AZ treasurer stops in Yuma

State treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Dean Martin, standing in the place he called his favorite restaurant anywhere on the planet, said if elected he would create new jobs and change the culture of the government.

"We need not to think about our state as the place where you have all these powerful people who tell you what to do. The governor should be a position and a job that serves the community," Martin said. "Our leaders need to remember that they aren't important. The job is what is important, not the person. We have got to change the way people look at government and they way people serve in government."

The first-term treasurer said the problems the state is facing aren't Republican problems or Democrat problems, but math problems, due to the state spending too much money.

"Each of us has to live within our means in our private lives, why shouldn't the government, which lives off all of us? If it had been, we wouldn't be in this budget crisis right now," Martin said. "It is simple. The state cannot spend more than it makes. We can't in our private lives. The government needs to be held to the same standard. As we move forward, the government needs to learn that anybody can do more with more. We have to become better and do more with less."

Martin said he also opposes a temporary one-cent hike in the state's 5.6 percent sales tax to balance the budget until the economy improves.

"When it comes to fiscal matters, we cannot balance the budget by raising taxes. We cannot balance the budget by taking more from the taxpayers we still have left," Martin said. "We don't need to burden those who are already struggling to make ends meet."

In addition to reducing government spending to match current revenue streams, Martin said the state needs to focus on creating new jobs and supporting small businesses.

"Small business is big business in Arizona. The vast majority of employees work for small business," Martin said. "We need to create jobs to bring people here from other parts of the country. That is how we are going to fill the excess homes. That is how we are going to bring in more money."

Martin, 35, officially declared his candidacy for governor Wednesday in Phoenix at an abandoned Motorola plant in East Phoenix.

He made his first campaign stop, aboard his Common Sense bus tour, in Yuma at the Chile Pepper restaurant, located at 1030 W. 24th St.

"My family has been coming here to Yuma for years and I couldn't think of a better place to start off this campaign," Martin said. "When I say my favorite, I'm not kidding. We have an ice chest in the campaign bus that after we are done here we are going to fill up. Because if I don't have Chile Pepper in my freezer, we are going to have to make another trip down.

"Anybody who comes here gets addicted, It should be a controlled substance in many ways," Martin added about the food.

With his announcement, Martin joined an already crowded race for the Republican nomination, which also includes current Gov. Jan Brewer, former Board of Regents President John Munger, Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker and National Rifle Association board member Owen "Buz" Mills.

Whoever wins the nomination will face Attorney General Terry Goddard, who is currently the only Democrat in the race.

Martin said he thought it was wrong for the Legislature to consider a plan to make money by selling off $375 million of state buildings and lease them back for the next 20 years.

"Right now leaders aren't selling the story of the state, they are selling off the state. They are literally selling the state capital and other buildings. That is a mistake," Martin said. "Who wants to make a long term investment in a state that has to rent its own capitol building? That doesn't make a lot of sense. What we need to do is say Arizona is not for sale. We are open for business."

Martin, who also served three terms  in the state Senate, became state treasurer in 2006, saying while fiscally sound now, the office had been in disarray.

"We are now running our office on 51 percent of our 1991 budget," Martin said. "We didn't just survive, we succeeded. And we have done very well."

How well? Martin claims his office has made over $900 million in profit for the state over the past three years facing what he termed has been one of the worst economic cycles since the Great Depression.

Other state agencies can be just as successful, but before that can happen, Martin said the culture of the government must first change.

"We need to end the process of stealing money from other agencies. If the state needs cash it should borrow money just like everyone else and pay an interest rate," Martin said. "That incentivizes the wrong behavior. It tells the agencies that instead of saving money, they need to spend every dollar they have our they will lose it."

Securing the country's border and improving the quality of the state's education Martin said are two more of his priorities.

He said since Arizona is on the front line dealing with illegal immigration issues and drug smuggling, if the federal government will not put the time and energy into securing the border, the state should do it.

"The citizens don't care who does the job. They care that the job gets done," Martin said. "If the federal government doesn't do it, we will do it on the state level."

While he did not talk about any specific plans he had for securing the border, Martin spoke about the possibility of creating specialized units within various state law enforcement agencies and even using military troops.

Martin also said every level of education a needs to be a priority, not just in spending, but in achievement and performance.

He said administrative costs in education are too high and that more money needs to be put into the classroom, and teachers should be paid more.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.