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Two years ago, a slate of five tea-party candidates ran for the non-partisan, 15-member Central Arizona Water Conservation District board with the aim of promoting limited government. Two won: Cynthia Moulton and Mark Lewis.
They added to a push by conservatives begun in 2008 to add more of their numbers to the water board, according to a 2010 Arizona Republic article.
At least one Tea Party candidate is hoping to get on the board this year: Linda Brickman.
See also: Brett Mecum: Speeder, Alleged Stalker, Fired GOP Director, and Now, Water Board Candidate
Brickman's closest connection to the Central Arizona Project canal, which the board manages, is that she uses the water. She runs a small business with her husband and serves as legislative liaison for the Arizona Tea Party Patriots.
She's concerned about overspending by the water board and the push by some board members toward the concept of sustainability, which she says is "code" for a United Nations conspiracy to usurp American private-property rights.
And she's worried about Muslims.
"I don't think all Muslims are bad," she says in a recent interview. "But I do have a problem with anyone practicing Islam if they do not renounce the Koran."
Brickman's part of a national fear movement that believes Sharia law, on which Brickman says the Koran is based, is creeping into America. She seems to think Gilbert and Glendale will someday resemble rural Afghanistan, with "honor" killings galore and adulterers stoned to death. Her worries extend to the CAP canal's security efforts against terrorism, something she vows to shore up.
"Why can't we find a lot of references to security concerns in the CAP agenda?" she wonders.
Brickman's more than a bit suspicious of President Obama, naturally.
"I'm not saying Obama is Muslim, even though he acts like one," she says. "His actions are the most un-American of anyone I've ever seen in my whole life."
Brickman admits she's running because several people -- she wouldn't say who -- invited her to run in order to add conservatives to the board.
If people vote for her, she says, they can expect her votes on the board to reflect her beliefs.
With Brickman on the board, the CAP canal should be safe from Muslims and anyone who "acts like one."
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