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With Congressman John Shadegg throwing in the towel and announcing he would be retiring from Congress yesterday, there is no shortage of talk about who his potential replacement might be.
One of those mentioned is Treasurer Dean Martin, who also happened to announce his candidacy for governor on Wednesday.
Martin, however, says he’s not interested.
“We’ve got too big of a mess in Arizona to clean up,” Martin tells the Arizona Guardian.
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A Washington D.C.-based newspaper, Roll Call, reported yesterday that Martin was on a short-list of potential candidates, but Martin says he doesn’t know where that assumption came from.
“No, I’m not interested in that,” Martin tells the Guardian. “Someone else put me on that list and it wasn’t me.”
As for other possible candidates, it seems like anyone who has ever held public office, known someone who’s held public office, or seen someone who’s held public office on television, is interested in the job.
The Guardian got confirmation from the following people saying
they were considering a run: Republican Senator. Pamela Gorman, GOP
political operative Wes Gullett,
Shadegg’s former chief-of-staff, Sean Noble, and Senator Jim Waring.
Those are the confirmed possible candidates — speculation suggests the
following may too be interested in the job: Phoenix Councilwoman Peggy
Neely, rookie politician and Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker,
and Tom Smith, founder of the TASER stun-gun company.
As much fun as it will be to watch this one play out, it doesn’t take away from the true gift: John Shadegg is retiring.
