By Bob Hembree
Lake Powell Chronicle

PAGE – U.S. Congress candidate Nolan Reidhead met with the Chronicle last week. A wide variety of topics were covered in the hourlong interview. It was clear Reidhead had put thought into many of the topics. The meeting was relaxed, at times chatty, but insightful on many levels. The following excerpts from the recorded interview are edited for clarity while maintaining accuracy.

Hembree: What separates you from the other candidates?
Reidhead: I believe there are four candidates vying for the primary position for the Republican Party. One of the biggest things is going to be those who can get their signatures. They just increased it Feb. 5 to 1,450 signatures, so it’s a lot of signatures. That’s going to weed out, I believe, some of the candidates. We already have our signatures. We’re going to end up with about 2,500 signatures. So, we’ll be fine. So, that will weed out some of us, but I think the biggest thing that separates me from some of my other candidates is that I am the conservative choice in this election. And really what that means is there are a couple of groups in the Republican Party. There’s the freedom caucus that is chaired by Andy Biggs from Arizona and it has your Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows and some of those. Then you have the more moderate Republicans and the more establishment style candidates. That, I think, separates me from the other candidates in the field, that are more moderate, more of the establishment style versus more of the conservative style.

Hembree: You’re more conservative.
Reidhead: Correct. And in a couple of ways, pro-life is one of the differentiating factors, but also one of the other differentiating factor, because a lot of us agree on the same thing, we agree on our constitutional rights, we agree on border protection, border security, but I think some of the things that differentiate us are our free enterprise economy and our limited government, and our restraining our spending. Our spending is so out of control. I’m more conservative in that sense. We really need to reign in our spending and reign in our deficit spending and our debt.

Hembree: We need to live within our means.
Reidhead:  We really do. As a business owner for over 20 years, I wouldn’t get very far. If I were to live beyond my means from a business standpoint and a personal standpoint.

Hembree: What type of business do you have?
Reidhead: I went to law school, started a law practice in Tucson and ran it for over 20 years, mostly in business planning, working with individuals to set their own businesses up and plan their own businesses and then also estate and tax, so I do a lot of estate planning. There’s a lot of retirees in southern Arizona and do a lot of estate planning.

Hembree: I talked with people recently about the city budget. We’ve been hit by the plant closing. Then we’re hit by the coronavirus that they’re trying to stop. It took a pretty good chunk of our tourism. I have to wonder how much a town can take. All it takes is something like (U.S. Route) 89 to collapse again. A lot of people think we just need to raise more money. But another view is we must live within our means. We have to cut things out. We’ve got the parks and recreation. We’ve got the library and the community center. You’ve got your needs and your wants. Where do you stand on needs and wants? What does the government need? For example, some arts programs are always getting cut, then you’ve got NASA and other programs. where are you? What are the things that you think are costing us too much for what we’re getting out of it?
Reidhead: Well, we definitely need to spend on those things that are mandated by the Constitution, our defense, in a responsible way, not just spend everything just to have a defense for everything, but we really need a strong defense. I think one place where we can definitely cut our spending is––you see so much of our spending, so much of our dollars are going overseas for who knows what. There are some good opportunities where we can help countries with various issues, but we can definitely cut back on a lot of our overseas spending on things that really don’t benefit America in any way shape or form, nor do they benefit any ally.

Hembree: Sometimes there’s a military strategy with foreign aid. Where would you draw the line on that?

Reidhead: If it doesn’t benefit the U.S. or its citizens, nor does it benefit an ally, and even if it’s benefiting an ally, there may be spending that just isn’t appropriate. From a foreign aid standpoint, if we’re hurting so much from a debt load., we need to build our own sense of, not profitableness, but our own sense of security. The debt is an issue of our own security. Just as it would be with a business or a family. If you’re not strong economically, then you can’t help other people abroad. So, if my family isn’t strong financially, how can we help other people? We have to help ourselves get our house in order.

Hembree: Arizona has a road problem. Last week, the Arizona House transportation committee discussed raising the gas tax to help pay for roads, including federal highways, like U.S. 89. Electric cars don’t pay a gas tax but use the roads. Also, cars are getting better gas mileage, so their contribution to highway maintenance is less. We also pay a federal gas tax. How does that contribute?
Reidhead: There’s a federal gas tax that is supposed to help with infrastructure and highways and roads and bridges and what have you. It’s not always that way. The problem is they allocate it for other purposes, not for which it was originally intended.  

