Menor, Scott

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
State House
District:
14
Political Affiliation:
Green
Phone:
(602) 410-2533
Occupation:
Researcher/Entrepreneur
Education:
PhD Physics / MS Microbiology emphasis virology and immunology
Religion:
Non-religious
Biographical Info:

I’m a researcher and entrepreneur who has lived in Gilbert for about 5 years and who first moved to Arizona in 1990.

I’ve been a political activist since 2016 when I was involved in the Bernie Sanders campaign and since have been involved in a number of campaigns including canvassing for Medicare for All ( though I prefer an actual national health service ), cannabis decriminalisation/legalisation, Sanders again in 2020 and more recently the Arizona Abortion Access act, in opposition to the ongoing genocide in Gaza/Palestine, and my own campaign.

I’m non-religious, pro-abortion just as I’m pro-appendectomy ( abortion is healthcare and the decision to have one should be between a pregnant person and their doctor ), and am very generally extremely driven by my moral standards and values.

Statement:

More than anything, I’m running because our democracy is in dire need of a ground-up overhaul.

There is almost no correlation at all between policies voters want and what our representatives in office do, and journalistic malpractice abounds – our press / media has done a horrible job of accurately representing issues, policies, etc. leaving people to the mercy of highly deceptive and manipulative organisations such as the so-called「 Center for Arizona Policy 」

Things don’t need to be like this. A better world is possible.

All citizens who are called to serve in our government should be able without having to clear arbitrary artificial needlessly high hurdles which exist solely to serve and maintain the duopoly and to ensure that only their anointed candidates can compete and win.

I’m running to change that and my primary focus will be to achieve comprehensive electoral reform to reshape our government to represent us.

Survey

Response Legend

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

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Interpreting the 2nd Amendment as protecting an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. O* We live in the 21st century. Guns don't protect you - that is nothing but a fantasy mostly propagated by gun manufacturers to get you to pay them lots of money for their point-and-click murder remotes. Kids should be able to go to school without worrying that they might be killed and their parents shouldn't have that fear constantly in the back of their mind.
2. Adding “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law. S* Absolutely these are ascribed traits which are actively being marginalised and as such need to be protected.
3. Amending the Arizona State Constitution to grant a fundamental right to every individual to an abortion. S* Abortion is healthcare. I very strongly support the Arizona Abortion Access act, collected signatures for it, will vote for it in November, and my only criticism of it is that it needlessly includes viability language which is one of those things that sounds great and obvious.. until you understand that abortions after「 viability 」are exceedingly rare and pregnant people who get one then almost always wanted to carry their baby to term but have had a medical issue which threatens their life and that of their potential child and these are an absolute last resort which should be left to them and their medical providers.
4. Securing the border by preventing all illegal crossings. O* Borders are scars on the land and should not exist. My grandfather stowed away on a ship with his cousin and best friend, made their way to Ellis Island, and were able to find a fairly quick and painless path to citizenship. We are a nation of immigrants and immigration only makes us stronger, and we have vast amounts of space and resources to accommodate everyone who wants to be here and more. Anti-immigration laws mostly just exist to make it easier for unethical employers to exploit immigrants by removing their legal protections, and they are a convenient scapegoat for unethical politicians and pundits. Almost the entire world should be a Schengen area like the EU where we can all move and work freely wherever we like.
5. Using taxpayer funds to support any organization that performs, promotes, or provides referrals for abortion. S* Abortion is healthcare and healthcare is a human right so public funds should absolutely be support that and comprehensive, medically accurate sex education which is the best way to *PREVENT* abortions, if you're opposed to them.
6. 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. O* Public education is fundamental and all these tax credits and vouchers for private schools do is to siphon off huge amounts of money desperately needed by our schools into greedy private hands.
7. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide. S* The right to life is fundamental, as is our right to end it with dignity as we see fit. My only partial opposition is that in many cases such as MAiD in Canada, the right to choose is infringed on by eugenicists who abuse euthanasia to murder sick people rather than to help them and that I strongly oppose.
8. Allowing parents to seek professional counseling for their minor child with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues. O* Parents who think their children need counseling for being themselves need counseling not to abuse their children by forcing them to be someone who they are not.
9. Permitting individuals and businesses to not provide services or promote ideas that violate their moral or religious beliefs. −* If you mean I shouldn't have to do contract engineering work for a Nazi then yes. If you mean a baker shouldn't have to make a cake for a wedding.. eh
10. Keeping the flat income tax rate in Arizona’s state tax code. O* Flat taxes are one of those things that sound great from a place of ignorance but, in practice, always and necessarily are highly regressive forcing people at the bottom to shoulder a much greater burden while giving huge tax breaks to the über-wealthy. At the bottom, people should pay no taxes at all. At the top, people should shoulder their share of the burden which they are far more able to bear than even lowly mere millionaires and much less people in near poverty
11. Requiring any government entity, including schools, to inform parents about their child’s physical, emotional, or mental health. O* This is another one of those things that *sounds* ok but is actually highly hazardous and, in practice, only exposes children - who are people with inalienable rights and who are among the most heavily marginalised among us - to trauma and abuse by parents who see them as possessions and extensions of themselves rather than wholly realised individuals with their own rich inner lives, strengths and struggles.
12. Enhancing penalties for the sale and possession of fentanyl. O* Enhanced penalties for almost anything are generally bad. I oppose carceral punishment but even absent that, penalties for almost everything are very generally already too harsh, and this, in particular, is an issue that is heavily exaggerated by the media and far more a symptom of other deeper issues including malignant late-stage capitalism than moral failings of anyone using or selling it.