George Cunningham (Democrat, Clean Elections Candidate, 2 Year Seat, http://www.cunningham2002.com/)
(about George Cunningham...)

I agree with the observation that access to advanced telecommunications services has not occurred uniformly among Arizona's social, cultural, geographic and economic groups. I also agree that efforts should be made to reduce those disparities.

In terms of which areas of disparity should be focused on first, I believe that those relating to geographic and economic disparity provide the greatest opportunity and fewest obstacles to overcome. In order words, telephone service should be available to all who ant it.

I think the following programs should be undertaken to assist in bridging the Digital Divide:

• Inform, educate and assist consumers in taking advantage of federal and
• state programs that exist to help low-income individuals gain access to telecommunications services. The FCC Universal Service Programs, for example, support low-income, high-cost areas, schools and libraries, and rural health care.
• Use the fines and penalties collected from Qwest and other providers for
• missed performance standards to fund Universal Service programs in Arizona.
• Re-write Arizona's Universal Service rules to streamline the process under which high-cost area providers may apply for Universal Service funding.
• Encourage the deployment of the telecommunications infrastructure by removing regulatory barriers, streamlining the regulatory process for competitive services and further encouraging competition.
• Enforce terms and conditions of Interconnection Agreements between incumbent carriers and competitors who must purchase wholesale service components from the incumbents. This will facilitate competition for providing basic as well as optional service.
• Coordinate with, and assist other state and local government agencies in advancing programs to bring wireline and wireless telecommunications services to rural and insular areas of the state.

Mike (Lowell) Gleason (Republican, Clean Elections Candidate, 2 Year Seat)
(about Mike (Lowell) Gleason...)

A diversity of the availability of many services exists among almost any group of people. The purpose of the ACC is to make services available not to cause their economical distribution. Policy initiatives by the legislature and rate setting by the ACC can encourage services such as e-learning.

Jeff Hatch-Miller (Republican, Clean Elections Candidate, 2 Year Seat, http://www.hatch-miller.org/)
(about Jeff Hatch-Miller...)

Electric service became available first in the capitals of government and finance. Radio and television broadcasts began in our larger cities and only years later became common in rural communities. In terms of technological innovation there is always an evolution that begins in the most economically vibrant areas and expands over time to rural and economically challenged areas. An example is the lack of cutting edge telecommunication infrastructure outside Maricopa and Pima Counties. The primary reason for this pattern is availability of capital for infrastructure investment. This pattern of evolution will be similar for current technological advances though the pace of buildout will likely be quicker than the historical norm.

The Commission, in cooperation with other state leaders, must first determine for Arizona a base level of service and then work to secure capable providers of this base level for all areas of the state where deficiencies occur. Priority should be assigned based on level of deficiency weighted by population density.

Jim Irvin (Republican, Clean Elections Candidate, 4 Year Seat, http://www.jimirvin.org/)
(about Jim Irvin...)

I agree that a disparity exists in the availability and quality advanced telecommunications services among various social, cultural, geographic and economic groups. I also believe that this disparity should be reduced as much as practicable so that as many Arizonans as possible can enjoy the benefits of the vast array of advanced telecommunications services currently available. Although these disparities exists on many different levels, I believe that the rural communities have the greatest level of disparity and we should strive to bring enhanced broadband services to those areas as soon as possible.

During my 6 years as Commissioner, I have taken many steps to help bridge the "digital divide". In particular, I voted in favor of ordering Qwest to invest over $800 million in infrastructure in Arizona as well as the wholesale price docket which reduced the cost of accessing the ILEC's infrastructure by CLECs who provide service to consumers, including advanced services. Continued emphasis on capital investments in our rural and semi-rural areas by the industry will remain one of the important issues I will focus on while on the Commission.

Roland James (Democrat, Clean Elections Candidate, 2 Year Seat, http://www.rolandjames.org/)
(about Roland James...)

