Tucson Speaks Out: July 15

Graham Platner is just the latest example, but both the Democrat and Republican parties are not performing a function they did so well before we opened primary elections to just anyone! Whether we liked the terminology or not, the proverbial smoke-filled room performed a service to the Country. So-called party hacks actually knew Americans and the issues we faced. Their job was to carefully screen potential candidates and decide which ones to support. This prime function of our political parties ended historically when we opened primary elections up to anyone who sought office. Because of this, the parties lost control of their candidates. It was called "democratization," but it actually resulted in enabling incompetent, ignorant, snake oil salespeople to emerge and tantalize the public with empty rhetoric. It also resulted in the parties' being unable to harness their candidates to resolve our issues. We need to rethink open primaries and regain control of our government!

Barbara Benjamin

Foothills

Why Juan has no primary opponent

Our Congressman is a weak man who succumbs to Trump’s threats. I urge everyone to remember Juan Ciscomani’s vote last year to defund public broadcasting. Trump bullied weak-kneed congressmen like Juan Ciscomani. He said, “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.” Ciscomani obeyed Trump’s command and voted against independent journalism and children’s programming. That vote guaranteed he would not be primaried by a MAGA opponent. Ciscomani might define himself as a moderate, but that’s a joke. He marches in lockstep with Trump’s extremism.

John Stark

Southeast side

Same Salsa

Reading Jordan Ochoa's "Nana's Rights" platform gave me whiplash. For a moment, I thought I was reading a Democratic campaign.

Supporting home-based businesses? Tucson already has a Small Business Program and recently opened the Tucson Small Business Center to help local entrepreneurs grow. Affordable housing? The City has spent years implementing a Housing Affordability Strategy and expanding housing options. So what's new? The logo.

If your platform is built on ideas progressives have already been championing, maybe the problem isn't Tucson's direction. Maybe it's admitting who's been doing the work. Politics doesn't become Republican because you put a new label on the jar. It's still the same salsa.

This race is too important for rebranding. Give credit where it belongs, then tell us what you'd actually do differently.

Melissa Cordero

West side

Gun Rites, so to speak

Having studied and taught the Bible for many decades, I wondered about the idea that they were God-given: that's not in the Bible, but many seem to think it is. I thought I'd go right to The Man Upstairs. I said Big Guy, what's this stuff about God-given gun rights? He said, "muskets only."

Herbert Schneidau

Foothills

White House

You know, with this president, the "white" in White House stands for something completely different.

Duane Barbour

Midtown

ACC election important, but TEP stays out of it

We agree with a recent letter by Jerry Helm on one point: Arizona Corporation Commission elections are important. Because the ACC directly regulates utilities, however, it would be inappropriate for Tucson Electric Power or its parent company to participate in those races.

Claims that ACC candidates are supported by TEP are simply not accurate. Company policy prohibits political contributions to ACC candidates, sitting commissioners, or groups that seek to support or oppose ACC candidates. Our political action committee, which is funded solely through voluntary employee contributions and operates separately from the company, does not contribute to ACC candidates or to organizations that do not disclose their funding sources.

Voters should carefully evaluate all candidates for the ACC, but they should do so based on facts, not misinformation.

Steven Eddy

Downtown

Regarding support for Israel

The opinion piece Mr. Rogers wrote encouraging Democrats to support AIPAC and Israel omitted some hugely relevant and significant points:

Israel has slaughtered over 72,000 Palestinian civilians, of whom nearly 58,000 were children.

Israel has bombed Palestinian cities in Gaza to rubble. Photos of the bombed-out cities show devastation that resembles the results of WW2 carpet bombing.

Israeli settlers in the West Bank, acting with the apparent support of the Israeli government, continue to murder Palestinian residents, commit arson and drive them from their property.

No one denies that Hamas committed horrible, abominably cruel atrocities in October of 2023, but Israel's response of indiscriminately bombing civilians has been out-of-this-world disproportionate.

Mr. Rogers asks us to "condemn terrorists". What will it take for people to acknowledge that the Netanyahu/Likud government of Israel commits terrorism?

