Letters to the Editor by Mike Hurley

     Know what the Arizona GOP has done and is doing with its one-vote majority in the House and two in the Senate? Here’s a small sampling:  

     A complete overhaul of Arizona’s income tax structure. If you earn $75K or less, you get maybe $100. If you earn upwards of $250K, you get thousands. 

     Based on lies, the Arizona election process is being thrown into chaos. Restrictions on voting by mail, ballot drop-offs, early polling locations and times are all up for grabs despite their overwhelming popularity across party lines. The secretary of state has been stripped of her ability to fight for election integrity and the Legislature wants to steal election results from voters.   

     Despite Arizona voters putting the kibosh on voucher expansion, the GOP is hell bent on taking tax dollars from public schools and promoting religious education — the First Amendment be damned. While crying about federal overreach, the GOP is strong-arming cities and towns regarding setting local minimum wage policies. Teachers are called “terrorists and scourge” by GOP elected and candidates who want to spy on every word spoken in classrooms — don’t say race and don’t say gay! Legal and safe abortion will become a felony and lethal. 

     The point I’m making is simply that the GOP in Arizona is using a one-vote majority to shut down democracy bit by bit. Before our very eyes, the rights we’ve taken for granted are being erased. Keep in mind that they have no legislative agenda or plans to help working families, in fact, they obstruct any such measures proposed by Democrats.  

     The 2022 election is about saving the “D” of democracy by voting for the “D” of Democrats. Short of that, we will join Hong Kong and Ukraine on the list of endangered democracies. 

     Ever wonder why the GOP adamantly opposes any restrictions on guns while vigorously supporting extreme restrictions on voting rights? Without evidence of fraud, they’re willing to make voting more difficult, yet with gun violence reaching epidemic levels, the GOP refuses to lift a finger. They’re willing to purge legitimate voters but unwilling to block terrorists from gun show purchases. Based strictly on Trump's defeat, the GOP is now making a 2024 insurrection easier and far more likely.

     Saturday’s Dispatch editorial contained some misleading election legislation information. First it implied that the current trend of sweeping election law changes “are states doing a good job." That’s a fallacy because these changes are all aimed at suppressing the vote and controlling the outcome. Secondly, the editorial asserts there’s a new attempt to “federalize elections" — that’s completely false. Voting rights have been protected by the federal government since 1965. Until very recently, those protections were upheld on a nearly unanimous basis in Congress and the Supreme Court.

The conservative SCOTUS “simple majority ran over the minority” to gut voters’ protections. Now, states have begun to systematically use their “simple legislative majority” to run over election integrity and access for minorities." Thus, the need for restated federal protections to be passed by the Democratic majority despite an obstructionist GOP minority!

     It’ll be interesting to see whom the Dispatch chooses to endorse in 2022. If the trend holds, Arizona’s conspiracy theorists and big liars will be very happy.

     The 40-hour work week; safety rules; fair wages; protections from unfair discipline and firing; fighting workplace discrimination; health care and retirement benefits; a voice in product quality and employee training: These are among the ways organized labor represents the rights and prosperity of American workers. As a longtime member of the Pipefitters Union, I speak from personal experience.

     Tuesday’s letter writer mentions the so-called Right to Work (Right to Starve) law. This statute is actually the way “big business” enforces keeping workers from representation and protections. While most industries continuously collude on wages and pricing, workers are blocked from their right to collectively bargain and negotiate benefits.

     The writer implies that the collection of union dues is some kind of fraud. Again, workers are up against big money from “big business." Fighting legal battles and lobbying on behalf of employees is expensive. Across America, workers have seen wage and benefit increases only because unions fought for them — the dues collected have paid huge dividends, even for non-union workers. Thanks to organized labor, all workers have prospered.

Remember the days when union work was considered the gold standard for quality? As union membership has gone down, so has the quality of work in every industry. Union members have always been the best trained, they take pride in their profession and pass along their skill and attitude to the next generation of American workers through their apprenticeship programs. Union labor is still the gold standard.

     Conservative talking points clearly demonstrate their fear of an informed and organized workforce. Organized workers are a force for a fair and prosperous American economy.

