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
Doug Ducey

Prop 122 & Backers Ducey & Brnovich Are Too Extreme for Arizona

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Prop 122
Prop 122 would allow any Arizonan, the Arizona Legislature, or local law enforcement (like Sheriff Joe Arpaio) to determine the Constitutionality of federal laws.

Brought to you by the Goldwater Institute and the Koch Brothers, Proposition 122 is the worst idea since the Civil War, and true to form with other Koch Brothers initiatives, it is being sold to us with lies and dark money.

Prop 122 would amend the Arizona Constitution to: 1) confirm that both the state and federal governments must follow the US Constitution; 2) give “Arizona” the right to determine what is Constitutional (instead of the Supreme Court); and 3) give the state government authority to stop all levels of government (state, county, city, town or other political entity) from using personnel or finances to “enforce, administer or cooperate with a federal action or program if the people or their representatives have exercised their authority to restrict such action or use,” quoting Arizona’s Election Guide from the Secretary of State’s office.

In other words, if “the people or their representatives” decide that a federal law is unconstitutional, the state can stop, all levels of government in Arizona from cooperating with the federal government on that law.

This is sedition, it is un-American, and it is backed by our state’s Republican leadership, including gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey. attorney general candidate Mark Brnovich, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, disgraced former Senate President Russell Pearce, Republican Congressional representatives, and …

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Lewis Black: Voter Suppression? Not on My Watch!

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Comedian Lewis Black is ACLU spokesperson against voter suppression.
Comedian Lewis Black is ACLU spokesperson against voter suppression.

Acerbic political comedian Lewis Black backs the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) fight against voter suppression. Check out the video after the jump.

From the ACLU…

At a photo shoot with ACLU’s Voting Rights Project Director Dale Ho, ACLU voting rights ambassador Lewis Black gets so f#%!in’ tired of politicians trying to deny people the right to vote. 

The ACLU is fighting against bad voter suppression laws across the country.

The rules of voting are still in flux in many states, so to make sure you know your rights when you vote, go to https://www.aclu.org/letmevote

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Feral Cats to Broadway Widening: Sh*t’s Going Down at City Council Meeting

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Hundreds of citizens attended a meeting this summer to review plans to widen Broadway Blvd.
Hundreds of citizens attended a meeting this summer to review plans to widen Broadway Blvd.

Two hot button issues will be voted on Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Tucson City Council meeting and study session: widening Broadway Blvd. and approving the feral cat spay/neuter policy, adopted by the county.

If you read the Arizona Daily Star, you’d think the big issue of the day is the City Council’s dithering on spending $200,000 to do a catch, spay/neuter, and return-to-the-wild program to control the feral cat population. The Star devoted ~25 column inches in today’s paper to feral cats, including hubris from Republican-turned-Blue-Dog-Dem City Councilman Steve Kozachik repeating his, “we’ll kill the cats” threat aimed at Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. The paper focused of the city-county tiff of who told what to whom when instead of on whether or not the new program works in city’s where it’s been tested. (Here’s a great story about how well this type of program has worked elsewhere and more information regarding Tucson and Albuquerque programs.)

What you didn’t read about in the Star was the Broadway widening controversy. Prime real estate in the newspaper was devoted a $200,000 spay and neuter program, but there was no coverage on wasting millions to widen a road that doesn’t need to be widened. What’s wrong with this picture? No one will make any money on the cat program; it’s just the right thing to do. But buying up and destroying 19 structures, including some historic buildings, to widen a road based up plans drawn up decades ago– city’s power base wants to side that deal through without further mention because contractors, developers, speculators, and road-widening addicts will make a bundle on that!

In a nutshell, the Broadway Citizens Task Force has proposed a six-lane plan for Broadway Blvd., and the Council will vote on that tonight. The Broadway Coalition, Sustainable Tucson, the Tucson Bus Riders Union, and others who favor sustainable living are against the six-lane plan for multiple reasons. (I don’t see the rationale for widening Broadway when current traffic and future projects don’t warrant it, and when no good rationale is being given to do it. Also, citizens and area businesses are fighting hard against the widening and the destruction of historic buildings.) Tucson’s power players have an addiction to widening roads, and it doesn’t matter how destructive it is to families, businesses, the city budget, or Tucson’s historic sense of place. Broadway will be discussed at 1:30 p.m. study session and the 5 p.m. meeting. Details and links from both groups after the jump.

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Barber Wins Spirited Debate, as McSally Ducks Questions

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Last night’s televised debate between CD2 Congressman Ron Barber and Republican challenger Martha McSally was livelier than I had anticipated. In the end, it was obvious that Barber had won the debate. He answered the questions with concrete, specific examples and ideas, while McSally displayed great skill in avoiding actually answering most of the questions.

Barber was the real surprise of the evening for me. He came out swinging from the beginning with a bow to women’s right to choose and acknowledgement of the landmark SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage (two things McSally is against). It’s a good thing he led with these issues because they differentiate the two candidates and otherwise would not have been raised. (As Donna Greathouse has pointed out, debate moderators have repeatedly deemed women’s rights as not worthy of one question.)

In the beginning of the debate, both candidates tried to prove they were the most independent (since this highly competitive district has so many independents). Barber touted his record as the “fourth most independent” Congressman, which means he bucks the Democratic Party routinely. In fact, McSally’s charge that Barber does what Minority Leader Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi tells him to rings particularly hollow with most Democrats who wish he would do just that!

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