Molly McKasson

From Pima County News:

Molly McKasson, writer, actress and former teacher and Tucson City Council member, will meet and talk with the public at Pima County Public Library’s next “Meet Me at the Library: Conversations with Arizona Leaders” on Saturday, Jan. 14.*

The event is 2-3:30 p.m. at the Himmel Park Branch Library, 1035 N Treat Ave., and is free and open to the public.

McKasson served two terms representing Ward 6 on the Tucson City Council from 1989 to 1997 and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1999 against Bob Walkup. She continues to be active in the community. Her writing has appeared in a number of local magazines and other publications. She has directed and acted in a number of theater productions, most recently “Circle Mirror Transformation” at Invisible Theatre in November.

Meet Me at the Library is an opportunity for people to meet and talk to elected officials and other community leaders.

Previous invited officials to this Conversations have been former UA President Robert Shelton, retiring Pima County Supervisor Ann Day (District 1) and current Chair Supervisor Ramon Valadez (District 2), State Senators Paula Aboud (LD 28), Linda Lopez (LD 29), Frank Antenori (LD 30).

I’ve known Molly for a number of years since she was our Ward 6 Councilmember, and attended the memorial service of her husband Rich Morgan two years ago. She is a very strong woman, who has a deep sense of community involvement.

1/11/12: Just received notification that this library talk has been cancelled. See note below.

*1/12/12: Molly’s talk has been rescheduled to Tuesday Feb.7, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Himmel Library.

Arizona Public Media KUAT Channel 6 reporters Christopher Conover and Andrea Kelly have interviewed all 3 candidates running for Mayor of Tucson (separately, but they will be interviewing all 3 together next week). Tonight they sat down with Green Party candidate Mary DeCamp to discuss her candidacy (click here).

Info about Mary from my previous blog (click here).

She is a community activist and Code Pink member, received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Sciences and Master of Arts in Communication from the U of A, and has been a college instructor. Mary is currently employed as a Connector with Pro-Neighborhoods, “organizing neighborhood communities to adopt healthier diet and exercise choices”.

Mary got 4429 votes (6.16 % of the vote) in the Ward 3 race in 2009, next to Democratic Councilmember Uhlich’s 46.98% of the votes and Republican Ben Bueller-Garcia’s 46.74% of the votes. She also defeated fellow Green candidate Dave Croteau in the recent August 30 Green Party primary for Mayor (369 to 127 votes). (Croteau was the sole challenger before in 2007 against current Republican Mayor Bob Walkup, who is stepping down after 3 terms).

DeCamp is facing off with Democrat Jonathan Rothschild (political newcomer) and Republican Rick Grinnell (ran twice before unsuccessfully for the Ward 2 Council seat) in the November General election.

On Tuesday October 4 DeCamp announced at a press conference at City Hall that her 2 bedroom/1 bath home in Tucson is being foreclosed, & she faces eviction on November 10, 2 days after the General Election. Her home has been sold by the bank in a foreclosure sale to a foreign company. Apparently Mary purchased the home in 2007 but experienced a costly bicycling accident in 2009, and then her employment at the U of A was scaled back due to the economy, causing her to miss mortgage payments.

She will continue her campaign despite this setback, and will be sign waving usually every Friday at 4 p.m. at the NW corner of Granada & Broadway, downtown. (Sign waving is wildly popular & expected in State of Hawaii campaigns, but not as popular or utilized here. In Hawaii the candidates stand out there in the streets daily, often wearing fresh lei around their neck to distinguish themselves from their campaign supporters.) Mary usually wears a Green Party (green colored) t-shirt, and this week she & her supporters will be at 4th Avenue and Broadway instead.

Campaign website: www.DecampforMayor.org.

Since only 16.65% of the registered voters (266,448) in the City of Tucson cast ballots in the Primary election on August 30, there is hope that more will vote in the General election on November 8. Vote-by-mail ballots will be sent out on October 19, so you can vote as early as the next day by mailing it back in. Or you can wait to take the ballot to one of the seven polling locations on November 8. Last day to register to vote for the General is on October 11.

Running for election this year:
For Mayor of Tucson (no incumbent, as Republican Mayor Bob Walkup is stepping down after 3 terms- 12 years- in office):

Mary DeCamp (G), www.decampformayor.org
Rick Grinnell (R), www.grinnell4mayor.com
Jonathan Rothschild (D), www.jonathanformayor.com

For Ward 1:
Beryl Baker (G), www.berylbaker.comli.com
Regina Romero (D) – www.votereginaromero.com, incumbent (elected 4 years ago)

For Ward 2:
Paul Cunningham (D) – www.votepaulcunningham.com, incumbent (appointed May, 2010)
Jennifer Rawson (R), www.rawsonforcouncil.com

For Ward 4:
Shirley Scott (D) – www.shirley2011.com, incumbent (elected 16 years ago)
Tyler Vogt (R), www.vogt4tucson.com

Familiarize yourself with these candidates, the issues facing the City of Tucson, and attend upcoming forums to learn more about your choices this fall.

The League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson is hosting a candidate forum on Monday October 17 at Temple Emanu-El, and all 9 candidates have confirmed their attendance. KVOA Channel 4 reporter Lupita Murillo will be moderating this forum, which starts at 6 p.m. This event is co-sponsored by the Pima County/Tucson Women’s Commission.