Capitol Times Interview/Up Close with Trish Groe

Groe celebrates one year of sobriety, says DUI was a wake-up call
By Jim Small, jim.small@azcapitoltimes.com

The defining moment of Trish Groe’s political career is also the defining moment in her life. A little more than a year ago, the Lake Havasu City Republican was pulled over just outside Parker after police spotted her driving erratically. She failed a roadside sobriety test and was arrested for drunk driving. Less than a week later, she entered a rehabilitation facility to treat an alcoholism problem she said at the time she had struggled with for much of her life. A year has now passed, and Groe — who recently celebrated her first year of sobriety — says the arrest not only provided her with a wake-up call, but it saved her life. She is thankful no one was injured and has a new lease on life.

Groe spoke with Arizona Capitol Times on April 1 about her sobriety, her decision to run for re-election and her status as the only lawmaker who lives in a motor home during the legislative session.
First of all, congratulations on your one-year anniversary of being sober.
Thank you, thank you, I’m very excited about that.
I have to imagine that it’s been a pretty difficult journey just to get to this point. What have been the biggest obstacle and the biggest challenge about that to you?
You know, it’s been terrific. It’s really been awesome. It hasn’t been a struggle with my faith and family and my friends; it has been a wonderful journey. I’m just so thankful for my sobriety and I’m thankful to be here. It’s a shame that it had to happen, but I’m grateful to those law enforcement officers who pulled me over. And I hate that I took such a big risk and I’m glad that nobody was hurt but, you know, I needed that wake-up call. And I didn’t really believe that I had a future and now I think that I do, so to be out from under that beast is just a ray of sunshine.
What’s been the biggest comfort for you during the past year?
Besides my faith, my husband. He has been terrific. And then for as many nasty e-mails that have been rude and crude e-mails, there have been people who have reached out from all over Arizona and sent me e-mails just saying, “We think you’re a good legislator, we really want you to beat this so that you can get back to work.” Or the other day, somebody gave me a book and said, “My sister hasn’t been able to celebrate her one-year anniversary, please pray for her.” So, it’s been nice, I’m speaking at the Teen Challenge event in Mohave County later on in May, so I’m hoping to be able to use my experience to maybe shine a light in other people’s lives and let them know that, as dark as it gets — and it did get very dark for me — there is hope, and you can overcome. There’s victory over this.
You said that you got a lot of e-mails from all over the state, what about your constituents? What’s been the reaction from people in District 3?
My constituents have been awesome, they have really showed mercy and grace and forgiveness. They have sent me cards and letters when I was in rehab here at Calvary Center. I got flowers from a couple of people just after reading some of the stuff that was printed in the paper, so they’ve been great. And I think that they’re definitely interested in character and integrity, but I think hand in hand with that is me being able to admit what I did was wrong and it’s something I do struggle with. And I think people can relate to that. I think we’re all human and we all have our cross to bear. I’m happy to say that I think the bond between myself and my constituents is stronger now, and there’s a lot of communication going on this session.
You’ve said in the past that getting arrested saved your life.
Yes.
How?
Like I said, I didn’t have hope. And I didn’t think that I could have victory over my addiction. It was a very dark place. And being called on the carpet and having to do the press conference and own up to my horrible mistake provided me with impetus to go into rehabilitation and to get help. I knew that I couldn’t do it on my own.
I know that a lot of people called for you to resign after you were arrested and again I think after you pled last year. Why did you choose to serve another term?
I think I do a great job here representing my constituents and so, there never really was any thought of resignation because I think I’ve been very effective here. And I know that I’m here for a reason, sometimes I’m not sure what that reason is, but I think that, for the most part, I speak for my constituents and that was never in question. And I knew that each day that progressed, with my increased sobriety, that I would only be more effective and shine more brightly down here.
Do you expect that this is going to be an issue in your re-election campaign? Maybe not with your constituents, you said that a lot of them have been very understanding and very forgiving. I know that there are a couple other people, at least two other Republicans who have filed for the seat.
I think that perhaps it would be an issue, but that would be so unfortunate. I understand why people want to run for this position and I am frankly shocked that more people don’t, because it’s an extraordinary responsibility, and so, I don’t fault them for running. But I think it would be a mistake on their part if they made this an issue and I hope that they feel called to keep this campaign solely about issues, because that’s what the people deserve to hear about.
Now I think you might be the only lawmaker who lives in a motor home.
(laughing) Down here? Yes. I think Bill Wagner might have when he was in session for a while.
Is this the first year you’ve been doing that?
Yes.
I saw the picture of it online, and it’s gorgeous.
It is very nice. My husband has good taste.
It’s got to be nicer than staying in a hotel or renting an apartment.
Well, we rented an apartment across the street from the Arizona Center last year and it was a nice apartment but it was very small, and it was something to get used to, people living above you and below you and the smoke and stuff like that. So we kind of did a cost analysis and found out that it’s really more cost effective if we park the motor home — not if we drive it these days, with diesel up around $4 a gallon — but if we can live in that motor home. And my district goes all the way to Page and Colorado City and Bouse and all those areas so it’s about nine hours from one end to the other. I’m looking forward to traveling in it during the interim.
Since you’ve been down here, there have been a lot of changes just in the Legislature since 2005, and your caucus specifically seems that it’s borne the brunt of those changes. You guys went from a very solid 38, 39-member caucus…
