Is it time to finally say, “I’m mad as hell and not going to take this anymore?”

The Arizona Legislature (and other Republican-led Legislatures around the country) are attacking the citizens with anti-work bills and anti-student bills.

Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich and Congressional Republicans are attacking women, immigrants, gays and Lesbians, unions, teachers, college students, the poor, reproductive health, public education, healthcare… the list goes on. They want to take away basic rights that we have taken for granted– like the minimum wage and collective bargaining.

FIVE people have donated 25%– $14 million– to super pacs to elect more Republicans– particularly a Republican President.

Are you tired of government against the people and for the corporations?

If you are “mad as hell”, then join Occupy Tucson, PDA Tucson, and others for a demonstration against corporate rule.

Tucsonans– and others around the world– will be demonstrating against corporate control of our lives, big-money politics, and specifically against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)– the folks who gave us SB1070 and the anti-worker legislation in Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, and elsewhere.

Tomorrow, Feb. 29, come to the downtown public library at 4 p.m. for the demonstration. Bring your signs, noise-makers, and friends. Here’s more information from Occupy Wall Street…

This Wednesday, Occupiers in New York, Oakland, Mexico City, and over 80 other cities [including Tucson] will take part in a coordinated National Day of Action to Shut Down the Corporations. Occupations have been preparing a variety of decentralized actions in response to Occupy Portland’s call to target the American Legislative Exchange Council:

We specifically call on people to target corporations that are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The biggest corporations in America, like ExxonMobil, Bank of America, BP, Monsanto, Pfizer, and Wal-Mart use ALEC to buy off legislators and craft legislation that serves only the interests of corporations and not people. They then duplicate and spread this corporate legislation in Washington, D.C. and in state legislatures across the country. The anti-labor legislation in Wisconsin and the racist bill SB 1070 in Arizona are two recent and destructive examples of what corporations use ALEC to do.

See here for more about why we protest corporate power and how ALEC seeks to erode our democracy, undermine workers rights and attack unions, destroy our environment, obstruct efforts to address climate change, undermine public education, pursue destructive agricultural practices and fuel the prison industrial complex. You can also RSVP for the Occupy Wall St/NYC Facebook event. For national coverage, follow @F29PDX on Twitter.

Simultaneously, European trade unions have declared Feb. 29th a European Day of Action against austerity, following massive demonstrations against budget cuts in Greece, Spain, Belgium, and elsewhere. Decentralized actions in all 27 European Union nations and beyond will be “sending a clear message to the EU leaders: this imposed austerity is going to plunge Europe into a recession!”

The effects of the financial, economic and social crisis have reached unbearable levels in several countries. Faced with the extreme seriousness of the situation, European leaders are making the race for austerity their priority response. The crisis serves as a ready-made pretext to attack the European social model, justify cuts in wages and public services, weaken social protection, make the labour market hyperflexible, and attack trade union rights.

Thus, at a time when the European summit has to adopt a treaty plunging Europe into recession and job insecurity for the long haul, the European trade unions are saying “enough is enough” and putting employment, recovery, social justice and solidarity at the forefront of the discussions.

If you are not “mad as hell,” check out the ALEC Exposed website here.

John Nichols, well-known writer for The Nation and author of Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest from Madison to Wall Street, will speak tonight, Feb. 27 at the IBEW Hall in Tucson.

Nichols comes to Arizona as our state faces its Wisconsin moment. With six anti-labor bills being considered in the Arizona Legislature and protests have been planned for the State Capitol in Phoenix on Thursday, March 1.

Although the Arizona AFL-CIO is busing union members from around the state to the capitol for the Day of Action, the bills in the Legislature go beyond union-busting. Four bills attack collective bargaining, union dues collection, and organizing. One bill– promoted by Republican Governor Jan Brewer– would strip civil service protections from non-union employees and pave the way for the appointment of political cronies. The last bill would put a measure on the 2012 ballot to reduce pay for tip workers and people 20 years old and under.

