Fred DuVal

Why don’t Democrats win in Arizona? Answer: Not enough Democratic voters

by

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

canvassingPhoto: IPrecinct.us

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns & Money wants Democrats to stop trying to woo old white people who hate them:

So what’s up? I think there are a few really important points. Democrats need to just stop trying to appeal to old white people. White men voted for the GOP 64-34. It is a loser strategy. This demographic overwhelmingly votes GOP. Alison Grimes, who ran an utterly pathetic and embarrassing campaign, refusing to say whether she voted for President Obama is the prototype of how not to do it. No one is going to believe you. Heard a bunch about the North Carolina race last night and all the discussion about how Ebola, ISIS, and immigration dominated voters’ agenda. When I hear those three things in this context, I hear three words: racism, racism, and racism. And the Supreme Court supporting racist policies to restrict blacks from voting by eviscerating the Voting Rights Act allowed racists to indeed restrict black voting in meaningful ways that may well have swung North Carolina to the execrable Thom Tillis. Developing entire political campaigns to swing a few of these voters to the Democrats isn’t going to work–as we saw quite clearly last night.

Read more

Live Blogging Election Results

by

In an hour, the polls will close. The big question is: Will dark money from the Koch Brothers and their multinational corporate brothers win or will the people win? Will millions of dollars — more than $25 million to buy each Senate seat for Republicans and more than $15 million in Arizona for Republicans — take this … Read more

Close the Meth Lab of Democracy: Vote Blue Today

by

Fred DuValIt’s time for Arizona to stop being the brunt of jokes on Comedy Central and time to close the Meth Lab of Democracy.

Meth– like dark money from the Koch Brothers, ALEC, and Arizona Public Service– is addicting and #Bad4AZ. We need politicians who are clean and not addicted to or swayed by dark money.

To do your part, here are the top 10 things you should do on Election Day:

1- Vote for Fred DuVal, Terry Goddard, Felecia Rotellini, David Garcia, Jim Holway, Sandra Kennedy, Ron Barber (or Raul Grijalva, Ann Kirkpatrick, Mikel Weisser, or James Woods, depending upon where you live), and your Legislative reps (like Victoria Steele, Randy Friese, and Steve Farley) if you haven’t done so already.

2- Vote “No” on Props 122 and 303 because they are all about challenging the federal government and sparking new costly and unnecessary lawsuits. Not #Good4AZ.

3- Vote “Yes” on Prop 415 to build the new animal shelter. It’s only $3/year to treat animals humanely.

4- Take your early ballot to your polling place if you still have it. Volunteer to drive friends to the polls or to drop off their mailed ballot.

5- Ask everyone you see if they have voted and encourage them to follow steps #1, #2, #3, and #4 if they have not.

6- If you have adult children, contact them and encourage them to vote.

Read more

DuVal: Consider Public Banking to Heal Arizona’s Economy (video)

by
In early 1900s, progressives from both political parties joined forces to create the Non-Partisan League. This led to creation of North Dakata's public bank. (Cartoon published in the Non-Partisan Leader in 1912.)
In early 1900s, progressives from both political parties joined forces to form the Nonpartisan League and create North Dakota’s public bank. One of the original goals was to save family farms from foreclosure by big banks. Thanks to North Dakota’s public bank and its local investment policy, it was the only state whose economy didn’t collapse during the 2008-09 Wall Street crash. (Cartoon published in the Non-Partisan Leader in 1912.)

Both gubernatorial candidates agree that Arizona’s economy is not performing well, but they don’t agree on what to do about it.

Republican candidate Doug Ducey likes to ask audiences how many of them are from somewhere else, and of course, some people always raise their hands. Ducey’s conclusion is that because of Arizona’s great weather, people will continue to move here– despite the shortage of good-paying jobs (and water). Tourism, transplants, and related services have made money for Arizona and will continue to do so, Ducey contends.

To please his corporate donors, Ducey’s economic plan is to push for more unaffordable corporate tax cuts and follow other red state governors– most notably Kansas’ Sam Brownback and NJ’s Chris Christie— to the poor house. He also wants to duck the court order requiring the state to fully fund education (instead of paying back the $1.6 billion that the Arizona Legislature illegally took from schools). Ducey is offering more of Governor Jan Brewer’s failed Tea Party economic policies: give tax cuts even though we’re broke, balance the budget on the backs of the school children and the middle class, hope people will continue to move here, and quietly pray for more water. This is what Ducey calls “kick starting the economy.”

As Democratic Party candidate Fred DuVal aptly points out, Ducey’s plan is based upon “tooth fairy economics” (AKA trickle down economics). Although DuVal is sometimes vague on specifics, at least he doesn’t rely on magical thinking to solve Arizona’s economic woes. In debates and speeches, DuVal talks about growing local small businesses to re-build Arizona’s economy, vows to repay what the Republican Legislature stole from the schools, ties a strong public education system to economic expansion, and suggests student loan relief for teachers.

How can DuVal do all of this? One bold non-partisan strategy is to establish a public bank to keep Arizona tax money at home and use it for local investment…

Read more