Congressman Jeff Flake kicked off his campaign for U.S. Senate with a two-day bus tour that began March 23 with a rally at Gilbert High School and ended in his hometown of Snowflake with a barbecue and another rally.

Flake and his family spent two days together on the statewide bus tour, meeting with many of his supporters. “I really wanted to end this thing in Snowflake. This is where my home is and this is really my home,” said the Congressman.

Reed Flake introduced Jeff, who is a fifth-generation Snowflake native, and the fifth child of Dean and Nerita Flake of Snowflake. He and Cheryl have been married for 26 years. He was elected to Congress in 2001, representing District 6.

Reed said, “Jeff was born and raised in Snowflake, so he knew which way the wind was blowing,” noting that he stuck to what he believed and in 2007 he was removed from House Judiciary Committee because he wouldn’t back down in his opposition to earmarks. Jeff is credited with prompting house rule changes regarding earmarks.

“Growing up here has given me a great foundation for running for Congress,” said the Congressman. “I ap-preciate the example of my father; the example of a good man, a righteous man, a patriot.”

He spoke of the talks the family had around the table about politics and how they led him to run for Con-gress. He also noted that he has become known for his farm analogies and said with a smile, “Growing up on a ranch and farm is not good for just the values it instills, but the fodder for the campaign.”

Flake noted that the national debt is now nearly $16 trillion. It doubled in five years and if it keeps going like it is over the next five years, it will double again. “We cannot continue this spending binge,” said Flake. “When I first got to Congress I was concerned about earmarking.” He said that he was told, “Just go get a few earmarks and you’ll get elected,” and listed some of the earmarks garnered by other Members of Congress, in-cluding the Teapot Museum in North Carolina, the Punxsutawney Phil Museum in Pennsylvania and the infa-mous Bridge to Nowhere, which was to have been built in Alaska before the earmark was removed by Congress in 2007.

“For years, after I couldn’t get my own party to stop the earmarks, I went on the floor every year to chal-lenge their earmarks,” said Flake. “A funny thing happened, though…” Congressmen tried to get there first to challenge earmarks and finally Republicans had enough and stopped them. A few months later, Democrats stopped them. “Finally we have no earmarks,” he said, noting the Senate hasn’t accomplished that yet.

“The Senate hasn’t passed a budget in over 1,000 days,” said Flake. “In Washington we can print money, and that’s what our government has chosen to do.

“We have to take control of the U.S. Senate, we simply have to.”

Flake noted that he has worked closely with retiring Senator Jon Kyl, whose seat Flake is vying for, on is-sues such as water rights and forest health issues. “We have to make sure it continues,” said Flake.

He said that the hallmark of Arizona has always been having people willing to ensure the future, and make sure that their children have it better than they did.

Flake spoke of his ancestors and the struggles of his grandfather James M. Flake, who lost his brother Char-les Love Flake when he was shot and killed while trying to make an arrest. James, who was shot in the ear, managed to arrest the man. Three years later he lost his wife. James Flake involved himself politically to pro-mote women’s suffrage, said the Congressman, noting that Arizona was the seventh state to vote for women’s suffrage. “Fifty-two percent of voters in Arizona are women,” he said.

He also spoke of his first grandchild, who will be born in October, and asked, “What kind of future will this child have unless we change the direction in Washington? If we’re going to change the direction of our coun-try… we’ve got to change what we do in Washington.”