Randy Parraz in his 2010 campaign

Citizens for a Better Arizona is a newly formed organization of concerned citizens committed to improving the quality of life of all Arizonans – better schools, better health care, better jobs, better government and a better, more civil tone of respect and decency when it comes to solving Arizona’s problems.

This is the group whose President/organizer is Randy Parraz, former candidate for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary of 2010, which collected over 18,000 signatures in Legislative District 18 in Mesa, Arizona, to recall Republican State Senator (and sitting Senate President) Russell Pearce. Only 7,556 valid signatures were needed for the recall (read my previous blog from May, 2011, click here). Senator Pearce was defeated in the recall election on November 8, 2011 by Republican Jerry Lewis, a political newcomer. This was apparently the first time in U.S history that a sitting state Senate President has been recalled.

Parraz said recently at a house party in mid-town Tucson that he was motivated to begin this recall effort against Senator Pearce only last January, after Pearce was elected to be Senate President. Parraz stated that this Citizens for a Better AZ group was a true “grassroots” non-partisan effort of people of all ages, with about 35 core, committed volunteers, lead by his unflagging belief that despite what others said, the recall could succeed.

To read more about how Parraz ran this successful recall effort, read the Nov. 17, 2011 issue by Stephen Lemons in the Phoenix New Times (click here).

Randy Parraz will be coming to Tucson on Monday January 23, to speak at high noon to the Democrats of Greater Tucson (DGT) at a their weekly luncheon meeting at Dragon’s View restaurant, 400 N. Bonita Avenue (between St. Mary’s Rd. and Congress Ave.)
Cost of the Chinese lunch buffet is $8.50 which includes the tip and a drink.

Citizens for a Better AZ is now raising money on their latest campaign, which is calling for the resignation of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has served since January, 1993. He has been re-elected four times, and is seeking re-election this November. Arpaio has been under attack for abuse of power & funds, racial profiling of Hispanics, uninvestigated sex crimes against children (wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio.

For more info or to donate: www.citizensforabetteraz.org. Checks can also be mailed to Citizens for a Better AZ, 1615 N. 36th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85008.

Senator Russell Pearce

There is much ado about newly elected State Senate President Russell Pearce, even an article in today’s Arizona Daily Star about his “business unfriendly” attitude:

http://azstarnet.com/business/local/article_8f52eada-79ef-57e7-9b46-dfac60272a23.html

Pearce was the former Chief Deputy of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Dept.(23 years) and was also a Justice of the Peace at one time.

Did you know that he was elected by only 17,552 voters in LD 18 in Mesa?

Voter breakdown from November, 2010 general election from Secretary of State’s website:

SHERWOOD, ANDREW (DEM)
34.30% 10,663
PEARCE, RUSSELL (REP)
56.45% 17,552
GARCIA, ANDREA (LBT)
9.03% 2,808
Write-in
0.22% 68
31,091 total votes cast

Contrast this to a larger, more populated district such as LD 30 here in Southern Arizona, with Frank Antenori as State Senator, with 3x as many voters:

CAMENISCH, TODD (DEM)
39.59% 36,911
ANTENORI, FRANK (REP)
60.27% 56,198
WRITE-IN
0.14% 134
93,243

And we hear that LD 1 (north/central Arizona) State Senator Steve Pierce still wants to be Senate President:

DONAHUE, BOB (DEM)
35.13% 28,463
PIERCE, STEVE (REP)
64.74% 52,458
Write-in
0.13% 108
81,029

Map of Arizona legislative districts from Arizona state legislature page link:

http://azredistricting.org/mapping/default2.asp?tname=Interim.2009.Legislative.Map&service=ircmaps&Layer4=on&Layer1=on&action=zoomin&ActiveLayer=16. You have to “zoom in” to find LD 18.

With 30 State Senators in the Arizona legislature, only 9 being Democratic, it goes to show that popularity among your peers counts, even when you represent a small legislative district. (Democratic Senators are only in districts 2 (NE Arizona), 13 through 17 in the Phoenix area, and 27, 28, 29 here in Southern Arizona).