F. Ann Rodriguez

Southern Arizona News Examiner endorses some Democratic candidates

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Emil Franzi, publisher/editor of the conservative online Southern Arizona News Examiner has endorsed a few Democrats in Pima County, for the upcoming General Election 2016:

Recorder – F. Ann Rodriguez, incumbent

Attorney – Barbara LaWall, incumbent

Assessor:  Bill Staples, incumbent

Supervisor District 1:  Brian Bickel

Supervisor District 3: Sharon Bronson, incumbent

LD 9 House – no to Anna (sic) Henderson (R). (The candidate’s first name is spelled Ana.)

Otherwise, the rest of the S.A.N.E. endorsements are Republicans  including the U.S. President, except for the nonpartisan TUSD School Board (Mark Stegeman, an Independent).

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Green Party of Pima County urges “no” vote on Prop. 123

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Green Party of Pima County – Vote “No” on Prop. 123 on May 17thlogoRL

“Proposition 123 does nothing more than reward bad behavior, abuse of power and corruption at the State Level. It literally allows politicians, already legally determined to be withholding money from schools, to mortgage our future educational dollars without thought of any future need beyond 10 years.
First, proposition 123 does not pay the full amount the courts have already ruled is due the schools pursuant to proposition 301 which voters passed in 2000. Secondly, the Arizona State Land Trust Fund, whose interest of typically 2.5% annually, already earmarked for education, has been targeted for a raid by state pirates and politicians. The land trust funds principal will be tapped to the tune of more than 6% per year, depleting the funds principal and depriving AZ students and taxpayer’s of any form of educational security. This approach to funding literally robs future generations of money for our schools, in order to pay current educational debt that was already withheld by the governor and his majority. Might this also trigger land sales by the state to replenish a diminished land trust, benefiting developers heretofore unknown?
We, the members of the Green Party in Pima County, say the risk to our environmental sustainability and our way of life is too great, and our reward to our children and teacher’s is non-existent. Prop. 123 does not provide enough financial resource to fix the under-funding problems and poor teacher pay already in existence. In fact, the state has a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion which could be used to fund schools immediately. The state has not done so.
When faced with overwhelming evidence of incompetence, at best, and corruption, at worst, an informed electorate must act to solve problems, and correct inequities. Preserve our Land Trust, and let’s fight for what we approved in proposition 301.
Vote “No” on Prop. 123. 
Vote “Yes” for our environment and future generations of students.”

1st GPPC Representative Josh Reilly

GPPC Chairperson Mike Cease

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‘Flipped’ votes in Pima County? Will voting machines or voters determine 2012 election? (video)

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Since the 2006 Pima County election, which created the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), there have been ongoing gquestions about election integrity, the ease in which local vote-scanning machines can be hacked, and accusations of slip-shod procedures in the county's election division.

Last Friday, a group of local citizens– Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, and Independents– filed a lawsuit to force Pima County to comply with election laws in the way it handles ballots and ballot machines in this election. This action will be heard in Pima Superior Court tomorrow– Nov. 1– at 2 p.m.

In a Wake Up Tucson radio interview, Bill Beard (who is running against long-time Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez) and attorney Brad Roach said that the current court action alleges no past wrong doing by the county; it simply asks judge to order the county to comply with state law in handling the elections. 

"Pima County has short-circuited some of the laws of the state of Arizona," Beard claims in the radio interview.

In the past, the Pima County Board of Supervisors has been less than cooperative with election integrity investigations– hence the move to encourge the courts to force the county's hand. The plaintiffs want the judge to instruct the county to:

1- Have poll workers include in every Official Return Envelope a copy of the signed "tally lists" or results tape. (This is a record of the total number of votes a machine has on board before it leaves the precinct polling place and is taken to the elections department. When the machine reaches the county, these totals can be rechecked.)

2- Separate the vote by mail ballots by precinct (thus simplifying random sample rechecks of votes).

3- Conduct sufficient randomly selected hand count audits of the vote by mail ballots– including county races.

4- Pay plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and the costs of expert witnesses and "reasonable" costs for any analysis and testing to verify results.

Why does a group of citizens have to file a lawsuit against the Pima County Board of Supervisors to force them to protect our votes? Videos and more informaiton after the jump.