Travel the Districts & Meet the Supervisor Candidates

05 June, 2012
Written by Lynne LaMaster
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Here's a review of the Yavapai County Supervisor races - who is running, and how many petition signatures they turned in.

Supervisor District 1

Encompassing the biggest block of Prescott voters, but also including Bagdad, Skull Valley and even Wickenberg, the Yavapai County Supervisor's District 1 is large, cumbersome and hotly contested during this election season.

Population: 42,136

Square Miles: 2721

Signatures required: Democrat min: 31max: 612 | Libertarian min: 1max: 17| Republican min: 60 max: 1193 | Independent: 242 (there is no maximum limit on signatures for the Independents).

All of the candidates for the Supervisor 1 district are Republicans and well-known political names, except for possibly Kelly Cordes. No worries though for him, he's been a teacher and a coach in the Prescott Unified School District for dozens of years, and has been active in a wide variety of areas in the community. Cordes, who is a Republican, collected 194 signatures.

John Hanna was recently a Prescott City Councilman, receiving the highest number of votes in the election when he ran for that office. He's a retired Prescott Police Officer, and has lived in Prescott about as long as he can remember, having moved to this community as a toddler. As a Republican, he has a motto of "Straight talk, honest answers," and is campaigning on a platform of being both a fiscal and social conservative. Hanna turned in 310 signatures.

Robert 'Bob' Luzius graduated from Prescott High School, but moved away for much of his adult life. He returned in 1993, after having a career in firefighting and owning a small business. He served on several City boards, and became a Prescott City Councilman in 2005, where he served for one term. Luzius is also a Republican and turned in 192 signatures.

Former Arizona State Representative Lucy Mason turned in the highest number of District 1 signatures at 404, nearly 100 more than anyone else. As a Republican, Mason also served on the Prescott City Council before serving 8 years in the State legislature. She's also working on a children's novel, is an illustrator and an artist and, according to the AZ Capitol Times, makes a mean bowl of chili. In case you think it's a step down to go from state legislator to county supervisor, there's a precedent for that. Supervisor Carol Springer is not only a former state legislator, but also the Arizona State Treasurer.

Rowle Simmons served as Mayor of Prescott for three terms, from 2001 to 2007. After his term as Mayor, Simmons also served on the Prescott Capital Needs Committee. He owns an electronic communications business; and is a well-known member of many community boards and organizations. Simmons, a Republican, collected 251 petition signatures.

Supervisor District 2

Supervisor District 2 spans the mountains, with half in the Verde Valley area along I-17, and half along the 69 corrider. It takes in Dewey-Humboldt, Mayer, Cordes Junction, Prescott Country Club, Cherry, Camp Verde and Lake Montezuma. It also includes Crown King, where current Supervisor Tom Thurman has been focusing a lot of his time on right now. This district is not as large as District one, at least in square mileage, although the population is pretty close.

Population: 41,360

Square Miles: 2068

Signatures required: Democrat min: 25 max: 506 | Libertarian min: 1max: 17| Republican min: 52 max: 1035 | Independent: 257

First on the list is Alan 'Buck' Buchanan, who turned in 395 signatures. Let's start by making one thing clear: he's not the same Buck Buchanan that used to serve as the Yavapai County Sheriff. This particular, non-sheriff Buck Buchanan was on the Camp Verde Town Council, and resigned in March to run for Supervisor, according to the Journalaz.com. He had served just one year of his four year term. He is running as an Independent.

Scott 'Wild Wes' Lance is next, and owns the Wes Lance Trading Company, a smoke shop in Camp Verde. Lance states that he sells real smoking products, tobacco, pipes and the like, and he sells legal versions of Spice. While he's a proponent of regulating spice products, he does not support an outright ban of these products. Neither did he enter into the agreement with Sheila Polk and the County Attorney's office. He's registered as an Independent, and turned in 332 signatures.

John McReynolds is a Republican from Camp Verde, where he runs a restaurant called Babe's Roundup. He turned in 188 signatures on his petitions.

Martin Pangburn is running from Dewey. He owns a local construction company, and in his spare time, is a singer/songwriter and a keynote speaker. "Martin is a champion of Cooperation, not competiton," states his website. He's a Republican, and turned in 365 signatures.

Incumbent Supervisor Tom Thurman has been in office since 2005; he graduated from Prescott High School. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. You'd run out of fingers and toes if counting how many boards and committees Thurman has been or is a part of. His bio on the County website notes, "When asked why he ran for office his response was, 'because of all the things I have ever volunteered for, this had the ability of doing more good for more folks.'" Thurman is a Republican and turned in 445 signatures.

Supervisor District 3

Supervisor District 3 is a compact district in the northeast corner of Yavapai County. It takes in much of the key Verde Valley communities, including Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome and the Village of Oak Creek.