Those were the days…
…that there was a lot more of an ability to get conservative legislation through. How difficult is it, making that transition, for you — I know that you’re one of the more conservative members of the caucus — to knowing that your ideas and the things that you value were more of a priority for the caucus two years ago?
I think at times I have let that perhaps be a burden, but I have to remember and keep focused that the people that are down here, the diversity that we see in the caucus is the diversity that’s reflected out there in the constituents of Arizona. So I know that my job down here, because I was elected by my constituents, is just to keep voting the way that I vote and not be concerned about how others vote.
Now, saying that, I spend a lot of my time here, because I didn’t run a lot of legislation this year, I spent a lot my time between the House and Senate trying to kill what I think are really bad bills. And I try to tell my constituents, when you’re talking to a legislator, don’t ask what bills they’ve sponsored, ask what bad bills they’ve killed. Because that is much more important than anything that goes on down here. That’s sometimes why I vote on legislation because it’s poorly drafted. The intent of the legislation is good, but it just doesn’t cut it.
I think the off-highway vehicle bill might be an example of ‘poorly drafted.’
It is. I applaud the intent, it’s awesome. But just very dangerous in some of those areas, and it’s difficult. One of the most difficult things I find down here is getting the word to my constituents, not just what’s put in the press where we’re going to create a new license fee and a fund, because that’s all that’s mentioned, but the other aspects of the bill, that are frightening. That’s why I have my blog, that’s why I send out e-mails. I had a new Web site that’s just designed, but that’s really difficult being out-of-county and making sure of those things. And we have a couple small newspapers, they don’t have reporters up here, and we don’t get The Arizona Republic anymore — thank God, in my opinion.
Is that a challenge that you think most of the in-county, the Maricopa County representatives and senators maybe can’t necessarily identify with — having more difficulty communicating with your voters?
I think so. I would love to be able to go home at night and go to an event that’s in my community. That would be neat to be able to visit the schools more or schedule a meeting at seven in the evening, or have coffee with some of my constituents before I come in here, that sounds delightful. And I don’t get that, so when I go in my district I kind of twist arms with people to see if they’ll meet me on a Saturday or Sunday after church before I drive in.
What is the most important bill that you had a hand in either passing or defeating?
I don’t know, there are just so many out there. Just some really crazy ideas, and I used to make a list of all the bills that I called the “Bad Bill Blues.”
What do you think is the most important issue in the state right now?
I think we need to address the situation with illegal immigration because that affects every aspect of our daily lives. Whether it is in the school system or in health care, it influences everything that we do down here. I think that we have got to shut the border; that should be our number one priority. Then we can address some of the other areas.
What else is left for the state to do in that regard?
I think we are on our way. I think we are doing a good job. If we can get this legislation out and we can get it enforced, then I think we are doing a good job with that.
The other thing is just addressing the budget. I was actually excited to come here this session, and I thought ‘OK, we are not in a good situation, but this is a good opportunity to look at some of the redundant programs that we have in government, or some of the programs that are not working so well, or, hey, wait a minute, let’s just look at what our priorities should be and cut funding on that. So, I was really up for the task. Appropriations is my favorite committee. I just spend so much time going over the intricacies of the budget, going in and out of departments and following the money, or at least trying to follow the money. Unfortunately, we are not getting the opportunity to do that, and that saddens me.
You are referring to the negotiations happening behind closed doors?
Not so much the process. I mean the process is what it is, and it is definitely not the best. It is highly unusual for them to take everything out of the Appropriations Committee. In my opinion, the Appropriations Committee has been castrated. I just think we really missed our opportunity to be effective in addressing the budget problem. Right now, because of the time, and because of the way negotiations are going, we are robbing from designated funds and, to me, it makes no sense. It is just scratching at funds.
If you had your druthers how would you address that problem?
If I had my druthers, we would have had a special session. I think we all saw this coming. I used to tell my constituents ‘wow, we are just going to have such a problem when we go in January. I mean, you can see how it affects me. It is just unfathomable that we are in the situation we are in. I think we need to take a look at our social welfare programs. I am not sure that we should be using hard-earned taxpayer money to pay for babysitting. I think our social welfare programs are robbing Peter to pay Paul. I know that there is some redundancy in government, and I certainly know there is some waste in state agencies. I think this is a missed opportunity and for that I am sad. I have spoken to my colleagues, and say ‘how do you explain this to your constituents and say send me back?’
Sounds like you are not going to be one of the green lights on the board when the budget plan comes through.
I would love to be a green. At this point I don’t know what they could do, but I would love to support leadership. That would be nice.
How has this session been different than last session? Last year was rocky, at times, between the leadership and the rest of the caucus. Do you see any difference this year?
I can’t speak for others, but I know for myself that I wouldn’t want their job. I try to give them the respect their position deserves.
Do you have any predictions in the upcoming election? Who is going to win the presidency? How will Arizona fare at the national and state level?
I believe that our Senator McCain is going to win the presidency, and I can say that I am definitely looking forward to being here next year.