Bi-Monthly Newsletter

News

January 6, 2022

First Meeting of the New Year Saturday!

Come for a roundup of redistricting results presented by Sharon Edgar with comments by Laura Huenneke both of whom have served as our Arizona Democratic Party redistricting liaisons and so much more over this last difficult year of redistricting. Learn about the Flagstaff split and the final Flagstaff tweak on the Legislative District Maps and about our new Congressional District.

Our guest candidate speaker is City Council Candidate Claire Hardi, MPA. We will also hear from two Flagstaff Unified School Board members regarding challenges facing our schools.

We have many announcements of party activities as we leap into this Election Year. You won’t want to miss this meeting. Zoom link here.

Let’s Start to Work Today!

This week we are partnering with the Arizona Democratic Party 15/30 Program to acknowledge the one-year anniversary of the attacks on our Capitol on January 6th. Over 20,000 Arizonans have left the Republican party since January 6th, 2021. Our goal is to call all 20,000 people to (1) thank them for being registered to vote and (2) acknowledge that we saw they changed their party affiliation in the last year and ask what sparked that change.

Phone banks are being set up so that folks will be able to enter their Zip Code to call voters in their area/county if they’d like. This project begins Tuesday and runs through Thursday, January 6.

Let’s do something to start the year off right as we fight for democracy! Sign up for a shift here.

LD-7 PCs Meet Tonight to Nominate for State Senate Appointment
The resignation of State Senator Jamescita Peshlakai triggers a statutory process by which the Coconino County Board of Supervisors will appoint someone to fill the vacancy. The first step in the process is for our LD7 Precinct Committee Members to nominate three qualified candidates to the Board of Supervisors. Senator Jamescita resigned on December 22 and the Legislature reconvenes on January 12, so this has been a busy time for our Chair, Office Manager, and leaders among the LD-7 PCs. Special thanks to Deydrek Scott, Charlene Nez, and Donna Hanley for working through the holidays to achieve a successful meeting Tuesday night.

Executive Director Job Listing Posted
As previewed in our last newsletter, our Executive Committee has authorized the hiring of an Executive Director. This move will allow us to continue the tremendous expansion of party work that we have achieved over the last 4 years and lay the foundation for new leadership at the officer level beginning in 2023. Our County Party will be the 4th in the State of Arizona to employ an Executive Director. (Maricopa, Navajo, and Pima Counties each employ their own directors as well as other staff.) This move will strengthen our party and its contribution to electing Democrats throughout the State of Arizona. Over the past few years, we have employed a part-time office manager and several organizers as well as interns, but the management of the party has been left to our volunteer officers. It’s time to up our game to continue the work to turn Arizona blue. This change will require a major new effort at fundraising. Please contribute to our Executive Director Fund or become a monthly donor.

Read the ED Job Description.

Donate to Our Executive Director Fund

MLK Day of Service
Watch our calendars for the upcoming MLK Day of Service!

ICYMI

2022 Must Be Different

Wendy Rogers Wants to Spend 5% of Arizona’s Budget to Build 70 Miles of Border Wall

Every Day is January 6 Now

Investigations show there’s a cost to Gov. Ducey’s conservative tax and regulation cutting agenda

‘Slow-motion insurrection’: How GOP seizes election power

New Year’s Thoughts

Do More, Worry Less

In 2022, we should all do more and worry less. No amount of worry will alter the outcome of events in 2022—but our actions will. Worry is inevitable (and healthy), so my new year’s resolution is not that we should stop worrying. Rather, it is that we should shift the balance in favor of a bias to action and away from an impulse to worry. The coming year will present significant opportunities and challenges. We will win some battles and lose others…Each generation is called upon to defend democracy anew. It is the steady state. And as long as it is, we should settle in, get comfortable, and go about the hard work of proving that we are worthy of the legacy bequeathed to us by the sacrifice of prior generations. Do more, worry less.

Robert B. Hubbell, Do More, Worry Less

Stop Complaining About the Media, Be The Messengers

In 2022, Democrats have a political imperative to share good news with the voters. We must tell people what President Biden and the Democratic Congress delivered. Despite inflation and other issues, the American economy is in the midst of a historic recovery. More jobs were created in 2021 than any year in American history. Between the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, and whatever parts of Biden’s economic plan hopefully emerge from the Manchin cul-de-sac, we have a great story to tell. But here’s where the rubber hits the road for the Democratic Party: we are trying to tell a story of good news through a media with every incentive to focus on bad news… While I know a lot of stories were written about Biden’s accomplishments, they are not being read, shared, or promoted like accounts of crises. The good is being drowned out by the bad. It is a strategy doomed to fail.

We need to recognize that we have agency in this situation. And when I say “we” I don’t mean the White House and the DNC. I mean you and me. Every person with a smartphone has the ability to spread good news to our networks — our Facebook friends, Instagram and Twitter followers, and the contacts in our phones. We can share good news and better information. We can take it upon ourselves to make sure the people in our lives know what was in the American Rescue Plan or what Joe Biden has done to make sure everyone who wants a vaccine can get one.

None of this is easy. But no one is going to do it for us. The media is not going to change their stripes, so we need to change our strategy.

Dan Pfieffer, How the Media’s Addiction to Bad News Hurts Dems

Consider Running for Flagstaff City Council

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Sign Candidate Petitions

You can now sign local candidate petitions online through the Arizona Secretary of State just as you do for statewide candidates!

Plus, you can make $5 donations to Clean Election Candidates such as Superintendent Kathy Hoffman and our Corporation Commission candidates through the same system!