Ann Kirkpatrick - for Arizona

Kirkpatrick’s visit to Apache County was ‘like coming home’

St. Johns - Ann Kirkpatrick said her visit to Apache County July 1 was like coming home. Kirkpatrick was born in McNary and raised in Whiteriver where her mother was a school teacher and her father ran the general store.

Kirkpatrick attended a recent Board of Supervisors meeting while on her campaign trail through Apache County. The last time she remembers being in St. Johns was when she attended Blue Ridge High School and her debate team traveled to St. Johns for a competition.

"Unfortunately, St. Johns won," she said.

Kirkpatrick, a Democrat, is hoping to win her bid to represent Arizona's First Congressional District (CD1) in Washington, D.C.

Supervisor David Brown introduced Ann Kirkpatrick as someone who has long been a friend of his.

"Ann is a former state legislator who was elected to the House of Representatives and represented Apache County for several years and did a great job," Brown said.

After graduating from Blue Ridge High School, she earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and later a law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law. Kirkpatrick admits her political ambitions "came out of the blue."

"I had worked on some campaigns a little bit," Kirkpatrick said. "My uncle, who had the Bourden Ranch, served in the State Legislature and my dad was on the Blue Ridge High School Board. I had helped with their elections, going door to door, so politics was in the family. I always had an interest, but I never thought of myself as a candidate."

Kirkpatrick became Coconino County's first female deputy county attorney in 1980 and later moved to civil litigation while raising her two daughters. While practicing in Flagstaff, acquaintances approached her in 2004 and asked her to consider running for the State Legislature. After the shock wore off, she spent about a month trying to find someone else to run before finally agreeing to put her hat in the ring.

"I found out that I really enjoy going door to door and talking to people. I enjoyed being out on the Navajo Nation for all the Chapter House meetings and the parades, and I was elected," Kirkpatrick said. "After that, I really enjoyed the work."

She said Jake Flake and Jack Brown both took her under their wings during her early days in the State House. "I really learned from two of the finest, best legislators Arizona has ever known."

In the House of Representatives, Kirkpatrick represented Legislative District 2 which includes Flagstaff and the Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo and San Juan Southern Piute nations.

Once she decided to run for Congress, Kirkpatrick knew she had to get an early start on her campaign. "I realize that this is a good district for me because of my family roots here. It's also a huge district. It's the size of the State of Illinois and it's all small towns," Kirkpatrick said. "To be out and about in every small town I had to get started early."

Arizona law required Kirkpatrick to resign her legislative seat before kicking her off her campaign for Congress. She left the House last summer.

Kirkpatrick said the priorities in CD1 are clear. "We need jobs, we need health care and we need good schools." She said health care was the number one issue that people brought to her when she was serving in the Legislature. Just last year she worked on a bill to expand the duties of nurse practitioners whom she feels deliver most of the health care in rural Arizona. She said the health care needs are at a very basic level.

"We don't have doctors, we don't have nurses. If we have a clinic, we don't have enough people locally trained to staff the clinics. So at a very basic level, we've got to address those problems."

She said she will also work with the government to require negotiation for lower prescription costs for Medicare, much like they do for veterans.

"That's part of my platform," she said. "I want something that we're going to do quickly that's going to make a big difference. They can do that, they already do it for the veterans."

She was in Washington D.C., just prior to her visit to Apache County and many people she talked to were shocked to learn of some of the conditions in northeast Arizona.

"One third of the Navajo Nation doesn't have electricity or running water. They had no idea that we don't have consistent phone coverage, that we have communities that get stranded if we have a big snow or heavy rains."

Kirkpatrick said she will continue the work she began in the Legislature to get communication improvements throughout rural Arizona but much of it will need to be done on a federal level.

"That's one of the reasons I'm running for Congress," Kirkpatrick said. "My vision is that we will have a continuous cell phone, broadband coverage throughout CD1."

She strongly believes that improving telecommunications across rural Arizona is vital to attracting lucrative businesses and much needed jobs to the area.

As a former prosecutor, Kirkpatrick said she was often called upon to represent children and victims of methamphetamine abuse. Well aware of the drug problems in Apache County, she plans to put the fight against illegal drugs at the top of her priority list and continue to approve and funnel federal moneys into rural Arizona to further the fight.

Kirkpatrick says she just opened campaign offices in Prescott and Casa Grande and plans to open an office in the White Mountains soon. She has hired a coordinator to meet with and focus on the needs of the 11 tribes in CD1. She said the tribal needs are exactly the same needs - jobs, health care and schools.

According to a recent press release, "Ann wants to make sure every Arizonan has access to a decent education, quality health care and the chance for a better life, because Ann is committed to serving Arizona and changing Washington."