Indivisible Tucson Action Alliance Zoom Meeting 3:30 p.m. September 14, 2020 ● Sign on and welcome to participants by Dana. Zoom instructions to participants to ask a question in the chat box. ● Introduction of two guest speakers: JoAnna Mendoza, Candidate for LD11 Arizona State Senate and Felipe Perez, Candidate for LD11 Arizona State House. Candidates will give a two- minute introduction of themselves and why they are running for their respective seats. ● JoAnna Mendoza – related her background and why she is running for office. Born and raised in Pinal County and served in two branches of the military, the Navy and Marine Corp. She served in Iraq and Afghanistan. After serving, she worked as a staffer for Congressman Tom O’Halleran. The issues she will focus on if elected include: Education funding, Affordable Healthcare, Climate Change and Responsive/Responsible Government. ● Dr. Felipe Perez – related his background and why he is running for office. Born and raised in Arizona and grew up in poverty. Currently a family medicine physician serving the people of Arizona. Founded and directs an organization to train the next generation of family doctors in Arizona. He is running to help people live a long and healthy life. The issues hewill focus on if elected include: Affordable and Accessible Healthcare and bi-partisan representation in the district. ● QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION 1. Outline your specific legislative priorities once elected; for example, what legislation would you introduce regarding healthcare, the environment and education? JoAnna Mendoza – Address legislation that the Democrats have already drafted and is just sitting. Identify the needs of the community, funding for public education, making sure there are dollars to invest in early childhood education, responsive, responsible, trustworthy government, not serving special interest and affordable healthcare (expanding tele-health, ensuring there are community hospitals and addressing the physician shortage). Felipe Perez – Improve accessibility to healthcare, training, recruiting and retaining family physicians to meet community demands here in Arizona. Work in a bi-partisan manner to accomplish those initiatives. 2. Arizona is expected to have a severe budget shortfall due to Covid and what’s happened to the economy. How will you protect state spending on education, health and other essential services?
Will you support raising taxes or closing tax loopholes?
Felipe Perez – Determine what has come in and what is coming in. What are the priorities we will need to fund? Everything will be put on the table. Make sure the community has a say in the budget. Need transparency from our leaders. He will address short term and long-term issues.
JoAnna Mendoza – Look at where the money is going, modernize the tax code, look at corporate tax rates and tax breaks. Corporations need to pay their fair share. We need a coordinated response to Covid in order to get it under control. There is no standard guideline in place. We cannot get the economy stabilized without controlling the pandemic with safety guidelines for businesses. We need to find additional sources of revenue. 3. Service industry workers are vulnerable often with no healthcare, no job security and they have to go to work.
What would you introduce in the legislature to help the people in these health care and service jobs to address these systemic problems? JoAnna Mendoza – There needs to a coordinated effort to provide workplace protection standards. CDC guidelines are vague and not tailored for smaller businesses. A task force to look at specific industries and what the need of those industries are. Unions are important in protecting employees and can help in providing standardized guidelines for employee protections. Felipe Perez – Pima County had put guidelines in place at the start of the pandemic and the current representatives from LD11 challenged and put a stop to it. Will look at data objectively and support safety. ● QUESTIONS FROM CHAT 1. Is either candidate accepting money from Political Action Funds? The questioner writes letters to the editor and wants to write a letter regarding who is funding Leach, Roberts and Finchem. JoAnna Mendoza – Not all PAC’s are bad. Has received money from Vote Mama (helps women with small children run for office), union organizations throughout Arizona such as the Teamsters and one more which escapes memory right now. Transparency is important and additional information can be found on the website, www.mendoza4arizona.com .
Felipe Perez – Money has been donated by two PAC’s, Sierra Club and Arizona Medical Association. 2. Everything on the table is code for looking at social service programs and safety net programs.
