Democrats of Oro Valley | Newsletter

Democrats of Oro Valley | Newsletter

The AZ Independent Redistricting Committee will be voting to choose AZ’s mapping consultant at tomorrow’s meeting.
Click here for the agenda
You can watch the proceedings here:
5/4/21 at 9 am
You can comment during the meeting here:
Comment form opens on 5/4/21 at 9 am
Republicans had many comments at the last meeting.:
Public Comments 4/27/21
Below are the three firms up for consideration:
HaystaqDNA, was the mapping consultant in 2011 that drew AZ’s current congressional and legislative districts. HaystaqDNA CEO, Ken Strasma, was the founder and president of Strategic Telemetry which worked for Barack Obama’s campaign, specialized in microtargeting for Democratic campaigns and had little experience in redistricting.
Taylor English Decisions, LLC, is an Atlanta-based firm that specializes in government strategy, economic development and election and campaign compliance. In addition to questioning the firm’s lack of experience in redistricting work, critics note that CEO Earl Ehrhart is a former Republican lawmaker from Georgia. He’s also the former national chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council which has a history of drafting conservative and pro-corporate model legislation that GOP lawmakers sponsor.
Timmons Group is an engineering firm headquartered in Richmond, VA. Opposition to the Timmons Group revolves around its partnership with National Demographics Corporation, which served as the mapping consultant for Arizona’s first redistricting commission in 2001, and the company’s president, Doug Johnson, who has Republican ties. The U.S. Department of Justice rejected the legislative map that Arizona’s first redistricting commission drew with NDC’s help in 2001, saying the map did include enough districts that gave minority voters the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice.

Protect Cherrybell | Request for Testimonials

Protect Cherrybell:
Request for Testimonials

The Situation: Tucson’s lone postal processing center, Cherrybell, was threatened with closure in 2011. However, since then the Tucson and Southern Arizona community has fought back. Consumers, workers and unions, business owners, seniors, veterans groups, elected officials, and many others spoke out to defend Cherrybell. Timely mail and package delivery is critical for the delivery of medicines, ballots, business services, and more. The loss of Cherrybell would further delay first-class deliveries, inhibit our region’s economic growth, and continue the inefficient process of having local mail processed through Phoenix.  

Facing strong community opposition, the U.S. Postal Service removed some services from Cherrybell but backed off from its plans for full closure, and Cherrybell continues to serve our community today.

However, recent announcements from the U.S. Postal Service have raised fresh concerns that the new Postmaster General may move forward on plans to close Cherrybell for good. Therefore, it is time for the Tucson and Southern Arizona community, a community even larger, more diverse, and geographically widespread since 2011, to speak out again.

Our Request: Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, Tucson City Councilmember Richard Fimbres, and other community leaders are organizing again to protect Cherrybell, and we need your help. Part of our strategy is to make absolutely clear to the U.S. Postal Service how critical Cherrybell is to our region’s economy, health and wellness, and quality of life. So we are asking you to please tell us what Cherrybell means to you, your business, your family, our community and/or our region.

Click here: https://docs.tucsonaz.gov/Forms/Protect-Cherrybell-Request-for-Testimonials

Democrats Of Oro Valley urge opposition to SB1041

The Democrats of Oro Valley
We are urging you to OPPOSE SB1041 (Bill Title: STOs; aggregate cap increase). This bill would increase non-public school tax credits by 400% (from $5 million to $20 million) over the next three years and then would continue to increase by 2% growth or inflation. This gift to private and charter schools and their corporate masters would unnecessarily deplete AZ’s general fund and continue to defund public schools.
Senate Finance Committee Members
Vince Leach, AZ senator district 11 is the vice chairman of the finance committee.
Contacts AZ Senate
Contacts AZ House of Representatives

If you are signed up for RTS, please use your Request to Speak before noon Tuesday to be sure you’re concerns are heard.
Sign in to Request to Speak
Here is a link if you would like RTS training from Civic Engagement Beyond Voting: Training

Follow us on “demsov.org” or at the Democrats of Oro Valley facebook page.
LD11 Update – August 2019

LD11 Update – August 2019

From Steve Witthoeft, LD11 Chair

LD11 has been working with Field Team 6 to register voters in Tucson and the surrounding area. We have held two 2 day events, the latest being on July 22 and July 23. Gil Wier from our Voter Registration and Contact Issue Action Committee coordinated the events and he reports that a total of 234 forms for voters have been submitted to the Pima County Recorders Office.

We are forming a new Issue Action Committee in LD11 on Healthcare. To kick off the committee, we had Dr. Randy Friese speak at our June meeting. There was great response and we had several people sign up to be on the new committee. At our July meeting Greer Warren is giving a talk on AZ Civics 101. We have encouraged PC’s to bring younger people to learn about how AZ government works.

We are planning our first LD11 and clubs Social Hour on August 1 right after the debates. The event will be at the Overlook restaurant at the Oro Valley Community center. This is a great way for PC’s and members of our eight district democratic clubs to meet and mingle and share thoughts on how to best turn out Democratic voters in our district. We plan to have another one in a few months for our Pinal County PC’s in Maricopa or Casa Grande.

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