Click the play button on the video window to the see the storyPARADISE VALLEY, AZ -- He's stopping short of announcing a firm candidacy, but it looks like Mayor Vernon Parker is vying for the governorship.
Parker knows how to overcome challenges.
"When people tell me that I can't, I believe that I can," said Parker, who grew up poor, without a father in Long Beach, Calif.
Parker quickly rose through the ranks to become the first African American mayor of Paradise Valley, after serving as the first Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the US Department of Agriculture for the Bush Administration.
"If people in this state are saying we can't do this and we can't do that, we need a positive message," said Parker. "And we can and we will."
He says his platform is unity.
"I've spent my life bringing people together, and it shouldn't be about Democrats, it shouldn't be about Republicans, it shouldn't be about sales taxes, quite frankly, it should be about what are we going to do for future generations," Parker said.
The mayor's focus is children, but he is against Governor Brewer's proposed 1-percent sales tax hike to fund public education.
"I want to be perfectly clear that education and the welfare of children would be one of my number one priorities, and I think we can accomplish that without raising taxes," said Parker.
But he's not without controversy.
After an investigation last year, the federal government found that Parker was a federal employee when he tried to qualify his consulting firm for a contracting program for minorities.
Parker maintains he was a consultant at the time, not an employee, and says he plans to file a defamation suit against the federal government.
"If I can fight the federal government, I will fight stronger for the people of Arizona," said Parker. "And I think that the people of Arizona will see that there was nothing there."
