People Before Politics |
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Greetings!
It's been another interesting week in Arizona. Our state turned 100 years old on Tuesday. And extremist Republicans in the state legislature proposed yet more bills that do nothing to bring jobs into Arizona. In fact, they do the opposite by holding the state up to further ridicule in the rest of the country. As if SB1070 didn't hurt our state's economy enough, the legislature continues to make us less and less attractive to businesses that might consider locating here. This week the legislature tried to:
1. Change the recall election law to favor incumbents.
2. Reduce the number of judges without reducing the workload.
3. Eliminate our model merit system appointment of judges and have them elected instead.
4. Eliminate collective bargaining.
5. Reduce the minimum wage for part-timers like college students.
6. Increase college tuition by $2,000 (out of pocket) for anyone attending on a grant other than a merit or athletic scholarship.
7. Pass an anti-union bill (preventing paycheck deduction of union dues), a bill which the non-partisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee says would cost taxpayers millions of dollars to implement.
I'm tired of Arizona being a favorite target on Comedy Central. It's time for common-sense approaches to the very real problems facing our state. |
| Talking About the Issues | |
Some Common-Sense Suggestions for Jan Brewer
On Monday the 13th, the Arizona House Democrats proposed some good alternatives to Jan Brewer's silly public relations stunt of setting aside $106 million to buy back the state capitol buildings SHE sold to Wall Street banks back in 2010. Without too much difficulty, they came up with several excellent suggestions for how to spend that money. Here are a few that I particularly like:
- Reinstate job training.
- Restore child care subsidies - 2,670 jobs would be created and 19,000 additional children would have child care.
- Hire nearly 1,000 new teachers.
Read the full blog post to see all the other practical ways that money could be spent and watch Representative Chad Campbell's announcement:
 | | 2/13/12 - House Democrats' Weekly Media Briefing |
The Arizona House Democrats continue to try to bring some sanity to the legislature. But we need to elect more Democrats to the House in November so that they can accomplish their goals. Let's make 2012 the year we replace the extremists in the legislature.
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| Join Me | |
Petition Walk
I still need signatures to get onto the ballot. Please join me on Saturday, February 25th, at 10 AM for a Petition Walk. We will meet up at my house at 2600 E. Springfield Place, Unit 94, Chandler, AZ, 85286. I'll provide maps, water and energy bars. If you can make it, please RSVP by email so I'll know how many to plan for. Thanks! |
| Another Democrat Declares His Candidacy |
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I am pleased to announce that Bill Gates, the treasurer of the LD 21 Democrats, filed the paperwork on February 14, Arizona's 100th birthday, to run for the Arizona State Senate. He will be the new senator for what will be LD 17 once the new maps go into effect. As Bill noted on his Facebook page, for the first time in more than a decade there will be a race for State Senator serving Chandler & Sun Lakes.
I have worked with Bill for the past year as a fellow member of the executive board for the LD 21 Democrats. He has done a great job as treasurer, and has headed up the efforts to recruit new Democratic candidates [and I am one example of his success!]. He is also very active in the Sun Lakes Democratic Club, serving as its treasurer. Bill will be a welcome addition to the battle to bring common sense back to the Arizona legislature. I look forward to working with him as we prove that Arizona really isn't a red state after all. |
| Kyrsten Sinema | |
Sun Lakes Democratic Club Meeting 
I spoke at the February 13 meeting of the Sun Lakes Democratic Club. It meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at the Navajo Room of the Sun Lakes Country Club. A big thanks to all the great Democrats who signed my petitions and donated $5.00 each to my Clean Elections effort.
The featured speaker was former state repre sentative Kyrsten Sinema, who is running for Congress from the new CD 9. I'm proud to announce that Kyrsten has endorsed my candidacy! |
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There are some very important choices to make in November. We'll have a chance to vote for people who will bring Arizona government back to the middle ground where the majority of people are. With your help, I hope to be part of that effort. Please consider donating seed money, up to $150, to my campaign so that I can make a difference for Arizona.
I'm now also registered with Arizona's new E-Qual, where you can donate $5.00 online through PayPal to my Clean Elections campaign. You can also sign my ballot petition online if you haven't already. Thank you for joining me in this fight.
Sincerely,
Karyn Lathan
Karyn Lathan For AZ House |
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