Ralph Heap - deeply-flawed candidate

Like all of us, I'm imperfect and don't expect others to be perfect.

However, there's a not-so-fine line between "imperfect" and "deeply-flawed."

And Heap seems to be on the wrong side of that line.

It's rare that I give free advice to an uber conservative (OK, Cheeto-supporting) group like Turning Point (TP), but I will here.

Not that I expect them to listen to it.

Stop backing deeply-flawed candidates.

TP is well-known for having a vaunted voter turnout machine.

They're also well-known for their failures, particularly in races that aren't confined to Republicans.

From The Mesa Legend, written by Gwendolyn Owen, dated 4/13 -

SRP election saw high turnout, Turning Point loses majority

The usual low-profile election that appoints leaders to govern Arizona’s largest utility company turned into a contentious race and saw record-breaking turnout after Turning Point USA campaigned for their approved candidates. 

The election on April 7 collected 36,000 votes for both the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association (Association) and Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (District) elections, over four times as many votes collected in the last Salt River Project election. In 2024, only 7,500 votes were collected in each race, according to SRP senior media relations manager Jennifer Schuricht.

Now, TP is backing Ralph Heap, a Republican candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC).

He was successful in the primary, deposing one of the incumbents and moving on to general.

He's got issues, though.

From the Arizona Agenda, written by Nicole Ludden -

Ralph Heap has a money problem

Arizona’s Republican primary election results delivered great news for Ralph Heap — a Turning Point-aligned lawmaker attempting to move into statewide office as one of Arizona’s top utility regulators.

He unseated incumbent Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers in a narrow victory, becoming one of two GOP nominees for a seat on one of Arizona’s most powerful but little-known elected bodies.

[snip]

He had officially qualified for roughly $370,000 in public funding for his statewide campaign from the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission.1

But the Commission was withholding his funds because he has refused to sign a sworn statement that his campaign finance reports are accurate.

Read the entire article, not just the lines that I've quoted.

In addition to his campaign cash problems, he likes to campaign as a doctor.

From the same AZ Agenda article -

Which would be fine, except that he's not, at least, not any longer.

From the website of the Arizona Medical Board -

In and of itself, that may not be a deal breaker - Paul Gosar, member of Congress, likes to refer to himself as a "doctor" but his dental license expired years ago.

However, there was something else on the med board's website that was attention grabbing.

Under most circumstances, a letter of reprimand might not be a big deal (other than highlighting the [lack of] professionalism he brings to a position of trust), but the Arizona Medical Board, like such boards in most states, is notorious for not disciplining any of its licensees unless two conditions are met:

1.The licensee is caught doing something bad in a way that can't be ignored; and

2.The licensee is caught doing something that brings disrepute to the rest of the profession.

From page 3 of the letter -

Not exactly a glowing character reference.