Paul Eckerstrom, taken by Curtis Dutiel

Tucson attorney Paul Eckerstrom, Co-chair of the Start Our State (SOS) campaign to separate Pima County from the State of Arizona will be speaking at Democrats of Greater Tucson (DGT) on April 4.

This political committee started in late February and has been reported extensively on by Tucsoncitizen.com blogger/attorney Hugh Holub (“View from Baja Arizona”), who is somewhat credited with this idea of promoting the formation of a Southern Arizona state, tentatively called “Baja Arizona”. Click here (http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/02/25/americas-51st-state-movement-starts-to-free-baja-arizona/) for one of Hugh’s first blogs on this subject.

Eckerstrom is a former Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party.The other SOS Co-chair is Peter Hormel, another attorney activist in Tucson who was once a Green Party of Pima County candidate for Pima County Attorney, and the Treasurer is attorney David Euchner, former Chair of the Pima County Libertarian Party. These three local attorneys, from each of the 3 parties are leading the way in this “separation for equal representation” movement.

To establish a new state in Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional machinations of the Arizona legislature and to restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors.

(from the SOS website)

Websites: http://startourstate.com/, and http://www.facebook.com/startourstate (with 3245 “likes” so far). Donations can be sent to “Start Our State”, P. B. Box 308, Tucson 85702 or online via Paypal, email is startourstate@gmail.com. “Free Baja Arizona” bumper stickers are for sale as well.

I heard Paul speak at Drinking Liberally (at The Shanty) on February 27, and about 30 people in the bar agreed that they no longer wanted to be associated with the conservative Arizona legislature. One fellow said that the current situation felt like “taxation without representation” because the current legislators did not represent the interests of the tax paying people here in Pima County.

And here’s Paul being interviewed on KUAT TV Channel 6 on March 11: http://www.azpm.org/politics/story/2011/3/11/1830-is-baja-arizona-for-real/

If you want to hear about this movement to separate/secede from the State of Arizona which has gotten a lot of media coverage (even nationally), log onto their website, read Hugh Holub’s numerous articles, and/or go to DGT on April 4.

DGT meets at the Dragon View Restaurant, 400 N. Bonita (between W. St. Mary’s Road and W. Congress) on Mondays at high noon (except holidays). Chinese buffet lunch costs $8.50 including drink & tip, or just $2.50 for a drink.