Tucsonan Sarah Smallhouse with boxes of some of the petitions gathered to put a measure on the November ballot to eliminate partisan primary elections.
Election integrity
If you want to be reassured about the integrity of Arizona elections, I urge you to attend any presentation given by Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly. I have heard her speak several times and always come away greatly impressed by her professionalism and integrity.
We live in an age in which some politicians (usually the losers) claim that election officials are partisan hacks and buffoons. The complaints from these malcontents almost never hold up despite rigorous scrutiny. Cazares-Kelly is a dedicated public servant who demands the highest standards from herself and her staff. Her goal is to remain nonpartisan and ensure the fairest process with ultimate consideration to all Arizona voters.
Interestingly, the recorder’s office needs poll observers from both the red and the blue sides of our political equation. However, Cazares-Kelly says there are fewer red-inclined volunteers than blue. Perhaps if more reds would step up and participate in the process, we would have less contention about the outcomes.
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James Lombardo
Oro Valley
EJ Atoni editorials
Antoni is a vile MAGA extremist. He was deemed ineligible for confirmation as director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he was found to have posted disgusting, foul, sexually graphic misogynistic memes and commentary about Kamala Harris, suggesting she used sex to advance her career. He also regularly posted gay slurs and other generally misogynistic content. He took part in the J6 Insurrection and is an election denier and a conspiracy theorist. He is not someone you should be printing. UGLY!
N Thomas
Southeast side
Do CEOs ever go into their bathrooms
Listen up, CEOs! This includes most of you that own restaurants, grocery stores, doctors’ offices, places of business, etc. I reached the last straw today. In the bathroom, only one stall had toilet paper, which I could not access because of horrible paper holders. The seats were loose and the music blasting. Most places of business never put water into the sewer trap in the floor so it reeks of sewer gas!! Just wondering if managers, business owners and CEOs ever go into their bathrooms. Try it, you’ll hate it. I won’t even go into the expensive meals, sometimes shoddy service, tips for those that are standing at the register and worst of all, gross, disgusting, eardrum-breaking sounds (can’t even call it music). You wonder why we order through the mail? Please give us a break!!
Cindy Quigley
Marana
Why no coverage of Spencer Pratt?
There's a political revolution taking place in Los Angeles, but the legacy media (including The Arizona Star) are trying to hide it. Spencer Pratt has come out of nowhere, running neck and neck against Mayor Karen Bass and a prominent member of the City Council. Spencer is a straight-talking guy with no political experience ... other than seeing his home destroyed in the Palisade fire, and being unable to rebuild because of governmental incompetence and graft.
It's good to be reminded that media bias does not have to be overt; sometimes it comes in the form of burying stories that are embarrassing to the powers that be. Please take a minute to Google him and check out his debate performance and campaign ads about waste, overregulation, homelessness and financial scandal. He's a much-needed breath of fresh air, and the likely next mayor of Los Angeles.
Jerrod Mason
Green Valley
Response to Tim Steller's column
Tim Steller’s recent column on the University of Arizona encampments crossed a significant line by casually advancing genocide accusations against Israel. He implies history is steadily validating one side’s moral claims on one of the world’s most disputed and emotionally charged conflicts.
Genocide is a grave accusation requiring proof of intent. Yet the column selectively cites scholars while glossing over major legal and historical disputes, leaving readers with the impression that the question is largely settled. Readers deserve more precision, restraint and humility than that.
As a Jewish Tucsonan, I found the column disconnected from Jewish experiences on and off campus after Oct. 7. It fails to acknowledge Jewish fear, as protesters used phrases like “intifada” and “resistance,” which many Jews interpreted as calls for violence. This is concerning given how activists quickly rationalized the Hamas massacre, focusing on Palestinian suffering and ignoring Hamas’ role and Palestinian political autonomy.
Free speech matters, but so does careful and honest journalism.
Steve Basile
Midtown
American voters are getting dumber
As America continues to get raped and pillaged by Trump and his goons, the only ones to blame are the American people who voted for him. Farmers are going bankrupt, good for them as they voted for Trump. Latinos are being deported, good for them as they voted for Trump. Low-income Americans are losing their Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps, good for them as they voted for Trump. Young service men and women will soon become cannon fodder in Trump’s Iran War, good for them as they voted for Trump. For every American to vote, they should take the Naturalization Test to qualify. Military personnel and veterans should have automatic voter registration, because they have done their part for America. America is going to hell in a handbasket with today’s voter who has no clue what they are doing. And Republicans are rewriting voting rights as ignorant voters just watch.
Alexander Maldonado
Midtown
A sorry fate
Are we not tired of Trump’s childish antics, his making up insulting names for his enemies, attacking female reporters with abusive disrespectful language, writing vile posts over the internet, stealing from the nation’s coffers without a shred of remorse, cheating his way through life, playing supplicant to strong dictators, being unfamiliar with the truth, building monuments to himself, and worse, a callousness to the concerns of average Americans?
Yet, here he is, our leader. Should we not mourn our nation’s sorry fate under his direction? We do, most of us do wish for a better man. But over 30% of America find him just the man for the job and hope he stays atop his pedestal so he can finish the job of making America a crippled nation under the Trump banner.
Ron Lancaster
North side
JFK need not apply
In 1961, in a famous speech, JFK admonished us to "ask not what your country can do for you " and then asked us to think of what we can do for our country. Today's White House runs on a different ethic. The kleptocracy there sees our country as one big barrel of cash, and they are busy 24/7 screwing their own private spigots into it to line their pockets. They are led, of course, by the biggest grifter we have ever seen who masquerades as a president. What we have now in front of us to live our lives is a hugely diminished country led by people who call themselves "patriots" but who are anything but that.
Tim Canny
Oracle
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