Dear Democratic primary voters in LD8: Please write in Lauren Kuby for state senate

Failed candidate David Alger fronted a legal challenge to the one Democratic candidate for state senate in LD8, Rep. Melody Hernandez.

It was successful, in that she withdrew from the race, leaving the Democratic ballot in that district with no candidate for the state senate seat on the ballot.

One person has stepped into the gap. - Lauren Kuby, a former member of the Tempe City Council and long-time community activist.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me on everything (they should though, as I'm always right,  Just ask me. :) )

However, I do expect that all of my elected officials to be decent and honorable human beings, and Lauren falls squarely into that category. 

As she's running as a write-in candidate, she'll need at least 405 people to write her name on their primary ballots in order for her to appear on the general election ballot.

And she easily deserves that.

Note: I've linked to her campaign website on the sidebar to the right.  If you can donate to her campaign, please do so.

Early ballots hit mailboxes in Arizona this week; Don't ignore certain downballot races. like Arizona Corporation Commission

Caveat: I've known Lauren Kuby, one of the candidates for Arizona Corporation Commission, for years and have donated to her campaign.

In school, most of us learned that there are three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial.

In Arizona, there's a fourth, constitutionally-recognized, branch - the Corporation Commission.

It regulates corporations (as its name suggests), utilities (perhaps its most important duty) and securities.  

Lauren Kuby is not only someone who understands the impact of climate change on the average Arizona family and would be a tireless advocate for Arizona consumers, she's someone who takes elected office seriously (one of the things that's guaranteed to tick me off is when an elected doesn't doesn't take his/her job seriously, people who are legion here in AZ.  Actually, I think we've reached the point where someone who takes the job seriously cannot win an R primary.)

Anyway, federal candidates on the AZ ballot are here; statewide candidates are here; legislative here; state-level judicial here; and ballot measures here.

Blog for Arizona has posts on the topics here, here, and here.

The last is on the judicial retention ballot; I won't be voting to retain judges appointed by Doug Ducey.  The fact that Dougie likes someone doesn't speak well for their character.

Maricopa County candidates are here.

Dear Planned Parenthood: Endorsements say more about the character of the endorser than that of the endorsee

Requiring absolutism from friends, to the point of requiring them to not do their jobs or they won't be considered friends any longer, is an R trait.

NOT good company to be in.

From Axios, written by Jessica Boehm, dated 7/13/2022 -

Planned Parenthood AZ wants candidates to turn down police support

The political arm of Planned Parenthood Arizona is requiring candidates to either reject or return contributions from law enforcement organizations to receive an endorsement.

• Multiple politicians previously supported by Arizona's Planned Parenthood chapter did not receive endorsements ahead of the Aug. 2 primary.

[snip]

But Tempe council member Lauren Kuby, who is running for Arizona Corporation Commission, saw her endorsement rescinded after she supported the city's budget, which included funding for police.

Of note: The budget included $2 million less for the police department than the previous year's budget but did provide funding to fill nine sworn officer positions, AZcentral reported.

Kuby declined an interview but said in a statement to Axios that she's proud of her work "protecting reproductive freedom and abortion rights. This includes much work with Planned Parenthood."

• PPAA endorsed Kuby in her 2018 council election and included her on a list of endorsed candidates for this cycle until late last month.

Disclosure time: I've known and respected Councilwoman Kuby for years now, and have made financial contributions to her and signed her petition, and am proud to have done both.

Do we agree on everything?  Of course not.  Welcome to adulthood - good people can disagree on something and still be good people.

Two things that I've never doubted are her integrity and her work ethic - she'll make a *great* addition to the ACC.

Part of any elected official's job is crafting and voting on a budget for whatever entity that they've been elected to oversee.

Punishing an elected for doing their job is an R ideal; witness R criticisms of certain R electeds for failing to overturn the election results of 2020.

