Tag Archives: Victoria Steele

Council Aide Matt Kopec appointed to LD 9 House seat by Pima County Bd. of Supervisors

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Carolyn Classen | 3 comments

Last Friday January 15, the PCs (Precinct committee people) in LD 9 selected 3 Democrats to send to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, to choose one for appointment to a vacant LD 9 House seat at today’s regular board meeting. Victoria Steele, twice elected to that position resigned last week to run for CD 1 House, currently held by freshman Republican Congresswoman Martha McSally. (Steele faces opposition in the Dem primary on August 30 for that seat from Dr. Matt Heinz, who also served in the Arizona State House.)

The 3 people nominated were:

Pamela Powers Hannley, managing editor (now part time) of the American Journal of Medicine, blogger here at Blog for Arizona and her own blogsite Tucson Progressive;

Matt Kopec, Pima County Dem Party Treasurer and Council aide to Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich;

and Ted Prezelski, Council aide to Ward 2 Councilmember Paul Cunningham, founder of blogsite Rum, Romanism & Rebellion (inactive), who also ran for LD 28 House in the Democratic primary of August, 2010. He is the twin brother of former LD 29 House Rep. Tom Prezelski, who served 2 terms in the Arizona State House.

Matt Kopec, Ward 3 Council Aide

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Posted in Carolyn Classen, Community, Elections, Tucson

Tagged LD 9 House, Martha McSally, Matt Heinz, Matt Kopec, pamela powers hannley, Pima County Board of Supervisors, Randy Friese, Sharon Bronson, ted prezelski, Tom Prezelski, Victoria Steele

LD Precinct committee persons nominate Pam Powers Hannley, Matt Kopec, & Ted Prezelski for appointment for LD 9 House Vacancy

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Carolyn Classen | Comments Off

LD 9 precinct committee people met tonight at the Pima County Democratic Party headquarters, 4639 E. 1st St. There were 42 PCs in attendance, with 18 proxies of 71 PCs total in LD 9.

Four Democratic candidates were seeking the appointment for the vacancy created by this week’s resignation by Democrat LD 9 House Rep. Victoria Steele. Victoria, in her 2nd term, resigned to run for CD 1 House in the Dem Primary against Dr. Matt Heinz, who also formerly served in the Arizona House of Representatives. The winner of that primary on August 30, will face off with incumbent 1st term Congresswoman Republican Martha McSally.

Candidates for this vacancy in LD 9 , who addressed the meeting (listed in alphabetical order). 31 votes would be needed for any candidate to be nominated (50% plus 1 vote, per state law).

– Larry Bahill, former AZ State Representative (1973 to 1981, Minority Leader), former director of Pima County Elections, then Registrar of Voters, former 1st Vice Chair of Pima County Democratic Party, member of Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame (Navy reserve)

– Pamela Powers Hannley, progressive blogger at Tucson Progressive and Blog for Arizona, already a declared candidate for this House seat, managing editor of the American Journal of Medicine

– Matt Kopec, council aide to Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich, Treasurer of the Pima County Democratic Party

– Ted Prezelski, council aide (management analyst) to Ward 2 Councilmember Paul Cunningham, had run before for former- LD 28 House seat in August, 2010 primary, founder of former Rum, Romanism and Rebellion blogsite

Pamela Powers Hannley, blogger at Tucson Progressive & Blog for Arizona

Matt Kopec, Ward 3 Council Aide

Tom Prezelski, Council Aide to Ward 2 Councilmember Paul Cunningham

Ted Prezelski, Ward 2 Council Aide

Following the welcome by LD 9 Chair Brian Clymer, former AZ State Party Chair Bill Roe, now First Vice Chair explained the voting process. After the speeches by all four candidates, voting was done by the 60 PCs, and Powers Hannley got 47, Prezelski got 45, and Kopec got 35 votes.

These 3 names will now be submitted to the Pima County Bd. of Supervisors, who will appoint the successor to this seat at their January 19, 2016 regular board meeting. That meeting starts at 9 a.m. at 130 W. Congress St. , first floor meeting room. The appointment will run through the Nov. 2016 election for this position.

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Posted in Carolyn Classen, Community, Elections, Tucson

Tagged Arizona House of Representatives, Bil Roe, Brian Clymer, Karin Uhlich, Larry Bahill, LD 9 House, Martha McSally, Matt Heinz, Matt Kopec, pamela powers hannley, Paul Cunningham, Pima County Board of Supervisors, Pima County Democratic Party, ted prezelski, Victoria Steele

Three ballot measures to preempt Cathi Herrod and CAP

Posted on March 31, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie | 1 comment

Earlier this year the political pundits were all patting themselves on the back because the Tea-Publican Arizona legislature had not reintroduced the so-called “religious liberty” (license to discriminate) bill, SB 1062, that Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed last year after a firestorm of bad national publicity for Arizona. I warned you at the time not to read too much into this, Cathi Herrod is just biding her time.