Population: 43,661

Square Miles: 449

Signatures required: Democrat min: 35 max: 709 | Libertarian min: 1max: 16| Republican min: 45 max: 893 | Independent: 279

Arlo 'Chip' Davis is running as a Republican from Clarkdale. Frankly that doesn't matter a lot in this race, because he's unopposed. Well-liked by his constituents, the county website states, "coined by citizens as 'A man of his word,' has a proven track record of protecting District 3 citizens’ interests." He is running for his fourth term as Yavapai County Supervisor. According to JournalAZ, this will be Davis' last term as Supervisor. He turned in 675 signatures, the most of any supervisorial candidate.

Supervisor District 4

This is the largest district, also sprawling; it takes up the majority of the northwestern half of the county. Much of Williamson Valley is in this district, as is Chino Valley, Paulden and Ashfork. This just might be the most hotly contested race of all the supervisor districts.

Population: 41,491

Square Miles: 2765

Signatures required: Democrat min: 22 max: 449 | Libertarian min: 1max: 18| Republican min: 66 max: 1316 | Independent: 242

This is William Blankemeier's initial entrance into politics, currently he's employed at the Yavapai County Health Department inspecting restaurants, grocery stores, schools and other businesses that serve food to the public. He is running as a Republican, and is throwing the gauntlet down, stating on his website, "will emphasize on each individual town’s needs, not Prescott’s 'leftovers.'" Bill turned in 394 signatures.

Craig Brown is also running in District 4 as a Republican. He is a former Green Beret and then served with the Santa Monica Police Department before injuries forced his early retirement. After that he worked at the LA County Probation Department as a Director. He has degrees in the Administration of Justice and Public Administration. Brown is the current President of the Williamson Valley Community Organization, and is a member of a wide variety of organizations. Brown gathered petition 499 signatures.

Walter Burcham, (a second website) Republican, really likes to organize events. Non-profit running events, to be clear, and he helps raise money for their cause. He is an employee of Yavapai County as a Programmer/Analyst, and also for Yavapai College in the Information Technology departments. He's served on several Yavapai County boards, including Adjustment & Appeals; Planning and Zoning; Trails Committee and the Comprehensive Plan Update. "I have been involved iwth Yavpaai County for ovedr 2 decades. I listen, I get it, and I will work hard for Yavapai County," Burcham writes on his website. He turned in 233 signatures.

Richard 'Dick' Busby hails from Paulden, a Republican. He's a graduate of Prescott High School and served in the United States Air Force. He's worked in construction, and owned a general contracting business. He finally ended up working as a building inspector in a variety of communities. For the last 40 years, Busby has been involved in the World's Oldest Rodeo. Busby turned in 335 signatures.

Lynn Duke is another Republican from Paulden, a 43-year resident in Yavapai County, with 23 years of government, operational experience. She has worked for over 14 years with capital project budget development and management of multi-million dollar budgets. She promises to work to protect the rural lifestyle and quality of life. She turned in 310 signatures.

Gary Warren is the final Republican to qualify in this district. He has served as a Chino Valley Police Officer, a DPS Highway Patrolman, and now owns a private business, Warren's Hay-N-More. The first item on his priority list is roads, followed by water. He promises to make a full time commitment to the citizens of Yavapai County if elected. Warren handed in 291 signatures.

Supervisor District 5

This is kind of an 'f' shaped district, completely surrounded by all the other districts, snaking from Prescott Valley, across to Diamond Valley, through Groom Creek and into Potato Patch. It's the smallest in square mileage, but the second largest in population.

Population: 42,385

Square Miles: 129

Signatures required: Democrat min: 22 max: 444 | Libertarian min: 1max: 16| Republican min: 50 max: 1009 | Independent: 230

First on the list of candidates for District 5 is Jack Smith. Smith grew up in Southern California, graduating from Granite Hills High School, after which he joined the Army, serving as a military policeman in Korea. He's been working at Ace Hardware since 2007, and routs trucks for over 300 stores in 5 different states. He is a member of the Prescott Valley Planning and Zoning Commission, and is also working on the Vision 2025 General Plan for Prescott Valley. Smith says he is a conservative Republican, and turned in 139 signatures.

Jeffrey Tomb is another Republican in Prescott Valley, having lived there for 34 years. He has been a Precinct Committee member for 16 years. He owns the company T-Shirt Antics. "I believe that we cannot take the country back if we do not get involved with local government," Tomb says on his website. Tomb turned in 251 signatures.

Bill Williams has the distinction of being the only Democrat in Yavapai County to qualify for the 2012 elections. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to find information about his candidacy - he doesn't appear to have a website or a Facebook page, and he's not discussed on the Democratic Party local website. Nonetheless, he turned in 33 signatures to support his candidacy.

Harold Wise is a former Prescott Valley Town Councilman, serving for several years; he also served on the Prescott City Council before that. Wise describes himself as a Conservative Republican with a, "lifetime of experience that I can call upon when needed for all the varied issues that a County Supervisor has to deal with." Wise turned in 95 signatures.