(a) Yes. Because I believe in basic justice. In the last 20 years especially, the gap between rich and poor has increased in both the U.S. and in the world. The U.S. has the greatest gap between rich and poor of the industrial democracies. On the other hand, Norway, which has the highest standard of living in the world, is much more egalitarian than the U.S.; the political debate in Norway is usually about morality—not individual morality, but how Norway can be more just and sustainable for themselves, for their neighbors on the planet, and for future generations. As a result, Norwegians pay $6 per gallon for gasoline, even though Norway has a glut of oil from the North Sea. Norway has much less social dysfunction than the U.S.—1/10th the per capita number of people in prison, for example. Norway follows the Alpine model of capitalism ("Capitalism vs. Capitalism" by Michel Albert). The U.S. follows Neoliberalism.

In the 1970s Milton Friedman and fellow economists developed free-market ideas based on deregulation and privatization that went back to the laissez-faire capitalism of the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. This has become the orthodoxy of the U.S. and of globalization. In the 1980s corporate America mobilized to gain control of the political agenda. Thatcher and Reagan, using Friedmanite/"Chicago School" ideas, moved to deregulate, privatize, and put corporate rights at the pinnacle. They dismantled the social contract through tax cuts, cuts in regulatory spending, ignoring unemployment, rolling back social welfare and increasing deregulation/privatization. Enron, Worldcom and others now show that markets need boundaries and regulation.

(b) You gotta be kidding. There is little political will to eliminate these disparities in the U.S., and antipathy to eliminating these disparities in Arizona.

(c) I'm not sure beyond the Universal Service Fund. I'm open to suggestions. In the 1990s the federal government wanted to bring the benefits of telecommunications to schools and set up a discounted phone rate for Internet connection, based on the poverty level of the school's area. There was little discussion of the merits of Internet use for elementary school children, especially in relation to other learning. Shouldn't reading books should have priority over the Internet for elementary students? Will elementary schools continue to cut music, art, and physical education because of financial constraints, but accept discounted Internet service that has been hyped as necessary for even elementary school students.

Corporations have a legal obligation to realize profit to their shareholders. It's the responsibility of regulators to ensure that in that in that process the poor are still being served and looked after. In Bolivia in the last few years, for example, the price of water doubled almost overnight as unregulated Bechtal Corporation provided water service; a quarter of an average Bolivian's salary was spent on water. There's not anything necessarily wrong with private companies providingthese public utility functions. It's just that when we have weak or no regulation, no competition, and you leave it to companies—the bottom part of an unequal society will be the losers.

(d) Again, I'm open to suggestions. Telecomm infrastructure development is less a priority than water availability. Water is more "local" than other utilities, and often there is not water available at a reasonable price, especially in rural Arizona. The federal government has helped build a "Cadillac Desert" in parts of Arizona, where golf courses are sometimes able to buy water for 1/10 the price that rural people in water-short areas have to pay for water needed to live. There is a Universal Service Fund for equalizing such inequities in telephone service; there needs to be state legislation that establishes such a fund for water. In light of the drought and global climate change, which the Bush administration now says "very likely" means the "disruption of snow-fed water supplies, more stifling heat waves and the permanent disappearance of Rocky Mountain meadows...," we also must move away from the production and use of energy from fossil fuels. Water availability is very much tied to energy production and use.

James Walsh (Democrat, Clean Elections Candidate, 4 Year Seat, http://www.jamespwalsh.com/)
(about James Walsh...)

Providing cutting-edge technologies usually involves considerable infrastructure costs, which is why rural communities gain access last - fewer customers to pay for overhead and other expenses. This status quo is unacceptable; we must seek to extend critical technologies to rural communities for the sake of our consumers and the health of our economy.

First, I want to establish a capacity either at the Corporation Commission or elsewhere to promote the development of rural-based telecommunication cooperatives to bring in locally based service providers to offer Internet access without long distance connect charges where the incumbent utilities are unwilling or unable to invest.

Second, Qwest, the dominant telecommunications provider in most of Arizona, is not serving rural Arizona adequately. At the same time, Qwest is seeking to be a long distance phone service provider. The Commission should review Qwest's record in providing reasonably priced telecommunications services, including connections, in rural Arizona before it grants long distance provider status to the company. The Commission should use its regulatory power to ensure that Arizona's diverse population, including rural and tribal communities, is receiving basic service.

When these measures are not effective, public programs like the Universal Service Fund should be enhanced.