Arizona List Flagstaff Meet & Greet – This Friday 7/21
Arizona List is a statewide network whose mission is to recruit, train, support & elect pro-choice Democratic Women into office throughout AZ. Join them this Friday July 21 in Flagstaff to meet pro-choice elected officials and candidates. Please help the organizers in planning by clicking here to RSVP.
Indigenous Rural Action Summit this Saturday
Save Our Schools Arizona, Indivisible Arizona, Arizona Native Vote, and partners will host an Indigenous Rural Action Summit at Monument Valley High School on July 22nd, 2023.The summit is the first of its kind and is an opportunity for grassroots organizations, local community members, organizers, and leaders to come together. The goals of this summit are to network, learn, and amplify issues related to voting rights, education, outreach, community solutions, elections, and more.
Attendees will learn more about grassroots organizing, the election process in Arizona and updates on voting rights bills. Stakeholder will hear directly from county election staff, civic engagement and community leaders, and special guest speakers. The event is also an opportunity for community members to learn how and where they can get involved to make a difference in their community. RSVP here.
You’re Invited, RSVP today
Date Change – September Monthly Action Meeting
Due to the State Committee Meeting being held on September 9th, we are now hosting our September Monthly Action Meeting on September 16th, 2023. Stay tuned for meeting details and speakers.
Media Matters: Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse blog
We continue with our series of short pieces in this newsletter, sharing links to media sources that some of our leaders and volunteers find useful in filtering the noise.
Ann Heitland is an attorney and the former Chair of the Coconino County Democratic Party Some days, I don’t want to hear another word about The Former Guy’s legal troubles until they can tell me he’s in an orange jumpsuit. Other days, I want the details. On those days, I turn to a blog by former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, published on Substack, entitled Civil Discourse. And Civil Discourse offers so much more for those interested in reporting from the place where law and politics intersect.Vance served the Justice Department in Alabama for 25 years, 10 years as a line prosecutor before moving into appellate work. President Obama appointed her as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and she was approved unanimously (!!) by the Senate. She is currently a law professor and a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC. She also co-hosts two podcasts, #SistersInLaw and Cafe’s Insider. If you watch MSNBC, her face will be familiar to you. She occasionally posts about raising chickens. Vance helps me understand questions such as:
- how grand juries work & why DOJ operates with so much secrecy
- what the government must prove to convict defendants of a conspiracy
- why so many ethical guardrails failed during the Trump administration and what Congress can do to restore them
- what each of us can do to protect the right to vote
As we wade through the coming months of Trump’s various civil and criminal lawsuits, Vance will be a useful guide. For example, read Civil Discourse from June 19 and you’ll understand the preliminary orders entered by the court in the Miami espionage case. On June 1, Vance explained why you shouldn’t let anyone call you extreme when you say that what Trump is trying to pull off is fascism: Can We Call It Fascism Yet?
Each week, Civil Discourse begins with a post filled with background you’ll need to understand the anticipated legal events of the week ahead. On June 18, I was reminded of the background on John Eastman as a lead in to the California bar’s disciplinary proceedings that happened that week. Also, I learned that Trump’s exclusive agreement with Truth Social ends soon so his rants may reappear on Twitter (where Elon Musk reinstated his account, which was banned by the former owners). I suggest you make Civil Discourse one of your “go-to” sites for reading with your morning coffee.
July Monthly Meeting Highlights
Coconino County Democrats gathered in the Murdoch Center (and by Zoom) on July 8, 2023, to enjoy inspiring updates from the party – along with Frank and Nancy Branham’s delicious home-baked treats. After a land acknowledgment by Harriet Young, chair Laura Carter shared a short video on the effectiveness of President Biden’s economic strategies (aka Bidenomics), and encouraged all of us to share this video and its talking points with others (YouTube, Let’s Talk Bidenomics).
Our volunteers have been visible and busy at all the local festivals, events, and weekly markets, but we should continue to recruit new volunteers and engage more folks prior to the 2024 election year. To that end, we should all hope to bring some additional people to the August Monsoon Picnic, and we should be signing ourselves up for some of the many upcoming activities – from continued tabling at the weekly Farmers’ Markets to voter registration drives. Nancy Branham highlighted our new commitment to volunteer at the Flagstaff Family Food Center every month (first Thursday, 3 – 6 pm). She also highlighted signups for voter registration drives starting in September at NAU, CCC, and the local high schools.
Continue reading here
Registering Future Voters on College & High School Campuses
Voter registration is a vital action that we can take to further our goal to elect more Democrats. Next month as school resumes, we will be registering voters
in local High Schools, Coconino Community College and NAU. Plans are underway at CCC & NAU in partnership with Arizona Student Association. If you are interested in volunteering with college students, please email Monique for more information.
Coco Dems are excited to participate in the Civic Center Ready to Vote Coalition with Young Arizona Democrats and CEBV Youth organizers to help youth leaders organize high school voter registration drives. Local high school activists will be trained and equipped to engage their peers in exercising their democratic franchise. If you are, or know of any, civic minded high school students who might be interested in volunteering, please contact us.
Upcoming Community Service Opportunities
The Coconino County Democratic Party serves our community.
We have volunteered to serve meals at the Flagstaff Family Food Center on the first Thursday of each month. We need six to eight people for each shift and you can sign up HERE. The shifts run from 3-6PM. Volunteers will be contacted prior to serving to complete a waiver and review FFFC policies. Thank you for your service!
Flagstaff Community Market & The Coconino County Fair
- Register voters and chat with the community at the Sunday Farmers Market. We’re there every weekend! Sign up for a shift here.
- Join us in Tuba City for the weekly Outdoor Market. Email Deydrek Scott for more information.
- We’ll be back at the Coconino County Fair September 1-4, 2023. Click here to volunteer for a shift.
Here’s How to Reach Your Executive Committee Members
