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Stan Barnes is a political consultant that lives in Arizona.

Ken Bennett was appointed by Gov. Jan Brewer to replace her as secretary of state, and took the oath of office on Jan. 26, 2009. The statewide office is the newest chapter in a record of public service that spans 25 years. It’s also the latest distinction for Bennett – an Arizona native and small-business owner. Bennett began his legislative career in 1998 when he was elected to represent the residents of Legislative District 1. He served four terms in the state Senate – from 1999 to 2007 – and served as Senate president his final four years before being term-limited from office. Earlier, in 2007, Bennett received the Polly Rosenbaum Award from the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records in recognition of his support for the State Library’s mission to preserve Arizona history and ensure access to state information and records. He served as Republican Floor Leader in 2002, and was chairman of the Senate Education Committee in 2001 and 2002. Prior to joining the Legislature, Bennett was a member of the Arizona State Board of Education for seven years. He was president of the board in 1996 and 1998. Bennett also served on the Arizona Charter Schools Board for three years, and was a founding member of the Education Leaders Council in Washington, D.C. Bennett’s career in public service began in 1985 with his election to the Prescott City Council. He completed a four-year term, and was named mayor pro-tempore in 1988. After leaving the Legislature, Bennett re-entered the private sector to work with companies in the development of alternative energy sources and energy-efficient building technologies. Currently, he is chairman of the board of directors for Prescott-based Global Building Systems, Inc., and Energy Tech America. He also is a member of the board of directors for Cancer Treatment Centers of America (Western Regional Medical Center, in Goodyear). Bennett was CEO of Bennett Oil Company, a family fuel-distribution business, from 1985 to 2006. He continues on its board of directors.

Bruce Merrill retired from the Cronkite School in May 2008 after 35 years of teaching. He continues to conduct the Cronkite/Eight Poll, a statewide monthly survey of Arizona voters. Merrill joined the ASU faculty in 1971, but when the journalism-telecommunication faculty was expanded in 1988, Merrill was sought out because of his reputation as a researcher in the areas of political behavior and political media communications. Merrill’s first major assignment in fall 1988 was to establish a Media Research Program in the Cronkite School. Under Merrill’s direction the School launched the Cactus State Poll in conjunction with KAET-TV in 1990. The Media Research Program is used to conduct public opinion polls and to train students in the design and interpretation of the polls. Merrill has overseen more than 500 surveys during the past decade and has served as a consultant to scores of newspapers, television stations and corporations. The surveys have focused on a variety of issues as well as marketing and advertising strategies. Results have been disseminated widely by major national and international newspapers and electronic media outlets. Merrill taught courses in public opinion, political communication and quantitative research methodology with an emphasis on survey research. Merrill’s undergraduate major was mathematics and his master’s in political science. His doctorate in political behavior is from the University of Michigan where he trained at the Institute for Social Research.

Janice K. Brewer became the 22nd person to take the oath of office as Governor of Arizona on January 21, 2009. She is Arizona’s fifth Secretary of State to succeed to Governor in mid-term. Jan Brewer has lived in Arizona for 39 years, and she has spent the past 27 of them serving the people and upholding the public trust. There are few, if any, elected officials in Arizona with a broader range of productive experience in public service. Prior to her succession to Governor, she served as Arizona Secretary of State, as Maricopa County Supervisor, and as a highly respected member of both houses of the Arizona Legislature, where she rose to leadership of the State Senate. On the strength of that record she was elected Arizona Secretary of State in 2002 and was re-elected to a second term in 2006. Since then, she has worked actively, even-handedly and without partisan rancor to inspire public confidence in the state’s political processes. As Secretary of State, Brewer identified immediate ways to save taxpayer dollars and make the election process more accessible. To address the ongoing state budget deficit, she had legislation introduced to update antiquated laws and remove unnecessary and expensive publication requirements. She consolidated her workforce assignments, eliminated staff overtime, and eliminated various other non-essential expenditures. Throughout her career, a priority for Governor Brewer has been to make government more accessible and efficient. While serving as Secretary of State, she took the lead on federal election reform by compiling the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) State Plan, which led to a successful strategy to eliminate punch card voting systems, create a centralized and uniform voter registration system and have touch-screen voting devices for disabled voters in every precinct. In addition, she introduced and passed legislation to make it possible for our overseas military men and women to register to vote and vote by internet or fax. In the 2008 General Election, hundreds of Arizona military and overseas citizens cast ballots over the internet from over 60 countries throughout the world. Before she was elected Secretary of State, Ms. Brewer served as Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the nation's fourth most populous county with more than 3 million residents, helping to build its still-strong reputation for sound and fiscally conservative government. When she first arrived at the County she encountered a local government bogged down so deep in debt that it had utilized $165 million in short-term borrowing just to meet cash flow. At the end of Brewer’s tenure in 2002, she left Maricopa County in one of the strongest financial positions of any county in the nation. The financial turnaround was so good, that Governing Magazine proclaimed the County as “one of the two best managed large counties in the nation.” Also during her chairmanship at Maricopa County, Brewer worked hard to provide better salaries for Sheriff Deputies and County Prosecuting Attorneys, she negotiated large land conservation deals that added thousands of acres of pristine land into county parks and away from development, and improved and expanded the Maricopa Medical Center’s Burn Unit which stands today as one of the pre-eminent health care facilities in the nation. Prior to that service she spent 14 years in the Arizona State Legislature, first as a state representative from 1983 to 1986, and then as state senator from 1987 to 1996. As senator, she held the leadership position of Majority Whip from 1993 to 1996, and helped to win passage of numerous landmark reforms that continue to serve millions of Arizonans today, including tax relief and budget reform; truth in sentencing; open enrollment, school report cards, and charter schools; clean air and water legislation and state trust land preservation. Then-Senator Brewer also sponsored legislation that created the first Living Will statute in the nation. In her service as Secretary of State, Ms. Brewer created a public-private partnership for Arizonans to file online advanced medical directives. As a State Senator, Brewer and her colleagues in legislative leadership also routinely conducted the state’s business in 100-day legislative sessions, sending members home to their districts by mid-April with a balanced state budget and a body of work to show for their time at the Capitol. Governor Brewer has also served as: an appointee on the Governor's Military Task Force dealing with base closure issues; the vice-chairman of Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC), where she worked with members of the criminal justice community to reduce crime in Arizona; vice-chairman of WESTMARC, a coalition of business and government leadership which focuses on economic development and growth issues; as Chairman of the Board of Directors for RIAZ, Inc. (Recovery Innovations of Arizona), a behavioral health service provider, and as Co-Chairman of the Continuum of Care organization dealing with homeless issues. She was a leading public voice for creation of the Maricopa County Homeless campus, which continues to serve countless destitute and desperate people in righting their lives, achieving dignity and recovering self-sufficiency. Governor Brewer is or has been: A Charter Member of Luke Fighter Country Partnership, an organization dedicated to preserving the missions of Luke Air Force Base; a board member of Hope and a Future; Child Help USA; Arizonans for Children; a member of the Arrowhead Republican Women's Club; the Maricopa County SMI Commission; the Arizona Rifle and Pistol Association; and the Japanese-American Citizens League. Governor Brewer is married to Dr. John Brewer and is mother of three sons, one of whom passed away in 2007. She is an active member of Life in Christ Lutheran Church in Peoria. She has lived in Arizona since 1970.

