Press release : Courtney Frogge has officially filed to run for State House in Legislative District 10.
“I was raised to believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, the State of Arizona was full of opportunity and you could have a piece of the American dream – a quality public education, start a business, raise a family, and have a secure retirement. This was true for generations and can be true again, which is why I am running for State House in Legislative District 10,” Courtney Frogge explained.
With the announcement, also came strong local and statewide support. In the first days of the campaign, Courtney Frogge has earned the endorsements of Representative Bruce Wheeler, who is vacating the seat, as well as district incumbents Senator David Bradley and Representative Stefanie Mach.
PHOENIX – Arizona State Senator Steve Yarbrough now knows why U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham never uses email.
On Tuesday Yarbrough, R-Chandler, sent a mass email to at least 300 constituents defending his late-night state budget vote to slash university and community college budgets, reduce per-pupil funding for public schools and pull the safety net out from under thousands of Arizonans. The text of Yarbrough’s email can be found here.
We know exactly how many people Yarbrough contacted because – you guessed it – he forgot to blind copy the list of recipients before hitting send. Political Communications 101 fail. And we also know how his constituents responded. At least a dozen ticked off, well-informed and clever recipients hit “reply all” with their comments.
It wasn’t pretty for Yarbrough. Below are just a few of the highlights (WARNING, this is long but totally worth it), with last names redacted. Enjoy!
From “Dan”:
You admit in your email that, “Universities were cut by nearly $100 million” and that doesn’t even include the devastating cuts to Maricopa and Pima Community Colleges which brings your cuts to higher education to more than $110M.
With these cuts that you voted for you have guaranteed that Arizona will remain in the lowest tier of the states for future quality job growth for decades. You are essentially locking many of our children into dead-end low-wage jobs or forcing them to move out of state to pursue higher education and 21st century jobs. I know many parents with children will remember your vote in the next election. I know I will.
From “Bea,” a lifelong Republican
I agree with all of the others that have said that you, or your office intern should learn how to BCC that many email addresses, or how to set up a group in your mail program – maybe call it something like – “Mad as heck parents who don’t like short changed education”.
The AZLeg has been cutting money in our K-12 programs at an alarming rate since 2008. Cuts have been over 40% in that time frame (adjusted for inflation). This is unacceptable!
How can we ever expect to bring high paying jobs and economic development to this amazing state if we are not willing to support an education system that helps to produce educated graduates that are ready to move either into the workforce, technical schools, community college or universities. Economic growth is spurred on by an educated citizenry coupled with a business friendly environment that has reasonably taxes and regulations.
Approximately 100 Tucsonans rallied against massive cuts to education proposed by Governor Doug Ducey and the #AZGOP.
More than 1000 people rallied at the Arizona Capitol to protest cuts to education on Thursday. The Phoenix rally spawned a similar protest in Tucson, where 100 people protested millions of dollars in cuts to K-12 education, $104 million in cuts to universities, and elimination of funding for Pima Community College and other community colleges in Pinal and Maricopa County.
Governor Ducey had proposed increasing prison beds and funding, while cutting education. Protesters took issue with that short-sighted idea.
You’ll remember that Ducey and the Legislature are facing a budget deficit of nearly half a billion dollars this year and over $1 billion next year, AND, thanks to Tooth Fairy Math, they believe that that can balance the budget, give millions of dollars in corporate tax cuts, and do nothing to raise revenue (to pay down the deficit or to make the tax cuts seem less ridiculous affordable.)
Parents, teachers, school board members, public education supporters, and students from 5 to 25 years old showed up in force in the two cities to tell the governor that balancing the state budget– yet again— on the backs of students and families is unacceptable. At this time, Ducey doesn’t have the votes in either chamber of the Legislature to pass his budget. Images from the Tucson rally after the jump.
When you think of lobbyists in Arizona you’re bound to think of people in expensive shoes and haircuts peddling bills handwritten for the corporations that pay them. It’s true of a lot of them but there are also some valiant souls who go to the Capitol regularly to plead on behalf of the people in our state who don’t have piles of cash to influence legislators. One such person is Kristin Gwinn, executive director of Protecting Arizona’s Families Coalition (PAFCO), who testified before a Senate committee on Monday about the how their proposed budget does not come close to meeting the needs of abused and vulnerable children. She pulled no punches:
There’s a terrible, awful story in the news right now about a Phoenix couple who starved their baby nearly to death. So it’s no surprise that Phoenix’s own Nancy Grace, AKA Laurie Roberts, was quickly on the scene to flare her nostrils about it on her column. I mean, I totally could see it coming but, dear sweet Christ on chimichanga platter is this thing dreadful.
What profound insight does Laurie have to add to this horrible situation? Why, slut-shaming, of course.
The case of Veronica Marie Diaz showcases much about what is wrong with our society, about why CPS is so overrun and just how daunting the task will be as the state rebuilds our child-welfare system. Here’s a 27-year-old woman with multiple children and no father apparently in sight. But, of course, there is a boyfriend.
