Guest writer Chris King, M.Ed, MSgt, USAF Retired, is a combat veteran and candidate for Arizona Senate in Legislative District 17.
Like a lot of Arizonans, I am a transplant. I came to Tucson a little over 24 years ago as a member of the United States Air Force to serve at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. From the first moment I laid eyes on our community, I fell in love with it.
I’ve been here long enough to remember what it was like when the Tucson Police and Pima County Sheriff’s departments were fully staffed. Tucson was a large, small town with safe streets and highly respected public safety professionals. We need to get back to that, and that’s why I’m running for the Arizona senate in legislative district 17.
I am not a career politician; I am a combat veteran who was sent here by the Air Force. But that doesn’t diminish my love for southern Arizona and all that it has to offer. That love is why I have made Tucson my forever home. My wife, children, and grandchildren are here and, like all of us, they deserve to live in safe community To ensure that, we need to make sure the men and women who protect our community have the manpower, tools, equipment, training, and resources they need to keep everyone safe and to make it home at night.
Unfortunately, due to misguided spending decisions, budget cuts, and crime friendly policies at the city and county levels, the public is in more danger now than ever before. Our law enforcement officers are demonized, defunded, and dehumanized by politicians more interested in scoring political points with their left-wing supporters than on keeping our community and the men and women of law enforcement safe.
I see things differently. I believe that every elected official has a solemn obligation to stand with our police and ensure they have the resources they need to do their jobs safely and well. As the next senator for legislative district 17 that’s exactly what I will do.
In the Arizona State Senate, I will fight for: Full Funding for Law Enforcement: I will push for budgets that fully staff and equip state and local law enforcement agencies without raising taxes on the taxpayer. Border Security: I will push for increased resources to combat fentanyl and human trafficking within our state. Criminal Sentencing Reform: Arizona has plenty of laws on the books and they need to be enforced not disregarded. I will seek sentence enhancements and increased mandatory minimum sentences for those laws previously passed to ensure criminals aren’t permitted to reoffend before paying their debt to society. Criminals should not be walking out of jail before the arresting officer is finished with the associated paperwork and reports.
These aren’t just campaign promises for me, they’re personal. I have ridden along with police officers and sheriff’s deputies, and they have told me of the struggles they face. My wife and I have driven the roads of our district and have personally witnessed the criminality of open-air drug use, vandalism, and prostitution. We must allow our public safety professionals to enforce the law, not hamstring them. These men and women are our neighbors, friends, brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers, we cannot treat them as the enemy for simply doing a job that is vital to all of us.
As your next senator, I will fight for legislation and policies that ensure our public safety professionals are fully funded. As a state, we need to ensure the men and women who swear an oath to support and defend the constitutions of the United States and Arizona are supported by those of us they swear to protect. As someone who has taken the same oath, I will state unequivocally that it doesn’t have an expiration date, and I stand by it today.
Please join me in this fight in standing with our brothers and sisters in Backing the Blue. Arizona and LD 17 deserve to live in safety. Visit ChrisKingForAZ.com to learn more about our campaign and donate for a proven fighter to be your next senator. Let’s keep Arizona free and safe for all of us.
Chris King, M.Ed, MSgt, USAF Retired is a candidate for AZ LD 17 Senate. ChrisKingForAZ.com Chris@ChrisKingForAZ.com
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