ENTHUSIASM RUNS HIGH AT DEMOCRATS’ COUNTY PICNIC

Voters, candidates excited by party’s chances in 2006 and beyond

May 1, 2006 —  The County Fairgrounds were the hub of Pinal political activity May 29 as hundreds of Democrats and independents gathered for a four-hour, momentum-building picnic and rally.

The picnic, which is expected to be a bi-annual event, raised nearly five thousand dollars for the Democratic Party in Pinal County. More importantly, organizers say, the picnic added considerable energy to an already powerful momentum that many believe will propel Arizona Democrats into office up and down the ballot this November.

"This event turned out exceptionally well," said Joe Robison, chairman of the Pinal County Democrats. "We’ve got candidates and voters here from all over Arizona. They came out here because they believe in the strength of the Democratic Party and in our chances of winning many important victories on Election Day."

Surveying the enthusiastic crowd, Robison added, "The energy here is just amazing."

Dozens of Democratic candidates for state and national offices attended the event, and many addressed the crowd, including Jim Pederson, candidate for U.S. Senate; Terry Goddard, running for re-election as Arizona’s attorney general; Israel Torres, candidate for secretary of state; and Rano Singh, candidate for state treasurer.

Recent polls by Arizona State University indicate that Pederson has narrowed the gap considerably between himself and incumbent Jon Kyl. At the picnic, Pederson emphasized his willingness to work with both sides of the aisle and his desire to embrace "good ideas," whether they come from the left, right or center of the political spectrum. "Come November, we’re going to win this thing," he told the cheering crowd. "Together, we can do it."

Other candidates present included Mark Manoil, running for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission; Slade Mead, candidate for superintendent of public instruction; Krista Pacion, candidate for state representative in District 23; and Brenda Oldham, candidate for superior court judge in Division 8.

Democratic clubs and volunteers throughout the county contributed to the successful picnic event. To find a Democratic club in your area, contact Joe Robison at 520-818-2194.

 Bill Florence

Today’s story on the BBC News is that European Ministers have accused the CIA operating thousands of "rendition flights" into and through the European Union.  The Ministers have gathered data from each of the individual countries to obtain data needed to evaluate the scope of flights used to transport "detainees" to foreign bases for "interrogation and torture."

"The CIA has … clearly been responsible for kidnapping and illegally detaining alledged terrorists" quoted Claudio Fava, the Italian Minister.  Previous reports by human rights organizations of these flights have been dismissed by the CIA as "hearsay." 

Click here to read this story at the BBC website.

So, you are eligible for Part D Medicare Plans but you are confused?  If you (and there are millions of you) don’t sign up for a Medicare Part D plan by May 15th, your Medicare Premiums will rise 1 percent per month until such time a you sign up.  Click here to read the details.  In short, the Republicans have a deal for you.

The Pinal County Democrats hold their meetings at 7pm on the third Wednesday of each month in Florence. We generally gather for a dutch treat supper at about 5:30 pm at the Mount Athos Greek Resturant at 444 N Pinal Parkway, in Florence. This is great opportunity to meet and greet fellow Democrats in an informal setting. The meeting is held at the offices of the Pinal County Attorney at 31 N Pinal St. Carpooling is generally available from SaddleBrooke. Hope to see you there!

Tom Horne, Republican candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Schools is upset about an article in today’s Arizona Star.  The article talks about a speech made by Delores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, in which she uttered the immortal phrase “Republicans Hate Latinos.”  Click Here to read today’s article in the Arizona Star. 

But to return to our subject, this afternoon Tom Horne announced that the charges were ridiculous.  “I am a statewide elected Republican and my strongest support group in my last election was Latino parents who wanted their children to learn English.  I can therefore personally testify to the inaccuracy of Mrs Huerta’s hate speech”   We did take the time to review his re-election committee.  No obvious Latinos there.  You can click here to Horne’s remarks.

