OTER THE. No. 7 March Volume 62

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1 THE OTER LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF GREATER TUCSON Volume 62 No. 7 3 Tuesday, 9:30-11:30am Eastside Unit Ward 2 Office 7575 E. Speedway Call Judy: Wednesday, 4pm LWVGT Board Meeting LWVGT Office 5 Thursday, 11:30am Northwest Unit Michangelo's Call Barbara: Friday, 11:30am Green Valley Unit La Posada Madera Room Call Sue: Saturday, 9:30am Public Meeting Sustainability Main Library, Tucson 26 Saturday LWVAZ Board Meeting Tempe, AZ 1 Wednesday, 4pm LWVGT Board Meeting LWVGT Office 2 Thursday, 11:30am Northwest Unit Michangelo's Call Barbara: Tuesday, 9:30-11:30am Eastside Unit Ward 2 Office 7575 E. Speedway Call Judy: Friday, 11:30am Green Valley Unit La Posada Madera Room Call Sue: Friday LWVGT Annual Meeting Arizona Inn Friday-Sunday LWVAZ Annual Convention Tucson GENERAL MEETING OPEN TO THE PUBLIC SATURDAY, MARCH 21, :30 am - Refreshments 10 am-noon Program Meeting Joel Valdez Main Library 101 N Stone Ave., Tucson (Free parking in the Library Underground Garage with entrance off Alameda) Sustainability is a term we hear more and more these days in connection with our environment or use of natural resources. Often, because the word is used so broadly and loosely, it's likely many of us are thinking of different things when we hear it: energy, urban and land use planning, neighborhoods, transportation, education, water, climate change, alien species, green building, air quality, the economy, conservation, waste reduction, smart growth, food, environmental health and so on. Frequent use confuses our understanding even more, and does little to show us what it is and how it works. Many people use the word in connection with creating, maintaining and enhancing the quality of life in our community. Used in that way, we recognize the need for a longterm commitment to economic, social, and environmental planning for the future, and to providing the means for ensuring future generations have access to the important resources that keep our community livable and thriving. Our March Monthly Meeting is designed to introduce and explore the main concepts underlying sustainability, some of the major players making sustainability happen in the Greater Tucson area, the implications of sustainability activities to our community, and some things individual citizens can do to help foster sustainability. The presentation will be set up similar to that of a political forum: each speaker will make a brief opening statement, the moderator and audience will ask questions for about minutes, and the speakers will finish by making a closing statement. are expected to be Our five panelists, Director, Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development (City), Sustainability M a n a g e r, C o u n t y Administrator's Office (County), Su stainability Director, Associated Students of the University of Arizona (University), Chair, Campus Sustainability Program, U of A (University), Government Liaison, Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association (SAHBA) While our intention at this meeting is first to introduce some general information on sustainability (the what, where, when), our primary interest is in examining the subject in a deeper, more analytical, strategic, and broad-scale Continued on Page 2

2 Iwrite this with mixed emotions. The state of our economy is taking its toll on so many people by way of declining business revenues, job losses and government budget deficits. Our leaders in government are faced with some very difficult decisions regarding how to balance budgets. On a federal level, leaders have debated the contents of a stimulus package, while our state budget appears to be extremely frightening. The worst aspects of our state budget are cuts relating to education, leaving our already stressed education system in an even worse situation. School districts are grappling with how to manage. Locally, our city and county leaders are considering targeted stimulus strategies. It is my hope that they take extra care to consider the well-being of our children and elderly. Our National League of Women Voters is also feeling the effects of the recent economic downturn and is making some changes to address the financial impact, including the suspension of the paper and digital versions of The National Voter and holding a virtual Council in June 2009 rather than an in-person meeting in Washington D.C. More information about these actions can be found further in this issue. Continued from cover page SUSTAINABILITY: WHAT IS IT, HOW DOES IT WORK? way (by asking how and why.) This should provide a clearer view of what underlies the concept and content of sustainability, and with it, a