 NEWS FROM THE COCONINO COUNTY DEMOCRATS July 3, 2024 In this edition: hear from leaders about using our passion and our values to keep moving even during these challenging times. Learn what Flagstaff residents and visitors think about our key issues. Get all the facts on this month’s Arizona primary election. We continue to reach out to voters, serve our community at the Flagstaff Family Food Center, and more in our work to defend democracy – join us!  Dear Warriors, Thank you to everyone who showed up and rallied for our President at the Debate Watch Party. We know he’s got our backs, and we have his. Keep the commentary in perspective: Biden raised $14 million that night (and the majority of that in the hour following the debate), to his opponent’s $8 million. Biden stumbled over some words, but the other guy buried himself in lies. Ultimately, it appears that our President gained voters from the undecided camp as voters turned away from the lying liar standing next to him. Primary Ballots will drop this week. There are some contested races; please exercise your right to choose who goes on to the General Election! Watch for our grand entry in the 4th of July Parade, or march with us to celebrate Independence and show the community that we are “On Board” with Biden-Harris. We have space for a few more walkers to march alongside our beautiful firetruck float. Please sign up below at the Volunteer link to be part of the 2024 Coconino County Democratic Party 4th of July float. And join us after the parade for our traditional Ice Cream Social, hosted this year by the Coordinated Campaign. We are in the fight of our lives, for our rights, our freedoms, and our Democracy. We are stronger together, and we are going to win. Blue AZ 2024, Laura Carter   Saturday, July13, 10 am – noon NOTE — NEW LOCATION!! Coordinated Campaign Office, Downtown Flagstaff121 E Birch Street, Second Floor or via Zoom (link below) We’ll hear from County Recorder Patty Hansen about local work being done around election security and integrity. Learn how to support voters during the primary and general elections. Take part in a training on canvassing and then start knocking on neighbors’ doors with the Coordinated Campaign. Join your fellow Defenders of Democracy for an energizing and inspiring morning! Note that we have a new venue this month – the ADP’s Coordinated Campaign is hosting us. CC Dems is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Monthly Action Meeting Time: July 13, 2024 10:00 AM Arizona Monthly:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZwodemqrz0jEtex3S18K3llo4YxjDWJPJKN/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGgqzkqGNWTuRGERpw-GYjoc-rzmCFEj7dYhEzWUnh4MQ_6ObZ7KrhbJ_Lg Join Zoom Meeting:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88520216983?pwd=MFBHVDdEMHo1cVkwNTNKL3VhRi9nQT09 Meeting ID: 885 2021 6983Passcode: 121050 Voices from Flagstaff’s Community Market Our First Vice-Chair, Nancy Branham, and her band of trusty volunteers have been reaching out weekly to Flagstaff residents and visitors at the weekly Community Market downtown. Each week they pose a new question, encouraging passersby to stop, muse, and converse about some timely topic. Over the past couple of weeks they have asked people to list what they believe to be the biggest accomplishment of the Biden – Harris administration so far, and to describe the traits they most want to see in a candidate. (Both of these questions are highly relevant to the public reactions we’ve seen to last week’s presidential debate.) Answers have been diverse, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. President Biden’s administration is credited for many accomplishments, but most fell into one of two general categories. Progress on economic and infrastructure challenges were mentioned most often. Achievements in the area of human rights, inclusivity, and respect were also frequently recognized. The President was praised by some for contributions to peace and the international order, and for climate and environmental achievements. What do we want to see in an elected leader? By far, the largest number of answers evoked ethics, honesty, and integrity. This highlights the importance of focusing on the contrast between convicted felon Trump, and his criminal friends, versus our candidates. Other general categories that many people mentioned include empathy, pro-environmental values, and general rationality and the thoughtfulness born of experience. These responses remind us to hold ourselves (and our candidates) to high standards of behavior, and to recognize that most people care about human values and principles. So our messaging needs to speak to these heartfelt priorities, as much as (or more than) facts and figures. Nancy invites all of us to stop by the Coconino Democrats table at the Market any Sunday, to talk over the question of the week. Many thanks to Nancy and our Market tabling volunteers for engaging in these revealing conversations! Countdown to the Primary July 3 – Early voting begins July 19 – Last day to request ballot by mail (5 pm) July 23 – Put your early ballot in the US Mail July 26 – Last day to vote early in person July 26-29 – Emergency early voting July 30 – Election Day! Vote in person, or return early ballot by 7 pm to drop box, recorder’s office, or polling place Go to https://coconino.az.gov/195/Elections to learn more about ballots and early voting (Recorder’s Office) or about Election Day voting and ballot tabulation (Elections Department). Who’s On Our Ballot? Many voters – perhaps even you! – tend to ignore the primary election, and don’t try to inform themselves or think about voting until the November general election. That is a mistake we don’t want to make! This month’s primary features a number of contested races among Democratic candidates (and some non-partisan elections in several