Heartbreaking Tunnel Fire
As this edition comes to you, the Tunnel Fire is burning at 20,000-plus acres north of Flagstaff. It has displaced many of our friends and neighbors. Too many have lost homes. The vegetation at Sunset Crater National Monument has burned though the Park Service was able to save important artifacts and the Vistors Center still stands. Our hearts and thoughts extend to everyone who has been displaced. At the same time, we are thankful that our Coconino Community has come together to rescue animals and feed, clothe, and house displaced persons, livestock, and pets. Our county leadership is performing well as they do in such disasters, though this may be their biggest test.
This is not over. Be kind and give what you can to the many in need. Thank the fire fighters, law enforcement, and County leadership for their efforts.
Earth Day Actions!
We are 200 Days from the General Election so now is a great time to flex your activist muscles for the months to come.
Today: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Earth Day Urban Trail Clean Up
Saturday: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Protect YOUR Planet Flagstaff Weekend of Action – Mission for Arizona
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Earth Day Weekend of Action Phonebank- Mission for Arizona
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Visit our Booth at the Earth Day Celebration – voter registration and more!
Sunday:
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Earth Day Weekend of Action Phonebank- Mission for Arizona
The previously planned highway cleanup with our Region 9 PCs and Volunteers has been postponed because our stretch of highway is at the staging area for the fire work.
On April 18, our Region 6 Western Region Dems braved the wind to clean up the litter along SR 64 near Red Lake, along with our LD-7 State Senate Candidate, Kyle Nitschke and his campaign team.
Truth Brigade
At our last action meeting, we talked about The Truth Brigade, a new initiative from Indivisible to fight misinformation. The idea is to craft messages in a format called a “truth sandwich” which consists of three parts – the first part opens with a statement of shared values, the second part encourages critical thinking by questioning the motives of those who act in opposition to our common values, the final statement ends with our shared dream for a better future. You can see examples of our Truth Sandwiches on Facebook and Twitter pages.
These campaigns from The Truth Brigade primarily address national issues. If you would like to help us craft Truth Sandwiches on local issues, please contact Jamey Hasapis (james.hasapis@gmail.com) or Linda Guarino (linda.guarino@gmail.com). This election season is bound to be full of misinformation as campaigns attack one another and this is a proven way to counter these messages.
More on Messaging
Also at our Action Meeting on April 9, we heard from Congressman O’Halleran, who spent a significant amount of time with us discussing his race and answering our questions. We must all adjust to calling our Congressional District CD-2 as it was renamed in the redistricting process. The addition of Prescott and Prescott Valley to our district has made the race a top target for GOP pickup, yet it remains very winnable if our Democrats turn out as they did in 2020. We’ll be focusing hard on the importance of this race for maintaining the House Majority.
Our other guests on April 9 — County Board Chair Patrice Horstman and Flagstaff Mayor Paul Deasy — provided a wealth of information about funds that have come to our community because of the American Rescue Plan. We’ll be providing more of these details in writing soon, but some prime talking points are the retention pond/skate facility at Killip Elementary School, which is a piece of the Museum Fire flood mitigation work, a new diversion court as part of the County Superior Court system, and replacement of millions of dollar of city sales tax revenue that was lost due to the pandemic.
We plan to continue the discussion of positive and accountability messaging at our May Action Meeting — Save the Date – May 14 from 10 to noon at the Murdoch Center (and Zoom).
Your Ballot Is in the Mail
Early voting has begun for the May 17 special election. We have endorsed Prop 438 to support the Coconino Community College.
Details on early voting are here.
ICYMI
A young Democrat’s viral takedown demands a ‘wokeness’ rethink
Democrats are hostage to the myth of their ideas’ unpopularity
Finally…
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Calendar of Coconino County Democratic Party
Here’s How to Reach Your Executive Committee Members
