Tonight's LD17 Meeting

The meeting went a little long, but there was a lot of info available at the meeting.

Highlights -

Maria Weeg, Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party introduced herself and spoke for a while on a number of topics, including efforts to build the party.

Josh Garrett, the ADP's Faith-Based Outreach Campaign Manager talked about efforts to remind the 'religious community, which has been co-opted by the Reps for over 20 years, that Democrats are 'values voters' too, and that issues such as health care, poverty, global warming, and HIV/AIDS are moral issues at least as much as abortion and same-sex marriage.

Victor Aronow of the Arizona Community Media Foundation talked to us about his organization and its drive to obtain a non-commercial educational radio license for the Phoenix area. They need help, both financial and practical (i.e. - join the org or write letters for the FCC license application); contact them through their website (click on the link above), email at info[at]azcmf.org, or call 480.829.5746.


In the legislative update, Reps. David Shapira and Ed Ableser, and Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill talked about the approaching end of the legislative session and the ongoing budget games that the Republicans are playing.

The interesting one there is the cause of the rush to get a budget compromise passed this week, possibly during a marathon session on Thursday.

Apparently, one of the Republican votes that Speaker Jim Weiers was counting on has scheduled a vacation and will be unavailable for two weeks following this week.

You'd think that the House Majority Leader would know better than to do that after last year's session that lasted almost until July...

Who knows? Perhaps for next year's session, the Rep caucus will select a leader with more 'leader' ability.

....OK - probably not; the Republicans seem to be more interested in forming circular firing squads these days. And I'm not complaining about it. :)

Upcoming LD17 events -

Phone banking opportunities for LD17 Dems on Thursday June 7 and 21 to help register new Democratic voters. Contact district chair Doug Mings at dougmings[at]gmail.com.

On June 9, the last District Day of Action neighborhood walk of the summer will be held. Meet at Kiwanis Park in Tempe.

June 13 - Democratic Happy Hour at Gordon Biersch Brewing Company at 5th and Mill in Tempe at 6:30 p.m. Contact Debra Scheff at njdb4[at]aol.com for info.

June 22 - The LD17 Democrats present the film "The War Tapes" at the Escalante Center.

Next meeting - July 3rd, same time and place (7:00 p.m., Pyle Center in Tempe)

July 4 - Volunteers needed for the booth at the July 4th Tempe Town Lake Festival; contact Doug Mings at the above email addy if you are interested in helping out.

Other events announced at the meeting -

June 6 - The Tempe Elementary School District #3 will be holding a public forum on redistricting from 6 to 8 p.m. at Sanchez Administration Building, 3205 South Rural Road.

June 23 - A neighborhood fundraiser for Tempe City Council candidate Corey Woods. From 7 - 11 p.m. enjoy a "buffet dinner followed by a Woods/Kuby pie bake-off!" Contact Lauren Kuby at laurenkuby[at]gmail.com for info.

June 24 - The Arizona Institute for Peace Education and Research (AIPER) is screening the movie Jesus Camp at the AIPER office in Tempe (2510 S Rural) at 5:00 p.m.

One last highlight from tonight's meeting -

The campaign has already started - last week there were a couple of 'anti-Ableser, Schapira and Burton-Cahill' signs up in Scottsdale at the northeast corner of Indian School and Miller. They were apparently put up by the owner of a sign company who was upset that the LD17 legislators didn't vote to legislatively override Scottsdale's ordinance restricting signwalkers.

To the person(s) who posted the signs -

Waaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Oh, and by the way, Indian School and Miller is in LD8, not LD17.

Good night!