Political Notebook: CD7 debate brings out contrasts among Democrats

Debate moderator Ted Simons of Arizona PBS in Phoenix broke new ground Tuesday when he questioned the Democratic candidates for Congressional District 7 about mining.

Daniel Hernandez Jr. distinguished himself as the only candidate among the five who supports mine projects in the Santa Rita Mountains and near Patagonia, as well as outside the district at Oak Flat, a place many Apache people consider sacred.

“Right now Democrats are out of touch with working class Americans,” Hernandez said. “You can’t say you support workers if you don’t support the work.”

Whether it wins him many votes in a Democratic primary is questionable. But it at least made him stand out and should bring in some solid campaign donations.

Rival Adelita Grijalva criticized Hernandez for taking money from mining interests during the debate.

“Standing up for our environment is critical,” she said. “We have, you know, Hudbay doing fundraisers because he’s supportive of the mine that will destroy the scenic Santa Ritas.”

The Copper World project south of Tucson in the Santa Rita Mountains is a Hudbay project. On Tuesday, May 20, according to an announcement of the event, Hudbay’s U.S. senior vice president, Javier del Rio, was among those who hosted a fundraiser for Hernandez in Tucson.

Attacks launched

You don’t have to see polls to know who is the perceived leader of the race. You just have to see who is being attacked. In Tuesday’s debate, Hernandez and candidate Deja Foxx targeted Grijalva.

Hernandez started the criticisms by noting that Grijalva supported the Prop. 414 sales-tax increase, recently defeated by Tucson voters.

“The reality is people like Adelita tried to raise taxes just a couple of weeks ago in the city of Tucson,” Hernandez said. “Out of touch politicians who’ve spent almost two decades in office forget what it’s like to live on a fixed income.”

Foxx also went after Grijalva over the first political episode where Foxx publicly spoke out a decade ago, pushing for a new sex-education curriculum in Tucson Unified School District,.

“I was navigating a sex education curriculum last updated in the 1980s, that didn’t mention consent, was medically inaccurate, and that school board members including Adelita Grijalva had decades to fix and yet it took a young person like me, an advocate an activist and organizer showing up to tell vulnerable stories I never should have had to tell,” she said.

Grijalva did push back with prepared attacks herself, noting, for example, when Hernandez missed a vote in the Legislature on abortion rights.

“When you say that you’re there for abortion rights, but then you don’t show up for the 15-week abortion ban — respectfully, you need to show up.”

Possibly talking about Foxx, who returned relatively recently to Tucson, Grijalva said, “It’s important that when we’re talking about the needs of this community, that we live here and we’re part of this community.”

Clean speaking

If you were to rank who delivered their points most cleanly Tuesday, the ranking might surprise. It would go something like this:

1. Deja Foxx

2. Daniel Hernandez Jr.

3. Adelita Grijalva

4. Patrick Harris Sr.

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5. Jose Malvido

Foxx, 25, spoke with the practice of a much more experienced politician, offering a slight echo of Barack Obama in some of her deliveries. But it remains to be seen how much deeper she can go than pointing out her own youth and the fact that she grew up poor in Tucson.

Republican hopefuls for the open congressional seat were set to debate Thursday evening.

Union endorsements

Hernandez claimed more than once that he had the most union endorsements of anyone on the stage, but that’s apparently not the case.

As we noted in the Political Notebook last week, the current count shows Grijalva with seven union endorsements, and Hernandez with five.

— Tim Steller

TUSD seeks budget override

Voters in the Tucson Unified School District will be asked in November to approve a budget override that would raise about $45 million for the school district.

The TUSD governing board approved the election at its meeting Tuesday.

If passed, the measure would add an annual estimated tax rate of $1.02 per $100 of net assessed valuation for secondary property taxes, according to the Financial and Election Overview by TUSD.

This means that a $300,000 house would pay about an additional $306 per year, the district says.

The $45 million raised over seven years would be used to increase teachers’ salaries, expand fine arts programs and invest in more counselors, social workers and physical education teachers. It would also fund more credit recovery programs in high schools and add five pre-K classrooms, according to the Funding Priorities Overview.

The Pima County Recorder is expected to begin sending out ballots on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.

— Sierra Blaser

Mayor talks Qatar

In her first interview since returning from Qatar, Mayor Regina Romero told radio host Bill Buckmaster Tuesday she made good connections in Doha and has invited a Qatari delegation to come to Tucson.

Romero traveled to the emirate in the Persian Gulf for last week’s Qatar Economic Forum, as part of a delegation of five U.S. mayors.

Members of the Tucson Police Protective League, a small union representing Tucson police officers, revealed the trip when they questioned whether Romero had a police escort to fly out of Phoenix. As it turns out, Romero told Buckmaster, she flew out of Tucson International Airport, not Phoenix.

“These trips are not to have fun,” Romero said. “These trips are to work. At the end of the day this is about economic development, and putting Tucson on the map.”

— Tim Steller