ABOUT BALLOT PROPOSITIONS by Dee Maitland

There are 13 propositions on our ballot, only 2 were placed there by citizen initiative. The other 11 were placed on the ballot by Republicans to confuse and overwhelm voters and take away citizen’s rights. When you have your ballot in hand you will be able to tell these “Vote NO!” propositions in part by their titles.

The 100 numbered Propositions:

AMENDMENTS TO THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION BY THE LEGISLATURE RELATING TO

Vote NO:  133 …PRIMARY ELECTIONS – requires taxpayers to fund primaries
Vote NO:  134 …INITIATIVES AND REFERENDA – prevents citizen initiatives from making it to the ballot
Vote NO:  135 …THE GOVERNOR – restricts the Governor’s ability to declare a state of emergency
Vote NO:  136 …BALLOT MEASURES – allows courts to prevent initiatives from getting on the ballot
Vote NO:  137 …JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT- removes Do Not Retain for judges
Vote NO:  138 …WAGES – allows employers to pay tipped workers sub-minimum wages

The 300 numbered Propositions:

REFERRED TO THE PEOPLE BY THE LEGISLALTURE RELATING TO

Vote NO:  311… FIRST RESPONDERS – penalizes defendants, duplicates funds already received
Vote NO:  312… PROPERTY TAXES – unconstitutional crack downs, doesn’t fix homelessness, raises taxes,
Vote NO:  313… CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING SENTENCING – already exists, unnecessary, harms victims
Vote NO:  Vote NO:  314… HARMS AT THE BORDER – hurts businesses, state economy, and costs taxpayers $35 million
315… RULEMAKING – prevents state from regulating vouchers for needed health and safety programs

The Citizen Initiatives:

PROPOSED BY INITIATIVE PETITION RELATION TO THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO…

VOTE YES: 139…AN ABORTION – restores reproductive rights, allows safe and legal abortions without penalty
Vote NO:  140…FAIR ELECTIONS – poorly worded, allows legislators to manipulate primaries; gives one person too much power, dangerous.

The 400 propositions:

VOTE YES:  Pima County Proposition 481: Would raise the artificial expenditure limit for Pima Community College that restricts how much the district can spend, even when funding is available. This adjustment will enable increases in workforce programs, technology infrastructure, career and technical education, baccalaureate degrees, and programs that serve high school students. It would have no impact on current tax rates.

The easy way to talk to friends and family about voting on the propositions is to say: Vote NO on all except Proposition 139, and the 400 propositions for school funding.

ABOUT RETENTION OF JUDGES:

The Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review (JPR) says all of the Pima County Superior Court Judges up for retention “MEET” Judicial Performance Standards. However, CEBV recommends a “NO” vote on Kellie L. Johnson because she voted the 1864 abortion ban superseded the 15-week ban passed by the AZ Legislature. CEBV recommends retention of all the other judges. The two Court of Appeals, Division II judges, Eckerstrom and Staring, also meet JPR criteria.

The problem is that the two Arizona Supreme Court judges, Bolick and King, who voted to reinstate the 1864 abortion ban also meet JPR criteria. These judges have three strikes against their retention. First, their stand on abortion. Second, they were appointed by Governor Ducey to expand the Supreme Court to seven judges giving Republicans total power. And third, the Republican perfidy of Proposition 137 to give judges lifetime appointments.

FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE BALLOT PROPOSITIONS, JUDGES AND COUNTY MEASURES GO TO:

https://www.cebv.us/2024-ballot-guide.html

PROJECT 2025 IS LURKING OUT THERE…BE AFRAID by Dee Maitland

Our August Newsletter outlined Project 2025. We also know that our corrupt Trump Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a number of its tenets. Please be sure that your friends and family clearly understand the risk to themselves if this billionaire funded Republican autocratic dream is enacted. Here are a few key features from the Washington Post with my comments. Project 2025 will

ü Remake the federal workforce to be political. Crucial federal departments will be at the behest of billionaires who could be granted public lands to use for profit and protected from having to clean up the environmental disasters they cause, allow them to ignore dangers to their workers and discriminate with impunity.

ü Cut the Department of Education. We have already seen the disaster private schools and universal vouchers pose the well-being of all our children and our economy here in Arizona. Imagine if they became national policy.

ü Give Trump power to investigate and punish his opponents. Remember Ireland, Lebanon and Israel for what happens when revenge cycles are started.

ü Make reproductive care harder to get. Forced birth will destroy our economy by pulling women out of the work force and placing millions on welfare…besides making all of us really mad.

ü Crack down on legal immigration. Republican hate in action. And as with pulling women out of the work force it will cripple our economy and make other nations hate us.

ü Slash climate change protections. Goodbye FEMA, hello endless devastation and widespread poverty.

ü Ban transgender people from the military and consider reinstating the draft. Why?

