League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson

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1 League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r, Vo l u m e 6 7 N o. 3 In This Issue 1-2 Nov/Dec Calendar 1 November Program Meeting 2 President s Column 2 Recap - Climate Conference 3 Membership Committee 4 New State Legislative Committee 4 Running & Winning 5 Voter Service Committee 5 Dorothy Riley Hosts Kazakstan Visitor 6 Government Committee 7 December Brunch Nov/Dec Calendar Nov. 5, 1912 ARIZONA GAVE WOMEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE Nov. 5, Tuesday, 9:30 to 11:30 am Eastside Unit Program - Affordable Health Care Act Presenter Roberta Latham Ward 2 Council Office, 7575 E. Speedway Call Carol West: Nov. 5, Tuesday, Tucson All-Mail General Election Ballots must be mailed by October 31. Nov. 6, Wednesday, 1:30 pm LWVGT Board Meeting 2424 E. Broadway, Suite 110, Nov. 8, Friday, 11:30 am Green Valley Unit Program Global Warming Presenter Carol West Madera Room, 3rd floor, La Vista Building, La Posada Sack lunch or order prepared sandwich for $7.50 from Ermaline: (Continue page 2) What s Happening in the 2014 Arizona Legislature? General Meeting: Saturday, November 16, 2013 Joel D. Valdez Main Library 101 N. Stone Ave Coffee 9:30 am. Program 10:00 to 11:30 am November is election month, but not for Arizona Legislators. Already elected officials will be starting the second session of the 51st Legislature in January. At the November General Meeting, we will have two Legislators look ahead and tell us what they anticipate happening with three of the League s important issues: voting, education, and health. Gini McGirr will explain how the LWVGT handles its lobbying activities. Speakers are: Senator Steve Farley, from Legislative District 9 served in the House of Representative for three terms and was elected to the Senate last year. Representative Ethan Orr, Legislative District 9, is serving his first term in the Arizona Legislature. Gini McGirr, Government Chair, LWVGT, will review our lobbying efforts last year. We hope that our two invited speakers will suggest ways the League might improve our communications with all elected officials in the Arizona Legislature. Please join us to not only find out what might be happening at the Capitol in 2014, but also to give us your ideas about how we can lobby more effectively. Marion Pickens, 2nd Vice President program chair 1

