Pima County Supes Give LD9 Appointment to the Men

Today, the Pima County Board of Supervisors gave the LD9 seat recently vacated by Rep. Victoria Steele to one of the male candidates whose name was put forward.

Three names were advanced to the Supervisors by the legislative district’s precinct committee people (PCs). Although I got 78% of the PC votes at last Friday’s meeting, Supervisor Richard Elias put forth Matt Kopec, a Tucson City Council aide and Democratic Party insider, for consideration. Supervisor Ray Carroll waited until all three Democrats had voted “yes” before he said “yes”. Supervisor Ally Miller voted “no”. The upshot is that four Supervisors– none of whom live in LD9– sent a party insider to the Legislature and ignored the will of LD9 precinct committee people.

While making my phone calls to the PCs in recent weeks, I heard the tale of the appointment contest between Don Jorgensen and Nancy Young-Wright a few years back. Although Jorgensen got the most PC votes, Young-Wright got the appointment from the Supes.

Consequently, several PCs from the old LD26 gave me the same words on wisdom: “You never know what the Supes will do.” and “The Supervisors are not the voters. The PCs represent the voters.” and “Don’t give up.”

I’m not planning to give up. After all, I have a campaign that is in full swing– with a platform, a website, social media, signatures, $5s, seed money donations, and volunteer. Why would I quit now?

Things just got interesting. I say, “Game on.” The reprieve from service in Phoenix gives me time to concentrate on getting the last of my $5 Clean Elections Contributions, signatures, and seed money.  Watch out for upcoming “Give Me $5” house parties. Go here if you want to volunteer to help me out with tabling and parties.

If you live in LD9, I’d appreciate your signature on my petition and your $5 Clean Elections Contribution. Click on this graphic which takes you to the Secretary of State’s office.

(PayPal adds a small fee to the $5 donation. You can also make a seed money donation through PayPal, by going here.)

Who will propose extension of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) deadline in the Arizona Legislature in 2016, as Rep. Victoria Steele has done other years?

Here is my speech to the LD9 PCs last Friday night…

Before I give my mini-campaign speech, I’d like to tell you a bit about myself. I grew up in Amherst, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. My Dad was a union guy. He was a member and officer in his United Steelworkers Local.

I escaped the cold and snow of Ohio in 1981 when I moved to Tucson.

Many of you know me as a blogger, but my real job is working for the American Journal of Medicine. I was managing editor for 11 years, and as of January 1, I am working part-time at the Journal as Social Media and Technology Editor.

I started working part time because I want to devote more time to my campaign.

As many of you know, I have been running for Victoria Steele’s house seat since Labor Day. Many of you have signed my petition, given me a $5 Clean Elections Contribution or generously donated seed money. I truly appreciate your support, and I really enjoyed talking with many of you in the past week. Thanks for volunteering!

Tonight, I am asking you to vote for me to be appointed to Victoria’s seat in the Arizona House. Victoria was a strong voice for women’s issues in the Legislature. I worked with her behind the scenes on the Equal Rights Amendment and other issues, and I would like to continue this work in the Legislature and expand on it by focusing on civil rights and paycheck fairness for women and minorities. As long as large segments of our population make less than the prevailing wage, our town and state will not thrive.

My economic plan includes several strategies to raise revenue or save money to pay for the things like public education, jobs, and infrastructure. I believe that Arizona should establish a public bank. Why not take part of that budget surplus that we have and start an infrastructure bank to self-fund projects? The state could lend itself money, as well as lend money to cities and counties for their infrastructure needs. The cities and counties would save millions in Wall Street fees, and the state would make some money on the interest, which could be used to fund other things, like education.

Lastly, I believe that Arizona should refocus its drug prevention, treatment and enforcement efforts on drugs that are killing and addicting our citizens. Arizona has one of the country’s worst prescription drug abuse problems. More people are dying from opioid drug overdose—either prescription opioids or heroin—than from car accidents.

Check out my website PowersForThePeople.net for details about my background and my ideas.