John Huppenthal

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John Huppenthal

Arizona
In office 2005

Born	March 03, 1954 Michigan City, IN
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jennifer
Religion	Roman Catholic

John Huppenthal is a Republican State Senator in the Arizona Legislature. He represents District 20, an urban district in the Phoenix area that includes Ahwatukee, west and central Chandler and South Tempe. His political career includes serving as City Councilman and State Representative, in addition to his current job as State Senator.^[1]

1 Personal
2 Political
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Personal

Huppenthal was born in Michigan City, Indiana. He moved to Arizona in 1953. He graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson. He earned a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Arizona University. He then obtained a Masters of Business Administration from Arizona State University. Huppenthal is also a Senior Planning Analyst for Salt River Project. His children attend Ball Charter School where he is chairman of the board. He attends Saint Timothy’s Church. He volunteers for Saint Timothy’s Angel’s where they remodel homes for the benefit of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, build wheel chair ramps for the home bound elderly and repair homes for families in need. ^[2]

He currently resides in Chandler with his wife, Jennifer, his two daughters and two dogs.

[edit] Political

[edit] Chandler City Council (1984-1992)

Huppenthal was elected to the Chandler City Council in 1984. He served two four-year terms as City Councilman. As a City Council member, Huppenthal quickly developed a reputation for outstanding constituent service.^[2] While on the City Council, Chandler grew from 35,000 residents to over 100,000. In 1984, 13% of Chandler citizens rated Chandler city government as excellent. By February 2006, that rating had risen to 47% (Chandler Public Relations), the highest excellence rating of any city of 50,000 residents or larger in Arizona ^[3].

[edit] Arizona State Senate (1992-2000)

Huppenthal was first elected State Senator in 1992. In the primary election and his first legislative race, Huppenthal faced two opponents. One was Jerry Brooks, a former Mayor of Chandler and the other was Don Goldwater, the nephew of Barry Goldwater. Huppenthal won with nearly 50% of the vote in a three-way race.^[4]Huppenthal faced no serious election challenges for nearly a decade after that. As a state senator from District 6, he was chairman of the Senate Education Committee. ^[2]

[edit] Arizona House of Representatives (2000-2004)

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In 2000, Huppenthal was elected State Representative, serving from 2000 to 2004.^[5]

[edit] Arizona State Senate (2005-Present)

In 2004, Huppenthal announced he would seek to regain his State Senate seat. Huppenthal was supported by U.S. Senator John McCain, who issued a statement praising Huppenthal as a "straight shooter" and a "friend of the taxpayer".^[6] Huppenthal won by a 60% to 40% margin. ^[7]

In 2005, an effort to recall John Huppenthal was launched but failed to obtain enough signatures to make it to the ballot^[8]. The recall effort claimed he was out-of-touch with District 20 voters. ^[9]

Huppenthal has sponsored numerous pieces of legislation in his legislative career. ^[10]

[edit] Criticism

The most clear statement of criticism of John Huppenthal's actions in office would be the text of the failed recall petition;

State Senator John Huppenthal is out-of-touch with District 20 voters. He has consistently shown contempt and disregard for the best interests of District 20 residents, boldly supporting special interest legislation and demonstrating a blatant disregard for parents and children in the District. This disregard includes, but is not limited to: failing to support adequate funding for Kyrene and other public schools; voting against additional funding for full-day kindergarten; voting to allow patrons to carry guns into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol; voting to cut approximately $22 million from Community Colleges; voting to cut healthy family programs and child abuse prevention; voting to cut 100's of millions of dollars from cities used for vital services, such as police, fire and other public safety issues; voting to put cities in a position where they would have no choice but to impose an income tax on citizens to continue vital city services. These are just a few examples of John Huppenthal's actions misrepresenting the priorities of District 20 residents. It is time to hold John Huppenthal accountable for his actions and replace him with someone who supports our public schools, our families and our children.^[9]