Unchaining Democracy in Arizona from “Model Legislation”

I’ve been a university writing teacher for a decade now, so I have gotten pretty good at spotting a cut-and-paste job. I will be reading a student’s paper and suddenly the sentence structure gets more complex, the student is using words they never have before, and, in the especially lazy cases, the font changes. The … Read more

AG’s office effectively kills sub-minimum wage bill

Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley (D-Tucson) recently wrote for the blog, #AZ House Republicans Pass $7.25/hour Minimum Wage for Students (video): The worst vote of the 54th session has to be the Republican passage of the sub-minimum wage on Thursday. Rep. Travis Grantham’s HB2523 would allow employers to pay full time students, who work part time … Read more

New Maricopa County Democratic Party Executive Director Maritza Miranda Saenz discusses Preparing for 2020.

At the café of choice for meeting public servants and activists, Lolas in Phoenix, the new Executive Director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, Maritza Miranda Sanez chated and discussed her background as well as how the county party is beginning to prepare for the 2020 elections. Ms. Saenz has”grown up” in the political arena … Read more

Beware the Whims of the Extreme Left

Democrats need to be mindful of the fringes on both the right and the left as they navigate a course to capture more local and state offices, maintain their control of the House, retake the Senate, and win the Presidency. Combatting the right-wing fringe right is easy because they are mostly nativist xenophobic white supremacists … Read more

Arizona Capitol

Using their last gasps of power, Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature Attempt to Turn Back the Clock on the People’s Rights.

In 1981, the Soviet Union and their Polish puppets, in reaction to the growing Solidarity Movement in Poland that threatened the Russian grip in Eastern Europe imposed martial law to turn back the clock on progress. When the Solidarity Union Leader (and later Polish President) Lech Walesa was arrested, he told the arresting soldiers “this … Read more