On November 2, 2004, Let's Make
Claudia Ellquist Our New County Attorney!

Welcome to the homepage for Ellquist for Pima County Attorney. Here, you can track upcoming events in Claudia's grassroots campaign. You can discover why Claudia is uniquely qualified to bring needed change. You can learn what the issues are and what Claudia will do as your next elected County Attorney. You can join an e-mail list to keep up with the latest information, make donations to the campaign, and sign up as a volunteer. Politics is the way we make change in a democracy, and it cannot be done alone. Your participation is essential to its success.

If you have any questions about the campaign, contact (520) 622-3339 or send e-mail to info@ElectEllquist.org. Thank you!

It's All about the Issues

The County Attorney is the chief manager and supervisor of an office that oversees the prosecution and settlement of criminal cases in Pima County; provides accused indigent persons with legal defense; deals with various civil matters for the county; and, most importantly, sees that justice ultimately prevails. The key to the success of these tasks is how the County Attorney sets priorities and uses the resources that are available. An office that does not effectively prioritize and sets policy contrary to the public interest leads to an ineffectual justice system that serves the public poorly.

Clearly, Pima County needs a new County Attorney.
Vote for change — demand bettersafersmarter policies!

Why You Should Elect Ellquist

No cutting corners on justice. I'll administer justice in this county by being first and foremost a good administrator. Good policy-making and demands for the highest ethical behavior restore faith in our beleaguered system. When prosecutors have incentives to force cases to trial rather than to negotiate a just settlement; when so many capital cases are brought; when prosecutors who break rules are praised not disciplined, the public loses confidence. As an independent manager not tied to the mistakes and policies of the past, I can be the needed change so you can feel safe that justice is paramount.

Costly decisions. Today, the Pima County Attorney's Office goes to trial at 2-3 times the rate of every other county in Arizona, including Maricopa. This office asks for the death penalty more than any county our size in the nation. These are expensive and wasteful practices that take away funds we can put into prevention, early intervention, innovation, and cutting crime before it reaches the front page, before it reaches our homes. A critical first step to freeing up needed resources will be a four-year moratorium on requests for the death penalty, replacing it with life sentences without parole as a smarter, more-efficient substitute, and a review of internal incentives that send us to court too often. We need to prioritize prosecutions, and their costs, to keep in line with what works best, what matters most, so that we all will be safer.

Fairness and protection. The County Attorney's job is not winning cases; it is seeing that justice prevails. My emphasis on fairness, responsibility, restoration, community participation, and community values recognizes that what is right is also what is smart. We can trade resources devoured by the practices I'll discontinue for more resources to put into confronting and ending domestic violence and sexual violence; more juvenile diversion and teen court; more restorative justice options, with accountability and treatment for adults where appropriate. We can make the otherwise excellent Victim Witness program independent of the prosecutor's office to better protect the interests of all victims of crime.

Elections. The County Attorney enforces the election laws and can be a powerful voice for change. Laws need to be changed so that all political views have an equal opportunity to be heard. The system needs to be opened up and the spoiler system ended. Alternative parties should be required to follow reasonable and fair rules, but not be so overly burdened that voters are denied the opportunity to vote for real change and reform. We should honor the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by allowing everyone to have a voice and equal access in the electoral system. As County Attorney, I will fairly enforce the election laws and lobby for reasonable and innovative reforms.

Change is possible. I can make these changes because I am a break from the past. My training is in the law, my experience is in creating tasks forces and institutions, managing people and money, getting things done. I've led the largest successful recall in the state's history. I've been a key player in expanding health care access through two popular ballot measures. I've sat as a commissioner on the powerful Arizona Citizens' Clean Elections Commission, overseeing millions of dollars, writing rules under the Act, administering election law, sitting in judgment of lawbreakers. As president of the Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty, I championed the drive that ended the barbaric practice of executing prisoners with IQs under 70, a change that was a decisive stepping stone to convincing the US Supreme Court to abolish it altogether. I get things done.

Elect Ellquist, an independent voice for progressive change!

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