Month: March 2018

2018 St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival on St. Patrick’s Day

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“The 31st Annual Tucson St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival takes place on Saturday, March 17, 2018 in Armory Park. The parade begins promptly at 11am, winds through downtown ending at Armory Park. The festival begins at 10am-6pm with a line up of musicians, food and entertainment for the entire family.” https://www.facebook.com/events/223158564882802/ https://www.tucsonstpatricksday.com/ This annual … Read more

Wednesday walkout warmup for the March For Our Lives

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As schools around the country brace for student walkouts following the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida, with the first large-scale coordinated national demonstration planned for this Wednesday when organizers of the Women’s March have called for a 17-minute walkout, one minute for each of the 17 students and staff members killed in Florida, “principals and superintendents are scrambling to perform a delicate balancing act: How to let thousands of students exercise their First Amendment rights while not disrupting school and not pulling administrators into the raging debate over gun control.” Student walkouts over guns pose balancing act for schools:

National demonstrations are also planned for March 24, with a march on Washington, D.C.; and on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.

See earlier post, March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C. and around the nation (Updated with additional protests).

Some have taken a hard line, promising to suspend students who walk out, while others are using a softer approach, working with students to set up places on campus where they can remember the victims of the Florida shooting and express their views about school safety and gun control.

Since the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, demonstrations have sprung up on school campuses around the country.

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Authoritarian Tea-Publicans reject the constitutional right of Arizona citizens to enact a minimum wage law

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Authoritarian Tea-Publicans in the Arizona legislature reject the constitutional right of Arizona citizens to make their own laws by citizens initiative. Like Louis XIV of France, they believe “I am the state,” and that you are the unwashed rabble who are mere subjects who should bow down before them.

They are also the tools of corporate plutocrats, i.e., the Arizona chambers of commerce organizations, and in particular, the Arizona Restaurant Association, the most vocal opponent of the minimum wage and paid time off leave. The ARA would bring back indentured servitude if not for the Thirteenth Amendment.

In 2016, Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a Minimum Wage Initiative that also allowed local governments to enact paid time off leave policies. The chamber of commerce organizations and their lickspittle Tea-Publican servants in the Arizona legislature will not stand for this. They want to stomp out this citizens-created law, despite the Voter Protection Act.

Two Tea-Publican members of the Arizona Legislature think voters should reconsider parts of the minimum-wage ballot measure they passed overwhelmingly less than two years ago. Proposals to roll back Arizona’s minimum-wage ballot measure protested at Capitol:

A pair of resolutions are moving through the Legislature that together would make major changes, including: freezing the minimum wage and stopping further scheduled increases to it; eliminating mandatory sick leave; repealing provisions regarding employer retaliation; and prohibiting cities from having a higher minimum wage than is set by the state.

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Democratic Candidates for LD10 House Shine in Drive to Oust Clodfelter

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LD10 Democratic candidates.jpg
Left to right, candidates Kirsten Engel, Domingo DeGrazia, Nikki Lee and Catherine Ripley

Democrats have four impressive candidates for the Arizona House in Legislative District 10 in eastern Tucson, united in their effort to oust Republican incumbent, Todd “Confederate” Clodfelter.

  • UofA Law Professor Kirsten H. Engel is running for a second term in the AZ House, after serving on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and Judiciary and Public Safety committee.
  • Newcomer Domingo DeGrazia, son of famous Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia, is a licensed pilot and a trial attorney in juvenile court. “I have a constant drive to better myself, creativity and tenacity to see a fight through to the end,” he says.
  • Catherine Ripley is a retired 26-year Navy officer and current political science teacher at Pima College (and earlier at Harvard, Boston University, and M.I.T.). In her first run for office, she says, “I’m a former diplomat, Mom, and business executive. I’ve seen famine and war. I’m here to bring my skills and experiences, and have the tools to hand Todd Clodfelter a defeat he’ll never forget.”
  • Running as a Clean Elections Candidate, newcomer Nikki Lee has a young campaign team of Millennials, including herself at age 36. “We have so much excitement on our campaign, doing innovating things, understanding the life of young people.”  She has  launched the “A to Z podcast” for young people.

LD10 has two AZ House members and one Senator, David Bradley, who was on hand and running without opposition. Clodfelter is notorious for his Confederate Flag screen saver, which he claimed wasn’t racist. His signature legislation throws a meager $150 tax credit at teachers to cover school supplies rather than help them in any meaningful way.

If you could pass one bill…

Asked if they could pass only one bill in the Republican-majority House, the candidates said it would be to:

Engel: End the hundreds of corporate sales tax loopholes and use the money to fund public schools.

DeGrazia: Stop gun violence.

Lee: Help veterans recover from PTSD and brain injuries.

Ripley: Enact common-sense gun policy, including a ban on bump stocks.

If you could reverse one law…

Asked what law or bill they would want to stop, the candidates said:

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Political Calendar: Week of March 11, 2018

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The Political Calendar is posted on Sundays. Please send us notice of your political events prior to the Sunday before your event (7 days would be most helpful). See the calendar icon in the right-hand column of the blog page for easy access to the calendar.

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Political Calendar for the Week of March 11, 2018:

DCSRA Dinner with John Nichols of The Nation

Sunday, March 11, 6:00 p.m.: Democratic Club of the Santa Rita Area host John Nichols of The Nation, at the Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road at I-19, Sahuarita. Tickets: Individual $60, Sponsor $100, Patron $200. You may purchase tickets at DCSRA Headquarters between 10:00-2:00 Monday through Friday. If it’s not convenient for you to come to Headquarters, please email Terry Lang at lang_terry@yahoo.com and he will email you a reservation form that you can complete and return to Headquarters in person or US mail. Space is limited. Make your reservation by Monday, March 5th. All proceeds go toward DCSRA and Democratic HQ Green Valley.

AFL-CIO Day of Action at the Arizona Legislature

Monday, March 12, 9:00 a.m.: AFL-CIO Day of Action at the State Capitol. Registration Begins at 9:00 a.m. Join us to tell lawmakers to focus on creating jobs not taking away workers’ rights. RSVP’s are MANDATORY as we will be providing lunch and materials: Phoenix: fyamashita@azaflcio.org or (602) 631-4488; Tucson: pimaalf@yahoo.com (520) 347-3336. Must be received by February 23, 2018. Bus Transportation from Tucson’s PALF office 877 S. Alvernon Way, Suite 100 south parking lot, the bus will also be stopping at the McDonald’s on Contaro Road. RSVP’s are MANDATORY Contact: Phoenix: fyamashita@azaflcio.org or (602) 631-4488; Tucson: pimaalf@yahoo.com (520) 347-3336. Must be received by February 16, 2018.

Monday, March 12, 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 speakers are Bill Mundell and Sandra Kennedy, candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission. Next Week: Kelly Fyer, candidate for goveronor.

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