Q&A与亚利桑那州国务卿阿德里安·丰特斯

Fontes在美国.S.2023年7月4日，在他的家乡亚利桑那州诺加利斯，美墨边境.他在那里担任大元帅.

This article is from the fall 2023 issue of the University of Denver Magazine. 请浏览 杂志网站 查看其他内容.

The job of a county recorder or even a secretary of state used to be something that most people didn’t know or think much about. 但近年来，这种情况发生了巨大变化, with the rise in election fraud claims 和 investigations throughout the country. How elections are run at the local 和 state levels has taken on a supersized role in the political process—和 those who run them have become the subject of unprecedented scrutiny. 

阿德里安·丰特斯(2000年法学博士)比任何人都更了解这一点. In 2016, the Sturm College of Law grad was elected county recorder of Maricopa County in Arizona—the state’s largest—和 oversaw the hotly contested 2020 election. 2022年，他当选为亚利桑那州第21任国务卿.

DU Magazine talked with Secretary Fontes about his path to politics 和 the state of elections in Arizona 和 beyond. 

告诉我们你的背景.

我在亚利桑那州的诺加利斯长大. My family has been in Arizona for more than 300 years, since before Arizona was a state. 他们世世代代在铁路上工作. 诺加利斯是个成长的好地方. 许多人没有意识到它是美国的一个主要入境点.S.所以有很多来自世界各地的人在那里长大. 高中毕业后, I served in the Marine Corps for four years 和 then went to Arizona State University 和 got a degree in communications. 然后，我来到正规赌博十大平台排行学读法学院. 我选择正规赌博十大平台排行是因为我想离开亚利桑那, 和 the 项目 were consistent with what I wanted: water law 和 a strong clinical program.

你在法学院的经历怎么样?

我喜欢结识来自全国各地的人, 了解他们, 看着他们毕业后做自己的事. 我和他们中的许多人至今仍是朋友. 但在海军陆战队，法学院是一个挑战, 我被提名为功勋委员, 我以优异的成绩从亚利桑那州立大学毕业, so it was really humbling to suddenly be among a whole bunch of equals who also had excelled wherever they came from. 我真的很喜欢我的教授罗伯托·科拉多, Jan Laitos, 韦德·南达，一个了不起的人，史蒂夫·维诺库, 谁给我留下了深刻的印象, 当然还有露西·马什. It was through contacts at DU that I ended up interning at the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

除了丹佛地方检察官办公室, you worked for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office 和 the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. 那份工作有什么吸引你的地方?

我一直计划学习水资源法, 环保工作, 但当我在丹佛地检办公室实习时, 我被迷住了. I was energized by the idea of seeking truth 和 pursuing justice but also by the pace 和 the process of the work. 我第一天上班, 我记得我的一个同事跟我说过“说话者”,你脑海中永不停止的声音. 我以为他疯了, 但是第一年, 在经历了几次审判之后, 我的说话者开始说话了——从那以后就没停过.    

就像你的大脑一直在处理任何特定的情况, 你在想, 这个案子对吗, 有管辖权吗?, 会有损害吗?, 可能的防御是什么, 控方可能的角度是什么, 如果我们上了法庭，我们该用什么呢, 探索会是什么样子, 我的问题会是什么样子, 这个证人怎么样?, 这见证, 这个证据, 那件证据, 这样的例子不胜枚举. 这既让人疲惫又让人兴奋.

I think that’s why so many attorneys or legally trained folks end up in politics. 这些问题既庞大又复杂, 有很多玩家, 很多拼图的碎片, 你不只是每天做一些简单的任务. 这一直是一个新的挑战，我们擅长解决问题.

你为什么决定从政?

我一直对它很感兴趣. My gr和father was the mayor of Nogales; he got elected on my 9th birthday, in fact. 他当时告诉我的一件事是, 如果你决定竞选公职的话, half of the people are going to hate you 和 the other half won’t care—those are the odds you’re going to be running against. 如果你愿意面对，那就去做吧.

我从未预料到我会竞选公职. 然后, in 2016, when I saw so many people not being able to vote in Maricopa County—or having to wait in four- or five-hour-long lines, 我很生气，决定竞选县记录员. 然后我赢了. 我发现自己很像《正规赌博十大平台排行》结尾的罗伯特·雷德福(Robert Redford),当他站在那里的时候, 他说, “现在什么?“我必须学习如何成为一名选举管理专家. There are very few of us, 和 every jurisdiction does it a little differently. 这是在职培训的缩影.

You lost your reelection bid in 2020 和 decided to run for secretary of state in 2022. 是什么让你做出那个决定的?

1月6日.这就像是对职责的召唤，国务卿是自然而然的下一步. 我有资格，而且有选举管理经验. I’m the first county election administration to become secretary of state in Arizona since the early 80s. 办公室里应该有我这种背景的人.

作为国务卿，你的目标是什么?

My short-term goal was to build an all-star team of folks from Arizona that really know what we need to do 和 are able to make the right decisions 和 run the office well, 我们已经做到了. 我为我建立的团队感到骄傲.

从长远来看，我们需要尽一切努力帮助这些县. 我们15个县的人民才是选举的真正执行者. They deserve as much support as this office can possibly give 和 then a little bit more. We’re in a bit of a crisis—12 out of our 15 counties have in the last couple of years lost a senior elections official, 哪一个会产生难以置信的影响, 尤其是小办公室. We’ve got to provide that support where we can, 和 I think we’re geared up for it.

You’ve experienced firsth和 the harassment that can come with being an election official, 2021年, 你在国会就你的经历作证. 保护选举官员的措施是否足够?

虽然所有的政治噪音都在继续, 选举官员是维持我们民主的人. For these folks to suffer threats 和 harassment—plus the lack of funding 和 the second-class bureaucrat status that they have—it really tells us where we prioritize election administration, 这太可怕了. 没有选举管理，就没有民主. 我绝对不认为人们对此给予了足够的关注.

我们必须赢得这场战斗. The people who harass election officials 和 deny election results do not care who they hurt. 这对他们来说就像一项运动. 这是一种新的可怕的东西，我们不能退缩. That’s why I testified before Congress—to raise awareness 和 help get the support that’s needed.  

你和斯蒂芬·里奇合作过, 马里科帕县的共和党记录员在2020年击败了你, 正规赌博十大平台排行选举诚信问题. 你能谈谈这种合作关系吗?

我和斯蒂芬的关系代表了美国应该是什么样的. 他和我在很多事情上意见不一致，但我们在很多事情上是一致的. He 和 I don’t have to be best friends—we’re not—和 we don’t have to agree on everything—we don’t—but that doesn’t mean we can’t get along, 这并不意味着我们不能为了他人的利益而共同努力. When we say diversity is our strength as Americans, we should be talking about diversity of ideas. And the way we make decisions when we have diverse ideas is through this process we call elections.

对选举和选举工作者的未来是否乐观?

大多数担任公职的人都有良好的诚信和品格. 我们需要让(选举)过程更加人性化, 把每个人的故事讲得好一点. 批评匿名者很容易, 无定形的官僚主义，忘记这些是人类在做这些事情.  

A lot of people used to take elections administration for granted 和 didn’t underst和 any of it at all. What has come out of the election denialist movement is that a lot more people are paying attention, 他们学得越多, 他们就越明白事情很复杂, 大多数司法管辖区都做得很好. 这个领域的人不介意审查，只要公平就行. We don’t mind people looking over our shoulders as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the work—because we’ve got a lot of work to do.