What a fitting time in Arizona history to hear from someone who was on the ground in Wisconsin a year ago when workers rose up against union-busting and corporate control of government. This free event is sponsored jointly by the Progressive Democrats of America Tucson Chapter (PDA) and the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF) and will be at the IBEW Hall, 750 S. Tucson Blvd. from 6-8 p.m.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mahatma Gandhi

Job creation and economic development in Tucson (and many other cities) has historically revolved around a few well-worn strategies:

• offer tax breaks, free or cheap land, low taxes, and/or other economic incentives to lure businesses to our area;
• offer tax breaks, free or cheap land, low taxes, and/or other economic incentives to developers to build stuff;
• offer a new stadium with free or cheap rent and/or other economic incentives to lure spring training or other sports teams to our area;
• show pictures of cowboys and pretty sunsets and hope tourists will come;
• build a fancy convention hotel– on the taxpayers’ dime– to lure conventions to our area.

Luckily, the citizens stopped the fancy convention hotel plan last summer, but Tucson and Pima County have jumped on board and spent millions of dollars on these other strategies. And what have we got to show for it? A 23.4% poverty rate, high unemployment, a shrinking workforce, a rising home vacancy rate, home foreclosures in the thousands, and falling home values. Need I go on?

We need some new strategies. To this end Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter sponsored a panel discussion on job creation recently. Job Creation in Tucson: Building a Sustainable Future featured talks by Lisette DeMars of Local First Arizona, Melissa Black of the Green Chamber of Commerce, Joe Higgins of Arizona Small Business, and Jim Mize of Pima County employer outreach, plus local business owner Tim Carmichael of La Posada Solar Cogeneration Project.* Rep. Raul Grijalva was on hand to offer his perspective, and The Tucson Progressive gave an economic overview (above).

The focus of the evening was on growing and investing in local business– instead of throwing money and tax breaks to lure businesses here or offering Band-Aid solutions like cutting fees (which often lead to reduced governmental revenue and cuts in jobs and services).

Although the right-wing blog Tucson Choices dissed PDA’s local business focus and dismissed the group as a bunch of intellectuals– the Thinkers of Tucson (hey, thanks)– the evening was filled with creative ideas. Tucson Choices says that local politicians don’t have the time to come up with new ideas, so they listen to Tucson’s Thinkers. I hope they’re right.

To climb out of our current economic slump, Tucson needs to foster out-of-the-box ideas and invest in local innovation– rather than focus on being the low-wage call center capital of the country.

We have businesses that are born and raised in Tucson. They’re not going anywhere. Rather than chasing after the next IBM with tax breaks, the smart investment is to help local businesses grow by offering innovation grants. Instead of offering millions of dollars to lure a large company here, let’s take even 10% of that economic development money and fund local innovation. I’m not suggesting that we give Joe’s Machine Shop $5000 to move into a new building; I’m suggesting we give Joe $5000 – $50,000 to develop the next generation of electric motors. Now that’s business friendly.

In addition, Tucson economic development should play to our strengths. We have a research university and one of the country’s top hospitals– right here in the middle of town. The city should work with the UA and enable increased technology transfer. Research has shown that growing “eds and meds” does foster economic development, provides good-paying jobs, and is a better investment than convention hotels or sports teams.

The entire PDA event can be found on my You Tube channel.

* By the way, PDA invited TREO to join in the panel discussion, but they declined.

If you’re an activist and an amateur videographer and you see Border Patrol agents wandering around your property inspecting footprints (that happen to be yours), what do you do?

Get out your video camera and start filming, of course.

Or at least that’s what Alison McLeod, Southern Arizona Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) field organizer, did last week.

When McLeod spotted Border Patrol agents snooping on and around her property on foot, on horseback, in SUVs, and in a helicopter, she started filming and asking questions. McLeod’s curiosity lead her to the site of an arrest of a man with a bloody nose (presumably a Mexican national, since he was handcuffed).

Not 24 hours after she posted the above video to her You Tube channel, McLeod received a notice from You Tube that “someone” (ahem, like the feds) complained to them about it. Below is the e-mail she received. In addition, a Border Patrol representative visited her house the same day– unannounced and uninvited.

