Invites you to join us for the

2nd Annual Udall Dinner & Silent Auction with Senator Tom Udall

Featuring the

Spirit of Arizona Awards

Honorees:

Individual: David Fitsimmons
Organization:Ben's Bells

Saturday, April 13th
Registration at 6:00pm

Desert Diamond Casino
7350 S. Nogales Hwy
Tucson, AZ 85756

$75 Precinct Committee Person
$85 General Admission

Purchase Tickets online here:
actblue.com/page/udall2013

Or call 520-326-3716

To pay by mail:
checks can be made out to
Pima County Democratic Party
PO Box 40211
Tucson, AZ 85717

PHOENIX – The tax-exempt Goldwater Institute routinely attacks state and local government employee salaries as too high. But a new joint investigation by Arizona Working Families and the Center for Media and Democracy showed that, since the crippling recession of 2007, Goldwater executive staff salaries have soared while pay for the average Arizonan has shrunk. The investigation, made public today, also revealed that the charity paid one of its employees a $50,000 bonus -- and another a $35,000 bonus --on top of their six-figure salaries in the same year Goldwater was awarded over $1 million in attorney fees paid by Arizona taxpayers.

And that was not all that the Center’s investigation revealed about one of the country’s most well-known libertarian think tanks, said Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy and the publisher of ALECexposed.org.

"Our joint investigation revealed other questionable financial decisions,” Graves said. “We also documented the out-of-state money flowing into and out of Goldwater to help advance an extreme agenda to mold Arizona law in ways sought by huge multinational corporate executives like the Koch brothers. Although Goldwater is one of the older libertarian-styled think tanks, this type of tango is being danced in other states as well by similar groups claiming they are independent."The full report is attached or can be viewed here. Other findings include:

“It’s outrageous that an organization that bears Barry Goldwater’s name has consistently led the attack on working Arizonans, on our teachers and on our first responders, while its executives enrich themselves at our expense,” said Frank Piccioli, President of AFSCME Local 2960 in Phoenix and a member of Arizona Working Families. “This comprehensive report should be helpful to Arizona’s media. Reporters can now place the Goldwater Institute’s extreme agenda in the proper context and understand its dangerous consequences for our state.”
Media members interested in speaking to Lisa Graves can contact Nikolina Lazic, at  608-260-9713 or  nikolina@prwatch.org.

Arizona Working Families is a broad coalition of community members, taxpayers and parents demanding that politicians focus on the economy instead of extreme policies that will hurt all Arizonans.

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NEWS RELEASE
March 7, 2013

PHOENIX, AZ-- Statement from DJ Quinlan, Acting Executive Director Arizona Democratic Party.

"House Republicans took another step towards make voting more difficult in Arizona today by passing SB1003 on a party-line vote. As SB1003 was being heard before the House Judiciary Committee, Kingman Republican Doris Goodale initially voted against SB1003 citing her concerns that it would make voting more difficult for rural Arizonans and the disabled. She changed her vote after Farnsworth twice “urged” her to do so and withheld announcing the committee vote until Rep. Goodale finally changed her vote.

Farnsworth also dismissed the legitimate concerns of Rep. Hale, who represents a district largely composed of the Navajo Nation, and Rep. Quezada, who represents a majority Latino district. Both representatives cited concerns that the bill would disproportionately affect voters in their districts. Farnsworth said that he is “tired of hearing people claim that bills are discriminatory,” and he “intends to not listen to those complaints.” Continuing the explanation of his vote, Farnsworth defended the further restriction of voting in Arizona by saying, “we restrict voting because we have to live with the consequences of the vote.”

SB 1003 is a harmful bill that will place obstacles in the way of early voters returning their ballots. It would also criminalize the act of helping another voter return their early ballot to county elections officials. Arizona Democrats agree on the need to reform some parts of our election system; however, it cannot be done at the expense of suppressing voters. Rep. Farnsworth’s comments and behavior during the committee hearing are shameful and are the perfect representation of why Arizona remains a Section 5 state under the Voting Rights Act. His hostility towards the legitimate concerns of minority legislators about the bill will serve as evidence during the preclearance process. Furthermore, his soliloquy in defense of the restriction of voting is essentially admission that this bill is retrogressive in nature.

Should this bill pass the House and be signed by the Governor, we believe the bill will not be granted preclearance. The problems with this bill could have been easily avoided if Republicans had worked in a transparent and bipartisan way to reform our election system."

