ANNOUNCEMENTS—Helen, of Indivisible and Strong, gave a preview of the guest speakers scheduled for her group (Including Tricia Sauer, AZ Statewide organizer for Indivisible), which meets next on Jan. 23 at 6 PM at St. Francis in the Foothills. Member Brian Radford announced that he is gathering signatures to be on the ballot for Pima County Board of Supervisors to run for the seat held previously by Ally Miller in District 1. A representative of the Elizabeth Warren campaign announced a “Barnstorming Event” to take place at Sun City (Rancho Vistoso) Activity Center at noon. 1495 E. Rancho Vistoso Blvd. Ralph and Rachel noted the need for Precinct Committee members. Misty, who developed our website, urged members to sign up there: www.indivisibletucson.org GUEST SPEAKER—Bill Mundell spoke to members about his campaign as a candidate for Corporation Commission.As part of his presentation, he gave an overview of the history of the commission and noted that since 1912, AZ has had the benefit of a “progressive” state constitution that included theCorporation Commission as “a fourth branch of government” with its members elected rather than appointed.In recent decades, the utilitiesin AZ have inserted themselves into politics and worked hard to get Republicans exclusivelyelected to the commission.By funneling literally millions of dollars into campaigns to defeat Democratic candidates whom they view as unfriendly to the utilities’ positions regarding climate change, water sustainability, unjust rate increases, etc., the Corporation Commission has become an arm of the Republican governor and Republican dominated legislature.Such a powerful entity as a public utility funding political campaigns means that ANY of the concerns of many voters—not just those related to the issue of utility rates (such as funding for Education )—are going to be ignored in favor of the Republican agenda.Mr. Mundell noted that there are three spots open this year, and Democrats have the opportunity to win the majority. Since he is running as a Clean Elections Candidate, he will need to raise $1,800.00 to qualify for Public Financing.Concurrently he is also collecting the 10,000 signatures he will need to have his name on the ballot. You can sign his petition or make a $5.00 donation online by going to the Arizona secretary of state website (https://apps.azsos.gov/equal/). ELECTIONS FOR CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR OF ITAA—the nominees were Dana Offerman for Chair and Margo Nicols for Vice Chair.Jan Counts oversaw the voting, and both of these nominees were elected by acclamation. REPORTSMonthly Minutes FIELD TEAM 6—Karen reported that her group had registered 42 progressives at the 4th Avenue Street Fair.There will be another College drive on January 16 and 17, at UA and PCC.Karen reminded members that March 17 is the deadline for voters who want to participate in the Presidential Preference Primary and vote for a Democrat.There is no PPP for the Republicans this year. STATE TEAM—The new Arizona legislative session starts Monday.Eileen urged members to use the Request to Speak (RTS) process and suggested members subscribe to the Civic Engagement: Beyond Voting newsletter.The RTS process allows voters to weigh in on bills as they pass through committee.There is tremendous value in doing this, and the feedback is used both by Democratic lawmakers as support from constituents, AND ALSO by Republican Lawmakers to gauge whether a bill is too controversial to let it go to the floor for a vote.Eileen reminded members that using the RTS is something they can do “in their bathrobes at home.”This process was very successful during the last legislative session by blocking numerous voter suppression bills. https://us15.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c060f172658106bd0be87b72b&id=eb5ea9b499 Suzanne gave an overview of the Drop In Sessions for Letters to the Editor (LTEs), and the next one is scheduled for January 26 at Beyond Bread on Ina Road 9:30 AM. FEDERAL TEAM—members are urged to continue with the postcard campaign aimed at our senators using the message “no one is above the law.”These are addresses members can use: Martha McSally 404 Russell Senate OFB Ste.103, Washington, DC 20510 Kyrsten Sinema 317 Hart Senate OFB, Washington, DC 20510 or20 E. Ochoa St. Tucson, AZ 85701 MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE—Beth and Dana initiated a discussion of how to approach Membership Retention in our organization. Beth presented the situation in a humorous way, saying that based on analysis of the attendance sheet, there are some people who come only once or sporadically, and that the Steering Committee is addressing ways of following up with those people.Then she elicited laughter when she said that basically our membership could be classified as “A, B or C”, and that the A group were the people working on the ground in ways that went beyond mere meeting attendance.The B group had steady attendance, but really needed to step up their participation and join a team.As always, there was consensus among those active on teams that while the work was real, the personal satisfaction and just plain FUN was also part of the job of grassroots activism. Dana also initiated a discussion about bringing in new members, which she suggested meant “connecting on values” with people.Talk with people about issues that are important to them.Locate common ground, and engage with people there. INDIVISIBLE NATIONAL ISSUES—The conversation continues at the national level about whether Indivisible will push for an early endorsement of a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President.ITAA has expressed strong opposition to this. Our next meeting will be Monday Feb 3, at 3:30 at the Oro Valley Library.