clearer and deeper understanding of where our real interests and involvements can be found. For example, we might visit the concept of sustainability itself, other ways of building structures in the desert (rammed earth, adobe, straw bale), the carrying capacity of the land and water, integration of building development into county greenspace provisions, various energy and transportation concerns or urban infill. We hope the audience will play a large part in doing this by directing their own questions to panel participants. What we learn will be what you want to know. On a good note, LWVUS has announced and distributed in Leader's Update, February 5, 2009, its legislative priorities for 2009, with Global Climate Change and Health Care at the top of the list. Tier two priorities are Election Reform and DC Voting Rights which will be acted upon if significant success is possible. Tier three issues could be subject for LWVUS action only if good opportunities present themselves, and there is no pressing action on top priority and tier two issues. Tier Three issues are Campaign Finance Reform; CEDAW (the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women); Civil Liberties; Ethics; and Redistricting. The LWVUS prioritizes legislative issues for advocacy in order to focus limited resources on those issues where it is considered the League can have a meaningful impact and there is member interest and opportunity for progress. In conjunction with LWVUS Health Care priority, a state committee is organizing, and will be assigning a research project to every league. This is a great opportunity for any of our local members to get involved. If you are interested in affecting the League's position on healthcare, please contact me at noellrodriguez@yahoo.com. On another happy note, we are fortunate to have so many new members getting involved with committees and accepting leadership positions. I am happy to report that Maxine Goodman has agreed to chair our media/public relations committee. Please welcome her to this position. ~Noell Rodriguez, LWVGT President The LWVGT VOTER is published monthly August through April, with a combined December/January issue. Maria Moreno, Nuvo Print & Design, is the designer. For information contact VOTER Editor, Betty Bengtson at bgbengtson@earthlink.net or Come join us for this stimulating and educational event!

3 UPDATE The League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson has continued its work in Kenya with the Good Governance/Global Democracy project. Thanks to many of you who have bought our bo okm arks, notecards, and handcrafted jewelry, we have been able to make contributions to two projects. A donation of $250 was given to the Simaho Clinic in Garissa, Northeast Province, Kenya to expand their pharmacy. Another $250 donation was given to Bishara Abdulaziz in Mombasa, Coastal Province, Kenya, to develop and print a brochure written in Swahili to detail women's rights as Kenyan citizens. Bishara hopes the paper will inspire more women to become involved in community projects. Carol and Neil West visited our Kenyan friends and presented these gifts in January The clinic in Garissa aims to uplift the health status of pastoralist women and children and provides maternal health care, wellness education, and counseling. It encourages family planning and discourages female circumcision. In addition to health care, counseling, and outreach, the clinic offers a UNICEF sponsored tailoring project. Single mothers and girls who don't go to school receive 6 months training after which they receive a certificate of completion to help them get a job. The clinic has an urgent need to acquire a back-up power generator to keep medicines and polio, smallpox, tetanus, measles, etc vaccines potent during the many power outages in Garissa. Zahara Ali Shurie, Fatuma Mohamud Mohamed, and Fatuma Omar Buno who visited Tucson are very much involved in these projects in Garissa. They said being organized and working together is what makes these projects happen. The women thought their visit to the U.S. was beneficial; it helped them realize the possibilities for themselves. Buno noted that her father saw to it that she received an education. A lack of learning is limiting, Buno said. She works to see that girls in Garissa are educated. We also visited Bishara Abdulaziz in Mombasa and learned about her work as the first female procurement chair of her Member of Parliament's constituency development fund. Bishara makes field visits, sees that citizens are informed about public wor ks projects, and stresses accountability. MP Najib Balala is complimentary of Bishara's voluntary efforts. Bishara's time in the U.S. increased her self confidence and has helped her to become a lobbyist for local issues. She is a frequent guest speaker at conferences to empower women. Bishara is learning to drive a car, and she is taking computer classes so that she can purchase a home computer. This will be a big help with her work. ~Carol W. West, LWVGT Kenya Project Committee At Simaho Clinic, Garissa Carol and Neil with Bishara Abdul- Aziz and her MP Hajib Balala in Mombasa