Are there programs that you are not willing to put on the table to balance the budget? Felipe Perez – Will ensure that people with the greatest need are not impacted. Unemployment, social services and healthcare access. Protect the most vulnerable. JoAnna Mendoza – Ensure that safety net programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, section 8 housing and Kids Care. Addressing the corporate tax breaks is what is needed. ● CANDIDATE CLOSING COMMENTS Dr. Felipe Perez – Thank you for the opportunity to address the membership. Running for LD11 State Representative and grew up in Arizona. Running to create change and enable people to live long and healthy lives. Experience as a physician will bring a change in the legislature. JoAnna Mendoza – State of the Race. LD11 has been red for many years, but the Democratic turnout in the primary was historic. That means there is a chance that we can flip LD11. Focusing on Independents, undecided voters and those frustrated with the current administration. Covid-19, wildfires, civil unrest and climate change issues. Call to action to donate and volunteer. ● Karen Harris & Misty Atkins – Voting and Volunteer Opportunities All information on the slide presentation is available on the website: www.ITAA.org . 1. Volunteer Guide Register Voters: www.Nextgenameria.org (Phone Banking & Text Banking) www.fieldteam6.org (Phone Banking & Text Banking) www.Mobilize.us (Mission for Arizona) (Phone Banking & Text Banking) www.iwillvote.com (Check your voting status, and send to friends) www.mobilize.us www.2020.Indivisble.org www.demsov.org - LD 9 Activity sign-up (Postcards, phone calls and letter drop) - Literature Drop – contactless distribution of a flyer to provide information to our neighbors for LD candidates. - LD11 Day of Action – Distribute 10,000 tri-folds to Independent voters with voting information, important dates on the election, why to vote Democrat and comparing Democratic values to what is happening in the country and locally. October 6 all the Democratic clubs throughout LD11 will participate. A call for those interested to indicate their interest in the chat. 2. Research the Candidates ● Find out about the candidates in your precinct. It will also give you information about judges who are running for office. You can also find out about issues in your precinct. The resource for this information is Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. www.cebv.us . ● Special voting notes: Single shot: state house of representative ballot says vote for up to two. However, Perez will have a better chance of winning if you only vote for him and not two candidates. ● www.northsidedems.org has put out a flyer where you can find your precinct, State and local Democratic candidates in the precinct and clues to the various propositions for Pima and Pinal counties. 3. Voting ● Pima and Pinal county recorder websites allow you to update your voter registration, see if you are registered, and sign up for Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL). Those sites also give you information on early voting locations and important dates for the election. www.recorder.pima.gov and www.pinalcountyaz.gov . ● Ballots will be mailed October 7 th and drop boxes will be available October 19 th . ● When you receive your ballot, mail it immediately or put in a drop box. You can also drop it off at a polling place on election day. Remember you do not need to apply postage to the ballot. 4. Verify your ballot ● Both recorders offices have links where you can determine if your ballot has been received and if it has been counted. You can also call the offices if you have made a mistake and would like to correct it. Finally, BREATHE! All of the information provided is available on the website: www.itaa.org . Other volunteer opportunities: Eileen Hollowell – Letters to the Editor or postcards. Member comments on Phone Banking; Mission for Arizona has a new tool where the call only goes through when someone answers the telephone. ● Margo Nichols – Treasurer’s Report - $486.30 dollars remain in the “Distributed Funds” account which is the match sponsored by National Indivisible. These funds are guided by federal elections rules which dictate how those funds can be spent. Because Indivisible is a 501-C4, funds cannot be spent on local or state candidates or coordinate with a political party for a federal candidate. Monies have been spent on purchasing ITAA post cards and postage. Funds have also been spent on renewing the Zoom contract for the year as well as the domain name and the website. - $123.00 remains in petty cash left over from passing the hat and checks received. There are no restrictions on how to use those funds. Because there are no restrictions on these funds local candidates can receive support and coordination can be done with the Democratic party. A donation was also made to the Bail Fund. - If you would like to contribute in the future, your donation should be given directly to Margo or Dana to eliminate the donation being restricted if done through Act Blue. ● Dana Offerman - Reflected on a Charles Blow op-ed in the New York times and a quote from an Edmund Burke book. - Postcards with postage purchased by ITAA will be donated to White Mountain Indivisible who is sending them to Native Americans. ● Misty Atkins- 4,000 post cards have been written and mailed by ITAA members. The post card campaign has wrapped up and the next push will be for the literature drop. Information will be provided soon. Also, please consider donating to Oregon and California as the wildfires are devastating those communities. Information can be found on the ITAA website. The next meeting will be Monday, October 5th at 3:30 via Zoom. The guest speaker will be Tom O’Halleran, US Representative in Congress from District 1 who is running for re-election. Ann Kirkpatrick, US Representative in Congress from District 2 who is also running for re-election has been contacted to determine if she would also like to speak to the group.