Personally, I'm also not a fan of accepting contributions from law enforcement organizations, but for practical reasons - I don't think that they're as influential as they once were - killing unarmed civilians and standing aside while people die will do that.

Dear Planned Parenthood (again):

Much as with Councilwoman Kuby, I've given your organization money in the past.  Unlike with her, I won't give to you again.

At least, not until you remove your organizational cranium from your organizational butt.

Me

The R candidates for Arizona Corporation Commission would fit in well...at the state legislature

All believe that the ACC is subservient to the lege.

On June 22, 2022, the Republican candidates, Kim Owens, Nick Myers, and Kevin Thompson, for ACC were part of a Clean Election "debate" (debate is in quotes not to disparage it because it wasn't a true debate, but an event where the candidates sat on a stage tossing out ideas/talking points) hosted by Ted Simons of Channel 8.

If you've got an hour to waste, watch the debate, but I wouldn't recommend voting for any of them.  While I *do* believe that one candidate is less bad than the others, "less bad" is still "bad," both for Arizona and for Arizonans.

Some of the "highlights" (the quotes here *are* disparagement; they weren't really highlights by any stretch of the imagination):

At the 8:11 mark, Owens stated that the ACC exceeded its authority by implementing clean energy standards.

At the 47:30 mark, Myers topped that by stating that "Nowhere in the Constitution does it specifically say that we have to abide by climate change problems."

At the 5:34 mark, Ted Simons asked "Do you see the corporation commission as a fourth branch of government?"

To which Myers replied "Not necessarily."

At the 6:45 mark, Simons followed up with "Fourth branch of government?  Is that what the Constitution called for?"

To which Thompson replied "I don't believe so."

That earns Myers and Thompson the "shameless" award, however, Owens gets the "chutzpah" award for the evening -

At the 2:59 mark, she blurted that she's "not using lobbyist dollars to support" her candidacy.

Ummm, from the report she filed on 1/15/2022 -

Not only are Thompson and Myers running as Clean Elections candidates, so are Democrats Lauren Kuby and Sandra Kennedy.

Kuby is on the ballot

 From an email from her campaign -

I looked at campaign finance report (see! It isn't just Rs that I examine!), and I was impressed by two things:

1. The folks who know her best gave her seed money.  As a "Clean Elections" candidate, she needed enough $5 contributions to qualify for CE funding, but she also needed "seed" money to get her campaign started.  And many folks (including yours truly) contributed to her candidacy.  The fact that the folks who know her trusted her enough for that speaks well of her character.

She knows a lot of folks, and the people she knows and who know her gave her money, including colleagues, friends, neighbors, office holders, former office holders, and candidates for office.

2. What I didn't see were contributions from organizations that are regulated by the ACC.  That's been an issue with the ACC in the past.

Kuby's website is listed on the right side of this blog; if you want to electronically sign for Kennedy or to donate a $5 to her, follow the AZSOS E-Qual link below it.

Kuby running for Corporation Commission

 From The Wrangler News (Tempe) -

Tempe Council member Kuby running for state Corporation Commission

Tempe City Council member Lauren Kuby announced on her twitter page that she plans to run for Arizona Corporation Commission, the state’s regulatory panel of utilities, among other things.

Kuby was elected to the City Council on a sustainability platform in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. The 34-year resident of Tempe is a long-time community leader who advocates for worker protections, equity and climate-change action.

Caveat: Not only do I support Kuby in her run for a spot on the ACC (three-word description of Lauren: "force of nature"), I have donated some "seed" money to her campaign, I've given a $5 toward her qualifying for Clean Elections funding, and I've signed her nominating petition online (all links at the right).

Lauren Kuby running for ACC

 From the website of the AZSOS -

She's a member of the Tempe City Council, works at ASU, and has long been active in her community (AZ in general, and Tempe in particular).

Caveat: I know Lauren, and not only do I like her, I respect her.  And I'll be making a financial contribution to her campaign.  

She'll make a great addition to the Arizona Corporation Commission.