The People’s Guide to Project 2025 prepared by Democracy Forward states the proposals discussed in detail throughout this guide, that they claim could be implemented through executive branch action alone include:

• Cutting overtime protections for 4.3 million workers
• Stopping efforts to lower prescription drug prices
• Limiting access to food assistance, which an average of more than 40 million people in 21.6 million households rely on monthly
• Eliminating the Head Start early education program, which serves over 1 million children annually
• Cutting the American Rescue Plan (ARP) programs that have created or saved 220,000 jobs
• Restricting access to medication abortion
• Pushing more of the 33 million people enrolled in Medicaretowards Medicare Advantage and other private options
• Exposing the 368,000 children in foster care to the risk of increased discrimination
• Denying students in 25 states and Washington, D.C. access to student loans because their state provides in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants
• Rolling back civil rights protections across multiple fronts, including cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion-related programs and LGBTQ+ rights in health care, education, and workplaces.

VOTE AGAINST EVERY REPUBLICAN AND EVERY REPUBLICAN PROPOSAL!

Vote for the good guys by Dee Maitland

I drove from my home in Marana 42 miles to visit my friends in Vail Park. I was surprised to see John McLean and Kevin Volk signs there. How could we be in the same legislative district?!!

I found LD17 goes from west of I-10 in Picture Rocks up into Pinal County, over to Saddlebrook, down to Tanque Verde, up to Mt. Lemmon and down to East Tucson and parts of Vail. It violates a number of redistricting criteria. It is not compact, does not encompass community boundaries by avoiding most of Vail, and, designed as a strongly Republican district, it is not competitive.

Candidate Volk reported: “I completed a 1-day, 11-stop drive across the district. It took me about 11 hours over at least 171 miles inside the LD17 district, with another 20+ miles in LD7.”

IRC Commissioner David Mehl, when asked by Senator Leach to favor Republicans, designed LD17. It passed on a 3-2 partisan vote. Leach should not be rewarded for this obscene gerrymander.

Vote for the good guys John McLean and Kevin Volk!

The Best of Biden

by Jacolyn Marshall

Health & Safety
• FDA announced the number of teens vaping fell to under 6%, the lowest point in the past decade.
• National Highway Safety Administration proposed a rule that sets automobile requirements to protect pedestrians aimed largely at big SUVs and pickups with driver blind spots.
• Federal Aviation Administration announced SpaceX faces $633,000 in fines for safety violations during two launches last year and proposed civil penalties for its failure to follow licensing requirements.
• FBI reported violent crimes dropped 3% in 2023; murders and non-violent manslaughter dropped 12%; and communities with a million people showed the biggest 7% drop in violent crime over last year.
• Commerce Department bans vehicles equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware to protect national security and US drivers.

Economy
• IRS collected $1.3 billion from wealthy tax dodgers due to improved collection enforcement.
• Biden signed an executive order for federal grants that prioritize projects with labor agreements, wage standards and benefits such as access to childcare and apprenticeship programs.
• Labor Department reported a 5th straight drop in consumer prices and inflation hitting a three-year low.
• Inflation-adjusted incomes for US households have rebounded to pre-Covid levels, overcoming the biggest price spike in four decades and restoring most Americans’ purchasing power.
• Consumer confidence improved for the second straight month in September, bolstered by lower prices for long-lasting goods and the prospect of interest rate cuts.
• Commerce Department announced retail sales have risen the most in a year and a half with online retailers, sporting goods stores and home and garden stores all reporting higher sales.
• Federal Reserve cut its interest rate by an unusually large half-point, the first in more than four years, concluding their fight against inflation and reflecting its new focus on bolstering the job market.
• Labor Department announced employers posted 8 million job vacancies in August as the labor market continues to show resilience and unemployment fell to its lowest level in four months.
• Federal Trade Commission reported Invitation Homes, nation’s largest owner of single-family homes for rent, agreed to pay $48 million to settle claims accusing them of using deceptive business practices.

Environment & Climate Change
• Agriculture Department awarded $845 million to Arizona Electric Power Cooperative to eliminate coal from six turbines in Cochise County, with transition to natural gas and other renewable power sources by 2027.
• Energy Department awards a $166 million grant to Arizona Hermosa mining project to boost domestic supply of manganese used in EV batteries and zinc used to galvanize steel for infrastructure projects.
• Biden administration announced 14 states will receive more than $3 billion in grants for 25 projects producing advanced batteries and other materials used for electric vehicles.
• Department of Energy reported 24 climate-friendly projects subsidized by Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act are underway in Arizona, providing 65,524 clean energy jobs.

Justice
• DOJ filed charges against Hamas leaders for providing material support of a foreign terrorist organization, murder of US nationals, and the use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.
• DOJ widened its indictment of Russians, including five intelligence officers in the malware attacks aimed at destroying computer systems in Ukraine, the US, and 26 NATO allies.
• DOJ issued charges in connection with an Iranian hack targeting Trump’s presidential campaign.
• DOJ investigated more reports of excessive force by Mississippi Sheriff’s Department after six of its Goon Squad received 10–40-year sentences for the deaths of two Black men in 2023.
• DOJ filed suit against the owner of the cargo ship that destroyed the Baltimore bridge seeking to recover the $100 million the government spent to clear debris and reopen the city’s port.
• DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa for using its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market that is costing consumers and businesses $7 billion in processing fees each year.