Dear loneprotestor, This is to notify you that we have received a privacy complaint from an individual regarding your content:
————————————————————-

Video URLs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhTspy7z3Nk

The information reported as violating privacy is at 2_55-5_30
————————————————————-
We would like to give you an opportunity to review the content in question and remove any personal information that may be used to uniquely identify or contact the complainant. You have 48 hours to take action on the complaint. If you remove the alleged violation from the site within the 48 hours, the complaint filed will then be closed. If the potential privacy violation remains on the site after 48 hours, the complaint will be reviewed by the YouTube Team and may be removed pursuant to our Privacy Guidelines (http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy_guidelines). For content to
be considered for removal, an individual must be uniquely identifiable by image, voice, full name, Social Security number, bank account number or contact information (e.g., home address, email address). Examples that
would not violate our privacy guidelines include gamer tags, avatar names, and address information in which the individual is not named. We also take public interest, newsworthiness, and consent into account when determining
if content should be removed for a privacy violation. If the alleged violation is located within the video itself, you may have to remove the video completely…

Politicians and other public servants are becoming increasingly annoyed by amateurs photographers and citizen journalists with video cameras and video-enabled smart phones because they’re catching people in the act of… whatever… and posting videos on You Tube and blogs.

With the demise of investigative journalism in the US, we need the wild and woolly world of citizen journalism and amateur videos to keep government servants honest. If unlimited, secret corporate campaign contributions are considered “protected speech”, then so are amateur videos, still photos, and blog posts.

‘Nuff said.

On August 31, 2011, join Progressive Democrats of America Tucson Chapter, local MoveOn activists, and local nurses at Jon Kyl’s Tucson office (yes, he has one) at 6840 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 150, 6 p.m. Click here for a map. Click here to RSVP.

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl is a member of the new Super Congress which will decide our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. Tell Kyl to “have a heart”– not an ideology.

 Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), MoveOn.org, and local nurses are joining forces here in Tucson and nationwide to tell Congress that we are fed up with their coddling Wall Street, their failed 30-year experiment with trickle down economics, and their blatant disregard for Main Street America.

In a pre-Labor Day demonstration on Thursday, September 1, 2011, Tucson nurses and members of PDA and MoveOn will gather at the Tucson office of Senator Jon Kyl to urge him to “have a heart.” Kyl– not know for having a heart, except when it comes to corporate or military welfare– has been appointed to the 12-member Super Congress which will decide on future budget cuts– and hopefully revenue increases– to lessen the federal deficit.

Nationally, nurses are coming together to promote their Main Street Contract and urging all Americans to take the pledge to work toward achieving these goals:

• Jobs at living wages to reinvest in America.
• Equal access to quality, public education.
• Guaranteed healthcare with a single standard of care.
• A secure retirement with the ability to retire in dignity.
• Good housing, and protection from hunger.
• A safe and healthy environment.
• A just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.

If you want to work toward these goals, come to Kyl’s office at 6840 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 150 at 6 p.m. Click here for a map. Click here to RSVP.

Here’s more information about the event in Tucson from the organizers…

As a member of the congressional “Super Committee,” Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has the power to be a “Super Hero” by making corporations and Wall Street pay their fair share. Or he can be a “Super Villain” by enacting budget cuts that will hurt millions of elderly, low income and middle class Americans. Join Progressive Democrats, Southern Arizona MoveOn, and local nurses for a September 1st “Main Street” action at Senator Jon Kyl’s office in Northwest Tucson. Tell Senator Kyl and the rest of the Super Committee to “Have a Heart.” We will be writing heart-shaped “heartfelt” messages to Sen. Kyl asking him to defend vital programs and make corporations and Wall Street pay their fair share.

Meet at 6 p.m. in front of Senator Jon Kyl’s office in Tucson for a speak out and sing along. We will videotape the event and send footage, along with a care package of heart-shaped letters asking Sen. Kyl to “have a heart” and defend social programs.

Let’s make sure our member of Congress is standing up for us by creating more jobs and putting our economy back on track for us—not just the rich and big corporations. I hope you can join me and other local MoveOn members.

Here’s background from PDA…

In more than 60 locations from Maine to California, the 170,000 registered nurse members of National Nurses United will be hosting events aimed at healing the damage done on Main Streets all over America by Wall Street’s special interests.

