John Munger of Tucson (right), a Republican candidate for governor, speaks with reporters Thursday night about his endorsement from former Gov. Fife Symington (left)/Photo by Capitol Media Services.

A common trait in people who run for public office is a high level of self-confidence. Those who pull it off well act as leaders; those who don’t just act with arrogance. I’m still trying to figure out which camp John Munger belongs to a few hours after he told me this:

“If I had been governor last year, we would not have a budget deficit today.”

Munger, a Tucson lawyer and co-founder of the Commerce Bank of Arizona, was wrapping up a weeklong tour of the state after formally entering the Republican primary for governor in 2010. He was kind enough to stop by the Tribune office for about 45 minutes this morning to speak face-to-face about his candidacy. Clearly energized by the endorsement Thursday night from former Gov. Fife Symington, Munger said he could quickly resolve the state’s spending problems without the sales tax proposal from the current governor, Jan Brewer, and without “below the bone” budget cuts that would seem to be required if taxes aren’t raised.

In short, Munger is convinced the governor and state Legislature could kick-start the economy and thus rebuild the state treasury. He wants to pursue initiatives that conservatives and libertarians should love, including:

• Tear down the regulatory burdens that prevent businesses from expanding or relocating here. Munger’s promise: Most projects would receive state approval within 30 days. “I have clients in my little law firm that could create 500 to 1,000 jobs overnight if they just could get their projects approved.”
• Lower the corporate income tax and wipe out the property tax on business personal property. “Those aren’t a big part of the budget, but they are important to businesses who are making decisions about the future.”
• Get new highway construction underway with privately funded but state-owned toll roads. “We could get a $20 billion investment just for (an expanded) freeway from Phoenix to Flagstaff.”

Those are all fine ideas, great even. But they couldn’t possibly overcome a $3 billion to $4 billion budget deficit in the near future, could they? Munger insists they would, but most people at the state Capitol can’t imagine that because they are career politicians with too little experience in the business world. “It’s doable if we harness the power of the free enterprise system.”

Munger has a wealth of concrete ideas about what Arizona should be doing to address immediate problems and long-term challenges. I was impressed with his recent suggestions for state-based health care reform. He wants to convince investors to build a desalinization plant off of the Sea of Cortez to pipe water into the state. He wants to decentralize the state K-12 education by empowering school principals to make most budget decisions, getting rid of school district administrators, and using the savings to dramatically raise salaries for quality teachers.

Munger is probably right that current political trends in the state Legislature means he would have a Republican majority eager to embrace his agenda. But he has to get elected first.

On that subject, Munger says he’s clearly the best candidate for Republicans to send against Terry Goddard or any other Democratic candidate. Munger boldly predicted his four decades in Tucson would translate into more votes than Goddard in Pima County (usually viewed as tilting Democrat), and he would easily rally Republican voters in Maricopa County (where 58 percent of Arizona’s electorate live). “It’s my race to lose.”

Like I said, Munger is either a real leader, or is really arrogant. I can’t wait to find out which is true.