4 LEGISLATIVE REPORT As of February 9, there were 1098 bills filed. The billfiling deadline for the Senate was Feb. 2 and Feb. 9 for the House. There are at least 75 technical bills to be used as striker bills for later shenanigans. There are around 35 resolutions filed to go on the 2010 ballot. Hopefully most of these will never see the light of day. Sen. Pearce (R-18) leads the pack with 65 bills and Sen. Paton (R-30) has 60. The most important one for the League is SCR 1025 Public Financed Elections; Prohibition: No tax payer money may fund political candidates. Sponsor: Sen. Paton, Pierce, Allen, Gorman, Nelson. This will take away the funding for Clean Elections. OPPOSE. Merit Selection of Judges: HCR2019 and SCR 1020 to amend the Constitution to require Senate confirmation for judges every four years. SCR 1040 increases population from 250,000 to 750,000 for election of judges. OPPOSE. H2249 City Elections, nonpartisan primaries, districts: Cities and towns prohibited from elections on candidates if there is indication of the source of candidacy or for support. Sponsor: Paton, Antenori. This would affect Tucson as we have partisan elections for city council/mayor. SCR 1009 Voter protection, temporary budget suspension: Legislature can use voter protected funds if budget is in deficit. Sponsor: Pearce. This would sweep money from funds that were voted on to be used for certain programs. We thought these were protected but they did it last year and will again. OPPOSE. One good bill which will probably never get out of the drawer is SCR 1022 Equal rights Amendment which asks for our state to ratify this. Sponsor: Burton Cahill, Ableser, Lopes. SUPPORT. How about phasing out all income tax by 2015? Exempt personal property tax up to $10 million? Exempt ALL business personal property by 2014? Who's going to pay the bills? Maybe they will shut down the government and throw away the key. How to use ALIS to read and track bills. There are many other bills on environment, social policy, education and other issues that we cannot fit in the Voter. You can reach and track any of these on the Legislature website, In the middle of the front page, click on ALIS tracking (blue tab), then Click to Track. This takes you to a page where you log in to the League page with user name LWVAZ and password Lila (case sensitive). You will see Progress Alerts and these tell you which bill is being heard in which committee on which date. To see all of the bills, click on top of page on Personal Progress which takes you to a page where they are all listed by issues. Go in to one of these and you can see the progress on any bill we are tracking, what committee it is in, what action taken, etc. Be sure you have a big bottle of aspirin when you start on these. Please contact your legislators immediately when you receive Action Alerts during session. Legislative Priorities from LWVUS: The National League Board just announced that Global Climate Change and Health Care will be the top legislative priorities for this year. Top priority issues are ones on which major congressional action is expected and on which the LWVUS will seek to be an active player. Tier Two Priorities are Election Reform and DC Voting Rights. These will be acted upon if significant success is possible. Tier Three Priorities are Campaign Finance Reform, CEDAW (the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), Civil Liberties, Ethics, and Redistricting. The LWVUS prioritizes legislative issues for advocacy in order to focus limited resources on those issues where it is considered the League can have a meaningful impact and where there is member interest and opportunity for progress. ~Gini McGirr, Government Chair The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