It may be that summer is coming to a close and fall is just around the corner, but for millions of people all over the country, months of economic hardship have made simple pleasures like holiday weekends or even backyard barbecues all but fond memories as homes are foreclosed, savings depleted and families struggle to make it from day to day. This is not the reality we want for our neighbors, our communities or ourselves. It is not the future we want for our children or our nation.

Not everyone has suffered, though. Quite the contrary. Those with the highest incomes and the most wealth have seen their fortunes expand even as millions lost what had taken them years to attain. So, if we are to challenge and to change the course before there is no turning back, we have to come together with our allies and fight to take this nation back.

PDA will join the nurses in these actions and events to show our solidarity. And, PDA fully supports the nurses’ Main Street Contract for America campaign, (click here to take the personal pledge). We stand with all who have suffered and are still suffering financial trauma and job loss, healthcare injustice, retirement insecurity, inadequate or unsafe housing situations, and other preventable damages to our communities. Nurses bring compassion, caring and community with them as they host events, and as any of us lucky enough to have been part of previous actions can attest, the nurses also bring passion, clarity and joy to the struggle.

For those for whom it is impossible to get to one of the many sites for the events, it is also possible to participate virtually by signing and sharing a petition in support of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) structured strongly enough to make sure that those who caused the damage on Main Street are the ones who pay to repair that damage. The FTT could raise more than $350 billion dollars to help all of our communities. If you tweet, you can also use the Twitter petition targeted to Representative David Camp as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to Support the Wall Street Transaction Tax. And better still, send these links far and wide within your own networks of friends and allies. This campaign is growing stronger every day, and the nurses want us all on board.

Let’s make this the best possible pre-Labor Day celebration of our shared commitment to one another. Join in. There is no time to waste.

Members of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter demonstrated their support for Medicare on the recent 46th anniversary of this important component of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and other social safety net programs were under attack by Congressional Republicans during the recent budget deficit/debit ceiling fiasco in Congress.

Extremist Teapublicans– including Arizona’s five Teapublican Congressional Representatives, Paul Gosar (CD1), Trent Franks (CD2), Ben Quayle (CD3), David Schweikert (CD5), and Jeff Flake (CD6)– brought the country to the brink of default by choosing to cling to their ideology, rather than thinking about what’s best for our country and voting with the majority of Americans.

For the final vote, Gosar joined Democratic Blue Dog Gabirelle Giffords (CD8) and voted for the compromise debt ceiling bill. Progressive Democrats Raul Grijalva (CD7) and Ed Pastor (CD4) voted against the bill– since it included no revenue increases and leaves Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid volunterable to future cuts.

Franks, Quayle, Schweikert, and Flake voted the straight Teapublican line on every vote– including voting against the debt ceiling deal because it didn’t include a balanced budget amendment.

In these tough economic times, it is disheartening that so many Congressional representatives are more concerned with ideology over the health and economic well-being of US citizens.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' staff sponsored a deficit reduction town hall on June 30, 2011 in Tucson.

The featured speakers at a recent deficit reduction town hall in Tucson– David Walker from the Comeback America Initiative and Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition– were well-versed in how bad the US economy is, the dangers of out-of-control spending, revisionist history on how we got here, and the right-wing solutions for fixing our financial problems.

The ideas covered in the talks (eg, government is too big; we need to cut spending; entitlement programs are burying us economically; healthcare reform costs too much; corporations are taxed too much; Washington is in gridlock) were almost as disturbing as the budget-balancing ideas that were left out (eg, end the wars; drop our inefficient and costly, capitalism-based healthcare system for single-payer national healthcare; put people to work at good-paying jobs, so they can fuel the economy and contribute to Social Security; end the Bush era tax cuts; raise the Social Security contribution cap; close corporate tax loopholes; disincentivize sending US jobs to other countries; end the war on drugs, legalize marijuana and tax it; invest in research to create new good jobs going forward; invest in public education and subsidize college to grow our next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs; end our love affair with trickle-down economics).