2 Nov / Dec Calendar Nov. 14, Thursday, 10 am to 12 noon Saddle- Brooke Unit Program Medical, Legal & Safety Services of TRIAD H0A #1, Activity Center Call Linda: Nov. 16, Saturday, 9:30 to 11:30 am General Meeting Program Responses to LWVAZ Issues Speakers Steve Farley, Ethan Orr, and Gini McGirr Joel Valdez Main Library, 101 North Stone Avenue Nov. 19, Tuesday, 2 pm Northwest Unit Program Genetically Modified Foods (GMO s) Speaker Agronomist & UA Professor Mike Ottman Mountain Vista Fire Dept, 1175 W. McGee Rd. Call Judy Moll Nov. 20, Wednesday, 2:00 to 4:00 pm LWVGT Book Club A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre League Office 2424 E. Broadway, Suite 110 Phone Nov. 21, Thursday, 11:30 am New Midtown Unit Widening Gap between Rich and Poor, Brown Bag Lunch,Drinks provided, home of Wendell & Rosemary Niemann, 1820 N. Norton Ave. Call Sue DeArmond, or Freda Johnson, Dec. 3, Tuesday, 11:30 am Eastside Unit Holiday Luncheon at Old Pueblo Grill 60 N. Alvernon RSVP to Carol West: or cwwtucson@comcast.net Dec. 7, Saturday, 9:30 am Holiday Fundraising Brunch to Aid Local, National, and Operations Budgets Carol West s home at 9030 E. Waverly St. RSVP to League Office: or lwvgt@aol.com Dec. 10, Tuesday, 10:30 am SaddleBrooke Unit Holiday Coffee home of Connie Martin, S. Sandcrest Drive Dec. 10, Tuesday, 11:00 am Northwest Unit Potluck Planning Meeting home of Janis Lee 2552 N. Overton Ridge Place, or call Judy Moll, Dec. 13, Friday, 11:30 am Green Valley Unit Program pending: Madera Room, La Posada Bring sack lunch or order sandwich Dec. 19, Thursday, 11:30 am Mid-Town Unit Program Poverty using resources learned At Nov. 21st unit meeting Physicians for Social Responsibility along with the League of Women Voters and other co-sponsors, held a climate conference in Tucson in September. The goal was to build innovative community organizing strategies for climate change adaptation. Speakers discussed aspects of climate change in the Southwest that require preparing Arizona and Sonoran communities for certain health risks due to hotter temperatures, greater risk of fires, prolonged loss of electrical power, and a potential increase in communicable diseases. Workshops provided each participant with direction in moving from knowledge to action through topics ranging from health services that PRESIDENT S COLUMN The League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson board and committees are off to a fast start working on goals that were defined during our summer retreat. The LWVGT wants to be a greater presence in the community, increase lobbying at the state legislature, increase membership, and develop a mentoring Phylis Carnahan, President program for members. As part of a National League program to increase voter registration, the LWVGT Voter Service Committee registered 47 people on September 24. In addition, the Voter Service Committee organized a candidates forum for the Tucson city council election. LWVGT was one of the sponsors of the recent Climate Conference held in September. Eleven members represented the League at that event. We are organizing a Legislative Committee to track bills and quickly inform members when we need help in contacting legislators about issues we follow closely. The League held a new membership orientation breakfast in October to introduce new members to some of our activities and to encourage their participation. The Northwest and SaddleBrooke Units have both increased membership. The new Mid-Town Unit has planned some very thought-provoking meetings. We hope to start a mentoring program soon for members to move into League leadership positions. We can always use your help. Phylis Carnahan, President Recap: Climate Smart Southwest: Ready or Hot? include cross cultural needs, food security, getting involved in one s neighborhood, and greater awareness and education. Specific individual actions can be taken to help decrease ambient temperature such as planting trees, conserving water, growing and eating food that comes from sustainable sources, walking and bicycling more for health as well as energy conservation, and learning which people in our own neighborhoods are at risk due to physical or social isolation if power is out. A Ready or Hot? plan to produce a manual that offers a replicable model for engaging communities in climate adaptation throughout the nation will be generated as a result of this conference. Mary Gresham 2

3 From the Membership Chair... Welcome to new SaddleBrooke member, Sheryl Kaplan, and Northwest members Gail Bouffard, Judy Bowser, and Wendy Gamble. What s the significance of 10, 15, 20, 35 and 45 in 2013? Powerball numbers? Clearly, the League is the holder of a winning card! Those numbers represent the continuous years of support and service contributed by the following Leaguers: Lu Kembel! Phyllis Koffler! Gemma Lemman! Gini and Gordon McGirr! Nancy Mielinis! Carol Parks! Mary Price! Judy Redekop! Helen Schaefer! and Nickolas Waser! Changes Coming - On Line Directory How do we acknowledge the request of some while at the same time acknowledge the concerns of others? With respect and caution! The League is respectfully and cautiously moving forward with placing a limited Membership Directory online. The whys of doing this are many. An online directory can be immediately updated to reflect new members and changes in contact information enabling members only to have an accurate and current listing. Unless you opt-out, a full printed directory will be mailed in September The objective is to post a password-protected, three field directory (name, and telephone number) in pdf file form (not printable). This method will protect the privacy and honor the security preferences of members. This file will be behind a Members Link on the Members Only League Website and require a pdf file access password. While the Directory file may be copied to your computer, the file password will still be required to access the information. The Directory will list each member s name. In addition to name, you have the option of selecting what other information you would like to appear. Please lwvgtwebmem@cox.net with the following information in the Subject: field as soon as possible, no later than December 6, Yes, and telephone Yes, Yes, telephone number Name only If choose not to receive the full printed Membership Directory in September 2014, please place opt-out in the body of your . Thaïs Rutledge Young 275 LWVGT LWVGT MEMBERSHIP AUG-SEP SEP-OCT 2013 Membership AUG-SEP SEP-OCT 3

