Tucson Weekly Endorsements: Vote Democratic!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tucson Weekly did its election endorsements a few weeks ago, but today offers a condensed version of it election issue — and endorses a straight Democratic ticket. God, I love it! At least one newspaper in this town gets it. Thank you. Ballot-Box Basics:

The 2010 Tucson Weekly Endorsements, Condensed, by the Tucson Weekly Editorial Board

Here’s a condensed version of the endorsements we published a few weeks back. If you’re looking for more info, you’ll find it on The Range at daily.tucsonweekly.com, where we’ve got links to all of our Election Season coverage.

U.S. Congress, District 8: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

Democrat Gabrielle Giffords has delivered for Southern Arizona. She has brought home federal dollars that have kept the state’s schools, hospitals and universities open. She’s brought stimulus money that has fixed streets, hired more cops and helped land jobs, such as the 500-job expansion that drug-manufacturer Roche Group announced for Oro Valley earlier this month. She’s helped fix up the fire station at Fort Huachuca, funded programs to help wounded vets get 21st-century rehabilitation services and built a domestic-violence shelter in Sierra Vista.

Her Republican opponent, Jesse Kelly, promises to do none of these things—and, in fact, criticizes Giffords for supporting them. Kelly’s platform is straight out of fantasyland. He wants a 10 percent flat tax that he himself admits has no support in Congress. He thinks individuals and not government should be “regulating” everything from the stock market to the drug industries. Last week, he said the average person can do a better job of preventing salmonella outbreaks than government inspectors can. C’mon, we’ve heard plenty of crazy stuff, but do you really believe that’s the truth?

We need a representative who is going to look out for Southern Arizona, not one who wants to destroy government because it’s too complicated for him to understand.

U.S. Congress, District 7: Congressman Raúl Grijalva

We thought Congressman Raúl Grijalva made a boneheaded move with his call for a boycott of the state in the wake of SB 1070, but he’s admitted he made a mistake. We agree with the majority of his votes and appreciate his fight against the Rosemont Mine proposal. Republican opponent Ruth McClung’s platform just isn’t our cup of tea; the more we learn about her, the more it becomes clear that she’s just another right-wing ideologue. Vote Grijalva.

U.S. Senate: No Recommendation

These are our choices? Seriously? You’re on your own with this one.

Governor: Terry Goddard

Gov. Jan Brewer is the wrong choice for innumerable reasons, but mostly because we believe Democrat Terry Goddard will do a much better job of stemming the flow of crazy that’s going to pour out of the Arizona Legislature. We stand on the edge of losing our investments in everything from state parks to the universities if someone doesn’t stop the right-wing whackos—and Democrat Terry Goddard is far more likely to do that than Brewer.

Secretary of State: Chris Deschene

Secretary of State Ken Bennett is a cut above most Republicans in the state these days, but we still give the nod to Democrat Chris Deschene, because in Arizona, the secretary of state has a habit of becoming governor, and we’re more comfortable with Deschene in that role.

Attorney General: Felecia Rotellini

We’ll take Democrat Felecia Rotellini over Republican Tom Horne, who appears a little too eager to find ways to mess with an already overstressed Tucson Unified School District.

State Treasurer: Andrei Cherny

Democrat Andrei Cherny is moderate enough to earn the endorsement of Jim Kolbe, the former Republican congressman who is chairing his campaign. We’ll take him over Republican Doug Ducey, whose trail of disgruntled former Cold Stone Creamery franchisees and unpaid taxes leaves us less than confident that he’s ready to handle the state’s books.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Penny Kotterman

Democrat Penny Kotterman is a longtime advocate for teachers who understands how the schools work, while Republican John Huppenthal is Republican lawmaker who has undermined public education at every opportunity. A no-brainer.

Arizona Corporation Commission: Dave Bradley

Democrat Dave Bradley has ably served Tucson for the last eight years in the Arizona Legislature, and we’re convinced he’d make a good addition to the Arizona Corporation Commission.

The Arizona Legislature: Vote the Democratic Ticket

We usually find a couple of Republicans worth supporting in legislative races, but this year, there are none.

As we’ve documented over the last year, Republicans are using the budget crisis as a way to plunder state government. They have been willing to cut our schools, eliminate health care for the sick and poor, scrap job-training and economic-development efforts, hack away at our universities and sell off our state parks. In short, if there’s something you care about that’s been built in this state over the last two decades, you can kiss it goodbye.

We understand that the state faces a financial crisis. But the real fix is to seriously reform the tax code so that it adapts to a 21st-century economy, not to shut down everything besides the schools and then give the savings away as tax cuts for the wealthiest residents. It’s time to bring some fresh thinking to the Arizona Legislature. (You’ll see that we’ve added a few names to our list since the endorsements package ran three weeks ago.)