Walker repeatedly said that both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for the out-of-control spending that has increased the deficit and the debt. Ironically, Walked never mentioned trickle-down economics or Presidents Ronald Reagan or George Bush #2– two people whose failed economic policies did more to bury our country in debt than anyone else. He said that the deficit and debt were under control until 1982, when magically everything went south– with no mention of who was elected in 1982 and what he [Reagan] did to destroy the economy.

Walker did give Presidents George Bush #1 and Bill Clinton credit for being fiscally responsible and reducing the deficit but didn’t mention that they both raised taxes (something Republicans in Congress refuse to do now). He also never mentioned that after Bill Clinton raised taxes on the rich and controlled spending, he oversaw the longest economic boom in US history and handed George Bush #2 a budget surplus. In fact, when Walker mentioned the recent 10-year period where all hell broke loose financially, he left out the role of Bush #2 and his Republican-controlled Congress, who cut taxes, started multiple unfunded wars, spent money we didn’t have, handed pharmaceutical companies a blank check with the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and oversaw the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression. This is revisionist history at its best… or worst.

The evening ended with small-group, interactive deficit-reduction roundtable discussions where people could share ideas. Check out this post which includes a link to the New York Times’ deficit reduction exercise if you want to try your hand at reducing the deficit and debt.

This town hall was awash right-wing ideals. So, why was it sponsored by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ staff? And, why was Giffords’ staff overtly suppressing free speech at the event? It should have been sponsored by the Tucson Tea Party. Check out the video for clips of the speeches and discussion.

Congress sort of put the 2011 budget to bed last Friday with an 11th hour deal that forestalled a federal government shutdown. Teapublicans had a laundry list of progressive legislation that they wanted to completely defund or dramatically reduce:

• Head Start (which helps poor children be prepared to enter school) and public education, in general,
• Pell Grants (which help poor and middle class children go to college),
• AmeriCorps (which gives young people community volunteering experience and, in turn, helps pay their college tuition),
• Planned Parenthood (which helps poor and middle class women receive birth control),
• Community health centers (which help poor and middle class people get basic health care),
• Biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health (which spurs innovation and creates jobs–WTF?),
• National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System (which help us elites stay stay up-to-date on progressive politics and research breakthroughs– sarcasm alert).

Missing from the Teapublican budget-balancing list is any mention of:

• Cutting military spending, scaling back the wars, and stopping US imperialism,
• Closing unnecessary military bases (particularly in Europe– let them pay for their own defense!),
• Closing tax loopholes (so corporate giants like Bank of America have to actually pay some taxes),
• Taxing corporations for every job, factory, or bank account they send abroad,
• Raising taxes on the richest Americans to lessen the growing income disparities in the US,
• Intervening with lenders to help people stay in their homes (which would help middle class homeowners who have been hard hit by unemployment or other effects of the Great Recession)
• Ending the war on Drugs (which is a huge waste of money and never worked),
• Legalizing marijuana (which would put a dent in the drug violence and smuggling while raising sales tax revenue, but, of course, the big tobacco and big booze wouldn’t like it; the feds eased the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s when they ended prohibition),
• Allowing Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate prescription drug prices (a very easy way to “fix” those programs without dismantling them),
• Adopting universal healthcare (a great way to keep healthcare costs down),
• Legalizing undocumented workers (so they can be paid a decent wage and contribute to social security),
• Allowing workers to organize (so they can be paid a decent wage and contribute to social security),
• Preserving public and private jobs,
• Creating jobs (duh).

What makes the first list so attractive to Teapublicans is that– except for the last two items (medical research and public broadcasting)– the cuts only hurt the poor and middle class families. These groups are too disorganized, too uninformed, or too distraught trying to find food and shelter to fight back. Teapublicans, Republicans, and some Democrats don’t want to touch most of the items on the second list because each item has at least one group of corporate lobbyists protecting it.

Except for throwing Washington DC’s reproductive health services under the bus (what’s up with that?), the top list of programs survived the recent budget battle which cut $38 billion from the current budget. (Tepublicans also wanted to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency’s [EPA] ability to protect air and water from pollution and weaken the Food and Drug Administration’s [FDA] ability to protect the food supply, but I couldn’t find an online reference for how those proposals faired in the 11th hour of budget negotiations. Except for the fact that deregulation is at the top of every corporate wish list, these EPA and FDA cuts would harm the public health and safety of all Americans.)

