Ensure Sinema is a one-termer
Let’s hope the people of Arizona have the good sense to ensure that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is not voted into office once again.
She and her comrade, Sen. Joe Manchin, have proved to be nothing more than anti-American with a stance of, “of the wealth and corporations, for the wealthy and corporations, by the wealthy and corporations, and middle finger to the middle and working people.” The people of Arizona need to show Sinema to the door — respect begets respect and the antithesis is also true. And Sinema has shown utter disrespect to the vast majority of American people.
David Robinson
Downtown
Everything rests on right to vote
Protecting our right to vote is the most important legislation pending in Congress. More important than funding for infrastructure, health care, education or environmental protections because if we lose our representative form of government nothing else will matter.
After the 2020 election, state legislatures began looking for ways to limit who votes so they could control the outcome of future elections. The Brennan Center for Justice finds 19 states, including Arizona, have enacted 33 laws that will make it harder to vote. These laws make mail-in voting and early voting more difficult, impose harsher voter ID requirements and make faulty voter purges more likely. These restrictions will affect the poor, elderly and minorities the most.
The For the People Act, already passed by the House but hung up in the Senate, would eliminate state voter-suppression laws. It would create online, same-day and automatic voter registration, prevent voter intimidation, extend early voting, prohibit gerrymandering and restore felon voting rights.
Contact your senator today before it’s too late.
Leadawn Anderton
Southwest side
Sinema can’t be recalled
A recent letter writer correctly notes that more than enough signatures were obtained to recall former Gov. Evan Mecham, and asks “if we can recall a governor can we recall a senator?” The answer is no, at least for a U.S. senator.
Arizona’s Constitution allows recall of state officials. The U.S. Constitution does not. Mecham was a state official. As a U.S. senator, Kyrsten Sinema is a federal official and not subject to recall. Our only recourse is to vote her out in the next election.
I should add that, although enough signatures were obtained, Mecham was not recalled. The Legislature impeached Mecham and removed him from office before an election could be scheduled. By so doing, the Legislature saved Arizona taxpayers a lot of money.
William Thornton
Midtown
‘Piggybacking’ thwarts progress
Shame on you, Democratic politicians! The level of your political maneuvering this year has been despicable. Americans deserve much better.
As I see it, you have “held hostage” the passage of the infrastructure bill by refusing to pass it until the “social safety net” bill is passed. Meanwhile, bridges and roads are not being repaired. Much-needed jobs are not being filled.
You have combined climate change measures with the social safety net bill — two very different issues. Each of which should be voted on individually. This “piggybacking” of issues into one bill is unacceptable and should never be allowed, no matter the issue. This practice needs to be eliminated from politics.
Karen McKee
West side
GOP’s affinity for Sinema
I keep seeing letters in praise of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema; yet as far as I can tell, every one of the writers is GOP. What’s up with that?
Most Americans, including many GOP supporters, support the items in the Build Back Better Bill, but they don’t want to pay for it.
Sen. Sinema voted against the GOP welfare-for-the-wealthy scheme, so why does she now support this continued tax-dollar giveaway? The reason the bill costs so much is because politicians of all stripes have been ignoring our problems; she must know that continuing to ignore our problems will just increase the cost.
The GOP doesn’t care if our country goes down the toilet as long as they stay in power. Maybe Sen. Sinema should join them.
Floyd Newsom
Northwest side
