Sinema displays political courage
Sen. Sinema, thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
The fact that you are opposing Democrat colleagues in the filibuster issue is testimony to extraordinary courage and character that I respect and admire.
In my opinion your political courage surpasses that of John McCain, who did receive my votes. The pressure you must be enduring from the most powerful individuals in our government is beyond my comprehension.
More than most U.S. citizens, I have reasons to be grateful and to express appreciation for our Constitution and the opportunities existing in the USA. I am foreign-born (China, 1941). I am a U.S. citizen, Vietnam veteran, Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Princeton University graduate, and resident of Arizona for the past 44 years.
Please know that I appreciate you, I am so very grateful that you are are preserving our two-party system of politics.
Jon B. Wang, M.D
Foothills
GOP strategy notches a win
Something unprecedented is going on all across the country and those of us who cherish democracy — no matter our politics — need to pay attention.
Republican officials in scores of Republican-controlled legislatures are in a frenzy to pass hundreds of laws that restrict access to the polls. In particular, they are targeting college students and people of color. Anyone, in short, deemed likely to vote for Democrats.
The weirdest thing is that these politicians are not responding to demands from their constituents. In fact they are strangely indifferent to what the people who elected them have said they want — jobs, a revived economy, a functioning government. Instead, having lost the election, Republicans seem mad to cling to power at any cost even if it means the destruction of democracy.
And judging by the decision Wednesday of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to uphold Arizona’s own new voter suppression laws, they’re getting away with it.
Ann Shoben
Northeast side
Give Conover a little time
Re: the July 4 article “Employee exodus falls to Conover.”
Electing a new county attorney after 24 years with one administration is difficult at best and terribly fraught with hurt feelings, both by the incoming staff and the “old guard.” Changing policies that the voters in Pima County was the new way to go, is full of land mines that will explode (probably into the public) unfortunately, having county employees sharing internal, confidential emails with the last administration, violates both county policies and their oath of office as employees of a law enforcement agency.
Laura Conover was elected overwhelmingly by county voters in November 2020. Give her a time of grace: Let the “old guard” be gone and let her make decisions, employment hires and enact policies that follow the will of the voters. Employees, contract or salaried, who give formal advice to outside agencies without having the courtesy to tell her or victims of the decision prior to the announcement do not help create an atmosphere of professionalism. Time will tell for all sides.
Margarita Bernal, attorney at law
West side
Hoffman is out of ideas
Re: the July 5 article “Inflated minimum wages hurt poor people.”
Absolutely. Let’s take this even further: Giving a decent meal to people who are suffering from food insecurity will actually hurt them in the long run so we should obviously stop doing that. According to Thomas Sowell, whose quote ends Hoffman’s article: “People are poor not because of exploitation or bias but because they don’t produce.” People are hungry because they don’t produce, people are homeless because they don’t produce. I trust the sarcasm in what I am saying is clear: Hoffman is engaging in the kind of “blame the victim” nonsense that usually is brought out at about the point in a political debate when those who want to keep on exploiting the marginalized in our society have nowhere else to turn to support their cruel and heartless policies.
Lynn Nadel
Midtown
Not responsible for virus deaths
Since Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, there have been 200,000-plus COVID related deaths in six months. Is he to blame for those? Of course not, but Democrats and their many allies in the news media blamed Donald Trump for the 400,000 deaths that occurred during the last year of his presidency. As of July 4, 47% of the American population had been fully vaccinated with vaccines developed and produced in under a year due to Trump’s Warp Speed program. They all have proved resistant to COVID variants. When Biden took office, there were plentiful amounts of ventilators, hand sanitizer, face masks, gloves, face shields, etc. All Biden had to do was distribute the vaccines, that he, Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats raised doubts about for political gain before the election. It seems we have plateaued at about half the population getting fully vaccinated, not the threshold that Biden projected by now. It was ludicrous for Democrats to blame Donald Trump for COVID deaths when there is no such blame by them for Joe Biden.
Juan Santiago
Southwest side
Try surviving on $15 an hour
Re: the July 5 article “Inflated minimum wages hurt poor people.’
Mr. Hoffmann should try surviving on $15 per hour, 40 hours per week with no health care, dental, hearing, or vision insurance benefits. After a few months living in poverty, I seriously doubt that he would consider such an entry level wage “inflated.” But, Hoffmann’s attitude is absolutely typical of the business community doing whatever it takes to force people to work for subsistence (or lower) wages with no benefits. Hey, pay a little more for products and services so that others don’t have to struggle working multiple jobs just to survive. Show some compassion, perhaps even some empathy. Support a $15/hour minimum wage with yearly cost-of-living adjustments.
Waid Reynolds
Sahuarita
Tucson Electric’s odd reasoning
Re: the July 4 article “Pressure builds to bury TEP power line.”
What happened to civic-mindedness? Apparently there is a real need for a high-voltage transmission line that TEP is proposing. But I couldn’t believe TEP’s reasoning that, if the line were to be buried, it would be “unfair” to spread the cost among all its customers, and that only the affected property owners should pay. By that logic, only families who have children in school should have to pay for the schools, only people who have a fire should have to pay for the fire department, etc.
Thank goodness Councilman Steve Kozachik and professor John Schwarz are speaking up in favor of civic responsibility. I’m glad that the Underground Coalition has been formed to help in this effort. Even though I don’t live in that neighborhood, I’m one TEP customer who will be happy to pay a rate increase to keep our city as beautiful and livable as possible.
Aston Bloom
East side
Keep an eye on election threat
Re: the July 4 article “Records: Trump, allies pressured AZ officials.”
Thank you for your article about the pressure Maricopa County Board officials faced in the certification process of the election.
I am concerned about actions the state Legislature has taken and could take to undermine the nonpartisan nature of election administration.
Republican officials should not be ostracized by their own party for adhering to the democratic process.
Please continue to report on this extremely concerning topic.
Sally McCallum
Midtown
