The East Valley's yearly election-season luncheon was supposed to put the Republican candidate for governor on the same stage as the Democratic ticket. Instead, the audience heard from two substitutes, and one of them singled out Queen Creek.
Republican Andy Biggs and Sine Kerr, his running mate and a former state senator, went to a rally with President Donald Trump in Bullhead City rather than attend the PHX East Valley Partnership's Statespersons' Luncheon on Wednesday, Oct. 14, the East Valley Tribune reported Tuesday.
Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart, a former Chandler council member, filled in for Biggs and said he would read from notes to represent the congressman's views accurately. Former Mesa Mayor John Giles, Gov. Katie Hobbs' running mate, spoke for the Democratic ticket.
The two were interviewed one after the other rather than together.
Housing and water
Stewart pointed to state rules that block new subdivisions unless developers can prove a long-term water supply. He said that "when the governor put a moratorium in Buckeye and Queen Creek, that really caused a huge housing shortage," claiming as many as 56,000 homes had been affected. He said Biggs would speed permitting, cut development rules and free up more state trust land for housing.
Stewart also said studies show the Phoenix area could support 15 million people on groundwater for 100 years without recharge, while conceding that such use would draw the supply down.
Giles called housing costs a crisis with no single fix, pointing to interest rates, construction costs and workforce issues, and said Hobbs is preparing more housing proposals without giving details. On water, he described Hobbs as a well-informed advocate in Colorado River talks and called for stronger groundwater laws in rural areas.
