Two event announcements...and I'm leaving for a few days

First, this blog will be un-manned for a few days as I attend a conference in Baltimore for a few days. However, I wanted to inform everyone of a couple of events going on that you may be interested in if you want to get more involved in what's going on in our state.

First, for those of you in the Valley of the Sun, there is a campaign going on to create competitive political districts for our legislature and Members of Congress. They are having a soiree at the Clarendon Hotel at 3rd Avenue and Clarendon (just south of Indian School) on October 4. For more information, contact me. Why is this important? Well, have you checked out the partisan bickering in our Congress or Legislature recently? Most of these folks represent bullet-proof Republican or Democratic districts that were drawn to elect these people and nobody else. So it's time to redraw the lines and open up the public discussion. You may remember we tried doing this back in 2000. That effort was not as successful, because it created legal language to guide the drawing of the districts from which we elect our leaders that had many components: keeping together communities of interest (whatever that means), making districts compact, assuring adequate minority representation, etc. This new ballot initiative keeps most of those requirements, but makes politically competitive districts (i.e. ones that can elect either Republicans or Democrats) a more important factor.

The second event is in Tucson, and is the Children's Action Alliance Legislative Breakfast. It will look at this past legislative session, what was accomplished, and what was left on the table. It will also look ahead to the next session in January, and how the legislature will deal with a deficit that may be up to $1 billion dollars. For more information, contact Penelope Jacks at 520-795-4199 or by e-mail. Several southern Arizona legislators are expected to be in attendance.