gun violence

Democratic Candidates for LD10 House Shine in Drive to Oust Clodfelter

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LD10 Democratic candidates.jpg
Left to right, candidates Kirsten Engel, Domingo DeGrazia, Nikki Lee and Catherine Ripley

Democrats have four impressive candidates for the Arizona House in Legislative District 10 in eastern Tucson, united in their effort to oust Republican incumbent, Todd “Confederate” Clodfelter.

  • UofA Law Professor Kirsten H. Engel is running for a second term in the AZ House, after serving on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and Judiciary and Public Safety committee.
  • Newcomer Domingo DeGrazia, son of famous Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia, is a licensed pilot and a trial attorney in juvenile court. “I have a constant drive to better myself, creativity and tenacity to see a fight through to the end,” he says.
  • Catherine Ripley is a retired 26-year Navy officer and current political science teacher at Pima College (and earlier at Harvard, Boston University, and M.I.T.). In her first run for office, she says, “I’m a former diplomat, Mom, and business executive. I’ve seen famine and war. I’m here to bring my skills and experiences, and have the tools to hand Todd Clodfelter a defeat he’ll never forget.”
  • Running as a Clean Elections Candidate, newcomer Nikki Lee has a young campaign team of Millennials, including herself at age 36. “We have so much excitement on our campaign, doing innovating things, understanding the life of young people.”  She has  launched the “A to Z podcast” for young people.

LD10 has two AZ House members and one Senator, David Bradley, who was on hand and running without opposition. Clodfelter is notorious for his Confederate Flag screen saver, which he claimed wasn’t racist. His signature legislation throws a meager $150 tax credit at teachers to cover school supplies rather than help them in any meaningful way.

If you could pass one bill…

Asked if they could pass only one bill in the Republican-majority House, the candidates said it would be to:

Engel: End the hundreds of corporate sales tax loopholes and use the money to fund public schools.

DeGrazia: Stop gun violence.

Lee: Help veterans recover from PTSD and brain injuries.

Ripley: Enact common-sense gun policy, including a ban on bump stocks.

If you could reverse one law…

Asked what law or bill they would want to stop, the candidates said:

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Marijuana to Bump Stocks to Tax Giveaways: How Did your #AZHouse Rep Vote?

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Arizona House Democrats
There have been many lively debates in the Arizona House in 2018. This team of House Democrats fought for consumer protections and fought against risky financial deals in a “regulatory sandbox.” (Pictured are Reps. Mitzi Epstein, Kelli Butler, Athena Salman, Pamela Powers Hannley, Ken Clark and Isela Blanc.)

In the middle of each Legislative Session, there is a frenetic time period called “crossover week”. It is characterized by a flurry of debates and votes in a compressed timeframe. The purpose is to pass on as many wacky bills as possible in each chamber of the Legislature before successful bills are passed to the other chamber. (Hence, the name “crossover week”).

In the last two weeks, the Arizona House has voted on more than 100 bills. I think the House is up to ~250 bills that we have sent to the Senate. Of course, this list includes the good, the bad and the ugly. Below the fold are a few of the recent votes on gun violence, tax giveaways, mandatory sentencing, and drugs. All of these bills are still alive and have been sent to the Arizona Senate. If you don’t like these bills, tell your Senators and Representatives. (On the voting below, green = yes, red = no, purple = excused absence, yellow = absent.)

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Guns in America community forum at the Loft Cinema

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Guns in America: Where Do We Go From Here community forum at Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. on Monday Feb. 26, 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. “In the aftermath of yet another school shooting – this one taking 17 lives – please join Ward 6 Tucson City Council member Steve Kozachik for … Read more

The AZ GOP ‘targets’ Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick with bullet hole-ridden poster

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Here we go again, Republicans “targeting” Democrats with violent imagery. First it was the halfling governor of Alaska, the Quitta from Wasilla Sarah Palin, putting crosshairs on Rep. Gabby Giffords, among others, and now it is the Arizona Republican Party putting a bullet hole in Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick’s chest. Nothing suggestive there, oh no. What could possibly go wrong?

The Arizona Republic reports, Ann Kirkpatrick’s Senate campaign decries Arizona GOP ‘Wanted’ poster:

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick’s Senate campaign is objecting to an Arizona Republican Party “Wanted” poster that features her photo with mock bullet holes.

WantedKirkpatrick

(Photo: Arizona Republican Party)

Kirkpatrick’s campaign issued a statement calling it a “gross political attack” that recalls the Jan. 8, 2011, assassination attempt on then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who suffered a near-fatal gunshot wound to the head in a mass shooting near Tucson.

“Arizonans have witnessed, firsthand, how inciteful rhetoric and imagery can influence acts of aggression and violence towards elected officials,” Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Alexis Tameron added in a written statement. “Today’s political stunt by the Arizona Republican Party illustrates not only a lack of judgment, but a complete disregard of the tragedy that traumatized so many Arizonans on January 8, 2011.”

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Donald Trump revives Richard Nixon’s 1968 playbook

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I am seeing far too many pundits and reporters, some of whom are too young to have been around in the 1960’s, try to make the false analogy that the violence in America today is reminiscent of the tumultuous 1960’s. These are people I like to call “idiots.” Today is nothing at all like the 1960s. I know, I lived it.

We do not have cities burning from race riots and the national guard patrolling the streets of major cities to put down violence, and to protect police and firemen. We do not have anti-war protesters on college campuses and in Washington, D.C. being confronted by “hard hat” supporters of the war in Vietnam, the police, and the national guard. And we have not suffered a decade of assassinations of political and civil rights leaders.

There has never been an election year as violent and tumultuous as 1968, and God willing, there will never be another year like it again.

SilentMajorityBut apparently some geniuses (sic) advising Donald Trump have convinced him that running Richard Nixon’s 1968 p;aybook, complete with the Southern strategy of dividing America by appealing to racial animosity, imposing “law and order” against minorities and anti-war protesters, and appealing to a “silent majority” of Americans who support the war and getting tough on minorities and protesters, but who do not publicly speak out, is once again the path to victory in 2016.

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post writes, Trump is trying to re-run Nixon’s 1968 campaign. Here’s why it won’t work.

Judging by what he’s done over the last couple of days, Donald Trump seems to have decided that the way to win in November is to re-run Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign. For those of you who weren’t around then, Nixon argued that the country had turned into a nightmare of chaos and violence, and only a strong leader like him could bring order and safety.

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