PHOENIX – Former Congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon recently appeared on "The Think Tank" (KTAR News 92.3 FM).

Salmon spoke with Mike O'Neil about the importance of securing Arizona's border in order to keep our communities safe from drug cartels, human traffickers, and other criminals. They also discussed Salmon's plan as governor to establish merit pay and make sure that great teachers are properly compensated for their work in the classroom.

You can read relevant excerpts from the interview below:

Matt Salmon On Securing Arizona's Border:

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"I've met with the [CBP] folks and the ICE folks on numerous occasions ... and they said, 'We don't need more appropriations. We need our hands untied and we need good policy' ... The law says that you cannot come across the border illegally, and they want to be able to enforce the law ... The situation at the border – and I think anybody who lives there in Yuma will tell you that it is significantly, significantly worse than it was two years ago."

Matt Salmon On Empowering Teachers With Merit Pay:

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"We've got to fundamentally change the way that we pay teachers. This idea that every teacher gets the same pay increase every year regardless of what kind of job they do – to me, it's nuts. It doesn't work in any industry or anywhere in the real world. People should be rewarded based on a meritocracy, and we should start paying teachers based on their results and really great teachers should be making over $100,000 a year."