Sam Scarmardo throws hat in for Ariz. Senate seat

kdminer.com
by Suzanne Adams
Miner Staff Reporter
10/27/2011 5:59:00 AM

KINGMAN - A second person from Mohave County has announced a run for Sen. Ron Gould's seat.

This is the last year that Gould can serve in the Arizona Senate due to term limits.

Sam Scarmardo, the owner of Sam Shooter's Emporium in Lake Havasu, says he's up for the challenge.

There are two types of people in government, he said. Those who believe they know better than the public and what the public wants, and those who serve as equals to the public and try to prevent too much power from landing in the hands of politicians.

It's for that reason that Scarmardo believes the Senate seat from Mohave County should stay firmly in the conservative column. He said if Gould was going to run for another eight years, then he would serve as his campaign manager, but since Gould's unable to run, Scarmardo thought he would give it a try.

He said he has both the experience and the credit with the Republican Party to run as a conservative for the seat.

Scarmardo moved to Lake Havasu from Chicago several years ago where he worked with the Chicago Police Department. He worked for Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroad until four years ago. He holds a bachelor of science in finance and a bachelor of arts in accounting with a minor in criminal justice from the University of Illinois.

"I'm a life long Republican. I've always been involved in politics in some way," he said. "I can hit the ground running."

Scarmardo's a former Lake Havasu city councilman and vice mayor. He served as acting city manager for 11 months. He's also served on 17 county and city boards and commissions including several economic, tourism and business commissions.

As a member of the county's Economic Development Commission, he helped bring in North Star Steel and Griffith Energy.

As a member of council he said he helped dig the city out of an $18 million hole, built a new city hall and police station, he said. He also helped restructure the city's debt and instituted a one-stop permit process for developers.

Scarmardo's against impact fees for new development. They're counter productive, he said.

"We need new development, but at the same time we can't build past what our natural and financial resources can support," he said.

At the same time, Scarmardo's not a fan of paying companies to move to Mohave County. Businesses that are given monetary incentives to move to an area have no interest in staying or investing in the community, he said.

Scarmardo said he would use his budget and financial skills to help balance the state budget without cutting more funding to local governments and without plunging the state further into debt.

"I'm not a big fan of deficit spending," he said. Just like Gould, he would encourage the Legislature to go through the state budget line by line and cut any unnecessary spending.

"We just can't afford some programs. The primary focus has to be on the needs of many, not the wants of a few," he said.

He's unsure how the medical experience of one of his opponents, Kelly Ward, will translate to the state legislature.

"She has no experience on a city council and she has no credit with the party," he said. "Rep. Nancy McLain has the experience, but I don't like her philosophy."

McLain is rumored to be running for the seat, but has not officially announced yet.

Scarmardo is also a fan of Senate Bill 1070.

"We have to get them (illegal immigrants) back to their home country to put our people back to work," he said. "A tenth of our education costs are going to educating the children of illegal immigrants."

"I'm sick of the liberal direction our country has been going in," Scarmardo said. And he believes that other people are sick of it too.

But in order to get out of this recession, people are going to have to take control of their government from the local Board of Supervisors to the State Legislature and beyond, he said.

http://kdminer.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1 ... leID=47429