     Today’s anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are a danger to society. Facts and civil and reasonable argument are wasted on those people who refuse to listen or comply no matter what. You can recognize them as they rant against those who wear masks and choose to be vaccinated. You can hear them shouting and see them assaulting in supermarkets and at school board meetings. You can hear them threatening people who dare to use reasonable precautions to protect their health and the health of the people around them.

     Where once they would have accepted these precautions, they now find excuses to reject them. They are emboldened by elected officials who fail to mandate in the public interest. I’m talking about governors like Ducey and DeSantis and others who act as self-appointed medical experts, as did former President Trump, and end by sabotaging a national effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants. School boards and city councils are penalized by the threat or actual loss of state funds when they do the right thing to protect their children and citizens with local mandates. State government forbids local control while at the same time hypocritically spouting a conservative talking point that local government closest to the people is the best government. These elected officials pose as the protectors of “freedom” as they pander to a right-wing base to secure Republican gains in the next election.

     Before the next election, it is estimated 700,000 people will be dead from COVID. The base, unable or unwilling to accept the responsibility that comes with true freedom — the responsibility to act without harming others — storms across the country unwashed, unmasked and unvaccinated, aiding the spread of COVID-19 and the Delta and Mu variants. 

     Raging fires, record temperatures, diminishing water; how can one not believe in scientifically proven climate change? With his disdain for the will of the voters and the rampant corruption in his administration (as explosively detailed by The Arizona Republic), how can Gov. Ducey seek the presidency when what’s in order is his resignation? While the nation laughs at Arizona’s Cyber Ninjas “fraudit,” an exercise riddled with incompetence and based on “The Big Lie,” how can one support Republicans responsible for the clown show? How can one support Attorney General Brnovich and his try for higher office as he proudly announces an investigation into “election irregularities” while refusing to investigate election tampering by Giuliani, Ward and Trump’s White House?

     How can any member of Congress that voted against a bipartisan commission and/or downplayed the events of Jan. 6 walk past a Capitol Police officer without averting their eyes in shame? With COVID cases, serious illness and deaths on the rise, how can those who distribute vaccine misinformation, done for purely political (Republican) purposes, live with themselves? Knowing the unfortunate truth about the most despicable and incompetent president in our history, with more coming out every day, why are Republican politicians lining up to kiss his ring? How does this vile man continue his hold over what was once a reasonable, effective party? Knowing that the Republican Party no longer exists, hijacked by Trump and his ilk, how can one continue to support the now Retrumplican Party at any level? Questions to ponder.

     How did LD11 get more than its fair share of extremist and dangerous state legislators? Sen. Leach is known for doing all he can to undermine the will of Arizona voters, Rep. Finchem is being recalled because of his encouragement of the Jan. 6 insurrection and now Rep. Roberts is publicly attacking lifesaving COVID-19 vaccinations.

     These three are among the most far right fear and hate mongers in a state Legislature jam-packed with “Big Lie” and weirdo conspiracy theorists. While the craziness can usually be written off as bizarre or even silly, Roberts has crossed the line into becoming a public health risk.

     In two separate CG Dispatch articles, Roberts is quoted as bragging about not being vaccinated and questioning the efficacy of the approved vaccines. He makes some ridiculous comparison between Hepatitis C (spread by sharing injection needles) and COViD-19 (spread mainly via the air). He minimizes the deadly impact of COVID-19 across America and implies that only people over 72 need worry and that those deaths aren’t important anyway.

     Rep. Bret Roberts is a public heath risk. As a state legislator, he has a responsibility to provide honest information to his constituents and he has failed in that task. The CG Dispatch front page headline quotes Dr. Cara Christ (state health director) saying Roberts’ comments are hurting vaccination efforts in Arizona. But headlines aren’t enough to stop science deniers like Roberts — the voters of LD11 need to take direct action.

     Please call 800-352-8404 and tell Rep. Roberts to stop putting Arizona lives at risk by spreading false information regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Let him know that we, the voters, will not tolerate his dangerous dishonesty any longer.