But let us remember that this is the man, who with his Republican compatriots in the Arizona Legislature, has spent much of the past two months trying to thwart the Federal Courts that have ruled that spending for English Language Learners must be increased.  His position is that no state money should be expended for the ELL program; in fact he probably would like to see the program eliminated.  Methinks he doth protest too much!

Click here to visit the website of Jason Williams or Slade Mead for the opposing view.

Recently, a group of high-ranking retired military officers have severely criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.  The latest is Major General John Batiste who is calling for “a fresh start” at the top of the pentagon.  He called on Rumsfeld to resign. Referring to Rumsfeld, General Batiste commented “we need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them.  And that leadership needs to understand teamwork.”  Click here to read the story in the Washington Post.

General Batiste knows of what he speaks having served as Senior Military Advisor to Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, during the planning phase of the Iraq war.  General Batiste is newly retired after returning from Iraq where he commanded the 1^st Infantry Division in 2005 – 2005.  He recently retired rather than accept a promotion and re-assignment to Iraq as second in command of U.S. forces in Iraq.  Ostensibly the reason for retiring was that General Batiste no longer wishes to serve under Rumsfeld.

But this is not the only voice calling for the resignation of Rumsfeld.  Marine Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold has just written an essay in Time Magazine and called for “replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach.”  Words like “micro-management” and incompetence are used in these interviews.

Last month, Major General Paul Eaton of the U.S. Army wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times in which he called Rumsfeld “incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically.”

And if that is not enough, retired Marine General Paul Zinni has written a new book entitled “The Battle for Peace” in which he too calls Rumsfeld to resign.  He goes further to say “we have wasted three years in Iraq.

Here is a link to the Los Angeles Times and Voice of America for related stories.

And the beat goes on.  Two more Generals have joined the chorus of voices as detailed here in the London Times Online edition.

Incredible as it seems, Seymour Hersh, a respected and veteran reporter is saying in a New Yorker article that the adminstration is planing an pre-emptive nuclear attack on Iran.  According to Hersh, George Bush (worst ever) feels that Iran’s leader could be the next Adolph Hitler.  Talk about projection!  Click here to read the story.

Congressional Candidate Latas Tells Democrats
Views on Iraq, Energy, Health Care

By Karen Schickedanz
Jeff Latas, the first candidate of either party to announce his candidacy for the Congressional District 8 seat, told SaddleBrooke Democrats at their April 8 meeting that he favors taking troops out of Iraq and sending the majority of them home.

Latas, who spent almost 21 years as a fighter pilot in the Air Force and had five tours of duty in the Middle East before retiring as a lieutenant colonel, said the Iraq war is the No. 1 issue the country is facing.  “It’s time to leave Iraq,” he said.  “It’s Congress’ job to say it’s time to leave.  The war is draining our economy and the heart and soul of America.”  Latas also said, “80 percent of the Iraqis want us out, and 48% of them say they’ll join the insurgency to kill Americans.”

During the fall of 2002 Latas was a major at the Pentagon.  “The rhetoric was starting about invading Iraq, and I could not believe what I was hearing,” Latas said.  “I could not believe our President was misleading us with false information about WMDs that I knew wasn’t true.”

Latas said he also believes there should be more vets in Congress that have “some military idea of what they’re doing.”  He said that of the 535 members of Congress, only five have children in the military and there is a much lower per capita percentage of vets in Congress than in the population as a whole.  Latas’ son also is an Iraq war veteran.

Another major platform issue for Latas is energy.  “We need to get off oil dependency,” he said.  “We’re 5 percent of the world’s population, but we use 25% of the oil reserves.”  He predicted that gas prices will hit $3.50 per gallon this summer and reach $6 or $7 a gallon in five years  because oil companies actually need those kind of profits to find more oil.  “We’re running out,” he said.  Latas favors major tax incentives to encourage people to buy more fuel-efficient cars and use solar energy and awarding grants to universities to develop new technologies.

Latas also came out in favor of universal health care coverage that would provide affordable health care to every American based on their adjusted gross income level.  Such a system, based on both employer-provided plans and private plans would end up saving the U.S. “hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said, because people would be treated earlier before they needed more expensive care in emergency rooms.

