The residents of Phoenix City Council District 4 will vote for their next representative Nov. 5. The election pits Justin Johnson, son of former Phoenix mayor Paul Johnson, against Laura Pastor, daughter of Rep. Ed Pastor.
The first runoff election last month eliminated the other five candidates from the race. In that election, Johnson received nearly 34 percent of the vote and Pastor received slightly over 32 percent.
Johnson and Pastor are vying to succeed incumbent Tom Simplot, who has served as a council member since 2003.
Johnson is a small business owner, and says that experience has allowed him to understand how to balance budgets and create jobs. He was also a member of the Neighborhood Block Watch Grant Oversight and Pension Reform committees.
Jay Thorne, a close friend of Johnson’s and former consultant to Paul Johnson’s 1985 city council campaign, said that Justin Johnson’s honesty and work ethic are his greatest strengths.
Thorne said Johnson is “very receptive to ideas and doesn’t care about whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. He’s just a hard-working, good person to whom values and principles come first.”
Pastor, a lifelong Phoenix resident, said that her experience as an educator will help her better understand the needs of the community. She points to her experience on the Encanto Village, Phoenix Union, Phoenix Day, Maricopa County Transportation Advisory and Phoenix Union High School boards as evidence of her involvement in the community.
“What’s great about my life is that I have informal and formal experiences and I think that the most valuable are the informal experiences,” Pastor said. “I’m just a product of (District 4) and understand it.”
Bettina Nava, one of Pastor’s personal friends and her campaign chair, said that her experience in the community and leadership skills make her the ideal candidate.
“[Pastor] does her best to be a consensus builder… but then when push comes to shove after she does her fact finding, she has great leadership skills in terms of having an opinion and wanting to take action,” Nava said.
For both Johnson and Pastor, the economy, crime, pension spiking and education are the biggest issues facing District 4, which is roughly defined as midtown Phoenix. Both candidates desire to revitalize the midtown area, which was hit particularly hard by the recession in 2009.
Pastor believes that in order for Phoenix to succeed economically, the city needs to rebrand itself as business-friendly. She said the city must look at how companies like Apple use social media and other marketing methods to attract business.
Pastor also said she wants to eliminate tax breaks for “big businesses,” which she defines as businesses that employ over 1,000 employees.
“(Big businesses) know what we offer … so they’re going to come here … because of the regulations and the taxes,” Pastor said.
She said she would rather give incentives to small businesses.
While Johnson, a small-business owner, agrees that the city needs to market itself better, he disagrees with the idea that tax breaks need to end.
“I think my opponent needs to be very careful about taxing businesses in general as this economy gets off the ground,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he also takes issue with the concept of “big business,” which he said is difficult to define.
“The first and most important (step) is making sure that we are cutting some of the red tape down at the city of Phoenix,” Johnson said.
The candidates also disagree on how to deal with the food tax that was enacted in 2010 to address the budget shortfall during the recession.
Johnson said he intends to phase out the food tax as soon as possible.
“Don’t tax your way out of the system; instead, grow your way out of the system,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he believes that since the food tax is far too unstable a revenue stream to be counted on, it should not be kept, especially considering the impact that it has on middle- and lower-income citizens.
Pastor agrees that the food tax must eventually be repealed but says that now is not the time to do it because of the impact it will have on the city’s services.
“I do believe it is a regressive tax, but it’s the services that everybody wants and needs at this moment,” Pastor said.
Expanding emergency services such as police and fire have been a hallmark of Pastor’s campaign, and she said she wants to return to the pre-recession number of officers.
Johnson agrees that the new patrols need to be added but is hesitant to say that the police force must be restored to pre-recession levels. He said that the emphasis should be placed on reducing graffiti.
“I see graffiti as a gateway crime, so cracking down on graffiti is going to be extremely important,” Johnson said.
Another part of Johnson’s crime prevention plan includes utilizing communication technology.
“The way we really work to prevent crime inside our neighborhoods is by getting neighbors involved and enhancing that communication,” Johnson said. “I think that ultimately we need to get more boots on the ground … but to do that we really have to work to stabilize the funding.”
According to Johnson, unfunded pension liabilities have been a large problem in stabilizing funding for the state department. He said the city needs to start allocating specific amounts for every year.
Pastor opted for an optimistic view on the issue.
“I think by the time I get on Council, there will have been a resolution and something done with (pension spiking),” Pastor said.
Contact the reporter at agnel.philip@asu.edu
Editor’s note: Look for the story on District 8 candidates Wednesday.