4 State Legislative Committee The Tucson League is setting up a committee that will track certain State Senate and House Bills. Tracking bills would be done on members home computers. Members would follow a specified bill and watch as the wording changes if amendments are added. They would follow the bill through the different committee hearings, the Committee of the Whole and if the bill passes and goes to the opposite chamber. All League members would be informed when a bill of interest is being debated before it is voted on. The League only tracks bills that we have positions on (including those that we could oppose because of one of our positions). Gini McGirr is the trainer on following a bill. New committee members would learn how to use the LWVAZ ALIS page to find the different bills and see what happens to them as they pass thorough committees. New members would send Gini a report on different bills, starting with just one bill until you are comfortable with this process. We need four members to track four areas: 1. Education bills to help Marion Pickens 2. Social Policy - includes health and economic needs. There is a state board person who watches health bills. 3. Natural Resources includes air, land, and water. There is a state board person who works on this area. 4. State Government - includes election reform, campaign finance, redistricting, referendums, and Judicial Independence bills. There is a state board person who does judicial bills. If you are interested in what our state legislature will be doing when the session starts in January, this is a great committee for you. You would not be doing any lobbying in the name of the League. The LWVAZ has its own lobbyists on the state board. You could write legislators on bills as an individual. Gini McGirr at ginilwv@aol.com or Phylis Carnahan at prcarnahan@gmail.com Running & Winning The 2013 Running and Winning Workshop at Tucson High Magnet School was a great success! Our committee believes we had the best speeches ever from the young high school women in their campaigns to become a US Senators from Arizona. The topic of most interest was "Immigration Reform". Fifteen elected (or campaigning) young women discussed their reasons for campaigning and holding elective office in the morning and thirteen UA grads guided these young women throughout the day in discussions and planning the mock campaign. Superior Juvenile Court Judge Karen Adam, Moderator, gave many examples of women perservering and achieving in government office. Thanks to all our members who helped in the preparation and the implementation of the workshop. Shirley J. Sandelands, Co-Chair Gini McGirr at ginilwv@aol.com or Phylis Carnahan at prcarnahan@gmail.com 4

5 From the Voter Service Chair The City of Tucson General Election is November 5. The last day to mail in your ballot is October 31. If you don t mail the ballot by that date, you can go to the City of Tucson website, click on elections and voting locations and take your ballot to one of those locations. Several school districts are holding elections, Sunnyside, Altar Valley, and Catalina Foothills. Vail is holding an election to decide on incorporation. The Arizona Tax Credit Program allows you to to receive tax credit of up to $200 per individual for donating to schools and certain other community service organizations. This program is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in your state taxes. Sunnyside Challenger Middle School is raising money for their We The People project which was highlighted in Ernesto Portillo s, August 25, 2013 article entitled At this school, civics, gov t are stuff of champions. The League of Women Voters of Arizona and the O Connor House have a joint voter registration project. Please see the Press Release on the Arizona League website. Sue DeArmond Voter Service Chair LEAGUE MEMBER HOSTS JUDICIAL DELEGATE FROM KAZAKHSTAN Dorothy Riley, Secretary, LWVGT, had a wonderful cultural exchange experience when she hosted Nadia Polchenko from Kazakhstan, September 28th to 0ctober 5th, Nadia was in Tucson to participate in the U of A Judicial Conference at the Rogers College of Law. The Law College and Tucson-Almaty Sister organization arranged this event through Open World judicial exchange program. A request for hosts had been sent to President Carnahan and she asked if any Board member would be interested in being a host. Dorothy jumped at the chance as her family had hosted an exchange student from Kazakhstan in 1987 who is now part of the Riley family. Dorothy feels she gained a greater understanding of international efforts to insure the rule of law in Kazakhstan. She would love to do another hosting experience and recommends anyone who wants to increase their international cultural competence to go for it! Dorothy Riley 5

