The Daily Agenda: "Light bulb went on" for McLean after abortion ruling

Democrat John McLean is trying to unseat Sen. Justine Wadsack in LD17 ... He says there's a clear contrast for voters ... How to name a jaguar.

John McLean’s plan to win the state Senate seat in Legislative District 17 is straightforward: “Focus on the issues, as opposed to personalities.”

He’s the only Democrat in the race, so the personalities he’s up against belong to incumbent Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Republican who built her reputation by embracing controversy, and former state Sen. Vince Leach, who lost to Wadsack in the 2022 Republican primary.

Right now, all three state legislators in LD17 are Republicans. But several Democratic statewide candidates won the district in 2022, and Democrats are looking at the LD17 Senate seat as one of just a handful in the state they can flip. If they do, it could change the balance of power in the Senate, where Republicans maintain a razor-thin majority.

McLean checked in with the Tucson Agenda last week to talk about why he’s running, the issues that are most important to him and why voters should choose him over Wadsack or Leach.

The map of Legislative District 17.

Why he’s running

McLean grew up in Phoenix and attended public schools there. He went on to get a degree in math and engineering at the University of Arizona. He started his career in California and then came back to Tucson when he and his wife decided to start a family in 1990. They’ve lived in the Tanque Verde Valley ever since.

He was a longtime executive at Arete Associates, a defense and aerospace company that he says generated $1 billion of economic activity in Southern Arizona. He’s proud of the fact that when he was CEO, the company transitioned from founder-owned to 100% employee-owned.

McLean retired about 10 years ago and turned his attention to volunteering with abused dogs at the Pima Animal Care Center, while also working on conservation of public lands and philanthropy.

But during his retirement he grew concerned about the direction of state politics.

“I got increasingly perturbed — would be the polite word — about what was going on in the Arizona state Legislature,” he said.

Then the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. A “light bulb went on” when he realized issues like abortion would be decided at the state level.

He saw an opportunity this electoral cycle to “bring some more sensible, decent people into the Legislature and pass some sensible legislation.” He reached out to Democratic leadership in LD17 last fall and when their candidate for the Senate seat dropped out in January, McLean decided it was time to run for the Legislature.

Abortion access

The overturning of Roe v. Wade led to “big, big issues,” he said, not least of which is that many pregnancies end with miscarriages. But under Arizona’s 1864 ban, the normal medical procedures that follow a miscarriage, as well as abortion access in general, would be outlawed.

In his view, the Arizona Abortion Access ballot initiative, which could go to voters this year, has the “right wording.” Fetal viability makes more sense than “some specific number of weeks” of a pregnancy, and it also takes into account the health of the mother.

Water regulation

Water management is another big issue for McLean. He sees two main problems: the overuse of the Colorado River and the lack of groundwater regulation.

The river water was over-allocated from the start and now the states that depend on it have to rethink their policies, which likely will mean Arizona loses some of its share.

As for groundwater, the 1980 Groundwater Management Act was “brilliant” and set up some areas of the state for healthy long-term water use. But other areas are struggling.

“Tucson’s water future I think is being well managed. You go down to Cochise County, it’s a completely different story.”

Corporations like Riverview Dairy pumped so much water in Cochise County that neighboring wells went dry. McLean says the Legislature should regulate water pumping on private land, like in Cochise County, as well as on state trust land, where companies like Fondomonte pumped huge amounts of water.

Education

McLean pointed to Arizona consistently ranking near the bottom in terms of state funding for education. He’d raise teacher pay, hire more teachers to shrink class sizes, and fund maintenance and capital improvements at schools, which he says have been “neglected” for a long time.

As for issues like book bans or which bathrooms students should use, he said Arizona already has a state board of education and local school boards to make those decisions.

“The Legislature should just get out of the way,” he said.

He doesn’t have a problem with a limited school voucher program for students with special needs or who go to struggling schools, but he’s “horrified” at the lack of academic standards and financial oversight in the universal voucher program.

