Having served nine years in the past, Democrat Bill Mundell is seeking another term on the Arizona Corporation Commission, which among a number of duties, regulates monopoly utilities.
Mundell served from 1999 through 2008 on the commission before being term limited from office. He would go on to seek another term in the 2016 election along with fellow Democrat Tom Chabin.
It was an election where Arizona Public Service's parent company said it spent $4.2 million to help Republican candidates. According to Mundell, a poll two weeks before the vote showed Mundell and Chabin were leading the race.
"Then APS spent millions of dollars to beat Tom Chabin and me. They were doing daily polling on the race, they spent those millions to beat us," said Mundell. "I had the backbone to stand up to them, I didn't rubber stamp every rate increase that was put in front of me."
"Commissioners are like judges, you're supposed to hear all the evidence before you make a decision. That's what I did for the nine years I was on the commission," said Mundell.
If voted back onto the ACC, Mundell said he wants to protect families, schools, churches, small businesses from non-stop unjustified rate increases. He said he would also like to make Arizona the solar capital of the world. "Which will mean protecting the environment and also bringing in good paying jobs all across Arizona," Mundell said.
Mundell is running with fellow Democrats Anna Tovar and Shea Stanfield against Republican appointed incumbent Lea Marquez Peterson, James O' Connor and Eric Sloan for the three open seats on the Commission.
