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

Broadway Widening… Again! How Many Times Do the People Have to Say ‘NO!’

April 15, 2016April 5, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Broadway Village Shopping Center, designed by Tucson icon Josais Joesler, is one of the most unique shopping locations in Tucson. It could be destroyed with the widening of Broadway.

UPDATE: About 200 Tucsonans came to the Tucson City Council meeting publicized below. The Arizona Daily Star reported that the city “got an earful” from residents who want a modest project on Broadway. The final City Council vote will be Tuesday, April 19.

Remember all of those public meetings in which the citizens of Tucson said they don’t want Broadway Blvd turned into a massive eight-lane highway?

Or how many times we said we wanted to keep valuable historic buildings on Broadway? Or how many times we said that following obsolete growth projects was a silly idea? Or how many times we said, “We’re widening Grant Rd., why widen Broadway, too?”

Well, apparently, we have not told the Mayor and Council, “Enough is Enough” enough times.

I thought the fight over sustainable development and modest expansion of Broadway had been won months ago when the citizens task force voted to go with a smaller foot-print for the widening– a plan that the neighbors and concerned citizens agreed with– but no. Developers, real estate speculators, and automobile promoters are putting pressure on the Mayor and Council to ignore the will of the citizens.

TONIGHT – April 5 at 5:30 p.m. is another major public hearing on the Broadway Widening Project. Note the location change. It will be at the County Board of Supervisors meeting room. Details from the Broadway Coalition, link to a petition to sign, and links to four years of past articles after the jump.

Sexism in America: Peggy Olson, Hillary Clinton, Mom & Me

March 9, 2016March 8, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Beyond the booze, the babes, the cool, retro clothes, and the slick mid-century modern Madison Avenue backdrop, AMC’s Mad Men is a story about office work and sexism at the dawn of the feminist era– before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), before Roe v Wade, before Ms Magazine, and before the Equal Rights Amendment’s (ERA) revival.

Mad Men’s Peggy Olson is the quintessential poster girl for working women and office survival. As Mad Men begins, Peggy is the Plain Jane secretarial school graduate who is assigned to be the secretary for handsome cad, sex addict, and creative genius Don Draper. As the episodes unfold, Peggy breaks out of the secretarial pool– with Draper’s help– to become a copywriter. Even in her success, Peggy isn’t given the respect she deserves. Initially, she shares a tiny office with the copier, suffers through Draper’s unrealistic demands that rob her personal life, and works primarily on women’s products– stockings, bras, make-up, and cleaning products. She presents at pitch meetings when they need someone to give “Mom’s opinion.” Fighting sexism and entrenched behaviors, roles, and ideas in the ad agency office, Peggy claws her way up the career ladder and against-all-odds becomes a sought-after creative genius in her own right toward the end of the series.

Mad Men presents a more honest view of the 1950s-60s than the moralistic TV shows of the period– like Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, or Lassie...

What Wall Street Costs America: Say ‘No’ to Wall Street Fees with Public Banking

March 8, 2016March 7, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Arizona’s total debt service rose 94% between 2007-2014. Why is the state paying $312 million per year in interest on Wall Street debt when we could self-fund projects with public banking?

The cornerstone of my economic reform ideas is establishment of public banking at the state, county, and/or municipal levels.

In a nutshell, public banking advocates believe that austerity is a lie and that budget-cutting and layoffs by governments is unnecessary and harmful to citizens. There is plenty of money. The problem is that our taxpayer funds are held in too-big-to-fail banks on Wall Street and invested for the benefit of the banks’ shareholders– instead of being held here in Arizona and invested for the benefit of the citizens of Arizona. Public banks invest on Main Street for the public good — rather than allowing OUR MONEY to be gambled (and potentially lost… again) on Wall Street.

There are many ways a public bank could be constituted. For example, in my speech to the LD9 precinct committee members, I suggested taking 10% of the state’s surplus rainy day funds and using that to establish an infrastructure bank. This state bank could self-fund much needed improvements and new roads to make the state more competitive and easier to traverse. It also could lend money to counties and cities to build their projects. In turn, the state would make a modest interest rate on the loans.

Creation of a state public infrastructure bank would address several economic problems in one fell swoop:

Rubio & Kasich: The Myth of the Republican Moderate (video)

February 23, 2016 by Pamela Powers

I was appalled by last night’s Lawrence O’Donnell Show on MSNBC.

O’Donnell and his guests were discussing the “moderate” policies of Republican Party Presidential contenders Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Ohio Governor John Kasich. (For the record, several months ago, I considered these two to be more moderate than the rest, but recent developments have changed my opinion. They’re not moderate; they’re just not crazy scary like Cruz and Trump.)

Since when are War on Women Warriors considered “moderate”?

In one of the GOP debates, Rubio infamously said he would “restrict a woman’s right to choose nationwide and worldwide.” This type of male-privilege-dominated US foreign policy has forced 1000s of rape and incest victims to have their rapists’ children– like the Boko Haram girls.

Anti-TPP Rally at McSally’s Office on Friday, Feb 19

February 16, 2016 by Pamela Powers

Don’t get so caught up with the Presidential Primaries and the SCOTUS speculation that you forget about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal that is still on the table in the Congress. This Friday, there will be an anti-TPP rally at Congresswoman Martha McSally’s office. Come on down! Bring your signs and enthusiasm. Here are a … Read more