Arizona Policymaker Leads Fight for Farm Workers and Welfare Recipients

Collaboration and consensus-building are skills that Arizona Representative John Loredo (Flemming `99) has relied heavily on to get things done for his southwest Phoenix constituents during his two terms in the state legislature.

"The bottom line I’ve learned," says Loredo, a Democrat, "is that if you count yourself out of the game just because you’re in the minority party you won’t accomplish anything."

Loredo, who spent his summers growing up working with United Farm Workers Union founder Cesar Chavez, recently co-sponsored a bill establishing a joint legislative committee to determine the housing needs of seasonal and migrant farm workers in Arizona (HB 2544). The bill passed the House with the support of 19 Republicans,
many of whom named agricultural growers, not farm workers, among their constituencies. The key to gaining bi-partisan support was to work with growers to help them understand the benefits — to farm workers and to them — of the bill.

"If you base your position on logic and reason and try to understand where the other side’s coming from and where the common goals are, they’re more likely to buy off on your ideas," notes Loredo, a member of CPA’s Southwest Policy Leaders Forum.

During the 1996-97 legislative sessions, welfare reform became a frontline issue in the state when Arizona passed an approach to welfare reform that was nationally recognized for its innovation and creativity. Loredo played a critical role in working with legislative leadership to make sure that support services such as job training and child care remained part of the Arizona welfare reform package.

A future in politics was never something Loredo saw for himself growing up. Even now, he’s careful to note that "people who are here just to politic wind up doing nothing. You’ve got to produce for the people you represent or there’s no reason for you to be here."