Hembree: So, it’s causing problems for the state.
Reidhead: Exactly. So, the states end up having to come up with other ways, or they just let it be and you end up with havoc. We have the same situation in Pinal County with Highway 347. Maricopa city has grown so much that there’s this roping between Phoenix and Maricopa. It’s about an hour's drive, so many accidents and some of its just the road was configured in a poor way. There are some roundabout issues that could drastically improve some intersections and they haven’t been improved in decades and there’s been so much more growth there. That’s a place where there really should be funding just as we have here in Page. That’s where those funds should be used. They’re being diverted to other places (and) not being managed well. We just need more accountability and better management with our funds. That’s what the House Representatives is for. It’s for the proper use of legislation and proper use of our funds. That’s just not what’s happening.

Hembree: Let’s talk about regulation and deregulation. Some things need to be regulated: public safety, consumer protection, do you have a rule of thumb where you draw the line?
Reidhead: There’s a fine line there. You see a lot of areas where there needs to be proper legislation. I remember growing up and I don’t think anybody wore seat belts. You’d ride in the back of the truck and we had a lot of issues with your consumer products. We have the introduction of the internet and the various things that have gone on, so there needs to be proper regulation; that is common sense. And it’s going to work for the American Consumer. Not just to have a law, not just to have a regulation, because I’m for limited government. I think the government has a role. For instance, from a business standpoint, I come at it from a business standpoint. It’s really sad to see that the generating station has been shut down. I lived in Kanab and I’d come over to Lake Powell summers and spent so much time here, but because of overregulation, in my opinion, this economy has been hit and it will continue to be hit dramatically because of the regulations imposed upon the coal industry. That I see as an overstep. But then you get into consumer protection, protecting of our children, protecting of our lives, that’s really where the government should protect. It is a fine line, but it has to be something that’s going to benefit the American economy, the American individual. You see so much with consumer fraud and there needs to be protection there. So, it is a fine line, but I think you can decipher one from the other.

Hembree: Would you want to see the state handle more of these things?
Reidhead: You do have to have the federal government step in, especially when you have interstate commerce, when you have issues that involve multiple states, you have to have consumer protections across board. That’s really where the federal government gets in. If there’s a federal question or a dispute between states, that’s where the Constitution allows the federal government to step in and try to be the arbiter to settle that in a commonsense way. So, that’s where I see the federal government’s role.

Hembree: There are actions, talks, and lawsuits about reducing the size of southern Utah parks, including Grand-staircase Escalante and Bears Ears. Then it came out that they’re going to start auctioning off mining, drilling and grazing rights. It’s clear that it would have an economic benefit for some people. How do you feel about that? Because that’s an issue for a lot of people. There’s a few that say, “oh sure, go for it.” But the majority of people seem to say, “that’s what they love about this place; it’s not developed.”
Reidhead: Well, actually, it’s the other way around. Let me give you an example. My father and I grew up with several generations in the timber industry. My father-in-law actually worked for Energy Fuels that had the uranium mine out toward the Arizona Strip. There’s a couple of monuments based on The Monuments Clause. President Clinton came in and basically enacted the Grand-staircase Monument. Those lands have been used for the timber industry, for hunting, for recreation for generations. The local industries, local individuals wanted the use of those lands in a multifaceted way. Yet, President Clinton, who had no knowledge or no experience with that area, came in and unilaterally changed it. What I don’t appreciate is bureaucrats that have no idea what’s going on with the land from a local standpoint, from the ground level standpoint, coming in. That’s exactly what President Obama did with Bears Ears, he took away from the local constituents and the local communities the ability to use those lands that were most appropriate for them, but also for their communities. And you can do both. There are laws.  My history has been in the timber industry. You look at Kaibab, one of the most healthy, well-managed forests that are out there. We’ve been involved in logging that forest for decades. It’s healthy, it’s strong, so you can have the recreation, you can have the use. They have a lot of opportunities to go sightseeing and camping. So, you can do both. Senator Mike Lee was talking about the issues with the Bears Ears, and San Juan County is one of the poorest areas in the entire state of Utah. Very poor from a Native American standpoint, from just a community standpoint. That area would provide a tax base. It would provide jobs to open up the mining, the farming and ranching, but yet you can use both, you can do both, you can keep the scenic area. There are laws in place that will keep the mining to a footprint, if you will, and still allow recreation of use and things that people like. But allow those decisions to have to be made in part with the consent of local constituents, local leaders because they’re the ones that are on the ground. Those are the ones who are here and not to have them made by bureaucrats, you know, 3,000 miles away that really have no clue what’s going on.