Social Justice
• Consumer Finance Protection Bureau filed an order to permanently ban Navient from servicing federal student loans and requiring them to pay a $20 million penalty and provide $100 million in relief to impacted borrowers.
• Consumer Protection Bureau declared private sellers or investment groups are subject to the same Truth in Lending rules as banks, lenders and brokers to protect refugees from shady, predatory loans.

• Education Department found Legacy Charter School network with 22 sites in Arizona discriminated against English language learners and their parents which compelled them to provide essential services.
• Federal Trade Commission sued Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx pharmacy managers over a drug rebate scheme that caused insulin prices to soar. They process 80% of prescriptions in the US.
• Biden administration proposed a rule requiring US airlines to compensate passengers for controllable cancellations or delays of three hours as a way to incentivize the airlines to provide better service.

Immigration and Border Security
• Homeland Security issued a report stating Border Patrol agents who rushed to the Uvalde school shooting had inadequate training to confront the attack; no agents were referred for disciplinary action.

Technology and Cybersecurity
• Biden administration unsealed criminal charges against a Russian state-run media company and seized websites used by the Kremlin to spread lies to influence upcoming presidential election.
• FTC cracked down on businesses that post fake reviews on-line by banning the creation, sale or purchase of fake reviews and allows the agency to seek civil penalties against violators.
• US announced new sanctions against a commercial spyware company whose program allowed access to information stored on smartphones and was used for mass surveillance campaigns around the world.
• FBI disrupted hackers working for the Chinese government who installed malicious software on more than 200,000 devices targeting universities, government agencies and other organizations.
• FBI reported Iranian hackers tried to interest Biden’s campaign in information stolen from Trump’s campaign in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election.
• US Cybersecurity Agency announced our election systems are so robust Russia, Iran or other adversaries cannot alter the outcome of this year’s race and noted their actions are focused on sowing discord, not hacking.
• CIA posted social media messages making it easier for people in North Korea, China and Iran to share intelligence information without putting themselves in danger.

Government
• Biden administration cut off a $4.5 million grant to Oklahoma for the state’s refusal to follow federal law and refer pregnant women to a nationwide hotline that provides information about abortion and other options.
• Biden administration issued sanctions and visa restrictions against Russian perpetrators trying to sow discord and create confusion among American voters.
• Defense Department announced a four-year $1.2 billion contract modification to keep producing advanced medium-range combat missiles for the US and 40 allies here in Tucson.
• FBI and US Postal Inspection Service investigated the origin of suspicious packages sent to elections officials and Secretaries of State in more than a dozen states. No hazardous were materials found.

International Relations:
• State Department declared Iran’s satellite launches defy US Security Council resolutions and called on Tehran to cease activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
• US and Chinese leaders met to discuss ongoing issues, including clashes in the South China Sea.
• Biden hosted Prime Ministers of Australia, India, and Japan, the sixth gathering of our Indo-Pacific allies since 2021 for talks concerning China’s increasing military aggression in the region.
• Biden addressed the UN summit where 130 presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs adopted the Pact of the Future to address climate change, AI, escalating conflicts, and increasing inequality and poverty.
• US announced it will send additional US troops to the Middle East to bolster the 40,000 already there.
• First Lady Jill Biden along with 12 other members of the presidential delegation, including Tucson Mayor Romero attended the inauguration of Mexico’s new president Claudia Pardo.
• US and South Korea agreed to a joint increase in the costs of maintaining 28,500 US troops there.

International Relations: Israel
• US, UK and other Western allies press for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to prevent attacks from Iranian proxies in the region from escalating into a broader war.
• A dramatic escalation of attacks between Israel and Lebanon occurred even as two Biden administration officials arrived in the region to appeal for calm.
• US imposed sanctions on a group of extremist settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for their attacks on Palestinians and their property.
• Pentagon will send more troops to bolster security and defend Israel against Hezbollah attacks.

International Relations: Ukraine
• US and Britain accused Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine and imposed new sanctions on Moscow and Tehran, barring them from accessing property or financial assets.
• Biden and British Prime Minister met to discuss loosening weapons restrictions that would allow the use British Strom Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia.
• State Department announced new sanctions on Russian media, accusing a Kremlin news outlet of working with the military and running fundraising campaigns to pay for equipment for fighting in Ukraine.
• Defense officials declared sending US missiles into Russia would have limited impact at a great risk, noting Ukraine launched its long-range drones that hit a military depot 300 miles inside the Russian border.
• US sent Ukraine $375 million in military aid with cluster bombs, rockets, artillery, and armored vehicles.
• Harris met with Zelenskyy to pledge her support for Ukraine which is in both of our strategic best interests

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