county municipalities). We list here the races where Democratic Coconino County voters have a choice to make. Check these out, do some background on your options, and VOTE this month to finalize our November ballot. State Senator, LD 7: vote for 1 of 2 Dem candidates (Haley Creighton, Roberto Apodaca Reveles) State Representative, LD 6: vote for 2 of 3 candidates (Angela Malone, Mae Peshlakai, Myron Tsosie) Coconino County Board of Supervisors, District 4: vote for 1 of 2 candidates (Judy Begay, Ross Bergstresser) Coconino County Board of Supervisors, District 5: vote for 1 of 3 candidates (Marie Acothley, Lena Fowler, Angie Williams) County Attorney: vote for 1 of 2 candidates (Ammon Barker, Gary Pearlmutter) Page Justice of the Peace: vote for 1 of 2 candidates (Michael Barnes, Maia Rodriguez) Nonpartisan races in the County: City of Page (mayor, council members) City of Sedona (mayor, council members, Prop 481 – water franchise) City of Williams (mayor, council members) Town of Fredonia (council members) Town of Tusayan (mayor, council members) Upcoming Flagstaff Events Need more inspiration? Two events this week are bringing us fantastic speakers who are guaranteed to stoke your passion for democracy. Tonight, July 3, Nancy MacLean (author of “Democracy in Chains”) will show and discuss the documentary “Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy.” 5 – 7 pm at Harbert Chapel, 424 S San Francisco Ave. Sunday, July 7, Beto O’Rourke will be signing copies of his new book, “We Have to Try,” at Brightside Books, 5 pm. See link here to buy a ticket ($5) for this event. Observing at the Polls and in the Elections Center: Helping and Representing VotersHelp keep our elections safe, secure, legal, and transparent! Learn more about roles with the ADP Voter Protection Team here. Poll observers are the eyes and ears ensuring that any difficulties at a polling place are detected and corrected quickly. Meanwhile observers who watch the receiving of ballots on Election Night, and the tabulation of ballots at the central Elections Center, are our best defense against distrust in our elections. The Arizona Democratic Party supplies training and excellent support for our observers. Our huge county has dozens of diverse polling places – help us cover the ground so that all registered voters can exercise their right to vote! Sign up here to learn more and ask for an assignment.  Who Do You Listen To…and Why? These days it is impossible to track all possible news and media sources. Indeed, without making a substantial effort, one can’t avoid living in a virtual bubble, hearing only the “news” and voices pushed on us by social media, corporate influences, and our own comfort zones. In this crucial election year, it is more important than ever to seek out reality-based information and to understand the political biases of the media we see. One key resource for doing this is the Interactive Media Bias Chart, published by Ad Fontes Media. Media sources are plotted on a chart, with one axis showing how factual their coverage is (from “inaccurate, fabricated” to “thorough fact reporting, fact-dense analysis” while the other shows political bias (from extreme left to extreme right). You can search to find a particular source, or view general categories (TV/video, websites and articles, podcasts and audio). Media are frequently reviewed and ratings updated. Below is a screenshot of the current TV/video category. It’s worth checking these every few months, just to see how your current news sources rate. You might also ask your family, friends, and neighbors to name their most important source(s) – and then let them know where these fall in terms of factual accuracy and bias. Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart  Let’s Flip the Arizona Legislature’s GOP Control Arizona Democrats are only one seat away in both Senate and House from taking legislative control away from the extreme Republicans. In November we have a great shot at bringing sanity and balance to the legislature. Under GOP control, our state legislature has become dysfunctional, extreme and destructive. The majority in the legislature is hell bent on pursuing hardline anti-democratic policies, restricting voter access, diverting state tax dollars to private enterprises and institutions, and stripping away rights to justice and consumer protections. We have been fortunate this term to have a Governor in place to veto many of these extreme measures. Under the leadership of former legislative leader Dr. Eric Meyer working with Governor Hobbs, the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (ADLCC) or both chambers of the legislature from Republican to Democratic control. The committee has an ambitious budget that, if funded, will result in one of the most aggressive campaign for legislative control ever waged in this state. Democrats are invited to attend an informational reception in Flagstaff on Saturday, July13, at 2:00 pm to raise funds for this important cause. If you agree that our current legislative leadership is extreme and unacceptable, please attend. To RSVP or with questions or comments, email Conner at or call Nancy Scheneman- Brehm at 602-568-9820. Consider Diverse Perspectives on Last Week’s Presidential Debate Last week’s televised presidential debate stirred up deep concerns and plenty of reaction. Like you, members of the Coconino Democrats’ Executive Committee had some thoughts! We don’t have enough room here to begin to cover the many perspectives our leaders are recommending, but here are a few brief notes. Harriet Young proposes that President Biden’s apparent fatigue at the start of the debate was probably worsened by hours of coaching. “I’m older than he is, but I know the physicality of long term stress… But he rallied.” She appreciated the tongue-in-cheek ‘news’ from the Borowitz Report announcing that