Tim McGuire is the Frank Russell Chair for the business of journalism at the Cronkite School. McGuire teaches courses on ethics and on the business components of journalism including operations, emerging media, corporate responsibility and the future of media. McGuire retired in June 2002 as editor and senior vice president of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. He served in that position since 1992. Previously, he was managing editor of the Star Tribune. He joined the company in 1979 as managing editor of the Star. He was managing editor of the newspaper when it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. He has been a Pulitzer jurist six times, most recently in 2003. McGuire is a past president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (2001-2002). McGuire was the James Batten Visiting Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Davidson College fall 2003 and spent spring 2005 at Washington and Lee University as the first Donald W. Reynolds Distinguished Visiting Professor. His move to full-time teaching is evidence of his growing belief that a middle ground must be found between bottom-line profit orientation in the media business and the pursuit of journalism for the common good. As the Russell Chair, McGuire focuses on the tensions between business and journalism. Until February 2006, McGuire wrote a weekly syndicated column for United Media called “More Than Work.” The column was purchased by 34 newspapers and covered ethics, spirituality and values in work. He is completing a manuscript based on those columns for book publication, tentatively entitled “Totin’ Heart and Soul to Work: Reflections on ethics, values and spirituality in the workplace.” McGuire continues to make speeches and conduct seminars and retreats on calling and spirituality in work, and he consults in the media industry. He speaks on a variety of topics, including “Ways to Tote Heart and Soul to Work,” “Doing the Right Thing in Business,” “Finding Purpose in Work” and “Facing the Future Ethically.” McGuire also speaks on faith and family issues and on the challenges facing families with handicaps. As the Russell Chair, he is again speaking on the challenges facing news media, ethics and problem-solving in media.

Anthony Houston is the Program Manager for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program for the City of East Cleveland, Ohio.

Mansell Baker, Assistant to the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, City of East Cleveland

Fannie Hall, a resident of East Cleveland

Nancy Nolan-Jones, Project Director, Snickerfritz Community Time Capsule Project

José A. Cárdenas is senior vice president and general counsel of Arizona State University. Previously, he was chairman of the law firm of Lewis and Roca LLP. He practiced in the areas of commercial and civil litigation and transactional/international law. Cárdenas is a member of the Maricopa County, Arizona and American Bar Associations, as well as the American Law Institute and the Hispanic National Bar Association. Cárdenas has been a member of Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association for the last 25 years, having served on its board for several years and as president for three years. He has been appointed to various committees, commissions, task forces and boards by the Board of Regents, the Arizona Supreme Court, the Arizona State Bar and Governors Mofford, Symington, Hull and Napolitano, including his current service as a member of the Commerce and Economic Development Commission. He is also a board member of Chicanos Por La Causa and Xicanindio Artes, Inc. He has been named chairman of the inaugural board of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). Cárdenas is a graduate of Stanford Law School.

Charles Arnold is a mental health attorney and member of the board of directors for Mental Health America of Arizona