Pamela Powers

Long-time blogger and political activist, Pamela Powers holds a masters’ degree in public health from the University of Arizona and a bachelors’ degree in journalism from the Ohio State University. She has worked for many years in communications and public relations. Powers stepped down from her position as the managing editor of the American Journal of Medicine to serve Legislative District 9 in the Arizona House. Powers won her seat in November 2016 and won her re-election bid in 2018. She continues to work part-time social media editor for the journal. In addition to Blog for Arizona, she writes her own blog, The The Tucson Progressive and has contributed political stories to the Huffington Post. Powers Hannley is co-director of Arizonans for a New Economy, Arizona’s public banking initiative. Political website: PowersForThePeople.net Facebook Page: Pamela Powers Hannley for House Tucson Progressive on Facebook: Tucson Progressive Twitter handle: @p2hannley Instagram: p2hannley

Fathers’ Day Reflections: My Dad– Working Man & Gun Owner (video)

June 19, 2016June 19, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Today is Fathers’ Day. It’s been almost 20 years since my Dad, James L. Powers, Sr., passed away… far too young.

Many of you have heard my speeches about my Dad’s unwavering support for the United Steelworkers. He was a long-time member and an officer in his local in Lorain County. That is… until the last strike when Thew Shovel closed the plant in Ohio and moved to the south for cheaper, non-union labor. As a vice president, grievance man and a contract negotiator, Dad was a strong fighter for working men and women, and he argued politics and unions with everyone, particularly his father (my grandpa).

Dad, the Working Man

Dad was one of those boisterous, in-your-face union guys that you see in the movies. He was a third-generation electrician, a Navy vet, an NRA member, an avid outdoorsman, a hunter, a John Wayne aficionado, a great dancer, a quirky style icon, a ham radio nut, and a Republican, until Nixon broke his heart and he changed his registration to Democrat after Watergate. He drank to much, fought in bars, won and lost rings and watches playing craps, and carried a switchblade and sometimes brass knuckles. (Truth be told: he may have won those two prizes shooting dice. Jimmy and I were always fascinated to see his winnings in the morning.)

Thew Shovel was in South Lorain, a grungy, hard-scrabble place with economic immigrants from all over the US and the world.

Lest We Forget: ‘Guns Do Not Make a Nation Safer’

June 12, 2016 by Pamela Powers

[I originally wrote this blog post on Sept. 18, 2013, a few months after the Congress failed to act on post-Sandy Hook legislation. In the US, there have been many more massacres with assault weapons since then– including the mass shooting of 50 people in an Orlando nightclub, early this morning. Instead of working to make our citizens safer by enacting common sense gun laws, the Arizona Legislature passes laws promoting the proliferation of guns of all types, everywhere, even in the Legislature. Heavy sigh. How many more people have to die before our government stands up to the NRA?]

With each massacre of innocent citizens, the demand for action on gun control by the US Congress intensifies.

After the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012, it appeared as if the national outrage over the massacre of 20 children and 6 school staff would finally push the Congress into action, but sadly, in April 2013, the most recent attempt at common sense gun control was thwarted by a Republican Party filibuster (which included both Arizona Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain.)

This week, a lone gunman opened fire in a Washington DC naval facility, killing 12 people and injuring 8 others before being killed by authorities. Within hours of the shooting, Senator Diane Feinstein, who sponsored gun control legislation earlier this year, called on Congress to revive gun control efforts.

Serendipitously for gun control advocates, The American Journal of Medicine released Gun Ownership and Firearm-related Deaths by Drs. Sripal Bangalore and Franz Messerli today.

More Guns Don’t Make a Nation Safer

Read the details of the study after the jump and then forward it to your state legislators and your Congressional representatives.

Time for Planting: Lack of Dust Control on I-10 Is Hazardous (video)

June 3, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Every time I drive to Phoenix on a windy day, I get a little bit nervous.

It’s a familiar scenario: Trees are swaying, tumbleweeds are bouncing around the barren land, dust devils swirl in the distance, and flashing lights on the government signs tell us it’s windy.

So far– the lighted warning signs are the Arizona government’s only official response to years of dangerous interstate driving, major dust storms, and multiple crashes.

We have all seen the pictures and heard the stories about massive dust storms on I-10 and the tragic fatalities. Regular road closures east of Tucson due to dangerous blowing dust from one property owner have resulted in low-tech mitigation– AKA, “watering” the lose dirt with “gorilla snot”, a mixture that keeps the dirt from blowing. Really? Gorilla snot and flashing lights? Is this the best we can do to control this widespread public health hazard?

Not only do dust storms bring hazardous driving conditions, they also cause breathing problems and serious health conditions. Just a few years ago– not long after Wall Street crashed Arizona’s economy–we were driving through San Tan on an extremely windy day. Large swaths of desert in and around San Tan had been scraped clean, presumably to build housing. The air was brown and thick blowing dirt. Visibility was maybe 50 feet, yet people were walking around, going about their business as breathing dust was perfectly normal.

What about plants?

Five years ago, when I first wrote about dangerous dust storms on I-10, I called for replanting desert vegetation along I-10.

#PowersForThePeople: Pamela Powers Hannley on Progressive Radio Network

May 12, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Progressive candidates across the country are challenging the status quo. I was honored to be interviewed for the “It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown” progressive talk radio show this week.

You can hear the hour-long podcast here. During the first segment, public banking guru Ellen Brown interviews Tim Canova, a law professor and Federal Reserve Bank expert, who is running against embattled Congresswoman and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in Southern Florida.

Canova’s campaign has similarities to my campaign in that he is a progressive running against a Democratic Party establishment candidate, his campaign is financed by small donations, and he supports public banking, postal banking, and relaxing marijuana prohibition.

My interview with Public Banking Institute Chair Walt McCree begins at around the 30 minute mark. McCree and I discussed Arizona’s rising debt (which has risen 94% since the Tea Party took over), the economic consequences of years of Tea-Party-imposed austerity for the 99% (and largesse for the 1%), the promise of public banking to rebuild Arizona’s economy, and the inspiration of the Nonpartisan League, who staged a progressive political revolution in 1916 and took over North Dakota’s state government.

This is my dream: that progressives will once again govern Arizona.

Sustainable Econ Dev: $70 Mil for 2 Corps or $1 Mil Each for 70 Local Businesses? (video)

May 5, 2016 by Pamela Powers

In the name of economic development, Rio Nuevo and Pima County are poised to dole out $70 million in corporate welfare to two big corporations– $50 million to Caterpillar and $20 million to World View.

Ironically, one day before the Rio Nuevo Board announced the multi-million-dollar Caterpillar package for Tucson, I posted this article on saying “no” to Wall Street debt and corporate welfare and “yes” to helping local small businesses and entrepreneurs thrive with low-cost loans.

Let’s think about this a moment. These two governmental entities are have voted to invest $70 million worth of taxpayer funds in two companies– one company is being lured away from other states to move here and the other is a Tucson company with big ideas and little cash. Is borrowing millions of dollars to give it away sustainable economic development?

According to data from the University of Arizona Eller College, Tucson has one of the highest per capita rates of new patents in the US. We also have new start-up tech companies being nurtured at the UA Tech Park. We have smart scientists + new ideas. Why aren’t we helping entrepreneurs and growing our own local businesses with low-cost loans via a public bank?