Voting is the most fundamental of all rights we enjoy. Unfortunately we see a troubling trend nationwide involving Republican legislatures and Governors passing bills to restrict early voting and voter registration. Here in Arizona, the the right to vote is being threatened by the political ambition of State Senator Michele Reagan.

It is no secret, Senator Reagan wants to run for Secretary of State. In her quest for higher office, she is sponsoring legislation that could end up making early voting a criminal enterprise in Arizona. SB 1003 makes it a felony for civic minded individuals to help their neighbors vote without proper authorization. A similar approach was tried two years ago and was quickly abandoned after concern was raised by the Department of Justice for possible violations of the federal Voting Rights Act.

The permanent early voting list has been a useful tool to help new voters participate in the democratic process. Senator Reagan is pushing legislation, SB 1261, which would make it easier to purge voters from the PEVL. She even added a last-minute amendment that would make the bill retroactive to 2010. We believe this is nothing more than a clumsy and transparent attempt at voter suppression.

Senator Reagan has been warned by the Senate Rules committee attorney that two more of her bills may be unconstitutional.SB 1263 would result in making petition circulators more heavily regulated than even lobbyists. SCR 1019 would add new obstacles to citizen-led initiatives including an unnecessary mandate to collect a disproportionate number of signatures from rural counties.

Voting is much too precious a right to be placed in the hands of one who has demonstrated a shocking lack of respect for the constitution.

The problems which resulted in lengthy delays in last November’s vote count can be, and must be solved, by voter education not voter suppression.

You can help today by taking two quick steps:

1: Call Senator Reagan and demand she stop using voter suppression to further her political ambition.

2: And call your state representative to vote against SB 1003, SB 1261 and SB 1264 all of which limit the ability of Arizonans to participate in the democratic process.

Based on available information, this represents a substantial increase in diversity on every demographic measured. (Several demographic groups are not addressed here, but I hope to work with the Affirmative Action Committee to obtain such information and to continue increasing our party’s diversity at every level.)

Please join me in welcoming the following Members-at-Large to the ADP Executive Committee: 

CD1 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD2 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD3 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD4 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD5 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD6 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD7 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD8 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

CD9 MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Volunteer school guards perform weapons drills with Steven Seagal, but history proves that many have already had extensive experience with police.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2012

PHOENIX, AZ--Phoenix-based conservative group Politics On The Rocks has chosen to host Grover Norquist tonight at a Scottsdale nightclub to promote his unpopular and flailing Tea Party tax ideas. In the latest example of just how out-of-touch Arizona Republicans have become, this group will host Norquist even as a poll released this week by Quinnipiac University shows 85 percent of Americans believe members of Congress should not sign pledges to protect the wealthy from tax increases.

"It's clear in poll after poll that the American people are ready for real solutions from Washington, not empty campaign promises designed to appease the extreme," said Arizona Democratic Party Communications Director Frank Camacho."Elected Republicans who have aligned with Norquist -- including Senator John McCain and Representatives David Schweikert, Paul Gosar, Matt Salmon and Trent Franks -- should have the courage to stand up, denounce this pledge and do what's right for our state and country."

Voters nationwide sent a clear message on November 6. They want a balanced solution to the country's deficit and for their elected officials to work together. It's time for the leaders of the Arizona GOP to abandon misguided pledges they were politically pressured into accepting and work across the aisle to move this country forward.

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Ballots are finally all counted and the state officially certified the November 6, 2012 election this morning.

Our party stands strong. Democrats will comprise a majority of Arizona’s congressional delegation. Representatives Ed Pastor, Raul Grijalva and Ron Barber were all re-elected and they will be joined in Washington by Congresswoman-Elect Ann Kirkpatrick and Congresswoman-Elect Kyrsten Sinema.

Voters made clear that change was needed at the state Capitol. Democrats won four more seats in each the state Senate and House of Representatives, thus ending the GOP super-majority in the state legislature.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the thousands of volunteers making more than a million phone calls and knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors. That passion, dedication and teamwork was reflected in Dr. Richard Carmona’s campaign, which came within 3 percentage points of defeating career politician Jeff Flake. We thank Dr. Carmona for his inspiring and courageous stand against corporate special interests and the Super PACs that poured millions into the state. We will depend on Dr. Carmona’s wisdom and leadership in the months ahead.

We are proud of the work we did together and grateful to all our candidates who volunteered this year to run for public office. During the campaign, our candidates spoke with many Arizona families about important Democratic priorities like jobs, education and women's health care. More importantly, our candidates provided voters with a common sense choice for the future.

