources, the climate, the work force, and the universities to compete. We should and can. We must engage in that which would help grow our economy. We need to build today for the needs of today and tomorrow. Arizona should be a leader in the solar industry and other energy alternatives, biomedical research, tourism and other technologies. Our sun, the state's diverse beauty, culture and resources can draw public and private partnerships to facilitate economic growth.

I am in favor of creating more revenue by those means. We need our safety nets though, and there are basic levels of state services we must support that are even more critical during difficult times and so the taxes to support those services are essential.

New dollars must find their way to the classroom. This includes finding quality teachers and paying them fairly. Student-teacher ratios need to be improved. Increase the use of proven technology and community involvement including civic sponsors and senior mentoring. Business also has a responsibility and a role. Gear education toward teaching thinking and guide toward skills sets for those best suited. These are all things that can add value and substance to education and make it real time applicable. However, we must build new facilities where the population calls for it. We need to use a combination of physical assets, Internet schooling, and public-private sector partnering to ensure the work force needs are identified and anticipated and the work force trained. I think that more real life skills should be taught in schools. Do students really know how to do home budgets, understand needs of insurance, how to plan for elder care, the importance of nutrition and exercise, how to do regular things like travel, what kind of home and transportation suits them best, the importance of community involvement, smart shopping, etc? Beyond everyday skills, the pathway for academic achievement must be encouraged with appropriate competitive emphasis on sciences, math and technologies (STEM), for example. World commerce skill-sets supports are another thing that should be included at more a pre-college level. For example, this would include such things as providing multilingual education for commerce. Certainly English and perhaps Spanish and Chinese, Arabic or some other relevant choice. To move America forward, we need to educate our children to compete globally for those best suited for that path. Arizona can produce world-class capable students and yet raise up those who invest their life here.

Restoration of major funding for many interrupted Arizona roads has recently occurred. Funding for future ones will rely on the new Congress to solve. The Arizona Legislature will become involved in funding state transportation systems since the initiative did not make the ballot. I suspect it maybe as the governor hints a possibility for toll road partnerships in some places where new roads would be built as an auxiliary routing and I am hoping the Legislature would reconsider the formula of allocation to provide for more rural and Pinal County highway funding. Presently it is Maricopa then Pima then divvy up the rest.

ADOT just completed the freeway system in metro Phoenix that voters approved in 1985, so yes we must vote NOW on systems to carry us into the future. This is the first statewide plan important to rural connectivity with multi-modal (rail, bus, roads, etc.) components. This is the time to build future infrastructure needs and provide jobs. Believe it or not, we are going to continue growing, perhaps doubling the state population by 2040 and it is a golden opportunity to plan for, engage in and manage it now.

Obviously with state budget deficits there is too much money being spent. There are some situations where borrowing must occur to provide for a need, as with school bonding. Overall, however, there should be investments in humans over brick and mortar, needs vs. wants, protection of basic services like public safety, health care, education. We need to go to zero-based budget approach where actual needs are determined instead of using the prior years expenditure and creating a budget by inflating that prior year base. I expect government to be efficient, accountable and responsive to the citizens, hence my credo, "E.A.R."

Regarding the economy itself, we need to look at jobs creation where we should balance the economy with the environment and create jobs in improving the environment. Being green will be the new economic machine. Everyone wants new jobs in their districts and every district has the opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint and create and use energy in responsible new ways. Arizona can become a leader in alternative energy technologies and uses. Retrofitting to new technologies can provide jobs as one aspect of likely new programs. We can start with government buildings and transportation systems first to set the example and program costs can be paid out of the savings. What are other states and countries doing that we can emulate and improve upon?

Yes. There are forms of universal health care coming from national legislation but anything the state can do before then will put Arizona's mark on it, particularly if the state is given federal credits to do something with some autonomy. Investing in the human being as even for the pure "numbers crunchers" admit, that keeping a person alive, functional and healthy mentally and physically is good for the individual, the family and the economy. There is room for more compassion. I believe data I have seen that report one quarter out of all dollars spent on health care are spent on red tape that would go away under a single-payer system and having a larger pool comprised of all contributors would bring affordable health care, which would perhaps be on a sliding-scale payment, and everyone would have coverage. The Legislature should support making quality health care coverage broadly available. Profit should not be the overriding concern, taking care of human beings should. There is great value and long-term benefit in preventative medicine as those who learn this no longer oppose it. Take care of people before a costly crisis endangers them. There are many ways of providing for coverage for all and a national urge to do so. Stay tuned. No doubt Arizona will join the nation and other evolved countries in facilitating quality universal coverage of some kind.

In the case of amending the constitution, it is up to the voters.

If you ask about the main thing causing illegal immigration, it is the demand for cheap labor. In the absence of federal action, Arizona must restrict employment to lawful citizens, authorized immigrants and legally permitted temporary workers. In each session, we must fix the law to come up with intelligent public policy based on our experience. We must be humane yet firm in our resolve and respect voter intent. Educate immigrants who wish to become legal about the pathway to become legal so they can contribute to society. We cannot bankrupt ourselves to be the deep pockets for other countries' refugees. The governor has asked Congress to support and renew programs to mitigate the effects of illegal immigration such as in her September 22 letter asking to renew Medicare Section 1011 funding to pay for immigrant health care otherwise the state would face an increase of $32M more without federal health care. Until the federal government controls the border, they should be paying the bills for the problems caused by Illegal immigration.

There is no one who does not want clean air, clean water and as pure and refreshing an environment that we can have. Government at all levels assesses the environmental impacts of projects like roadways, for example. Many have been relocated or altered to mitigate environmental impacts. There is always a balance between the economy and the environment. Most of Pinal County is my district and I support Pinal County's wise-use plan, which was developed in conjunction with the Morrison Institute at ASU and has such features as open space and considers environmentally sensitive gems in protecting the delicate areas into the future. As a state lawmaker, I am closer to the people, I am concerned that federal legislators hear local concerns, as we are closest to the people. It is not just about policymaking but listening to locals who can tell me what is happening to their areas and being aware and dealing with officials and corporate chiefs in all areas. This year I proposed legislation against "wildcat dumping" but it was not let out of committee. I was also able to press the issue and save the state from funding the Asarco cleanup at Hayden by bringing all stakeholders together to create a successful remedial plan that Asarco is paying for. There are certain physical sites issues and we must do more to ensure clean water and work more on improving air quality.