Nature is trying to tell us something
Cataclysmic fires in the West; record-setting heat and drought; record-breaking storms and floods in the East; a pandemic causing over 200,000 deaths; a president and senior advisers felled by a virus they first denied, then mismanaged and ignored. This is the United States in 2020.
Nature, itself, is warning us … time to change our priorities.
Beth Isabelle
Northeast side
No new judge this year
Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally should not vote to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this year. I think that it is best to let the next U.S. President choose the next justice. Furthermore, for their well being, it’s best to wait because several GOP senators have tested positive for COVID-19.
People are also reading…
I don’t want our senators to get sick, although they may have already been exposed, being close to Donald Trump and his office.
I support our system of government, which includes checks and balances. The Senate should strongly consider putting the current executive branch in balance with the people’s presidential election that is underway.
No Supreme Court Justice vote until the end of the presidential election.
Inez Duarte
Southwest side
Don’t forget the ACC
Re: the Oct. 6 article “Vote because the Earth, its climate depends on you.”
Thank you for the guest opinion by University of Arizona freshman and scholar, Pragnya Karlapudi. Whenever I hear young people speaking out for climate, I’m enormously proud of their activism and at the same time, ashamed by the world my generation is leaving for them.
I have 50 years on Ms. Karlapudi and, though I may wish her next half-century to be as wonderful as mine has been, I know it won’t be. Climate change is upon us. We’ll all be dealing with it from now on. For me, maybe not so long but for her and those who follow, a life-long crisis.
My newspaper-reading cohort, we can make amends today by electing clean energy advocates to Arizona’s Corporation Commission. Please vote for Arizona’s solar team: Bill Mundell, Shea Stanfield and Anna Tovar.
Greg Lewis
Midtown
Vote blue to start the repair
Even though I am registered with the Green Party, please, regardless of your party affiliation or independent status, consider voting for Democratic candidates across the board.
We can’t have four more years of Donald Trump and his cronies controlling the executive branch and the Senate. The country as a whole and our system of governance will be damaged even further otherwise.
We also need Democratic majorities in the Arizona House and Senate.
Time to start undoing the damage and bring the country back together.
Richard Fridena
West side
A case for more political parties
I don’t want to hold my nose and vote for Donald Trump, and I don’t want to hold my nose and vote for Joe Biden. Neither party’s platform or candidates reflect my thinking. We now have such a diverse spectrum of political beliefs — from Marxist/socialist on the extreme left to evangelical Christian on the right — that the two-party system is no longer serving the country well.
Smaller parties with their own unique platforms would reflect people’s beliefs better and provide more choice. There are precedents in our history for multiple parties and several candidates running for president. A parliamentarian system might force several parties to form coalition governments, creating cooperation instead of this endless bickering, roadblocking and ploying for position at any cost.
But unfortunately, it’s not going to happen: the divisiveness will continue no matter who wins the election, much to the detriment of the country and its people.
Alexandra Rycar
Midtown
No war with Iran
Some folks say the phrase “October Surprise” is outdated. Yet even if we dare to think nothing can surprise us anymore, one action would rank as untenable: going to war with Iran. I am a member of the Friends Committee on National Legislation Tucson Advocacy Team who values peace and diplomacy. I ask fellow citizens and our representatives to consider how catastrophic initiating military conflict would be during this pandemic and election cycle.
Tensions with Iran are escalating. However, Congress can stop war from happening. There is growing bipartisan support for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 to prohibit military action against Iran without congressional authorization, except in response to an attack on the U.S. or its armed forces.
Negotiations about this amendment are happening now, and I urge our members of Congress to support it. If peace is important to you, please call your representatives to ask for their support.
Kristine Bentz
Catalina
Vote for Garbriella for Recorder
Tip O’Neill liked to say that “all politics is local.” My favorite local candidate is Gabriella Cazares-Kelly for Pima County Recorder. With all the tense hullabaloo over voting this year, we can all rest easy in future elections with her plan to protect and serve the voting citizens in our county.
She will institute 21st century document recording, and provide ballot text receipt confirmation, just to name two of her brilliant initiatives. Arizona will also be proud to vote in our first native citizen to elected office. Indigenous woman coming through!
Cheryl Lockhart
Northwest side
Make sure your ballot counts
With misinformation circulating about mail-in ballots, voters need facts. Follow these tips to make sure your ballot counts.
- Use blue or black ballpoint pen to mark your ballot. No pencil. No markers that “bleed” through paper.
- When the ballot says, “Vote for not more than two,” (or three) there’s no need to cast that many votes. Your favored candidate has the best chance of winning with a single vote. For example, in LD11 if your goal is to see Felipe Perez, M.D., become Arizona State Representative, vote for only one candidate — Perez. Don’t vote for Finchem or Roberts since that would raise their total and the two highest vote getters win.
- If mailing your ballot, do NOT put a first-class stamp on the outer envelope.
- If you prefer to skip postal delivery, return your ballot to an Early Voting Site, a curbside drop-off site, or an Election Day Polling Location. Times and places are listed at the Pima County’s recorders office website.