To paraphrase a well-known quote: Has Israel become the evil it deplores?

Fred D'Angelo

Green Valley

Flooding the zone

So many complaints about Katie Hobbs' vetoes! But none cited the reasons in Hobbs’ veto letters.

It’s MAGA dumpster diving. Old bills that Ducey vetoed, bills that are already covered in other laws, publicity bills that bring attention but no one takes seriously, bills from far-right organizations outside Arizona: ALEC, Heritage Foundation, the Koch Brothers.

The MAGA majority opens the deep six files at the beginning of the session and FLOODS THE ZONE with bills. Fifty Republicans introduced over 2,000 resolutions in the 2026 session. Does AZ need that many laws? With MAGAs, it's quantity, not quality. Meanwhile, 40 Democrats introduced 257 bills or resolutions in the 2026 session.

Out of those 2,000 MAGA bills, 350 bills made it to Hobbs' desk. 1,650 were dumpster bills and died along the way before Hobbs even got them, clogging the process, burning time. If their bills are vetoed, the MAGAS start whining, never mind the merits of the bill.

Cindy Doklan

Midtown

On the up and up

Up until now, I have kept quiet, but I have had it up to here. Now it is time for us to wake up, stand up and speak up. With the tariffs and the war, we are really up against it. They are not being upfront about it, and what they are telling us is not on the up and up. I am feeling up tight and up in arms because they have left us up in the air. What they cooked up is just not up to scratch or up to snuff. All it has done is to up the ante and drive up the prices. Since they messed up, they need to make changes, but I do not think they are up to it. They need to clean up their act, shape up and come up with something better. If not, they should face up to it, give it up, pack it up and resign.

William Brandt

Oro Valley

Big Tent? Not so much

The recent opinion piece by Jeffery Rogers represents his fear of losing the “Status Quo” to the Democratic Socialist. What really doesn’t make sense is that progressives, along with center-right-leaning Democrats, like Jeffery, want universal healthcare and reform for immigration laws. They all want corporations and the wealthy to pay their share of taxes. Climate and sustainable energy are something we would all strive for.

That being said, that is where similarity ends. Status quo dems enrich themselves with lobbyist money and insider information to become wealthy from stock trades. Some members of Congress take large campaign contributions from foreign governments, which influence how they vote. Alma Hernandez accepts such money. Adilita Grijalva and Johana Mendoza don’t take money from a foreign government that influences U.S. policy. Both our Democrat senators take foreign lobby money as well.

It's time to stop electing politicians working for their own self-interest, corporations, and foreign nationals while “We The People” are struggling to make ends meet.

Larry Robinson

Midtown

Climate change a hoax?

For those who still believe that climate change is a hoax or simply a Democratic straw man, I present the following.

Data published by NASA Earth Observatory compares Landsat 8 and 9 images between 2023 and 2026 of the San Carlos Reservoir. It shows the 2026 level at 1% capacity compared to 60% in 2023.

Although some may think that the rise and fall of reservoirs represents normal fluctuation, it needs to be understood in the context of the rest of the world. Other reservoirs around the world show similar drought-induced conditions. The largest lake in the Middle East and the largest in China have both become dry lake beds, and Lake Mead is at the lowest level since 1937.

Just in case you might have forgotten, we need water to survive. It’s time that everyone pulls their heads out of the sand because you can’t drink it!

George Ball, Natural Resources Professor and concerned citizen

Midtown

Cupidity at the helm

Years ago, when Bill Gates was a young "whiz kid" and on his way to becoming a billionaire, there was a public billboard with a "real-time" changing estimate of his worth. This was fascinating to people, since the accumulation of such wealth, at such a pace, was a new phenomenon.

I would like to see a similar billboard for our president. This would show the accumulating total from all his various enterprises: Sales of Presidential Pardons. Increases in asset valuation immediately after government announcements, "Deals" from foreign potentates to his various real estate and other enterprises. Change in value of the various financial instruments he has sold to the fawning public. And, any other emoluments I have failed to mention but which are to the credit(?) of our president.

Bryan Silva

SaddleBrooke