Gubernatorial debate
It’s a mistake to criticize the experienced candidate for governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs, for declining to debate her Republican opponent. Did no one catch the Republican primary debate? If so, what did we learn? Exactly. Kari Lake’s vision for Arizona is an election from two years ago. What do you do with that? Time is precious. An Arizona Gubernatorial Debate 2022 would be time we could never get back.
Al Reppine
Northwest side
Finchem loves us
Mark Finchem loves the Jews so. How do I know? Because his Twitter feed tells us so. Sorry Mark, but you are someone we know. We’re not buying this show. You and what you stand for is lower than low. Guns and chaos are your true loves and it shows.
People are also reading…
Paul Simon
Northwest side
Stop the pussyfooting
The DOJ and the Jan. 6 Congressional Committee have more than enough evidence that Trump has committed crimes against the U.S. and the people. Anyone else would already have been arrested and charged.
Why the pussyfooting around? No one in our country is supposed to be above the law.
There is no doubt that he had unauthorized top secret and classified documents in his possession unsecured at his home. Why has he not been charged and is getting special treatment?
Hal Brown
East side
Twice as rich
On Saturday morning when Robinson Crusoe and Friday woke up, both were twice as rich as the morning before. Society creates wealth. The more workers a society has, the richer it becomes for most of its citizens. However, inevitably some people get richer than others. The super-rich use more of the infrastructure. They pollute more. In short, they also require more “his man Fridays” to do the work so that they can play.
No person is a billion times better than the average person. In that direction lie oligarchs and dictators. There should be no such thing as a billionaire. It’s antisocial.
We have never grown the economy fast enough to pay our debts or keep up with infrastructure needs, or pay for our wars. So where should the money come from? Tax the rich. Let’s start with the top 1%. Let’s bring the billionaires into the society of tax-paying citizens. They will be richer for it.
Burl Dunn
Downtown
Vote for Engel
Re: the Sept. 20 letter “Juan Ciscomani for District 6.”
I have read some inane letters in the past, but the one written by the South Tucson resident is one of the worst. She supports “a first-generation American and father of six” in the general election, as if these are qualifications for the office. Ciscomani’s civic involvement is admirable but it doesn’t trump (pardon the pun) Kirsten Engel’s legislative experience. I also accessed his website and found the same tired Trumpian “conservative” playbook rhetoric: secure the border, ban all abortions, blah, blah, blah. A rubber stamp vote for McCarthy, and his other overlords, perhaps?
The writer slams Engel for being an “environmentalist,” as if that were a bad thing. And then she saves the best for last, claiming that Engel’s challenge to Ciscomani to stand up to “racist hate crimes fueled by tolerance of white supremacists” makes her a “divisive Progressive Democrat.” Shouldn’t we all, Democrats, Republicans and Independents strive to do this?
Jorge Tapia
Midtown
Engel can protect our future
Water is a lot like air: You don’t pay much attention to it until it’s not there and there’s nothing about the future of Tucson that doesn’t involve water. Our water laws are 100 years old with competing rights for states, tribes and farms all vying for a shrinking supply. The states failed to pass a plan so negotiations are now in the hands of the federal government. We need a smart and knowledgeable advocate if we’re going to protect our water rights. Only one candidate in CD6 running for Congress has the knowledge and experience to do that: Kirsten Engel. Her opponent derisively calls her an environmental lawyer and professor. He seems to know that half of environmental law is water law. Engel has been on the natural resource committees in both the state House and Senate since 2017 helping pass bipartisan legislation to protect our water. She knows the laws, players and where the bodies are buried.
Kirsten Engel is the only choice if we want to protect our future.
Guy Rovella
Midtown
Truth soldiers
RE: the Sept. 24 letter “Do your research.”
I liked the letter writer’s comment on “truth soldiers” and took his advice to investigate issues for myself. Starting with the tenets of our Constitution. I found this in Article IV. “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against Invasion and … domestic Violence.” Millions of undocumented people is an invasion, and our government is not upholding one of the basic tenets of our Constitution. And that is the truth.
Roy Gregston
Green Valley
What a contrast
I just finished watching the Clean Elections debate between Adrian Fontes and Mark Finchem, Arizona secretary of state candidates. Fontes remained calm and presented easily checked facts about election integrity and his record as a former Maricopa County Recorder. On the other hand, Finchem became angry when questioned about his election fraud allegations. Finchem interrupted and argued with the moderator who was attempting to verify Finchem’s statements.
Mark Finchem will undermine our democratic election process. He wants to get rid of voting by mail, the preferred voting method by Arizonans. He made it clear that only members of his extreme brand of MAGA would win. He even accused Adrian Fontes of the Maricopa voting mess that Fontes actually cleaned up.
Adrian Fontes will keep elections secure and uphold the law regardless of which political party prevails. He has the experience and integrity to be secretary of state. He deserves our vote.
Jean Meconi
Oro Valley
Ballot propositions
“What’s On My Ballot?” landed in our home recently. It’s complex and detailed—a total of 11 Propositions on our 2022 ballot. I went through the volume, a bit overwhelmed by the detail and legalese. I looked at the “for” and “against” statements carefully. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club was a faithful guide, helped by the Chamber of Commerce, and America First Policy Institute —organizations that favor reduction in taxes, minimal government, diminished funding for public schools, business over people, and profits over compassion. In every case I found myself with the opposite view. Accordingly I will vote “no” on 128, 129, 132, 309. I will vote “yes” on 130, 131, 209, 210, 211, 308, 310. Societies do best with strong public school systems, healthy tax policies to support social goals and infrastructure, robust voter turnout and the ability of our population to pass initiatives and referendums.
