Arizona: Sixth District

Rep. Jeff Flake (R)

Jeff Flake (R) Elected 2000, 4th term up
Born:	12-31-1962, Snowflake
Home:	Mesa
Education:	Brigham Young U., B.A. 1986, M.A. 1987
Religion:	Mormon
Marital Status:	married (Cheryl)
Professional Career:	Pub. Plcy. Exec., Shipley, Smoak & Henry, 1987-89; Exec. Dir., Fndt. for Democracy (Namibia), 1989-90; Owner, Interface Pub. Affairs, 1990-92; Exec. Dir., The Goldwater Inst., 1992-99.
DC Office	240 CHOB, 20515 202-225-2635 Fax: 202-226-4386 Website: flake.house.gov
State Offices	Mesa:480-833-0092;
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The metropolis of Phoenix is exceedingly young. Barry Goldwater, born in 1909, grew up knowing people who remembered when the Valley of the Sun—or the Valley, as most people say—was virtually empty, with a few parched settlements set above the dry riverbed. As late as 1950, only 106,000 people lived in Phoenix and 331,000 in all of Maricopa County. But the air conditioner and military technology transformed Phoenix from a sleepy whistlestop to today’s high-rise-studded metropolis, with 1.5 million people in Phoenix and 3.8 million in Maricopa—since 2000,it has posted the largest numerical gain of any county in the nation. This is not, as some people think, a giant retirement village, nor is it overrun by crooked land salesmen and fast-buck artists, though Phoenix has attracted its share of each.

The second largest city in Maricopa County is Mesa, south of the Salt River and east of Phoenix. It was founded by Mormons in 1878 on a square mile; it was laid out Salt Lake City-style on broad streets with huge blocks holding just four home sites, using canals built by Indians 1,100 years earlier. A gleaming white Mormon Temple was built in 1927, one of the few in the United States then. In 1950, Mesa had 17,000 people, enough to make it Arizona’s third largest city. In 2000, it had 396,000 people, more than Minneapolis or Pittsburgh, though few people back east have ever heard of it. Five years later, it grew to 443,000; only 13 per cent were over age 65 in 2000.

The 6th Congressional District of Arizona is made up of Mesa and Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek to the south; it crosses the Pinal County line and includes fast-growing bedroom communities such as Apache Junction, Gold Camp and Sun Lakes. Growth has been constant here: In the 1990s Gilbert zoomed from a rail siding and a dot on the map to 110,000 people. The 6th includes some high-income precincts (interestingly, Asians lead whites in income in Chandler and Gilbert), but the district’s cultural tone is resolutely middle class, hard-working and churchgoing. By most measures it is the most Republican district in Arizona. It continues to grow rapidly: a 36% increase since 2000, making it the third-fastest growing congressional district in the nation.

The congressman from the 6th District is Jeff Flake, a Republican elected in 2000, and something of a maverick—or, to some in House leadership, a “flake.” A fifth-generation Arizonan, he is a practicing Mormon who was born and raised on a ranch in Snowflake; the town was named after his great-great grandfather. The fifth of 11 children, Flake served as a Mormon missionary in South Africa and Zimbabwe and graduated from Brigham Young University. In 1987 he moved to Washington, D.C., and worked in a lobbying firm. He returned to southern Africa to serve as executive director of the Foundation for Democracy, which monitored democratic progress in Namibia. Following Namibian independence in 1990 and two more years in Washington representing Namibian companies, he returned to Arizona and became executive director of the Goldwater Institute, where he led the fight for Arizona's charter school law. In 2000, when Matt Salmon kept his pledge to serve only three terms (he lost narrowly for governor in 2002), he handpicked Flake to succeed him. Flake faced four opponents in a hard-fought September primary, in which he was the most conservative candidate. He had the support of several prominent Republican state leaders and was bolstered by more than $200,000 from the Club for Growth. Flake won with 32% to 24% for Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio. In the general, Flake won 54%-42% over Democrat David Mendoza, a longtime lobbyist for public employees.

Flake promised to serve no more than three terms and to “continue to rock the boat,” much as Salmon had for six years. Less than a month after he took office, Flake—who favors replacing the income tax with a national sales tax—said that it would be a mistake for George W. Bush to limit his proposed tax cut to the “easy things,” such as repeal of the marriage penalty, and estate and gift taxes. Flake organized the bipartisan Cuba Working Group to review the U.S. embargo of Cuba and he has pushed repeatedly to lift restrictions on travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba, with occasional victories on the House floor. House Republican leaders and the Bush administration have strongly opposed him and typically have removed his provisions in conference committee. Flake has a habit of taking lonely stands. He was one of two members who voted against a bill to punish Sudan for its human right abuses; Flake said he had seen in Africa the adverse impact of economic sanctions on poor nations. He was one of 33 Republicans who voted against final approval of the Bush education bill and one of 25 who opposed the Medicare/prescription drug bill.

As he gained experience, Flake’s independence has solidified. His maverick views have placed his voting pattern toward the center of the House. He vowed never to ask appropriators for a dollar for any item or local project while he served in the House. When appropriators responded with his list of requests for the military, he responded that requests solely for defense were legitimate; he left the door open to making requests of other committees. He advocated reforms in spending “earmarks” and became a prolific sponsor of amendments on the House floor to spotlight many of the projects; he has become accustomed to losing, though he believes that he is making useful points. He reinforces his point with awards for the most egregious earmark of the week; although he does not name his colleague who sponsored it, he does list the locality that receives it. Limited-government groups have applauded his efforts. On immigration, he co-sponsored a guest worker bill with John McCain, to provide six-year temporary worker visas and three-year visas for those who are here illegally now; he became an outspoken supporter and presciently warned of the political consequences if Republicans failed to act on the measure. On the Judiciary Committee, he also raised questions about the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance program. Flake paid a price for all this at the start of 2007 when the leadership-controlled Republican Steering Committee ousted him from the Judiciary Committee, where he was planning to join bipartisan initiatives. Minority Leader John Boehner rejected Flake’s claim that he had been punished for “bad behavior” but not everyone believed him. Conservative pundit Bruce Fein noted, “The House Steering Committee’s rebuke of Mr. Flake demonstrates that, like the French Bourbons, it has learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”

Flake gave some thought to challenging McCain in the 2004 Senate primary, but decided not to. Instead he faced a serious primary challenge himself. Former state Senator Stan Barnes called Flake “fringe, libertarian and just a bit kooky,” and attacked him on immigration issues. Flake won 59%-41%, an unimpressive margin for an incumbent. He had no Democratic opponent in November. Days after the election he announced that he would abandon his term-limit pledge. “As much as I hate to admit making a mistake, I made a big one here.” He did not face a serious reelection challenge in 2006. He has been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate if there is an opening. 

Committees

• Foreign Affairs (11th of 23 R)
  International Organizations, Human Rights & Oversight; Asia, the Pacific & the Global Environment.
• Natural Resources (8th of 22 R)
  Insular Affairs; National Parks, Forests & Public Lands.

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +12
• Area size: 724 square miles
• Urban Population: 96.8%
• Rural Population: 3.2%
• Population 2000: 641,329
• Population 2005 (est): 874,033
• Median Income: $47,976
• Poverty Status: 7.7%
• Military Veterans: 15.8%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 76.6% White; 1.9% Black; 1.8% Asian; 0.8% Native Am.; 0.2% Hawaiian; 1.4% Two+ races; 0.1% Other; 17.2% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 14.1% German%; 10.2% English%; 8.6% Irish%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 22.6%; White collar 63.3%; Gray collar 14.2%;