5 UNIT MEETINGS IN MARCH EASTSIDE UNIT Tuesday, March 3 9:30-11:30am rd The Eastside Unit will meet on Tuesday, March 3 at the Ward 2 Council Office, 7575 E. Speedway, at 9:30 am to update our knowledge of LWVUS Health Care history and positions. These two aspects as well as information on the just extended State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the LWVUS Health Care Education Task Force will each be covered by unit members. This two-hour-long discussion group encourages all those interested in the announced topic to attend th The Tuesday, April 7 Eastside Unit meeting at the above location and time will be led by Dave Seifert, Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, recapping and st building on the March 21 General Meeting on Sustainability. The various presentations and concerns expressed at that all-membership/open gathering, according to Dave, will help the committee and the membership in determining possible future directions of our League's study and action. For further details of these meetings, please call Judy at NORTHWEST UNIT GREEN VALLEY UNIT Thursday, March 5 11:30am The Northwest Unit will meet at Michangelo's Ristorante (corner of Magee and Oracle) at 11:30am for lunch. Call Barbara at for more information. Friday, March 13 11:30am The Green Valley unit of the LWVGT will meet on Friday, March 13 in the Madera Room of the La Vista building on the La Posada campus at 11:30 a.m. The speaker will be announced. As usual bring a sack lunch or order a prepared sandwich for $5 by calling Ermaline Hannum, by Wednesday, March 11. For questions call Sue Girardeau, BELT-TIGHTENING AT NATIONAL LEAGUE: Publication of Suspended The National Voter In the electronic Leaders' Update on February 5, 2009 Mary Wilson, National League President, announced some measures that the LWVUS Board approved at its February meeting to address the impact of current economic difficulties. She prefaced the announcements by saying that although we are having to tighten our belts to accommodate a downturn in financial support and investment losses, the League is more fortunate than other nonprofit organizations. Our highly visible and very successful work during the 2008 election season resulted in fairly good receipts of revenue during two of the last three months of the fourth quarter of Two major steps will be taken. First, in consultation with State League presidents, the LWVUS decided to hold a virtual Council in June 2009 rather than an in-person meeting. While there are drawbacks to this, it will allow the League to explore use of new technologies and to expand members' participation in the Council meeting. More details will be forthcoming about how to participate in the virtual Council. Second, the Board voted to suspend both paper and digital publication of The National Voter until the League's finances are healthier. The National League will explore new methods of communication with members during this time. In the meantime, members are encouraged to sign up for LWVUS electronic newsletters and updates. Go to the League's website at to sign up. ~Betty Bengtson, VOTER Editor

6 The World Has Changed by Alice Walker Written for 1/20/09 The World Has Changed: Wake up & smell The possibility. The world Has changed: It did not Change Your prayers Your faith Your determination To Believe In liberation & Kindness; Your Dancing Through the years That Had No Beat. The world has changed: It did not Change Your Numbers Your Fierce Love Of self & Cosmos It did not Change Your Strength. The world has Changed: Wake up! Give yourself IN MEMORIAM: HERMAN MAASS, League members were saddened to learn of the death of Herman Maass on January 4th. Herman was a long time League member and volunteer. He and his wife, Ella, handled the mailing of the LWVGT Voter for at least 12 years and remained strong supporters of the League and its work. Herman and Ella had just made a generous unrestricted gift to the Greater Tucson League before the holidays for which we are most grateful. Our deepest sympathies go to Ella, their son and daughter and other family members. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ARIZONA CONVENTION MAY The Greater Tucson League will host the League state convention in Tucson on May 29-31, at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites, 5151 E. Grant Road. Convention is the time to elect new officers, adopt the program and budget and conduct other business. Confirmed speakers are Diana Hemetewa, US Attorney for AZ (first female Native American US attorney); Elaine Wiant, LWVUS liaison for AZ; David Fitz' Fitzsimmons, AZ Daily Star Editorial Cartoonist. Invited, but not-yetconfirmed speakers are Gov. Jan Brewer, Rep. Raul Grijalva and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. A hospitality room will be set up for Friday and Saturday nights for out of town members to get acquainted with Tucson members. Donations of wine, soda and finger foods will be needed. A Dine-A-Round dinner is planned for Friday night. Tucson members will be needed to take members to different restaurants by car, so consider volunteering for this. Please mark your calendar for these dates. If you cannot attend the meetings, please plan to be at the luncheon and dinner and bring your spouse and friends. We need to have a large attendance to keep the hotel expenses down.

