Letters to the Editor: Nov. 7

Re: the Oct. 8 article "Why did Masters turn his back on community?"

The opinion piece denouncing Blake Masters and signed by former classmates, teachers, and Green Fields alumni was right on. These people who come from different walks of life and different political ideology said what needed to be said.

Why haven’t our community and business leaders, many of whom are (big time) Republican donors, spoken up and denounced Masters, Kari Lake, and Mark Finchem? Some may have donated via PACs just so they can keep it secret, but the money still goes to the candidates. The aforementioned candidates are bad for the city of Tucson, the state of Arizona, and democracy.

So if these “leaders” love Tucson and Arizona as much as I do then they should stand up and do the right thing; denounce them, too.

Terry Gruenenfelder

East side

Trump and

immigration

Re: the Oct. 13 letter "Immigration 2018 and 2022."

The writer was at least partially right ... Donald Trump did offer a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers with some qualifications.

1. The first so called "pillar" of immigration was to be enacted eight to 10 years hence. In other words, long after Trump was out of office.

2. Congress would have to agree to a $25 billion wall. Useless in my opinion, because as long as people in this country buy illegal drugs, the cartels will find a way to get drugs across the border. The money is better spent on electronic surveillance.

Some people will support Trump regardless of what he does. Some even think he was ordained of God ... even with all his lies.

But I do remember one time he told the absolute truth: that he could go stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue, shoot someone, and "his" people would still vote for him. Some things never change.

God help us all!

David Hatch

Southeast side

Who's really

at fault?

Re: the Oct. 16 article "Pursuits, deadly crashes increasing."

This article detailed incidents wherein the Border Patrol (BP) has engaged in pursuits of suspected vehicles transporting undocumented entrants, resulting in deadly crashes. The story basically faulted the BP for doing the pursuits. No faulting of the drivers of the vehicles. The drivers are smuggling and transporting undocumented entrants, both federal felonies. The BP has no idea if any may be on the terrorism watch list or wanted for serious crimes.

The Star focuses on BP vehicle pursuits resulting in deaths, but state and local law enforcement agencies here have done the same. Would not there be fewer BP pursuits and deadly crashes if President Joe Biden secured the border? Under Biden, hundreds of thousands have entered the country illegally, evading BP detection. We have no idea who they are. So why not let a few vehicle loads pass? Has the Arizona Daily Star ever done a positive story about the BP or a negative one about people entering illegally?

Gusher Adams

Midtown

Afraid to debate?

I see Kari Lake and others are trying to paint Katie Hobbs as a coward for not debating her. Lake is trying to impress Donald Trump — she is his biggest fan.

Hobbs is being smart and is taking the high road. Her opponent will lie, make stuff up and relentlessly attack her. Why should she put up with that?

If we look at the big picture what is it really all about? Are we choosing a talk show host or a governor? For talk-show host, vote Lake and for governor, vote Hobbs.

Robert McNeil

Midtown

Good Samaritans

punished in AZ

Re: the Oct. 15 article "Woman gets jail time for collecting ballots."

Per a recent story in the paper, two women from the small, poor and heavily Hispanic town of San Luis, were recently prosecuted for committing “ballot harvesting.” The two women “conspired” to deliver four signed and sealed ballots illegally to the polls in 2020, from friends in the area. Threatened with up to two years in prison, they were pressured into agreeing to misdemeanor charges with fines and probation. It is the law, in Arizona, despite no evidence of intimidation or falsification. I think part of their goal is to intimidate minorities and under-educated poor people from voting. It should be referred to the Supreme Court, but it seems Arizona’s Trumpist AG, Mark Brnovich, already got a favorable ruling on a similar case in 2021 from the radical right court. It should be on a future proposition, but that may well be too late, if current plans for vastly diminishing this option pass; three such propositions are now on the ballot by the radical Republican Legislature. One solution, vote blue, save our democracy!

Robert Kunz

Sierra Vista

Hobbs did well as

secretary of state

Katie Hobbs did outstanding work as secretary of state in 2020 to ensure the accurate reporting of election results. This was a major accomplishment for her under severe pressure from local, state and federal parties to change the outcome of the election. She needs to emphasize this asset more in her campaign. A major future threat exists from the other candidate to "remodel" state election laws that would empower the state Legislature to control election results essentially meaning they pick the winner(s), not us. Hobbs' record in protecting elector rights is unparalleled. This attests to her credibility to govern whereas her opponent has no foundation of governance except hyperbole.

Jim Keeton

Tubac

Prosecute Biden

Re: the Oct. 19 letter "Prosecute traitor Trump."

How much evidence is necessary for the attorney general to indict, prosecute, convict and imprison traitor Joe Biden? The evidence is overwhelming that he’s a traitor, among a long list of other criminal nouns. Anyone else committing such a long list of other crimes would already be imprisoned for decades in a penitentiary. The consequences of delaying or avoiding justice in traitor Biden’s cases far outweigh any consequence of doing so. All the spineless AGs should be replaced by AGs who have the necessary intestinal fortitude to seek justice and prevent any future attempt by this traitor to continue the destruction of our country and the lives of its citizens.

John Iannucci

Vail

Border barriers

Re: the Oct. 29 article "AZ defies U.S. on border barriers."

