Eckenrod, Douglas

Meet the Candidate

Running For:

County Sheriff

Political Affiliation:

Republican

Phone:

(928) 899-2348

Age:

Occupation:

Retired Law Enforcement - Epoch Times Opinion Writer

Education:

Majored in Construction Management - Fresno State University

Family:

Married

Religion:

Christian - Baptist

Statement:

As a law-enforcement professional with decades of experience at all levels of our criminal justice system, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. Large private prison organizations, left-leaning criminal justice reform organizations, and the medical establishment now see rehabilitative treatment as a lucrative “cash cow” and are lobbying to impact sentencing, pre-release, and post-release legislation. Further, and equally damaging, these organizations now prey on county offices to secure contracts and swell their bottom lines.

Folks used to be concerned about the “prison industrial complex”; now they better get concerned about the “rehabilitative industrial complex,” as it is perhaps the most lucrative service delivery for the aforementioned entities. Specific, targeted, and evidence-based rehabilitation should only be used when real-time outcome measures can be tracked and used to improve treatment outcomes. Rehabilitation should never be delivered as a profitable, political tool to replace punishment.

Survey

Response Legend

SSupports
OOpposes
*Comment
−Declined to respond
†Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question	Response	Comments/Notes
1. Providing benefits and services such as free housing to undocumented migrants at taxpayer expense.	O*	Although I feel for the plate of those wanting to move to America. We must not subsidize lawbreaking and incentivize illegal entry into this country.
2. Allowing all parents to use tax credits and taxpayer funded empowerment scholarship accounts to enable their children to attend any private school, homeschool, or online academy of their choice.	S*	Our educational system is bankrupt and is morally deficient. The distance between the educational elite using diversity, inclusion, and equity to indoctrinate our young are miles away from the vast majority of American parents. Money should be allowed to move to where it is respected.
3. Interpreting the 2nd Amendment as protecting an individual’s right to keep and bear arms.	S*	The second amendment was designed to en-shrine the individuals right to self-determination. Firearm ownership is the ultimate expression of individual liberty. It is long been known that the extreme left sees individual firearm ownership as a threat to an all powerful government. We must defend the second amendment with the same vigor that we defend our republic because the two concepts are indivisible.
4. Using taxpayer funds to support any organization that performs, promotes, or provides referrals for abortion.	O*	Abortion is homicide. Using taxpayer funds to kill the unborn is more than wrong, it is evil.
5. Amending the Arizona State Constitution to grant a fundamental right to every individual to an abortion.	O*	I support the Arizona Constitution as it is currently written on this topic.
6. Providing tax breaks to certain industries over others.	O*	The role of the government is not to pick winners or losers. That concept undermines a free market and is a slippery slope towards all means of production be controlled by the government. They should be off-limits.
7. Adding "sexual orientation," "gender identity," or "gender expression" to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination ordinances.	O*	The protected classes of race and gender are appropriate from the standpoint of governmental protections. The addition of a variety of expressions or preferences is not only unmeasurable, but would undermine protections based on biology rather than feelings.
8. Allowing parents to seek professional counseling for their minor child with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues.	−*	I answered with "declined to respond" as all authority related to a childs medical or psychiatric treatment currently lies in the hands of parents. To identify as support/allow would would imply that that authority comes from the government. It does not. That relationship and authority is uniquely the parents alone. It always has been, and always should be.
9. Enhancing penalties for leading and participation in organized retail theft rings.	S*	Organized crime at any level presents a unique public safety threat. All one has to do as look at our east or west coasts and see the impact these organizations have on violent crime, property, theft, and vandalism. Swift, certain, and predictable penalties are what is necessary to stem the growth of this criminal industry.
10. Permitting individuals and businesses to not provide services or promote ideas that violate their moral or religious beliefs.	S*	Do you remember the old axiom "no shoes, no shirt, no service "? Business owners have the right to provide or not provide services based on a criteria of their own choosing. You cannot mandate private industry to engage in activities that they find immoral and reprehensible.