With that in mind, we endorse:

District 25

Senate: Manny Alvarez
House: Pat Fleming and Ruben Ortega

District 26

Senate: Cheryl Cage
House: Nancy Young Wright

District 28

State Senate: Paula Aboud
State House: Steve Farley and Bruce Wheeler

District 30

State Senate: Todd Camenisch
State House: Andrea Dalessandro

Propositions

Proposition 106 (Health Care): No

Prop 106 would amend the Arizona Constitution to “preserve the freedom of Arizonans to provide for their health care.” That sounds great, but the real aim of the prop is to undermine the new federal health-care plan passed by Democrats, by claiming that Arizonans can’t be required to buy private insurance. That’s what we call an opportunity to waste millions of taxpayer dollars in lawsuits.

Proposition 107 (Affirmative Action): No

Prop 107 purportedly seeks to ensure that people get promoted on the basis of merit rather than their gender or the color of their skin. It’s certainly a noble goal, but let’s face it: “Merit” is a slippery qualification in any competition, and there’s a long history of women and minorities being shortchanged. Too many unintended consequences.

Proposition 109 (Hunting Laws): No

Prop 109 would create a new constitutional right to hunt and fish in Arizona, and would block future propositions that could in any way limit hunting and fishing by giving the Arizona Legislature the exclusive authority to regulate hunting. We’re not inclined to restrict voters’ authority and amend the Constitution to placate a small special-interest group.

Proposition 110 (State Trust Lands): Yes

Prop 110 would ask voters to approve certain types of land swaps related to state trust lands. We’ve been skeptical of previous efforts to approve land swaps, because the state always seems to come out on the short end of the deal, but this proposal has a number of protections built into it, including giving voters the final say on any swaps. It’s good enough for both the Sierra Club and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and it’s good enough for us.

Proposition 111 (Secretary of State/Lieutenant Governor): No

Prop 111 would change the title of secretary of state to lieutenant governor, to make it clear that the office-holder becomes governor if the governor leaves office early. We like that idea, but this deeply flawed proposition has too many unintended consequences, including the possibility that it may prohibit independent candidates from running for governor or secretary of state.

Proposition 112 (Petition Deadlines): Yes

Prop 112 would push back the deadline for submitting petitions for an initiative campaign from four months before an election to six months before an election. Given the amount of signature-gathering shenanigans that have been going on, it makes sense to give election officials more time to review the petitions that get turned in, and give the courts more time to sort out challenges.

Proposition 113 (Union-Organizing Elections): No Recommendation

Prop 113 would amend the Arizona Constitution to require that union-organizing elections be conducted with a secret ballot. We generally agree with that sentiment, but at its heart, this measure is designed to mess with unions and serve as a get-out-the-vote issue for conservatives, so we can’t tell you to vote for it.

Proposition 203 (Medical Marijuana): Yes

Prop 203 would legalize medical marijuana for seriously ill patients who register with the state and get a doctor’s recommendation. Dispensaries would face a variety of regulations. If smoking a little pot makes sick and dying people feel a little better, they shouldn’t have to break the law to do it.

Proposition 301 (Elimination of Land Conservation Fund): No 

Proposition 302 (Elimination of First Things First): No

Prop 301 would eliminate the Land Conservation Fund created by voters more than a decade ago, and give the roughly $123 million remaining in the fund to lawmakers in order to balance the budget, while Prop 302 would eliminate the First Things First program, which funds early childhood development and health programs, and use the estimated $324 million in the fund to help lawmakers balance this year’s budget. Future revenues for the fund, which come from an 80-cent-a-pack cigarette tax, would also be turned over to lawmakers to be used at their discretion.

We don’t like the idea of allowing lawmakers to swipe funds, especially since the same folks who want to grab the money want to turn around and give away huge tax breaks to the rich. Vote no.

Proposition 400 (Tucson Sales Tax Increase): Yes … Barely

Prop 400 would increase the sales tax inside the Tucson city limits by a half-cent per dollar for five years, bringing the combined city, state and transportation sales tax to 9.6 cents on every dollar.

We’re not thrilled about the idea of raising sales taxes inside the city limits; these are tough times, and it’s hard to ask everyone to pay a little more. We also hate the fact that this could put city businesses at a big disadvantage when compared to businesses in unincorporated county areas.

But the city has seen its revenues drop by at least $69 million since 2007, and there are more troubles on the horizon. The City Council continues to whittle away at the budget, but it’s still facing a $50 million shortfall next year. We’re already dropping support for festivals, arts programs, sports programs and many other amenities that help improve Tucson’s quality of life. We’re willing to invest in the city.

Proposition 401 (Tucson City Charter Amendments): No Recommendation

While there’s much to like about this package of changes to the city’s “constitution,” we have too many concerns to endorse it. We don’t like the idea of having all council members elected at once every four years, for example.