BISBEE — With 28 candidates running for 11 Cochise County offices, Tom Schelling’s election office has been busy the past few days as candidates returned required documentation to meet Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline.
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The next documentation he will check over will be the candidates finance records that cover Jan. 1 through June 30, which will be due by 5 p.m. on June 30.
Here are the area county candidates and information about their backgrounds.
Board of Supervisors District 2
Democratic candidate Ann English, 66, has been married to her husband, Pat, for 43 years. They have three adult children and three grandchildren. She holds a master’s in education leadership from Northern Arizona University and a bachelor of science degree from New Mexico State University. She has worked as a teacher, vocational director and school superintendent.
English has lived in Cochise County for 44 years and from 1985 to 1992 she served as an elected member of the board of supervisors. She was also appointed to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission by former Gov. Rose Mofford.
Her goals, if elected, are be a liaison between the people in her district and county government regulations and processes.
“I want my constituents to know they can always call me and I will help them try to solve their county government problems. It is a big responsibility to be a taxing authority and I want to make sure we, the residents, are getting full value for our tax dollars and that growth in county government is carefully controlled and monitored. I want to work with the other elected officials and the county administrator to make efficiency and productivity a priority. I want to make sure our employees are paid appropriately for their responsibilities,” she said.
Matthew Allen “Matt” Cook is a 62-year-old, non-partisan candidate who has been married for 10 years to his wife Ginger. Though he has no children of his own, Ginger’s daughter has graced them with twin grandchildren. He moved to Bisbee in 1993 and currently works for the county as a registered sanitarian and environmental specialist for the southeastern corner of Cochise County. He served with the U.S. Army in Korea during the Vietnam War. He holds a bachelor of science degree and did some graduate work at MIT. He also holds a master’s of education in instructional media.
He has worked for the county for 14 years and has seen the issues employees and the public face.
“I want to see justice for people who work for the county and for the residents. I will offer transparency in government so the citizens know what’s coming and can talk to me about before I vote. I understand how people feel the county government is non-responsive. I want to change that,” he said.
Joe Green, a McNeal Democrat, is a divorced 61-year-old with three grown children and three grandchildren. He has lived in the county for six years. He is retired from the real estate profession as an appraiser. Work for him began as a farm laborer at the age of 12 and he continued in agriculture for a number of years. As he entered the business world, he worked in oil production and nuclear power serving as a union shop steward. During his many years in California, he was appointed to the Kern County Wildlife Resource Commission, was a Greenpeace activist and member, and served on a Kern County community outreach development committee.
He is a high school graduate and took college level course.
If elected, he wants to bring jobs to the county in areas where industry would be welcome. Water conservation is a concern, and he would like to see agriculture decline to save water. To help county employees, he would work to form an employees association or allow them to join a labor union. He believes county employees need to have their grievances aired with a union representative rather than with department heads and the county administrator. He also would strive for changes in job classification and eliminate Hispanic racial discrimination that he says occurs frequently in the county when it comes to promotions.
On the ballot, he wants his name to appear as Joe Green (Jose Verde).
Harvey Allen, 64, has lived most of his life in the county. He and his wife, Sandra, have been married for 42 years and together have had three children who have given them five grandchildren. Allen is a graduate of Valley Union High School in Elfrida and attended college at Eastern Arizona Junior College and Cochise College to study agriculture. For the past 33 years, he has owned and operated Allen’s Well Service. He also worked in the Arizona Highway Engineering Department and for the Cochise County engineer.
His community service includes working with the 4-H Club, serving on the school board of Valley Union High School and being appointed to Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative’s board.
The goals of this Republican candidate, if elected, are to “preserve what property rights we have left” and work on water conservation so that people and agriculture can exists side-by-side. Then there’s the border that he would work to secure.
“I’d like to cut taxes, too,” he said.
He’s realized that until he gets into office, he won’t know the full scope of county problems, though he did believe the county departments were too heavily staffed.
“I don’t see a need for so many people,” Allen added.
Charles Flanagan, 54, has been happily married for 34 years. He is currently the director of the Correctional Education Division, as well as the program co-chair, Administration of Justice Studies for Cochise Community College, serving Cochise and Santa Cruz counties. He earned a degree in English language and literature from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he finished up the last of his 14 years as a professional classical dancer in the U.S. and Europe. He is also a certified public manager through the CPM Consortium and Arizona State University.
Flanagan retired with more than 20 years of correctional experience from the Arizona Department of Corrections. He began his career as a correctional officer, and rose through the security ranks to administration, working at four large prison complexes in all custody settings, ultimately serving as Warden for seven years at two of those prisons. One of those complexes was named Large Business of the Year twice during his tenure by the Community Economic Forum.
In his final two-plus years with ADC, he served as an assistant division director and Work Force Development Bureau administrator, with the responsibility to manage all of the Academic Education, the Arizona Correctional Industries and contracts with seven Community Colleges providing work-based education programming at all 10 ADC prisons and the Arizona Correctional Industries.
Flanagan is a past member of Kiwanis, past president of Douglas Lions, past board member of Habitat for Humanity in Tucson, past member of Arizona statewide MADD Board, past member of the Community Reintegration Coalition, current board member of the Cochise Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Arizona Community Foundation, as well as other local organizations.
“I can make a difference by focusing on our future. There is success in reaching across party lines and finding common-sense solutions. I am committed to make a difference and serve others,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan is a long-term resident of Double Adobe and said he was asked by many involved people throughout the county to run for this office and restore effective representation of the community.
County Sheriff
Three men have filed paperwork for the county sheriff race: Norman “Norm” K. Bradley, Bill Cloud and Larry Dever.
Bradley, 65, a Democrat, is currently under contract for consulting with law enforcement/Homeland Security and intelligence. He attended Mesa Community College and did correspondence courses with the University of Maryland for the equivalent of two years.
Cloud, 39, a Republican, is a former state police detective. He resigned from his position to run for sheriff. He has completed some college, as well as numerous police supervision and management training courses.
Dever, 56, a Republican, is the current Cochise County sheriff. He has served 12 years as sheriff and 20 years as a deputy sheriff. He attended University of Arizona, Brigham Young University and San Diego State University.
His emphasis was on English and criminal justice.
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