Month: December 2017

Political Calendar: Week of December 3, 2017

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Political Calendar for the Week of December 3, 2017:

Monday, December 4 at 11:30 a.m.: Tucson Inauguration Luncheon, at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Avenue, Tucson. The Pima County Democratic Party invites you to join us for an Inauguration Luncheon in honor of the Inauguration of Tucson City Council Members Richard G. Fimbres, Steve Kozachik, and Paul Durham.” Individual Tickets are $100, table sponsorships are $1,000 event sponsorships are $2,000. Order your tickets secure online at Act Blue. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/211631989379592.

Monday, December 4, Noon: Democrats of Greater Tucson luncheon, Dragon’s View Restaurant (400 N. Bonita, South of St. Mary’s Road between the Freeway and Grande Avenue, turn South at Furr’s Cafeteria). New price: buffet lunch is $10.00 cash, $12 credit; just a drink is $3.50. Featured speaker is CD 1 Congressman Tom O’Halleran. UPDATE: O’Halleran needs to be in D.C. for a vote, so substitute speaker is LD 9 House Rep. Pam Powers Hannley.  Next Week: CD 2 candidate and former Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick.

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Senate passes GOP tax bill for the Oligarchy

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While you were sleeping, the Senate passed the Senate GOP tax bill in the wee hours of Saturday morning on a party line vote of 51-49, with only Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is retiring, having the courage of his convictions to vote no. Senate passes tax overhaul, securing major GOP victory:

Vice President Pence presided over the final passage vote. GOP senators, who stayed on the Senate floor until the vote closed after midnight, broke out into applause after Pence announced the bill had passed.

“This is a great day for the country,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during a 2 a.m. press conference after the vote.

The headline from The Hill above is typical of the headlines appearing in other media today: a “major GOP victory.” The media makes it appear as if this bill has been enacted and awaits president Trump’s signature. This is reminiscent of president Trump and House Tea-Publicans kegger party at the White House after the House voted to repeal “Obamacare,” only to see it defeated in the Senate.

The Senate GOP tax bill could be voted upon by the House without any amendments, but that is highly unlikely because it contains provisions which are opposed by the radical GOP House Freedom Caucus. This bill is headed to a conference committee where the Senate and House versions of the bill will be reconciled into a conformed bill which both chambers must pass. There is still a chance that this terrible tax bill can be defeated in the next round.

And I would point out to the media that this was a “major victory” for millionaire and billionaire GOP campaign donors, because they are the ones who demanded this terrible tax bill in exchange for their campaign donations and they are the only ones who will ultimately benefit from the GOP tax bill in the end. The U.S. government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful. Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy. And the lickspittle GOP servants of corporations and plutocrats who voted for this bill? Millionaires’ Club: For First Time, Most Lawmakers are Worth $1 Million-Plus. They voted to benefit themselves as well, the American people who elected them be damned.

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The Kate’s Law Parlay: A Bad Outcome on an Insane Bet

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Two years ago, Donald Trump chose to demagogue a tragic death into political hay. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who had entered the country illegally five times, had killed Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old American.

Trump seized on the incident, using it to champion a law, which he dubbed “Kate’s Law,” that would sentence all second-time illegal border crossers to a minimum prison term of five years.

When I learned of this, I wrote about the absurdity of the proposed law in The Mystifying Math of Kate’s Law and Kate’s Law Sinking?. We would be criminalizing an act that is wrong only because we define it to be — crossing the border twice without proper documents —  based on some imaginary correlation between that act and violent crimes. And all based on the actions of one — that’s right, one — undocumented immigrant.

When I read about this two years ago, I assumed that the actual case against Zarate was airtight and that his taking of Steinle’s life was an especially heinous act.

Bad assumption on my part.

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Minority Elected Officials in Southern Arizona

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Someone asked me recently about who are the minority politicians in Southern Arizona. So here’s my list (which is not comprehensive, as I didn’t list Town of South Tucson nor the Native American tribes – where they are the majority), so please let me know by commenting below if I forgot anyone.

Hispanic  Americans:

Raul Grijalva, CD 3 Congressman

Richard Elias, D 5 Pima County Supervisor

Ramon Valadez, D 2 Pima County Supervisor

F. Ann Rodriguez, Pima County Recorder

Olivia Cajero Bedford, LD 3 State Senator

Macario Saldate, LD 3 House

Rosanna Gabaldon, LD 2 House

Daniel Hernandez Jr., LD 2 House

Regina Romero, Ward 1 Councilwoman

Richard Fimbres, Ward 5 Councilman

Luis Gonzales, PCC Governing Bd. (District 5)

Adelita Grijalva, TUSD Governing Board (Raul’s daughter)

Eva Carrillo Dong, Sunnyside School District Governing Board

Robert Jaramillo, Sunnyside Schooil District Governing Board

Beki Quintero, Sunnyside School District Governing Board

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