Norman Epstein, M.D.
Midtown
Demonizing or actual threat?
Re: the Sept. 25 article “Stop demonizing political opposition.”
It seems Tim Steller naively thinks Republican MAGAs do not present a threat to our country, and President Joe Biden’s extremism comments were demonizing. Steller bases his opinion on the fact that he doesn’t know any Marxist-Communist-pedophilia-spreading Satanist, as liberals are described by the right. I also do not know anyone that fits that label. However, I do know that only MAGA Republicans are aligned with para-military groups such as the Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers. I know only MAGAs disputed the results of a legitimate presidential election and participated in a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan. Also, MAGAs were the ones threatening 2020 election officials and Judge Bruce Reinhart over the Mar-a-Lago warrant. I’m aware civil war is a common theme in right-wing social media. Lastly, only MAGAs participated in an organized insurrection against our government. If Biden wins in 2024 and/or Trump goes to jail, be prepared for insurrection 2.0. The authorities hopefully will be better prepared.
Edward Espinoza
Southwest side
Comparing Jan. 6, other riots
Re: the Sept. 24 letter “Masters at projection.”
The letter writer complained that Black Lives Matter and other race-related riots throughout the country recently have not received the requisite press which Jan. 6 has. Ostensibly, he intimates that this is just another example of poor MAGA supporters being unfairly targeted.
Here’s a newsflash for you: Jan. 6 amounted to an attempted insurrection, the aim of which was to thwart the constitutional stipulations for the lawful certification of a presidential election. It was spearheaded by remarks from the president of the United States who violated his oath of office on tape. It jeopardized the lives of congressional leaders and the vice president of the United States, not to mention killing five people — four innocents. It has created divisions in this country not seen since the Civil War. And it has lead to the widespread lunacy associated with non-existent voter fraud conspiracy across the country.
Sorry, no comparison.
William Ohl
Marana
Putin referendum
Or is it leverendum? Coerced voting using fear leverage. Our way or the die way.
Joe Sanchez
Marana
Largest fentanyl seizure
On Sept. 23, the Phoenix Police Department announced that they had seized about 1 million fentanyl pills. The largest fentanyl seizure in their history. The two suspects were arrested identified as Francisco Delgado, 26, and Jose Molina, 21. In August, the Border Patrol stopped a vehicle near Gila Bend and found 343 packages of fentanyl pills, weighing 187 pounds. In July, Customs and Border Protection officers seized 1,800 pounds of fentanyl at ports of entry and the Border Patrol seized 340 pounds. It can be assumed that much more fentanyl is being smuggled across the border due to Border Patrol agents’ preoccupation with processing historic numbers of undocumented entrants and several of their checkpoints on highways having been shut down. I believe the drug cartels are laughing themselves silly at the huge profits they are making under President Joe Biden’s border policies. They garner more profits now from smuggling fentanyl than marijuana, thanks to Democrats’ ballot initiatives legalizing the latter. The result, thousands of American deaths from fentanyl.
Marsella Mavis
Northwest side
The handmaid’s choice
I have a question for all adult women of childbearing age: How will you feel when you have to make the toughest decision of your life and then you discover that a group of nonempathetic old men have didactically made that decision for you based on an anachronistic law that was formulated before women could vote in 1901? To preclude that, vote a straight Democratic ticket in November.
Rick Cohn
West side
Interest rates on the economy
Re: the Sept. 26 letter “C’mon Jerome.”
I’m sorry that the letter writer missed the day they talked about the effect of interest rates on the economy. In general, interest rates affect consumption. Higher interest rates discourage spending, reducing demand. Lower interest rates encourage spending, increasing demand. When demand exceeds supply, prices increase. The increased prices discourage consumption and encourage increased supply. During the height of the pandemic, there was concern that demand would decrease substantially, causing a recession, so interest rates were dropped to encourage consumption. But, the pandemic also caused supply side issues, making goods more scarce, thus increasing prices. The Fed’s interest rate hikes are an attempt to decrease spending, decreasing demand, such that demand balances supply reducing price increases. With system delays (interest rates affect future purchases and it takes time to build a factory to increase supply), it is difficult to adjust interest rates to achieve the target 2% inflation without overshooting the target.
Harold Hallikainen
East side
Who’s the extremist?
Re: the Sept 26 letter “Who’s the extremist?”
The author states multiple factual untruths. She accuses Democrats of supporting abortion for “any reason for all nine months of pregnancy and in some cases even after birth.” She states that abortions are performed because a “helpless child is unwanted.”
Abortion is performed only on previable fetuses and embryos, not children. Viability of a fetus outside the womb is at about the 24th week of gestational age. Prior to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortion was legally performed up until about 20 weeks in Arizona, with the vast majority during the first trimester. Abortion does not occur after that point, only delivery of a premature infant who is cared for by all medical means available. Killing a child after delivery is infanticide and is not advocated by any sane person.
The author’s views are extremist and not reality-based.
Michael Hamant, M.D.
East side