I am right, of course. In the Arizona Republic today, Indiana uproar echoes SB 1062 furor in Ariz.:

Arizona’s SB 1062 sought to amend the state’s RFRA to provide a legal defense for individuals and businesses facing discrimination lawsuits if they proved they acted upon a “sincerely held religious belief.”

Cathi Herrod, president of the socially conservative Center for Arizona Policy, was the driving force behind SB 1062. On Friday, the center issued a statement praising Pence and Indiana.

In an interview Monday with The Arizona Republic, Herrod noted that Indiana’s new law also was informed by the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, which clarified RFRA can apply to closely held businesses. That case involved an objection to federally mandated birth-control coverage.

Indiana’s law is “not word for word, but it’s very similar to the Arizona law that we have as well as incorporating some of the changes that we were trying to make” [with SB 1062], Herrod said.

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Posted in Abortion, Activism, Arizona State Legislature, AZBlueMeanie, Ballot Referendas and Initiatives, Civil Rights, Constitution, Courts, Healthcare, Legislation, Lobbying, Party Politics, Propositions, Religion, Scandals, Science

Tagged Victoria Steele, women's health, Women's Rights

AZ House approves the “Lady Money Is Not Real Money” bill.

Posted on March 24, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie | 1 comment

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Photo: Etsy.com

Arizona bill SB1318, which requires doctors to pass on medically dubious information about “abortion reversal”, also bans coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, even if a policy holder has purchased an entirely separate rider with her own money which does not sully the pristine money of “taxpayers” – a group that (again) apparently does not include women who use any reproductive health care not directly related to having babies.

The bill went for third read on the House floor, the last step before before being transmitted to Governor Ducey, who is certain to sign it, and was passed on a 33/24 party line vote. I listened to the testimony at work and heard the Democrats valiantly (as always) trying to explain why it was a bad idea on several levels Republican Rep. Steve Montenegro waxed lugubriously about the need to “do everything possible to ensure a child has every opportunity to have it’s first breath!” and Rep. JD Mesnard anti-choicesplained, “We all know how accounting gimmicks work!” (He clearly doesn’t.) Continue reading →

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Posted in Abortion, Arizona State Legislature, Civil Rights, Donna Gratehouse, Gender Equality, GOP War On..., Governor, Healthcare, Legislation, Taxes

Tagged abortion, az legislature, Doug Ducey, jd mesnard, SB1318, steve montenegro, Victoria Steele

Victoria Steele’s courageous testimony showed why “rape exceptions” are a sham

Posted on March 13, 2015 by AZ BlueMeanie | 2 comments

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Edited to correctly identify the committee chair. It was Kelly Townsend, not Kelli Ward. My bad.

Alas, due to our stupidly slow “high speed internet” connection at the house, I’ve been unable to view the two and a half hour Arizona House Federalism and States’ Rights (seriously?) Committee hearing from Wednesday. But there was one part that made the news, and for good reason. It was when Democratic Rep. Victoria Steele of Tucson, who was testifying against SB1318 (which denies insurance coverage for abortion, among other things), was overcome by the whole thing and shared how she had been a repeated victim of sexual assault by a family member as a young girl.

Sorry for the screen shot instead of embedded video but Channel 12 insists upon them opening immediately Continue reading →

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Posted in Abortion, Arizona State Legislature, Civil Rights, Debates, Donna Gratehouse, Gender Equality, GOP War On..., Healthcare, Legislation, Science

Tagged abortion, Planned Parenthood, rape exceptions, SB1318, Victoria Steele

Vote for a ‘New Arizona Where We All Win’– Instead of Voting for the S.O.S. (video)

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Pamela Powers Hannley | 3 comments

Vote for Fred, Felecia, Terry, David, Sandra, Jim, Ron, Victoria, Randy, and Steve. Vote for an Arizona where we all win.

It’s time to dump the failed Tea Party policies that have left Arizona deeply in debt, sparked countless frivolous lawsuits that waste taxpayer money, created a laughing stock of our state, and left us at the bottom of most state rankings.

Check out this video created by a volunteer for Dr. Randy Friese, LD9 candidate for the Arizona House. (Obviously, if you don’t live in LD9 and CD2, you’ll have to swap those last 4 names, but you get the idea.) Let’s move forward with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fred DuVal and his team– instead of moving not backward with Doug Ducey and the Teapulbicans.

Why would Arizona elect an incompetent State Treasurer with a bankrupt track record to be governor?