Arizona List is an Arizona Super PAC dedicated to recruiting, training and electing pro-choice Democratic women. In existence since 2003 they have been increasingly successful in their support of women in politics. In the recent primary election Arizona List supported 24 women, running for state legislative positions in fifteen legislative districts. They all won.

For a list of these successes as well as non-legislative races look here.

On the day after Labor Day I thought it good to be reminded of the positive difference the union movement makes in the lives of women, courtesy of Arizona List.

• Women who work full-time still earn just 79.7% of what full-time male workers make.[2]

• Unionization increases a woman’s pay and benefits, and improves her working conditions.[3]

◦ Unionized women earn 11.2% more than non-union female workers.

◦ Unionized women are 19% more likely to have health insurance – 26% more likely in the lowest paid jobs.

◦ Unionized women of color earn almost 35% more than non-unionized women of color.

◦ Unionized women in low-wage jobs are 23% more likely to be enrolled in a pension plan.

• Attempts by GOP governors to strip state and local public sector unions of the right to bargain over working conditions and benefits has a disproportionate impact on women – who make up 52% of state workers and 61% of local workers.[4]

 

[1] Women’s Labor History Month
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor
[3] The Center for Economic Policy and Research
[4] How the GOP’s Attack on Labor is an Attack on Women

It didn’t take a lot of votes for some liberals/progressives to become disenchanted with their new congressman. They declared in comment threads and letters to the editor that they were fed up and were withdrawing their support. When primary voting for Congressional District 2 comes round they were going to support Barber’s primary opponent Matt Heinz.

Heinz’s political views  are solidly progressive and caring; he’s one of the good guys and would surely make an excellent congressman. So if he speaks to your political heart by all means give him your vote. He may yet have a Congressional career.

Here at The Data Port we look forward to a Barber-Heinz debate or two. Such debates clarify positions and give each candidate debate training, which they’ll need; Martha McSally will be a tougher debate opponent than Jesse Kelly.

My crystal ball is pretty cracked and clouded, but if I squint at it, at just the right angle, I think I see Barber beating Heinz. Even Democratic activists who are still piqued at Barber for his late (and unexpected) entry in the District 2 race will fall in line for Barber. Perceived electability is all.

Here’s the reasoning: The DCCC-  Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee- is not going to leave a sitting congressman turning in the wind without financial backing and considerable support. A newcomer, perhaps a tad more liberal than Barber, may not be viewed as electable and a judgment made to spend resources elsewhere. There is a risk that Heinz will be under-funded.

Well, remember the ol’ crystal ball is cracked and cloudy. Still, some hard-nosed political advice from a former Chicago-style Democrat. How barber has voted in the past and how he votes between now and November pales to insignificance compared to the first vote he’ll make when the new Congress convenes.

He’ll vote for the Speaker of the House and help control the agenda for the next two years; or if the Democrats don’t win he’ll elect the minority leader. No other votes he will make are as important.

As for the political past: That was then and this is now. Better Barber than McSally.

I just received my first glossy campaign mailer of the primary season. This one is from the Republicans and it answers the question thus: Leading conservatives. Frankly, I’m not much surprised.

A small corner of this mailer is devoted to an attack on Jeff Flake’s primary opponent, Wil Cardon. It shows Cardon surrounded by a flurry of hundred dollar bills. The text is, “When inexperienced millionaires try to buy an election with their family’s fortune They Don’t Tell The Truth.”

This implication that self-financing wealthy political activists can’t be trusted to tell the truth seems odd coming from a Republican. I suppose it means that to the extent that Romney uses his own fortune we can’t trust him to tell the truth.

Not sure you want to go there, guys.