Great. Arizona taxpayers are soon to be on the hook for yet another Republican tantrum-induced lawsuit.

Has anybody ever calculated just how much money Arizona has burned up thanks to all the lost cause lawsuits that our "fiscally responsible" Republican-led government keeps getting us involved in?

I for one am tired of paying the bill for all their tilting at windmills.

David Reynolds

East side

PCC Board election

I have served on the PCC Governing Board since 2017. Under the visionary leadership of Chancellor Lee Lambert, Pima Community College has delivered excellence in programs that serve our students and provide pathways for meaningful careers in our community. I fully support the re-election of Demion Clinco, District 1 and the election of Greg Taylor, District 4, to continue the example of strong and impactful board leadership for PCC.

Attracting competitive jobs to Pima County requires a robust, and highly prepared workforce. Through the new Centers of Excellence and the new Aviation Technology Center, PCC has risen to the challenge and is leading the way, locally and nationally, to provide students in Southern Arizona the skills sets needed to be competitive in the 21st century workforce.

The laser focus on students and their needs, whether that be for those who intend to transfer to a four-year institution or to acquire skilled workforce training for high paying jobs must be the priority of the PCC Governing Board and Executive Leadership.

Meredith Hay

East side

Endorsed by ...

I remember politics when obtaining endorsements meant something of a shared value, pursued by all parties. As I drive around and see the political signs, I wonder. Arizona candidates Kari Lake, Mark Finchem, Blake Masters and others are endorsed by Donald Trump. Trump has also proudly endorsed Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Recep Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte and other authoritarian world leaders. If you're unsure of these individuals' backgrounds, I suggest you read up on life in their countries under their type of rule. See if you would like living there under one of those governments. And if you do, please leave democracy to those who know that while it may not be perfect, it's surely better than the alternatives. Just because you wave a flag and wear a hat doesn't make you an American. Endorsements aren't necessarily honors.

Joseph Carpenito

Oro Valley

Rocking the boat

risks sinking it

What might happen if Arizona voters hand the reins to the Republican extreme wing? Look no further than how UK’s unstable politicians tanked its economy in 44 days.

Ted Downing

Midtown

Political justice

In the name of freedom, some of our elected leaders opposed restrictions that prohibited us from contaminating one another with COVID-19. Then, they forgot their call for individual freedom by denying women the freedom to plan their families. In the name of freedom, the same "leaders" want guns to be widely available, apparently so our children can be gunned down in their schools. They organized or supported an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Now these "leaders" and their new upstarts seek our votes, advocating cuts to Social Security and public education, promoting ridiculous conspiracy theories and proposing tax cuts and economic measures akin to those which brought England to its knees. Their campaign signs say they want to save our guns and protect our children. Do banning books and threatening Dr. Fauci protect us and our children? Are you Fincheming me? These "leaders of freedom" should not be elected/re-elected but tried for treason or convicted of murder.

Stephanie Gordon

Northeast side

Deadly misinformation

Editor of The Daily Star:

I'd like to propose a solution to the brewing conflict in Cochise County about vote counting.

Why not count the ballots by machine as usual and report the results? Then start to hand count with the understanding that the hand count prevails. There should be plenty of time to do this since no candidate is scheduled to take office for two months.

On a related note, as reported in “Slate” and “The Week” magazines, researchers from Yale examined “excess deaths” in Ohio and Florida. These were deaths that exceeded demographic and historical trends.

Then they matched 577,659 of the deceased to their party registrations. The researchers found that in 2020 and 2021, the “excess deaths” for Republicans were an astounding 76% higher than those among Democrats. Tellingly, the big gap opened up only after vaccines became widely available.

The authors report that deadly disinformation from conservative media and politicians probably gained them votes, but cost tens of thousands of Republicans their lives.

John Kromko

Downtown

"Proof" of election fraud

In my discussion with a Republican voter last week, he cited the mockumentary "2,000 Mules" as proof of election fraud. The "evidence" in the film has been debunked by fact-checkers and ridiculed by Donald Trump's loyal attorney general.

The film producers' actions prove the point that the film is simply baseless propaganda. If Dinesh D'Souza and True the Vote have conclusive proof of election fraud, why didn't they immediately take this evidence to the FBI or federal district attorneys? Why didn't they distribute the film for free, far and wide, to prove their case to the American public? Instead, they chose to sell the video for $39.95!

The answer is obvious: the evidence is flawed, the conclusions are baseless, and the film is intended only to dupe Trump's gullible supporters who will base their vote on lies.

Bruce Hilpert

North side

Vote to make US,

Arizona better

To all Independent voters and others looking for reasons to support certain candidates: If all the evidence from the Jan. 6 Committee hasn't swayed you, maybe a total jerk supporting Republicans and casting aspersions about Democrats in D.C., attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer will get your attention. All those Republicans who have continued the Big Lie, led legislation to hinder voting in state elections, and helped to remove rights while using religious backing, need to be voted against on Tuesday. All this non-leadership from that party now leads to violence, not just Capitol police but citizens trying to aid in democracy. Remember when Gabby Giffords was advertised inside a gun target and what happened? Republicans continue this violence against America and need to be removed from office. Vote for the Democratic candidates. Make Arizona and America a place for people and peace.

Carl Olson

West side