Hembree: Here, tourism is everything right now and that can be fragile at times, so you’ve got a Grand-staircase Escalante. That’s an industry in itself. There are specific landmarks people travel to see, and some don’t want to see it alongside something unnatural. What’s the perimeter? Is that something you’ve thought about?
Reidhead: It’s hard to tell between a specific area. Obviously, we want to protect our beauty we have in this area. We have such beautiful canyons. To give an example, there’s the mine (Energy Fuels’ Canyon Mine) out toward Arizona Strip. There’s a uranium mine and they’re looking to open that up again. It’s about 15 miles from the Grand Canyon. Obviously, we don’t want it intruding into the Grand Canyon. What a great monument that is to our landscape and Arizona being the Grand Canyon State. But yet, for years, my father-in-law worked out there. For years they were confined to a specific area and folks didn’t even know it was there really. It’s a very hard to get to from the road between Fredonia and St. George. We can accomplish both sides. So, we’re able to accomplish both. You have the tax benefits to the communities and great paying jobs. I’m for a free enterprise economy, but yet, you get to a point, like Kanab is the same way. It’s heavily reliant on tourism right now. The concern is what if that dries up, and then what? I think there needs to be a good mix between manufacturing, whatever other jobs. This area should have good jobs in tourism. That’s the beauty we have. We should show off our lands and tap that, but like you mentioned, we don’t want to have our eggs in one basket. One way or the other we should be able to do both.

Hembree: For your district, the Navajo Nation is a significant voting bloc.
Reidhead: Very significant.
Hembree: How do you plan on making inroads. It’s not like Democrats and Republicans. What are you going to tell them to get their votes?
Reidhead: Across the state, you have the Navajo Nation. You have the Apache tribe, the Hopi Tribe; you have several Native American tribes throughout the state of Arizona. Historically, from the 60s, they have voted predominantly Democrat, and there’s speculation as to why that’s the case. You have the younger generation; you have the elders of the church. It’s kind of a tradition to vote the Democrat way. We’ve seen the changes. In December, I was at the Winslow Christmas Parade; 15,000 members from all different tribes were there, and I was able to visit with so many people and talk to them. I don’t live there, so you want to go and talk to people and see what their thoughts and concerns are and see what their issues are. They have some of the same concerns every other American citizen does. They want to protect their families. They want jobs. They want to be able to provide for their families. They want to have their Second Amendment rights. They want to be able to have their freedom of religion, to protect their history and their traditions. They’re seeing the economic booms that are happening with the free enterprise conservative principles that President Trump is pushing. They’re seeing the loss of their jobs with the EPA regulations that caused the loss here with the generating station. They’re also seeing what a lot of people aren’t aware of.  As you know, the Native Americans have a great history with their workmanship, their jewelry, their rugs. and the various things that they make. They’re very good with their hands in their craftsmanship. A lot of that’s being stolen, being mimicked if you will, by other countries. This China deal that President Trump just put in place, there are protections. (Navajo) President (Jonathan) Nez and (Navajo) Vice President (Myron) Lizer applauded President Trump for those intellectual property protections. They’re seeing the growth and that the Republican Party has some their best interest at heart. It may have been real. It may have been a miscommunication, whatever the case may be that the Republicans didn’t care for them. I reject that now, having worked with them throughout my life. My father employed several from the Navajo Nation. I worked with them (and) grew up with them in high school in Snowflake and playing basketball. I know Page has got a phenomenal basketball team. They enjoy those family outings. Those are some of the same principles that we as conservatives enjoy and push. It’s also up to me to be with them, be involved with them so they can get to know me.