Plus, it appears most vouchers go to high-income areas, just like the benefits of the state’s flat income tax rate. And both are big reasons why the state is facing a budget deficit, he said.

That deficit is also top of mind for him. The state should review all its revenue sources, such as those from state trust land, and scrutinize all its expenses, including renovating the Prescott Rodeo Grounds.

“I love rodeos, don’t get me wrong. But why should state taxpayer dollars go to fund projects like that?”

Clear contrasts

He’s still researching Leach’s positions, but McLean says he sees a clear contrast between his own positions and those of Wadsack.

When it comes to reproductive rights, “you couldn’t have more polar opposites,” he said. Wadsack supported the 1864 abortion ban; McLean supports the Arizona Abortion Access ballot initiative.

They also differ on school funding. When the aggregate expenditure limit for schools came up last year, school officials were worried they would have to close down in the middle of the school year if the Legislature didn’t lift the spending cap. Wadsack “voted against that all the way.”

“She was very comfortable shutting down all the public schools in Arizona to make a political statement,” he said. “Whereas, I would do everything I can to support our public schools.”

McLean also brought up a Republican bill from last year that would have punished a homeowner for suing agricultural companies that drained the water table so much the homeowner’s well went dry. Republican legislators wanted to take away a homeowner’s “last line of defense,” something he says he’d never do.

We’re looking forward to interviewing more candidates in LD17, as well as those running for county offices. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription so we can keep at it.

Abortion delay: The Arizona Supreme Court issued a ruling Monday that bars the state from enforcing the 1864 abortion ban until Aug. 12, after Attorney General Kris Mayes argued for the delay to give her time to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Arizona Republic’s Stacey Barchenger reports. State lawmakers recently repealed the ban, but new state laws don’t take effect until 90 days after the legislative session.

Clouded vision: The Regional Transportation Authority board has a “clouded” vision for transportation, Rachel Wilson, a former member of the RTA’s Citizen Advisory Committee, writes in an op-ed in the Tucson Sentinel. If the smaller towns like Oro Valley and Marana don’t adopt a regional vision, such as recognizing that they need more roads while Tucson needs more road maintenance, the RTA model will “fail to achieve consensus and that will be a good thing.”

Time for a deep dive: The rising cost of rent in Arizona is on a lot of people’s minds these days. Arizona Public Media’s Zac Ziegler and Christopher Conover go down the rabbit hole with housing experts, renters who’ve seen prices skyrocket, and the corporations that use complicated mathematical models to run the whole thing.

Speak out: If you want to reach millions of Arizona voters, the time to make your voice heard is approaching. State officials are preparing for public comments on ballot pamphlets for the November elections, which cover immigration, abortion, and other issues, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reports. You can submit a 300-word argument, at a cost of $75, from May 20 to June 20.

Jaguar Protector: The new jaguar that was spotted roaming Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora now has a name, O:ṣhad Ñu:kudam, or “Jaguar Protector.” The Arizona Luminaria’s John Washington shows how students from public schools on the Tohono O’odham Nation, as well as elders and people with Pascua Yaqui and Diné heritage picked the name. 

“O:ṣhad Ñu:kudam’s presence serves as a powerful testament to the resilience of nature and the importance of ongoing conservation efforts,” Austin Nunez, chairman of the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham, said. “We are committed to working to ensure a safe and thriving future for O:ṣhad and, one day, hope to see the return of a breeding population of jaguars to this region.”

Going to the candidates’ debate: Debate season is off and running. The Tucson Sentinel gives a rundown of what’s coming up in a series of debates put on by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and the Arizona Media Association. There are a lot of them, so voters should have ample opportunity to get to know the candidates for local, state, and federal offices. The debates will be recorded and available on the Cleans Elections website and elsewhere.

$32,000: The amount of money McLean raised for his campaign from when he entered the race in February until the end of March, including $15,000 he loaned to his campaign.