7 BOARD BITS th Reports presented at the February 4 LWVGT Board Meeting showed a healthy operating budget balance and a th current membership of 265. Aspects of the ANNUAL MEETING set for Friday, April 24 at the Arizona Inn were covered, including suggestions for the main speaker, the separate mailing of the required Call to Annual Meeting publication, and anticipated reports from Budget and Nominations Committees. The board accepted the report of the Jan. 17th general meeting on Program Planning which voted to retain all present state and local positions and to add a new local one on Charter Schools. Approval of this report will also be necessary at the Annual Meeting. Ongoing activities of Natural Resources, Voter Service, and Citizen Directory Committees remain on track as are those of the committee planning our hosting of the LWVAZ Convention in Tucson on May ~Judy Fischer, LWVGT Secretary LWVGT ANNUAL MEETING ON APRIL 24 SAVE THE DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR! The Greater Tucson League will hold its Annual Meeting on Friday, April 24, 2009 from 10:30am to 1:30pm at the Arizona Inn. Details still are being finalized, including the name of the luncheon speaker. The business meeting preceding lunch will include election of new officers and Board members and approval of the recommended budget and program. The Call for the Annual Meeting will be sent out to all members in March. THE OTER ARE YOU RECEIVING YOUR VOTER NEWSLETTER FROM LWVGT? The Voter is published and distributed on the last Tuesday of each month from August through April. Paper copies are mailed to members without and to those who have requested paper copies. All other members receive an message from the LWVGT letting them know that The Voter is available on the website at and how to access it. If you are having difficulty receiving your printed or digital Voter, or know of another member who is having difficulty, please contact Betty Bengtson, Voter Editor, at bgbengtson@earthlink.net or OFF BOARD COMMITTEE CHAIRS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Noell Rodriguez Virginia Burkel Sue Girardeau Victor Bowleg Judy Fischer Phylis Carnahan Phylllis Wassenberg President st 1 VP (Membership) nd 2 VP (Program) 3rd VP (Voter Service) Secretary Co-Treasurer Co-Treasurer ELECTED DIRECTORS Betty Bengtson Voter Editor Patricia Frannea Hospitality Gini McGirr At-Large (Government & Immigration) Judy Ilg At-Large (Action) Sharon Chamberlin At-Large Freda Johnson Sally Davenport Betsy Zukoski Sue DeArmond [To be appointed] Shirley Muney Margaret Molla Shirley Sandelands Dave Seifert Janet Goodhue Sue DeArmond Lu Kembel Jo Coudray Marion Johnson Affordable Housing County Book Communications Citizen Directory Development Forum Coordinator Speakers Bureau Running & Winning Natural Resources ListServ Coordinator Nominating Member Records Mail Crew Coordinator Office Volunteers

8 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF GREATER TUCSON 2424 E Broadway #110 Tucson, AZ Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Tucson, AZ Permit #257 (DATED MATERIAL) MEMBERSHIP FORM LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF GREATER TUCSON July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009 Name: Phone: Address: Zip: Cell: Fax: $60.00/Yr Individual Membership $90.00/Yr Household Membership $30.00/Yr Student Membership Individual dues include local ($24.70), state($9.00), and national ($26.30) memberships. Household dues include local ($37.45), state ($13.50), and national ($39.05) memberships. Student dues include local ($12.35), state ($4.50), and national ($13.15) memberships. $ Contribution (not tax-deductible) $ Education Fund (tax deductible) (Education Fund donations must be made by separate check.) For dues and Non tax-deductible Constribution payments please make checks payable to LWVGT. For Education Fund donations please make separate checks payable to LWVGT Education Fund. Mail all checks to LWVGT, 2424 E. Bradway, Suite 110 Tucson, AZ If you need further information, call (520 )