This election is history, but our job is far from over — in fact, it’s just beginning. We are already collecting and analyzing the data from this election that will serve as a guide to victory in the future. From those numbers, a few things have already become clear: If we are to win in 2014, we need to start registering more Democrats immediately; we need to start recruiting and training new candidates now; and we need to continue our grassroots efforts to find and mobilize our supporters.

The motivation to accomplish these goals isn't hard to find. We know that Governor Brewer, Attorney General Tom Horne and an out-of-touch Republican Legislature will soon be back to their business-as-usual policies that favor special interests and harm Arizona's working families. This election also proved that our state needs a bipartisan commission to review our election process.

The Arizona Democratic Party will remain a vehicle for change, but we must build upon the gains we have made in 2012 and continue to elect Democrats for local, statewide and national offices. Stand with us as we build a stronger party and continue to move our state forward by making a contribution today.

Sincerely,

Luis Heredia
Executive Director 
Arizona Democratic Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2012

PHOENIX, AZ--Statement from Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director Luis Heredia:

“The actions of Martha McSally and her campaign to disqualify provisional ballots in a majority Latino precinct and in other parts of Congressional District 2 are both deplorable and desperate. The attempts to use temporary restraining orders in hopes of swaying this election's outcome threatens voters' rights and should be taken seriously. If this is the tone that McSally wants to set, she clearly does not know the district nor does she possess the qualities of leadership that are needed. This is a desperate campaign that seems to think the only way it can win is to cherry-pick votes.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2012

PHOENIX, AZ—The Arizona Democratic Party has alerted state and federal officials of potential election law violations by the Jeff Flake for Senate campaign. The violations were featured in a news report carried by Phoenix television station KPNX last night.

"We have received complaints from numerous Democratic voters saying they received phone calls from the Flake campaign directing them to the wrong polling places on election day," said Luis Heredia, Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party. "It is clear the Flake campaign was targeting Democrats in a clumsy attempt to influence tomorrow's election. We are demanding a full investigation be conducted."

Recipients of the calls were directed to the wrong polling places miles away from their actual voting site.

Official requests for an immediate investigation have been sent to officials at the FBI, Department of Justice, Arizona Secretary of State and Arizona Attorney General. Along with these requests, each office has received a recording of one of the phone calls as well as the contact information for the individuals who have received the calls. These incidents also come on the heels of revelations that Jeff Flake has ties to a group with a history of voter suppression.

"Voting is easy and both sides should be encouraging Arizonans to go to the polls," said Heredia. "If you have any questions about your location, please visit the Secretary of State's website or call the Arizona Democratic Party's Election Protection line at 877.550.5706."

Additionally, voters are encouraged to check their sample ballot for their correct polling location or visit this site.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2012

PHOENIX, AZ--In the final seven days leading up to Election Day, we’re reminding people about Martha McSally’s proposals that will hurt our middle class. With three days until Election Day, let’s look at Martha McSally’s pledge to Washington lobbyist Grover Norquist to keep tax breaks for Big Oil and corporations that ship jobs overseas.

McSally Signed Grover Norquist’s Pledge To Keep Tax Breaks For Big Oil, Companies That Outsource Jobs. Martha McSally signed the 2012 Americans for Tax Reform Tax Payer Protection Pledge, stating that she opposed any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates. [Americans for Tax Reform Pledge, 2012]

McSally: “I’m Not Going to Apologize” For Signing It. When asked by Rep. Ron Barber in a debate why she signed the pledge before consulting Southern Arizonans, McSally said, “I’m not going to apologize.” [Sierra Vista Chamber of Commerce Debate, 10/17/12]

Grover Norquist’s Lobbying Group Americans for Tax Reform Said Bill Eliminating Tax Breaks for Corporations That Ship Jobs Overseas Was Violation of Pledge. In May 2010, Americans for Tax Reform issued a Tax Pledge Alert to announce that HR 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, was a Taxpayer Protection Pledge violation. The bill would have eliminated $14.451 billion foreign tax credit loopholes. [Americans for Tax Reform Press Release, 5/20/10; House Committee on Ways and Means, “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, HR 4213, 5/28/10]

McSally Received $5,000 Contribution From ExxonMobil. On September 30th, 2012, ExxonMobil’s Political Action Committee donated $5,000 to McSally’s campaign. [McSally for Congress FEC October Quarterly Report, filed 10/15/12]

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