Diana Alexander
Oro Valley
Rex Scott a compassionate leader
My daughter, an enthusiastic voter in her mid-20s, was excited to open her ballot. She was disappointed to see that she is in the wrong district to vote for Rex Scott for Pima County Supervisor. She had moved to Tucson as a senior at Catalina High School.
Rex, was the principal and made her feel welcome and a valuable part of the school community. At the time, there were 42 languages spoken at the school. Rex knew all the kids and welcomed them all. When he left, they made him a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.
When you hear him speak, you know he understands Pima County well. He’s a natural leader. It’s his heart that sets him apart from other leaders. We need leaders now who truly care about all members of our community.
Dan Meyer
Midtown
Recorder’s office, USPS deserve praise
On Friday, Oct. 9, my wife and I received our ballots. We dropped the completed ballots (no extra postage, please) in a USPS drive thru box on Saturday, Oct. 10. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, I went to the Pima County Recorder’s website to check the status of our ballots. The website confirmed as to both ballots: received, signatures verified and ballots transferred to Elections Department for counting. This all happened on Monday, Oct. 12!
The good people of the United States Postal Service did their job and did it well. They are carrying on as professionals, despite a shameful onslaught from Donald Trump and their own postmaster general. We also appreciate the great service provided by F. Ann Rodriguez and her excellent staff in the Pima County Recorder’s Office. We wish Ann a fine retirement and know that our next recorder will inherit a top-notch department. Thanks USPS and Pima Recorder’s office. Vote!
Douglas Williams
Foothills
Supreme Court is just a political tool
I’m afraid that the Republican’s bald-faced hypocrisy of forcing through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett after refusing in 2016 to even hold hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland is forcing me to change my perception of the Supreme Court.
Our justices may still dress up in their fine black robes and speak solemnly about the sanctity of the law, but increasingly I see the Supreme Court as being a blunt political instrument of the Republican agenda, one aimed at depriving me and millions of others of our Affordable Care Act health insurance, and millions of women of their right to an abortion.
Greg Evans
West side
Lazy man, lazy motto
Just thinking about Donald Trump and his motto, “Make America Great Again.” How lazy can he be to just reuse his motto from four years ago? When he used it in 2016 it was to show that he was going to change President Barack Obama’s considerable positive work for our country. To be using it again illustrates that Trump is aware that the United States is not so great now and that he hasn’t done much for our country.
How lazy and unconcerned about one’s message can he be? Why would anyone want four more years of the same chaos and drama that has not created anything positive if he needs four more years to make America great again?
Barbara Mongan
West side
Kelly lays it out; McSally gets it from McConnell
Can’t decide if you should vote for Mark Kelly or Martha McSally for your next U.S. Senator? Let me help you. I don’t think I’ve seen a nastier, more vicious campaign than the one McSally is waging, and since I’m looking for a senator whose values of human dignity and common decency are reflected in their campaign, chalk this point up for Mark Kelly.
Secondly, I have written many letters to McSally asking her where she stands on a particular issue, and only once has she actually explained her position or even admitted to HAVING a position. I have concluded that McSally can’t tell me her position on any issue, until Mitch McConnell tells her what it is.
Martha isn’t accountable to the people of Arizona; her master is McConnell, and she puts him above her constituents every time. I want an independent senator who will act on an intrinsic set of principles in concert with input from Arizonans. Vote for Mark Kelly.
Barbara Seese
North side
McSally just can’t help herself
I have read several letters from other Arizonans regarding Martha McSally’s desperate, over-the-top ads. The consensus seems to be that McSally cannot cut an honest, positive or even decent advertisement.
Now, she almost accomplished a somewhat decent ad with her latest television spot, where she directly asks folks for their vote, against a backdrop of our 9/11 response and our greatest generation storming the beaches of Normandy.
She even ran footage of herself assisting the Salvation Army with their relief efforts. Nice touch.
And right when you think you can trust her, she takes a cheap shot at Mark Kelly (sporting his “sexist” Breitling watch), calling him “smiles.”
She can’t help herself. Martha McSally simply cannot make a compelling case on her merits and her record, so she must drag Kelly through the mud.
I believe the term “unlikable” is sexist when we cavalierly apply it to women in politics. But in this election, Martha McSally is the exception.
Ryan Denson
Northwest side
A question to SCOTUS nominee
Like her mentor Justice Antonin Scalia, Judge Amy Coney Barrett is an “originalist” believing “law is timeless” — to be assessed in the context in which it was written. Our Constitution was written in 1787 when African Americans were slaves; women and others denied many rights.
Two centuries later, we rush to approve a Supreme Court Justice who will, for decades, judge our modern life through the lens of the 18th century. So how will Barrett judge a case against a Constitution which has no mention of education, marriage, health care, abortion, or IVF? We don’t know.
James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, said our Constitution would not legislate the human mind. He defined religious freedom as the “full and equal rights of conscience” which included all religions or none. So, how can our Supreme Court deny a woman the right to choose if in her conscience, abortion is acceptable?
Question: Can Barrett separate her “conscience” from that of another? We, the people, deserve one who can.
Sue Applegate
SaddleBrooke