the American people have asked the Supreme Court for immunity from Trump. Dawn Schackner spoke with many people at last Sunday’s community market, and reports that the most common reaction was devastation. However, this has given her more conviction than ever that we must defeat Trump. Darrell Boomgaarden considered that “…the content of President Biden’s material was excellent – showing the depth of his empathy and humanity. His delivery was poor. Trump showed his true self – lying, exaggerating, insulting and totally indifferent to real people’s issues and challenges.” And Darrell reminds us to look to Trump’s public statements about what another presidential term would mean for the country. Pamela Carter writes that she is leaning in to her current-favorite quote, from Nancy Pelosi: “We don’t agonize, we organize.”Linda Guarino follows Phillip Bump at the Washington Post “because he is a numbers guy and clearly explains which polls can be trusted.” She says that Bump’s take on post-debate polls is “it’s still too early to judge whether Biden’s poor performance weakened his position – but lots of reasons to think it won’t.” Nancy Branham asks us to “Concentrate on Trump’s terrible performance, not on Biden’s debate performance. This is a real weakness of the media in my opinion.” She refers us to Simon Rosenberg for perspective: We Are Fighting for Democracy, Freedom And Our Future – And Cannot Let Up (hopiumchronicles.com) Bill Wade wrote that “Joe Biden has never been a gifted orator, but he is truthful and honest and intelligent, and his beliefs coincide with our beliefs…Meanwhile, history is replete with silver-tongued orators, men who have used their gifts to lure their followers into war, mass murder, and all manner of evil. Trump is but the most recent avatar of Adolph Hitler…Trump runs not on intelligence, but on hatred: he incites his followers with the thrill of pure, shared hatred. And he is therefore incredibly dangerous for America and for the entire world.” Laura Huenneke remembers that we have years of two different presidential performances to compare, not just 90 minutes of debate performance. And she really likes the prompt from Jessica Craven (“Chop Wood, Carry Water”) that we can and should “…keep reminding ALL Americans of the values we share – top among them being our desire for personal liberty, democracy, and freedom.” Laura Carter similarly writes that “One debate before the Primary is not as consequential as a 4 year term that saw the most progressive advances in dealing with Infrastructure, Healthcare, and Climate Change in history. Biden has had our backs, now we have his.”Remember we are in a marathon, not a sprint. Take some time to understand your own values and priorities, and then go back to acting on them!  Arizona for Abortion Access Ballot Initiative Flagstaff Abortion Alliance sends its most sincere thanks to all those who have labored over these past months to gather signatures, notarize petitions, knock on doors, and talk to voters on the streets about the AZ for Abortion Access Ballot initiative. Today is the day signatures are due in Phoenix. We will soon hear how many signatures have been submitted, and how they are evaluated by the various verification checks. We will then pivot to making sure that voters understand our initiative versus any other ballot measures related to reproductive rights, and to turning out informed and energized voters for the November election. Until then – THANK YOU to all of you who have engaged with us since last fall. We know that northern Arizona and our Flagstaff partners have contributed significantly to the success of this initiative – and we know we are going to do it again in November! Join Us in Our Key Outreach and Voter Education Work This Summer! Flagstaff’s community calendar of fantastic festivals and celebrations is in full swing, and the Coconino County Democrats are fully engaged. We’d love to have your help, especially at the Fourth of July Parade this month. We are still serving dinner at the Flagstaff Family Food Center on the first Thursday of each month, too. Have you tried our “one-stop-shop” way of signing up to get involved? Keep reading for the link and give it a try – action beats desperation, any day! Volunteer Signup Sheet As our outreach and community activities heat up with the summer and the campaign season, we are using a convenient tool for signing up. This link below takes you to a spreadsheet where you can learn about all of our events and sign up for those you’d like to help with. The tabs at the bottom are by month; click on JULY if you’d like to see what we have going that month, for example. Each sheet then presents all of the events for that month, from serving dinner at the Flagstaff Family Food Center, to tabling at one of our summer festivals, to talking to voters at the Sunday markets. Put your name and contact information into the sheet where you’d like to help; no need to email or call or click Submit, because the sheet will be updated and your information will be visible to the organizer as soon as you sign up. Thanks for being part of the fun and the great work we are doing this election year!Volunteer Events and SignupCalendar of Events To share an upcoming event in our bi-monthly newsletter or the monthly events calendar on our website, please email us the details by Friday prior to each newsletter. Fight for Democracy. Protect our Freedoms. Support the 2024 Election. Become a monthly donor today. Donate Paid for by the Coconino County Democratic Party. Donations are political contributions and not tax-deductible.Copyright © 2024 Coconino County Democratic Party, All rights reserved. |
NEWS FROM THE COCONINO DEMOCRATIC PARTY July 3, 2024
Posted in Action Alerts and tagged 2024 elections, Arizona House of Representatives, Arizona Legislature, CEBV, Contact your elected officials.