2012 Teapublican Budget
Now the 2012 budget battle begins. Ultra-conservative Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan would:

• Defund and dismantle the Affordable Care Act (which saves money),
• Destroy Medicare for people under 55 by changing it into a voucher system, thus forcing patients to absorb ever-increasing costs — not the government, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare institutions, or insurance companies. (How business friendly could you be?),
• Destroy Medicaid by giving block grants to the states to manage it (Oh, God, the Arizona Legislature would give the money away to a group of corporations to run the program or just give it away in tax cuts!),
• Cut spending to 2008 levels,
• And, of course, promise to lower taxes (probably for the rich).

Although some tout Ryan as a conservative visionary with his brave budget-balancing act, I call him the ultimate hypocrite flip-flopper, since he was in the drunken sailors club that created the budget deficit during the Dark Ages (AKA the Bush Administration). Now he’s got religion and wants to cut-cut-cut, since that is currently popular in conservative circles.

2012 People’s Budget
To counter Ryan’s “artless war on the poor”, the 80-member Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC)– co-chaired by our own Representative Raul Grijalva and Representative  Keith Ellison– revealed the People’s Budget. According to their website, the CPC proposal:

• Eliminates the deficits and creates a surplus by 2021.
• Puts America back to work with a “Make it in America” jobs program.
• Protects the social safety net.
• Ends the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Is FAIR (Fixing America’s Inequality Responsibly).

Also according to their website, the CPC proposal accomplishes:

• Primary budget balance by 2014.
• Budget surplus by 2021.
• Reduces public debt as a share of GDP to 64.4% by 2021, down 16.9 percentage points from a baseline fully adjusted for both the doc fix and the AMT patch.
• Reduces deficits by $5.7 trillion over 2012-21
• Both outlays and revenue equal 22.3% of GDP by 2021.

Ironically, if you want to learn more about a proposal made by a Southern Arizona Congressman, you have to go to the Huffington Post– or the TucsonCitizen.com– because it was not covered by the Arizona Daily Star. From the Huffington Post…

Their [the Progressive Caucus'] plan is humane, responsible, and most of all sensible, reflecting the true values of the American people and the real needs of the floundering economy. Unlike Paul Ryan’s almost absurdly vicious attack on the poor and working class, the People’s Budget would close the deficit by raising taxes on the rich, taming health care costs (including a public option), and ending the military spending on wars and wasteful weapons systems.

So, the question is: Going forward, do we want the People’s Budget or military-industrial complex’s budget? Do we want government for the people or against the people? What transpires in the coming months is gravely important for future generations; we have to pay attention as events unfold in Washington.

How progressive is Tucson? Yes, it is general knowledge that Pima County is one tiny blue spot in a sea of blood red, but just how liberal are we?

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) started a Tucson Chapter in February. According to PDA leader Phil Lopes, since then PDA’s mailing list has grown to more than 800 Southern Arizonans. As with all mailing lists, they have e-mails and/or street addresses for most of the people who volunteered to receive information about the fledgling organization. Looking at the local PDA members with street addresses in their database, PDA plotted their membership by Legislative District (above) and Congressional District (below).

This map shows where the above Legislative districts are located. LD28– the district with the most PDA members (209)– is Tucson proper; pieces of 26, 27, 29, and 30 are also within the city limits. Yes, this is totally unscientific data, but it does give us a glimpse of Tucson’s progressive leanings.

We see our Democratic Party leaders sidling up to the right, but is this a good strategy? If PDA continues to gain steam statewide, I would venture to say, no! Purely conjecture here, but I can’t help wondering if the dismal turnout at the LD28 Democratic Party meeting last Wednesday (~25 people) is related to LD28′s strong presence in PDA. Pima Dems– take note. Maybe cozying up to the Southern Arizona Leadership Council isn’t such a good idea.

Raul Grijalva represents CD7. Gabrielle Giffords represents CD8.