Thank You, LD9! I’m Proud to Serve You for Another Term (video)

LD9 election results for 2020

Thank you so much, LD9 voters, for making me the top vote getter in the 2020 Primary Election and the 2020 General Election. I particularly want to thank my grassroots volunteers who worked tirelessly to help me win re-election. 

It was an extremely difficult year for humankind, but you persevered to help many Democrats win– including the LD9 team of Senator Victoria Steele, Rep. Randy Friese and me. Oh, yes, and Joe Biden!

I was his target, and you helped me beat him. The final count is PPH 64,781, Rep. Randy Friese 64,772 and Brendan Lyons 48,026.  OK, I beat Friese by only nine votes, but I beat Lyons by 17,755 votes.

Big money and endorsements provided by the Chamber of Commerce, insurance company PACs, the police PAC, developers, and others who want another reliable Republican vote for privatization and tax giveaways lost to a Progressive Clean Elections candidate with a people-centered campaign, a strong voice, and an independent voting record.

I could not have done this without your grassroots support.

In the pre-COVID era, you hosted house parties, which were invaluable for meeting voters and for collecting signatures, $5 contributions for Clean Elections, and seed money. You collected signatures and $5s on your own while I was at the Capitol in early 2020.

You bundled and labeled literature. You stamped, addressed and personalized postcards. You organized events and people. You amplified my campaign messages on social media.

You helped the LD9 team distribute palm cards by doing no-contact lit drops in nearly every precinct in the district in just a few months.

You worked really hard this year for the big wins the Democratic Party achieved in 2020 — including electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vide president.

Take care of yourselves. WEAR A MASK. I’ll be looking for you on RTS in the coming session.

#AZHouse Republicans Pass Burdensome Regulation on Citizens Initiative (video)

Arizona House Republicans recently passed SB1451, Senator Vince Leach’s latest attempt to kill the Citizens Initiative process. Every year, Republicans add new regulations to the popular Citizens Initiative process–like dramatically increasing the number of signatures, strict compliance on petitions (forcing us to write in between the lines or risk having our signature knocked off), or eliminating the pay-per-signature practice for paid circulators.

The worst part of 1451 was taken out in the Senate. That was the section that made people group the petitions by circulator and allowed for elimination of whole petitions if one volunteer’s petitions got mixed up with another. The house added another amendment to give the attorney general the power to change the language used to explain the initiative. (This is a scary thought, after all of the intrigue and BS that surrounded the language of the initiatives on the 2018 ballot. You’ll remember that the anti-Clean Elections initiative was allowed to be purposefully misleading.)

SB1451 is a bad bill that over-regulates the Citizens Initiative process, adds bureaucracy and slows the process of circulator recruitment and signature gathering down.

Continue reading #AZHouse Republicans Pass Burdensome Regulation on Citizens Initiative (video)

Voter Suppression Is ‘Theme’ for #AZLeg in 2019 (video)

Republicans have two big problems with the 2018 election: too many of you voted, which resulted in too many of them losing.

Each year of the Arizona Legislature seems to have a theme. For 2017, the theme was big tax giveaways. For 2018, it was Red for Ed. The theme for 2019 is voter suppression. One of the Democrats suggested that the Republicans were overreacting to their losses in 2018.

The sheer volume of voter suppression bills is staggering. In the multiple ways, the Republicans are trying to make it more difficult to vote, to register someone to vote, and to submit Citizens’ Initiatives. They also want to solidify big money politics by attacking the independence of Clean Elections Commission.

There are so many awful bills that I needed a cheat sheet to do this video. Many of these are still in play, and you can use the Request to Speak system to comment. HB2724 (anti-Clean Elections) and HB2616 (adds penalties and unnecessary burden to registering people to vote) passed the Arizona House this week and will head to the Senate. (You can stop them there!)

Continue reading Voter Suppression Is ‘Theme’ for #AZLeg in 2019 (video)

Meet My Guests for Opening Day 2019 at the Legislature (video)

The speeches droned on during the opening day session at the Arizona House on Monday, January 14, 2019. As a result, about half of the members were unable to introduce their guests. I think the introduction of guests is actually one of the most fascinating parts of opening day because you get to see who people chose to bring to the capital and how they introduce them. Since I did not get to introduce my guests, the first video of this session is my introduction of four LD9 precinct committee people who were my guests on the floor of the house yesterday.

Continue reading Meet My Guests for Opening Day 2019 at the Legislature (video)

Labor Day Picnic on Sept 4: Come On Down!

Re-Elect Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley

Come and join Jim and I at the Powers For The People booth at the Pima Area Labor Federation’s Annual Labor Day Picnic on Monday, September 4 at Reid Park.

The Labor Day Picnic is like homecoming for Jim and me. We have had a booth or attended the Labor Day Picnic nearly every year since we met– first with Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), then with Arizonans for a New Economy, for the past two years as a candidate for Arizona House, and this year as an elected representative. Two years ago, I collected my first signatures and $5 Clean Elections Qualifying Contributions at the Labor Day Picnic.

There are five ways you can support my 2018 re-election campaign at the picnic.

1- Sign my petition

If you live in LD9, I will have nominating petitions for you to sign at my booth. Please help me get on the ballot in 2018.

2- Give Me $5 for Clean Elections

Yes, I am running clean again and looking for $5s. Running clean is part of my value system. I believe that elected officials should answer to the voters– not to big money donors, lobbyists, political action committees, or dark money. Clean candidates have no strings attached because we accept only modest donations from real people. I will have $5 Clean Elections Qualifying Contribution forms at the booth on Monday. To qualify for Clean Elections funds and avoid trap of big money politics, I have to collect at least 200 $5 donations from LD9 voters . Please help me out, and bring a $5 to the picnic.

Continue reading Labor Day Picnic on Sept 4: Come On Down!

#PowersForThePeople Update: LD9 Debate & Volunteer Opportunities

Randy Friese, Pamela Powers Hannley, Steve Farley

Now that early voting has started and now that mailed ballots, the election information booklets, and the first of the campaign mailers have gone out, the Nov. 8 election is officially underway in Arizona.

There are big events coming up this week in the LD9 race.

Oct 14: LD9 Clean Elections Debate

The LD9 Clean Elections debate will be held at the Pima Community College Northwest Campus at 6-7 p.m. on Friday, Oct 14.  Please come if you can. This will be the first chance (and perhaps the only chance) you the voters will get to see all three LD9 House candidates together: incumbent Rep. Randy Friese, Tea Party challenger Ana Henderson, and me. Audience members can submit questions. If there are questions you want to ask, this is your chance! If you miss the debate, watch for the link posted on my website in the future. (Facebook event here.)

Oct 15-16: LD9 Canvassing & GOTV Phone Banking

The Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (ADLCC) and the Pima County Democrats are organizing a massive Get Out the Vote Effort this weekend. There will be canvassing shifts throughout both days and phone banking from multiple locations. Contact Erin Burton (270-978-7866) for information or check out the Facebook link and show up!  (Facebook event here.)

Thanks for helping us hold LD9 for the Democrats! #DumpTheTeaParty

P.S. Just to clarify, the photo above includes Senator Steve Farley with Randy and me, but Steve will not be participating in the debate because he is running unopposed.