During his time in the Air Force, Latas was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism and a host of other service medals.  He also served four years at the Pentagon, where he managed requirements for weapon modernization programs.  He grew up in a working class, union family and worked his way through college, earning a degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Arizona.  Now a captain with JetBlue Airways, Latas also has a master’s degree in public administration.

Also speaking briefly at SBDC’s April meeting were three candidates for judgeships in Pinal County:  Gilbert Figueroa, who is running for re-election as presiding judge of the juvenile bench in Superior Court, Division 4; Brenda Oldham, running for election as Superior Court judge, Division 8; and Rudy Georgini, running for election as Superior Court judge, Division 3.

Joe Robison, vice chair of SBDC and chair of the Pinal County Democratic Party, stressed that Democratic voters in November’s General Election need to go all the way down the ballot when they vote.  He said, for example, that voting for Corporation Commission members is “very important because they control so much of what affects us, like utility, water, gas and electric rates.”

Carolyn Badger, SBDC program chair and vice chair of the Pinal County Democrats, announced upcoming events.  There will be a candidate open house at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 9 at the home of Jerri Jameson, 825-4033.  Candidates attending will include Jeff Latas, Lena Saradnik for the Arizona legislature, and Jason Williams for Arizona superintendent of public instruction.

Speakers at the Saturday, May 13 SBDC meeting will be Slade Mead, candidate for Arizona superintendent of public instruction, and Kyrsten Sinema, chair of Arizona Together, a group organized to protect the rights of unmarried couples and defeat the proposed “Protect Marriage” amendment to the state constitution.  The meeting will begin with a half-hour social time at 3 p.m.at the SaddleBrooke Activities Center, 64518 Glaveston Lane.  Attendees are invited to attend a potluck after the meeting at the home of Paulette and Ed Helpert.  Please call them at 825-1956 if you plan to attend.

Additional information about the SaddleBrooke Democratic Club, which now has about 180 members, can be obtained by visiting the club’s website at www.saddlebrookedemocrats.org.  To join the club, contact club president Elizabeth Hess at 825-2557.

Yesterday, congressional leaders announced a much bally-hooed compromise on immigration legislation.  The proposed law would have created three classes of undocumented immigrants and force the deportation of about two million people.  However, it would have provided a "way" for some (those having been here for more than five years) to obtain citizenship if they paid fines, demonstrated proficency in English, possessed jobs and passed two levels of background investigations.  A third group of about five million would have been granted temporary work visas after first being required to quit their jobs and leave the country.

Meanwhile the House of Representatives has passed legislation making it an "aggrevated felony" to be in this country illegally.  Presumably they want to build more prisons and put the estimated eleven million men, women and children in jail.  The House bill also makes it a felony to "aid, assist, or help" an illegal immigrant, the so called Good Samaritan felony.  The Senate, it appears, feels this to be a bit harsh. 

Anyway, this morning the so-called compromise collapsed and the Senate now leaves for a two week vacation.  Some people think this is terrible and others are not so sure.  Click here to read the latest story.

What do you think?  Click on the comment section below to tell us your view!

A few months ago, a Christian right group bought the radio station in Phoenix which leased broadcasting rights to the Air America network of talk radio shows for progressive Democrats and others.  The station had become quite popular in the Phoenix area moving up the charts from 25th to 3rd in the Phoenix market in less than two years.  The new buyers promptly shut down Air America and started broadcasting religious content.  This left the employees of Air America Phoenix out of jobs and listeners out of their minds.

Now there is good news.  First the employee group has sucessfully leased another radio station, KPHX-AM (1480am) and they have resumed broadcasts as of April 3rd.  Next it seems that the whole episode has spawned an effort to buy radio stations around the country and put more liberal talk on the air-ways.  Click here for the story in the International Hearld Tribune.

If you would like to learn more or contribute to this effort.  Click here for additional informaton.