EDS: Cronkite School students profiled candidates for Phoenix City Council and the Maricopa County sheriff race. You can find all the profiles here.
By Alessandra De Zubeldi
Special for Cronkite News
- Candidate name: Betty Guardado
- Position sought: Phoenix City Council in District 5
- Age: 47
- Career: City Council; previously a union organizer
Betty Guardado first ran for Phoenix City Council in 2019, winning against three other candidates with over 38% of the vote. After more than five years as the representative for District 5, Guardado is running for reelection to continue her life’s work of elevating working families’ quality of life.
With a background working in the hospitality industry and later as a union organizer for 20 years, Guardado’s commitment to empowering and protecting workers started long before her time in the council.
Guardado’s union involvement began in California and continued in Arizona, when she moved to Maryvale with her family in 2007. She became the director of organizing for UNITE HERE! Local 11, where she negotiated contracts for thousands of hotel and food-service workers throughout Maricopa County.
JJ Martinez is running against Guardado. Martinez worked for the Phoenix Police Department for 26 years as a police officer and as a domestic violence detective. On his website, Martinez lists safe communities, affordable housing, homelessness, job creation and the economy as his top priorities if elected.
First-term projects
Guardado’s commitment to elevating the quality of life of working families in Phoenix is shown in the initiatives she has either supported or spearheaded. These include:
The Innovation 27 Workforce Training and Education Collaborative facility, which will provide workforce training and education to District 5 residents.
Two new Real Time Operation Centers (RTOCs), one at Cactus Park Police Precinct and another at Desert Horizon Park Police Precinct, to reduce crime.
The Gated Alley Program, which installed alley gates across various Phoenix neighborhoods to deter crime and illegal dumping in alleyways.
The City of Phoenix Fire Department Community Assistance Program (CAP), which approved $15 million in fiscal year 2022-2023 to double Phoenix’s Crisis Response Units and add nine Behavioral Health Units.
The Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan that prioritizes transportation safety improvements to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
Community cleanup volunteer efforts in District 5 to foster cleaner neighborhoods and community collaboration.
The Maryvale Resource Fair that helps align District 5 residents with career opportunities.
An annual back-to-school backpack giveaway program that gifts school supplies to District 5 students.
Investment in park improvements such as the reopening and remodeling of West Plaza Park.
Endorsements
Guardado’s campaign website lists 18 endorsements, 15 of which are from workers unions.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) union is one of them. Paul Castañeda, administrative director for CWA District 7, said that Guardado has “shown over her career … her support for working people not just in the city of Phoenix, but all of Arizona.”
While the CWA’s work is at the federal and state level, the union’s work has crossed paths with Guardado, and “she’s been very receptive,” Castañeda said.
Castañeda pointed to Arizona’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. On Aug. 5, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved Arizona’s initial proposals for the BEAD program as part of the “Internet for All” federal initiative.
Castañeda said that Guardado “understands that there is federal money coming into the state of Arizona for broadband build-out that somebody’s going to bid on.”
With such large-scale federal investment in the state, the CWA wants “to make sure the workers are protected, and [that] it’s in the best interest of the public, not just the contract company that’s doing the work,” Castañeda said.
Given the Councilwoman’s two-decade career as a union organizer, CWA’s Castañeda believes “she understands where we’re coming from.”
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is endorsing Betty Guardado for reelection. Jason Henley, president of AFSCME Local 2384, believes that Guardado has proven her commitment to creating better job opportunities for the community.
“She’s really committed to [job creation] … She partners with talent acquisition in the city along with a lot of other business partners that are in the community to have job fairs,” Henley said. “Her focus is helping people get good paying jobs in her district.”
The Local 2384 is also aligned with Guardado’s track record of prioritizing projects that reinvest in the day-to-day lives of locals.
“Like in her district, there’s a few things like parks, community centers, just a lot of stuff that she’s interested in reinvesting community money in – taxpayer dollars in – that benefit us,” Henley said.
Henley added that they “have a lot of members that live in District 5 … so the more service they have, it’s better for the people that work within our union, as well.”
UNITE HERE! Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers across Arizona and Southern California, ran an independent expenditure campaign for Guardado during her first campaign and this one. An independent expenditure campaign is run by an entity in support of a candidate; however, it is done separately from the candidate’s campaign.
Susan Minot, co-president of Local 11, has known Guardado since her early days as director of organizing. Minot is also leading the union’s independent expenditure operation in Arizona.
“She recently passed heat protections for Phoenix workers… and it includes a lot of the people who we represent,” Minot said about an ordinance passed by Phoenix City Council in March.
“She’s a fighter for people,” Minot added. Beyond Guardado’s proven pro-worker stances, Minot stands by Guardado’s commitment to connecting with her district’s residents.
“She cares directly for people… she talks directly to the people, no matter who the people are and whether it’s her own district, whether it’s workers for the city of Phoenix, whether it’s future workers … she’s there,” Minot said.
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