Hembree: It’s a matter of trust. The (Kayenta Mine) and power plant closed. A lot of it had to do with natural gas making a better deal. There’s a lot of disappointment. There was hope that Trump was going to save all that, but nothing happened. So, what are you going to tell them about that?
Reidhead: Well, the problem is, the writing was already in the law before President Trump even got into office. He came in really in 2017, technically. And so essentially, he really didn’t have the opportunity because what happened was those EPA regulations started in 2012. They put so much cost and expense on these generating stations, even though this plant here was one of the cleanest running in the nation, with that size. They couldn’t compete with natural gas because of the costs and expenses that were associated with that. And so that’s where those regulations came into play.

Hembree: You’re saying that if the regulations weren’t there, they’d been able to compete?
Reidhead: They could have had a better chance to compete. When you put so much cost on a business, to upgrade, to do this or that or the other, then it makes it more costly, and the cost per kilowatt increases dramatically. They got to a point where they just couldn’t compete with the lesser cost of the natural gas.
Hembree: I was recently told that 90 percent of the city’s police and public safety expense is for nonresidents – fights, addiction, burglaries, property damage, things like that. With the power plant’s closing, there’s a potential for crime to increase.
Reidhead: I’m concerned that it may. When you’re not staying busy, not working, you don’t have that structured time, and then all of a sudden you have bills, the good things that work help us with.

Hembree: Regarding mental health issues, alcoholism, and drug abuse. I don’t know what the figures are, but I’d love to find out. It’s a huge drain on the community’s resources, law enforcement, medical services; the personnel involved is extensive. Long-term treatment programs are basically nonexistent. There’s got to be a dollar amount for what it cost for all this rather than treating people with a three to six-month program, whatever it takes to rewire and give them a chance to make it. Your competitor, John W. Moore, believes it would be less expensive to take care of these people and the homeless and to treat them as opposed to draining the city’s resources for never-ending cycles. It’s expensive. Where do you stand on that? Is that money well spent to try to do something? Would you support increasing treatment resources?
Reidhead: You see so much of that. It’s a churning cycle. It’s an ugly cycle individuals go through, whether it’s alcoholism or drug abuse and it’s rampant throughout the country. The question is do we continue to use the police and the medical and the fire and all these government services just to keep repeating the same thing, and not correct the core problem. We’re not even addressing the core problem.

Hembree: The community would be better off. I don’t know how effective these programs are. But they work for some people.
Reidhead: I’m always a proponent of work. If there’s a way to work with businesses and the Chamber of Commerce. Let’s see if we can get them into a job. A job is going to give them confidence. It’s going to make things positive. They’re going to be able to provide for themselves. Will that help everyone? No. It just won’t.  We may not have the jobs we may not have something that fits that specific person’s skill set. So, then the question is what do we do from there? Well, if we can have other programs that can retrain them. I know Home Depot had some programs to help train them and help give them that sense of positivity in their lives. There are issues, whether it’s mental health, whether it’s drug abuse whether it’s what have you, then we need to see if we can help those individuals. A lot of times it’s a waste of our time, with the police force, with our health care. We’re not affecting the root problem. So, if we can help the root problem with appropriate tax dollars. We can take other monies that are being spent, we were talking about being blown in other places, and use them to help an individual get back on his or her feet, to help with the mental health care issues, whether it be appropriate, proper medication that would help a person. It would be a two-tier process with work and money well spent. Having our fire, having our police keeping that cycle churning is just not helping.

Hembree: It’s a hard sell to say, “OK, we’re going to build this treatment center, and we’re going to put these people in three months, six months, whatever it takes to you treat them so they can go out and function, and maybe not find a job once they get out.”
Reidhead: You see that a lot with these abuse treatment centers, whether it’s an equine facility, working with horses or work working on a trail or working in the community. I mean, it really gives a person a sense of belonging; it gives them a sense of worth. If they’re in that cycle where they go out, and they use drugs, they get drunk and then they get picked up by the police and are back again, but we’re losing that individual. You know, the individual is important and we’re losing that individual. There are many ways. We can combine those ways to help them.  Mental health is a real issue. It really is. Anxiety and depression and we see so much. People get to a point where they say, “what’s the use” and they get into suicide, and our suicide rates are so high. There are ways that we can help, let them know they’re important, let them know they can work, and they can provide for themselves, which provides a benefit to the community. It really does.