Arizona teacher running for office: 'I can no longer sit back'
PHOENIX — Teachers in Arizona are getting second jobs not because they’re struggling financially, but because they want to buy boats and bigger houses.
Those comments from House Majority Leader John Allen last year outraged an eight-grade teacher who’s now running for his seat.
Jennifer Samuels, who teaches at Desert Shadows Middle School in Scottsdale, collected more than 500 signatures in 17 days, with the help from other teachers, to put her name on the ballot in November.
She called Allen’s comments “demeaning, demoralizing, and incorrect.”
“Teachers don’t have second job so we can afford boats,” she said. “They have second jobs so they can pay their household finances.”
Allen’s comments aren’t what motivated Samuels to run for office, but they did spark her interest in state politics. Last year, she went through a candidate training through Emerge Arizona, which is a group trying to get more Democratic women into public office.
http://ktar.com/story/2095891/arizona-teacher-running-for-office-i-can-no-longer-sit-back/