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Ducey, Brnovich, Douglas & Forese: Why Are You Afraid of Tucson?

September 24, 2014 by Pamela Powers Hannley

It was bad enough when Republican gubernatorial candidate Dicey Doug Ducey decided to duck debates in Tucson, but now the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson (LWVGT) has reported that only ONE of the invited Republicans– Corporation Commission candidate Doug “I Heart APS” Little– will participate in a televised LWVGT debate in Tucson. All of the Democratic candidates agreed to the LWVGT debate invitation, along with Libertarian Barry Hess and “Independent Constitutionalist” J.L. Mealer.

“Dark Money” Ducey, Attorney General candidate Mark “Nullify the Constitution” Brnovich, Diane “Tea Party Tool” Douglas, and Tom “I Heart APS” Forese have all decided that debating in Arizona’s second largest city is not worth their time. These cowardly Republicans are taking a page from the playbooks of Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain: don’t go south of Oro Valley, unless you have to rush to the border for a photo opp.

Was it something we said? Or something they’re afraid we’ll say? Did someone tell them that every old hippie artist in Tucson has protest signs tucked behind the couch? Let’s face it. These bought-and-paid-for Koch Brothers candidates can’t hold a candle to the Democratic Party’s slate, and they know it. They don’t want to look stupid on camera. They prefer to hide and hope no one will notice. (Remember Jan Brewer’s on-camera brain fart in 2010?)

DuVal-Ducey Debate Available Online

September 22, 2014 by Pamela Powers Hannley

On September 18, 2014, Democratic candidate for governor Fred DuVal, Republican candidate Doug Ducey, and Libertarian candidate Barry Hess debated in Tucson. Although it is the only Tucson debate that Ducey has agereed to, it was not aired live on TV or streamed on the Internet. (Ducey didn’t attend the September 21 debate on the … Read more

Doug Ducey Disses Tucson with 3 Debate Cancellations

September 19, 2014September 19, 2014 by Pamela Powers Hannley

ICYMI, there was a gubernatorial debate between Democrat Fred DuVal, Tea Party Republican Doug Ducey, and Libertatian Barry Hess last night in Tucson.

What? You tried to find the debate on TV, radio, and the Internet, and it wasn’t there? That’s because 99% of Tucson– and the state– was cut out of the process last night. The first DuVal-Ducey debate, held in Phoenix, was broadcast on Phoenix television and streamed live over the Internet, but the Tucson debate was pushed back to an prime time 8 p.m. start by the Ducey campaign, according to DuVal Press Secratary Geoff Vetter. As a result only the 400 people who attended the debate got to see it live.

It’s obvious that the Ducey campaign wants to tightly control communication at all levels, particularly on social media and in the streets. (Why else would you have a debate on the outskirts of town, away from the bus line, on private property, after dark?) He wants voters to base their decisions not on real information from debates and public forums but on the dark money TV commercials bankrolled by his corporate benefactors.

How do you like your Hobby Lobby now, Doug Ducey and other GOP candidates?

September 16, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

Per Ian Millhiser:

Citing Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court’s decision last June holding that the religious objections of a business’ owners could trump federal rules requiring that business to include birth control coverage in its health plan, a federal judge in Utah held last week that a member of a polygamist religious sect could refuse to testify in a federal investigation into alleged violations of child labor laws because he objects to testifying on religious grounds…

…The federal child labor investigation arose from a CNN report investigating claims that Jeffs “ordered all schools closed for a week so children could go to work picking pecans off trees at a private ranch” in Utah. The report included video of “hundreds of children, many of them very small” working on the ranch. When the reporters arrived, CNN also caught video of the FLDS children fleeing the cameras.

Yet, according to an order signed by Judge David Sam, a Reagan appointee to a trial court in Utah, the federal officials investigating this alleged violation of child labor laws will not be able to require an FLDS member named Vernon Steed to provide information that could aid the investigation because Steed objects to giving certain testimony on religious grounds. Steed claims that he’s made “religious vows ‘not to discuss matters related to the internal affairs or organization of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.’” According to Judge Sam’s opinion, that’s enough to exempt him from providing the testimony he does not want to give.

Whoops.

Of course they ignored repro rights at the Channel 12 debate.

September 11, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

In Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate hosted by KPNX Channel 12 candidates Fred DuVal (D) and Doug Ducey (R) were asked about topics ranging from the economy to taxation to Common Core school standards to the border and immigration policy. My assessment of it was that Ducey would have gotten away with his recitation of talking points with no specifics to every question were it not for moderator Brahm Resnik, who does not care for that and pressed him for details, causing Ducey to flail. DuVal was definitely better prepared to answer the actual questions.

Noticeably absent, to me and other reproductive rights advocates, were any questions about women’s health and family planning. This deliberate elision is far too common here and not something seen in other red states North Carolina and Texas, where candidates are debating things like abortion and contraception vigorously, as they should since anti-choice laws are being passed like crazy in them. But, for some reason, the mainstream news people in Arizona tend to be squeamish about the topic. You may see the question come up, briefly, in one or two major debates but not in most of them. On the rare occasion moderators do ask it’s typically to allow the GOP candidate to express his support for “exceptions for rape and incest” with no follow-up questions.