6 From the Government Committee Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission: Speaker of the House Tobin envisions a special legislative session this fall to recraft Congressional districts if the Court sides with the challengers. The GOP needs to get this to the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. First, step is to the US District Court then the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. This will not happen in The Redistricting Commission has sent letters to all attorneys to cease work as of as there are no funds appropriated for this lawsuit. The state constitution says the legislature must fund the AIRC, including work in court. Update on lawsuit on H2593. Maricopa Court Judge Mark Brain ruled this month the higher contribution limits approved by the Legislature this year do not violate the state s Voter Protection Act. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission appealed that decision seeking to restore the previous contribution limits. On October 15, the AZ Court of Appeals held a hearing to consider the issue (ruling not available as of press time). Update on H2503. l46,000 signatures were turned in to the Secretary of State s office. There have been 2300 rejected on technical reasons and the remaining have been sent to county election officials for validating. The coalition will be on hand to check any signatures refused. This bill may be on the ballot next year. School Vouchers: The AZ Court of Appeals ruled that state lawmakers are free to give parents what amounts to a voucher of public funds to educate their children at any private or parochial school they want. The Court rejected arguments of the AZ Education Association and others that providing funds that end up in a religious school violates a state constitutional provision barring public funds from being used for religious worship or instruction. The aim of these vouchers is to allow parents to opt out of the public school system. New way to suppress voters: Secretary of State Ken Bennett is directing election officials to separate federal ballots from state and local ballots to keep those who cannot prove citizenship from voting in the latter. Attorney General Tom Horne believes that the U.S. Supreme Court concluded Congress can require states to accept the federally designed voter registration form but he believes that applies ONLY to elections for federal offices. The LWVAZ is waiting to hear more on this. U.S. Supreme Court hearing on contributions: In a case that could give the wealthy a bigger role in American elections, the Supreme Court in its new term seemed divided down the middle on whether to lift the cap on federal contribution limits. Associate Justice Breyer raised the possibility of sending the case back to federal district court for extensive fact-finding. SB1070 falling apart? The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law designed to punish those who knowingly transport or harbor someone in this country illegally is so badly written as to be unintelligible. Congress already has a series of laws on this subject which makes it off-limits for states to create their own laws for prosecuting violators. The ruling is not the final word on the measure. Gini McGirr, Government Chair National Voter Registration Day: LWVUS advises that 800 organizations participated with 280 state and local LWV Leagues in 43 states. Hooray for our members across the country! 6

7 YOU ARE INVITED! Start the holiday season with a festive brunch at Carol West s home at 9030 E. Waverly Street, Saturday, December 7, at 9:30 a.m. December is the time of year when many of us make our annual gifts to local organizations. We hope you will remember the LWVGT Endowment Fund (formerly the Lance Endowment Fund), the LWVAZ Education Fund, or help us keep the office running with a donation to operating expenses. As someone wisely said, Only a well-informed public can assure good government. This is more important than ever before! It is what the League is all about; 2014 elections are just around the corner. Please join us at Carol s for brunch and receive more information on how you can financially help the League! RSVP to LWVGT@aol.com or For questions, contact Carol West at cwwtucson@comcast.net or Carol West, Development Chair New Membership Directory Your new Membership Directory has been mailed. Please note a correction: the NW Unit meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 2 pm. Call the League office (520) with any other changes. Thanks to Lu Kembel and Gini McGirr for putting the Directory together and getting it mailed out! OFFICERS Phylis Carnahan Thais Rutledge Young Marion Pickens Sue DeArmond Patsy Frannea Dorothy Riley LWVGT Board of Directors President 1st Vice President/ Membership 2nd Vice President/ Program 3rd Vice President/ Voter Service Treasurer Secretary ELECTED DIRECTORS Gini McGirr Government Maxine Goodman Media Victor Bowleg Nominating ADMINISTRATION List Serve Member Records Mail Crew Office Volunteers Leslie Kahn Lu Kembel Ken and JoAnn Bierman Phyllis Wassenberg OFF BOARD COMMITTEE CHAIRS County Book Sally Davenport Running & Winning Shirley Sandelands Finance/Endowment Patsy Frannea/Phylis Carnahan Citizen Directory Sue DeArmond Development Carol West Hospitality Sue Girardeau Communications Betsy Zukoski Forum Coordinator Shirley Muney Speaker s Bureau Martha Binns Voter Grace Evans/Judith Fischer/ Patricia O Flaherty/Silke Hoffman/ Beryl Adams UNIT CHAIRS East Side Carol West/Judith Fischer Green Valley Sue Girardeau Northwest Judy Moll Saddlebrook Linda Huizinga Midtown Sue DeArmond/Freda Johnson The Editors welcome your Feedback! Please contact us with your comments and suggestions (520) And don t forget to visit us on-line and in color at Newsletters. 7

8 League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson Mission Statement The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major policy issues, and influences public policy. Phylis Carnahan and Patsy Frannea, Co-Chairs Find Us on Facebook and Give us a LIKE! Interested in Joining LWVGT? Go to our website to join using PayPal and become a member today!