progressive

Blue ostrich sticking its head in the sand

Time to pay attention

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Every day, another outrage. The golfer-in-chief and his minions have been flooding the zone with outrageous announcements, many of which are shot down quickly by the courts or by the court of public opinion. But not all. Some of them are already having negative effects, some of them deadly. I won’t hypothesize about cause and … Read more

Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley

Rep. Powers Hannley: I’m Running for Re-Election in 2020

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As the temperatures cool down, the 2020 elections are heating up.

Thank you all so much for supporting my 2018 re-election campaign. With the hard work of a record number of PowersForThePeople volunteers, plus the underlying strategy of LD9 Precinct Committee folks, LD9 had the highest Democratic turnout in the state (82%), and I won both the primary and the general elections handily.

LE9 election results
2016 and 2018 election results compiled from Arizona Secretary of State data.

It’s time to do it again in 2020.

Since the Legislature moved the primary election day forward to August 4, 2020, other election deadlines also have been moved forward. Nominating petitions must be filed between March 7, 2020 and April 6, 2020. Unfortunately, the Legislature will most likely still be in session.

My goal is to collect all of the necessary signatures and Clean Elections $5 qualifying contributions by opening day in January.  I want to focus on you and your wellbeing during session… without campaign deadlines hanging over my head.

Yes, I am running clean again

Even though Republicans keep making it harder and harder to run clean, it’s not in my genes to run traditional. Running clean means that I take no big money donations.

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HB2492

AZ House: Left & Right Converge on Funding Issues (Sometimes) (video)

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HB2492
A bipartisan vote stopped HB2492, a corporate welfare bill for Arizona’s largest, most successful employers.

Everyone keeps telling me “things are different this year” in the Arizona House of Representatives.

From my perspective, there are many possible reasons why things are different, but the three most obvious are: 1) Speaker of the House J.D. Mesnard has chosen to run the House efficiently and fairly; 2) 23 House members (including 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans) were elected for the first time in 2016; and 3) the Democratic Caucus is highly diverse, with half of the members being women, more than half Latino, and several Progressive.

The result has been some interesting votes on funding issues. On several spending votes, fiscally conservatives (who don’t like to spend money) and fiscally conservative Progressives (who don’t want to spend money on non-essentials until the schools are made whole) are voting together for different reasons. (This phenomenon is being reported at the Congressional level also— with both far-right Republicans and Progressive Democrats voicing extreme dislike for TrumpCare.)

As the Arizona House moves from hearing bills in committee and voting on the floor to debating and voting on the budget, it will be interesting to watch the Conservative/Progressive budget hawks.  A hint of things to come can be found in a recent article from the Capitol Times: Ducey determined to pass university bond plan lawmakers dislike.

As outlined in his address to the Arizona Legislature on Inauguration Day, Governor Doug Ducey wants to increase funding for building construction and repairs at the three universities by giving them back the tax they paid on the purchases they made. (The proposal is to refund their Transaction Privilege Tax or TPT– essentially sales tax.)

The universities would split the roughly $30 million per year proportionally and use those funds to pay interest on roughly $1 billion in bonds.

There are multiple reasons I don’t like this idea…

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Jason Jones and Pamela Powers Hannley

Laughing Liberally & Political Candidates at Hotel Congress: July 31 (video)

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Jason Jones and Pamela Powers Hannley
One of the high points of the DNC2012 for me was being interviewed by Jason Jones of Comedy Central. (I wasn’t nutty enough to get on TV.)

Laughing is good for your health.

Laughing Liberally is good for your health, good for your mind, and good for democracy.

Laughing Liberally political comics regularly perform around town. Tonight– July 31— the comics will perform at Hotel Congress at 8 p.m. The twist for tonight’s event will be the addition of tabling politicians like myself. Come on down! Have a laugh, meet the candidates, and enjoy an evening of politics and laughs.

In honor of tonight’s event, check out my one and only Laughing Liberally performance from 2012. I had the honor of blogging the 2012 DNC for the Huffington Post.  Hear about my experiences below, and come to Hotel Congress tonight to catch some laughs and meet fellow progressives.

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Powers for the People: Pamela Powers Hannley Seeks LD9 House Seat

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Pamela Powers Hannley
Pamela Powers Hannley, MPH

Yes, indeed, as has been hinted on this blog, I am running for the Arizona House to serve Legislative District 9.

No, I don’t need a psychiatric evaluation.

I’m running because I’m tired of government against the people. I am running for the Arizona Legislature because I want to bring back government of the people, by the people and for the people. Republican Party policies have starved the Arizona economy and thrown many citizens into financial ruin.

GOP leaders bow to dark money donors and ignore the needs of Arizona workers. They have repeatedly cut taxes for the 1% and for corporations, while allowing the people of Arizona to toil away for chronically low wages, that are well below national standards. Their policies have hindered Arizona’s competitiveness by allowing our roads and bridges to crumble and by whittling away k-12 education, vocational education, community colleges, and universities.

Arizona has been stuck in a ditch since the Tea Party took over in 2010. It’s time to take back our government, end austerity policies that are hurting Arizona families, and get back on the road to prosperity.

My slogan is “Powers for the People” because I will work for you… real people… not for corporate people. I am proud to run as a Clean Elections candidate because I believe voters– not money– should decide who runs our country.

I am running on a platform that focuses on ending wasteful spending, raising revenue, and saving money to fund jobs, infrastructure, and education. Learn more after the jump.

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