2016 election

Pamela Powers Hannley

#LD9 Vote: Got Your Ballot But Can’t Decide? Read This! (video)

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Pamela Powers Hannley
Pamela Powers Hannley at Clean Elections debate

Once the Secretary of State has decided who has enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, candidates are flooded with endorsement questionnaires from Political Action Committees (PACs) and informational questionnaires from media outlets and the Clean Elections Commission. For the most part, the goal of the PAC questionnaires was to determine which candidates would vote to allow that PAC to keep whatever tax breaks or favors it is currently receiving; to obtain new financial favors; to renew them; to secure votes on specific issues; and/or to determine who will receive PAC money. (When you see a long list of endorsement, rest assured there are promises behind each endorsement.)

I am proud to announce that I have received endorsements from five groups. These groups are aligned with my values of promoting public health and equality for women and other groups that are often discriminated against. Since I am a Clean Elections candidate, I have received their support but no PAC checks.

  •  Arizona Nurses Association
  • National Association of Social Workers, Arizona Chapter
  • Arizona Women’s Political Caucus
  • National Organization for Women, Arizona Chapter
  • Arizona List (on the list)

But this blog post isn’t about endorsements. It’s about candidate questionnaires. This week, AZCentral (AKA the Arizona Republic) has released its Voter Guide which contains candidate answers to their very lengthy and comprehensive list of questions. More after the jump…

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It’s a dry denial

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

I had to interrupt my holiday blogging hiatus to bring you the “Journalist Year in Review” segment from Channel 8 Horizon.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uwqP2mKrG0&w=640&h=390]Link in case the video doesn’t work

Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts, AZ Capitol Media Service’s Howie Fischer, and KJZZ host Steve Goldstein were asked for their prognostications for 2016, with the winning scores being tallied at the end of next year. The first questions were about the Presidency: who would win their respective party nominations and then the general elections. The three panelists differed on who would win the GOP nod, with Roberts picking Rubio, Fischer Cruz, and Goldstein going with Jeb Bush. All three believe the GOP nominee will prevail narrowly in the electoral college, though Roberts suggested that a third party run by Trump could derail that.

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Dad always gets his hot rod

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Probably the best non-voter file or ISIL related takes on last Saturday’s Democratic debate:

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Possibly most hated woman by Republicans admonished for acknowledging that they hate her. Okay.

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Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

sleeping with the enemy
Why do you have to be so strident about this, Julia? Calling him your “enemy” is so divisive!

At the end of last week’s Democratic debate, Anderson Cooper asked the candidates the following question (link autoplays):

“You’ve all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of?”

Note that “enemy” was Cooper’s word choice. Here’s how all of them answered:

Lincoln Chafee: I guess the coal lobby. I’ve worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I’m proud to be at odds with the coal lobby.

Martin O’Malley: The National Rifle Association.

Hillary Clinton: Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans.

Bernie Sanders: As someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me.

Jim Webb: I’d have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he’s not around right now to talk to.

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How committed are anti-choicers to forcing pregnant women to give birth, under any circumstance? Very.

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

March for LifeLook at this rose! How can you say we’re not nice people? We like roses!

Last week was the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision and, of course, the annual pilgrimage of anti-choicers from all over the country to descend upon the nation’s capital to show what loving, compassionate, and totally-not-obsessed-with-punishing-women-for-sex people they are. Emily Crocket of RH Reality Check reported on some of the, shall we say, slightly disturbing things said by anti-abortion activists at the March for Life:

“Rape and incest are awful things, and there’s already so much hurt and pain in those situations, but adding more hurt, more pain [from an abortion] isn’t going to help anybody,” said David Held of Purdue Students for Life.

“I personally believe that it’s pretty selfish of them to go and kill that person” by having an abortion after a rape, said a young man from a Catholic high school near Lafayette, Louisiana, whose priest asked that the students not be named. “It’s probably going to hurt the whole time, but it’s a sacrifice that you have to make.”

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