Larry Bodine

Larry is an intelligent, articulate, and insightful commentator whose views are shaped by a combination of journalism, entrepreneurship, law practice, and leadership.‎ ✍ He is an experienced and well-known leader, having served as a teacher at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the University of Arizona, Video Manager for Iskashitaa Refugee Network, Chair of the LD18 Democrats, and President of the Democrats of Greater Tucson.‎ ✍ A common-sense business leader, he operated a successful marketing consultancy for 20 years. He is skilled in fundraising, ChatGPT, and online communications.‎ ✍He considers multiple viewpoints before forming an opinion. His ethos is the Boy Scout Law.‎ ✍ Larry is a lifelong writer, having worked as a seven-time award-winning journalist for the New York Daily News and as the author of 600 editorials for the Blog for Arizona.‎ ✍He is a graduate of Amherst College and Seton Hall Law School and has also attended the University of Munich in Germany.‎ ✍He is not all work and no play. Larry enjoys singing and playing the guitar, watching film noir, going on outings with his Portuguese Water Dog, weight training, and meeting his many friends for lattes at breakfast.‎ ‎** Scroll down to see my articles below. **

Another New Poll: Sinema & McShifty in Dead Heat, Garcia Nearly Tied with Ducey

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Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McShifty.
Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McShifty.

A new Gravis Marketing poll finds Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in a dead heat with Republican Martha McShifty in the race for US Senate and — good news — Democrat candidate for Governor David Garcia is within 4 points of Republican Doug Ducey where the margin of error is 3.3 points.

Gravis, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 882 registered, likely voters in Arizona from Sept. 5-7. It found that Trump is very unpopular, with 47% saying they “strongly disapprove” of his job performance. This could become important because McSally has snuggled up close to Trump.

The entire nation is watching the Arizona race for US Senate, which has been marked by stupid, false and nasty attack ads by McSally. See McSally ad lies to denigrate the First Amendment rights of Americans.

US Congress member Sinema supports full access to healthcare. “We need to fix the parts of the system that are broken while protecting the things that are working — like ensuring coverage for the 2.8 million Arizonans with pre-existing conditions. We need to protect Medicare, Kids Care, and AHCCCS — critical programs that Arizonans count on for affordable, quality care. We need to fight back against misguided proposals like an “age tax” that would force Arizona seniors to pay up to five times more for their care,” she says on Tucson.com.

Sinema also supports improving health care for veterans, funding military bases in Arizona, citizenship for Dreamers and protecting federal funding for Arizona public schools.

McSally voted against Obamacare, for raising premiums for seniors and for abolishing coverage of pre-existing conditions.

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New Survey: Ducey Has 8% Lead in AZ Gubernatorial Race

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AZ Gubernatorial Survey Statewide Garcia Ducey 2018

Data Orbital’s ballot test for the Arizona Gubernatorial Race, between incumbent Republican Governor Doug Ducey and Democrat David Garcia, shows Ducey with just under an 8% lead. With only 7.9% of surveyed voters being undecided, there is little room for major movement leading up to election day.

“These numbers indicate that even with high enthusiasm from Democrats, Governor Ducey still holds a comfortable lead,” says George Khalaf, President of Data Orbital. Early ballots will be mailed out on October 10.

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How to Vote on Arizona’s 8 Key Ballot Measures

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Print this out for future reference. Mail-in ballots will arrive on Oct. 10
Print this out for future reference. Mail-in ballots will arrive on Oct. 10

Faced with a corrupt State Legislature and Supreme Court, Arizona voters will have the chance to fight back on 8 public initiatives.

Teachers, elected representatives, and a transportation official explained the merits of the ballot initiatives at the recent
Tanque Verde Valley Democratic Club meeting.

Arrayed against voters are dark money interests and self-dealing corporations that are already spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to sabotage ballot initiatives to fund public schools, renewable energy, and clean elections.

“I said that this Legislature is owned by dirty money on the state House floor, and I was gaveled down,” says state Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley. “We still have corruption in the state government.”

Echoing these remarks, Luci Messing, the chair of the Tanque Verde Democrats, says, “We have a very corrupt majority in the Legislature who are not looking out for us. We need to take them out. That’s why it’s so important we vote for people who are pro-education, pro-family and will do best for Arizona and not for their pockets or personal gains. It’s definitely one of those issues where we can make a difference. The power is in our hands.”

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George Cunningham, chairman of the Grand Canyon Institute

State pays $10,700 subsidy for private school students — 75 percent more than their public school peers

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George Cunningham, chairman of the Grand Canyon Institute
“Arizona can’t afford fiscally irresponsible private school subsidies that siphon money away from its public education system,” says George Cunningham, chairman of the Grand Canyon Institute

According to a new policy paper, Arizona’s two private school subsidy programs cost the state $10,700 on average per regular education student who would not otherwise have enrolled in private school. This imposes an additional $62 million cost to the state’s General Fund.

Published by the non-partisan think tank the Grand Canyon Institute (GCI), the policy paper $10,700 Per Student: The Estimated Cost of Arizona’s Private School Subsidy Programs looks at how the state’s two private school subsidy programs — private school tuition tax credit scholarships and Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) vouchers — have affected private school enrollment and then estimated a per student cost to taxpayers. 

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