Pueblo Politics

Most companies are legally required to be selfish.  That is, to put shareholder value over all other considerations including worker health, dangers to consumers, damage to the environment, or anything else.

Enter the "B Corp" - a kind of company that can legally pay attention to what most of us call values.  Arizona doesn't yet recognize "B" Corps, but five states now do: Maryland, Vermont, Virginia, New Jersey and now New York.

Arizona?  What does your legislator say?

see http://bcorporation.net

The cool thing about citizen journalism is you get to talk to really neat people. I talked to Randy Parraz, who led the Pearce recall effort, back in June.  His voice was a little raspy after talking to thousands of voters, and the day after turning in the petitions he sounded a little tired, but took time to talk to me bright and early and explain how this turnaround came about.

So this was a big day for Arizona?

I didn't even know there is a strong effort out to recall Russell Pearce, the Arizona State Senator who has perhaps done the most harm to Arizona and to Tucson.

** Update - There were actually TWO efforts to recall pearce, and the first one posted, Arizonans for Better Government, is now focused on finding a decent Mormon Republican to replace him.

The second effort, Citizens for a Better Arizona, is about to reach its signature quota, see http://recallpearce.com - Arizonans for Better Govt is asking people to donate to the Citizens group since they need the money to complete their recall effort.

The deadline is May 31, help energize this campaign!

Citizens for a Better Government also has a facebook page

The Arizonans for Better Government http://recallrussellpearce.wordpress.com/ took a smart tactic of having some Mormon leaders run fireside chats to educate Mormon voters about the position of the LDS church, which is actually pretty humane and not at all in line with Pearce's brand of vitriol.

Some background info: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/karmic-update-recall-campaign-agains

Quite a bit, according to Jonathan Rothschild, the Democratic candidate apparent.  Rothschild, currently a $295/hr attorney, intends to drop out of his law practice and dedicate his 12-hour workdays to 'doing whatever it takes' to make Tucson thrive.

We (myself and two of my daughters) interviewed Rothschild from broad strokes to brass tacks.  He's articulate, well-researched, and can think on his feet.  My kids also thought he was genuinely decent, and they are pretty tough on fakes.

Walking through Military Plaza park this afternoon, a small rally was in progress and I had a chance to talk to one of the volunteers for the campaign to Recall Jan Brewer.  It seems the campaign was started by a Republican!  And when the volunteer was making her calls asking for support, she mentioned this fact.  The woman on the other end started laughing - "I'm a republican too, and I can't stand that woman.  I'm going to tell all my republican friends!"

Perhaps there is some hope for the Moderate Middle after all.  Moderates of Arizona, unite!

"Citizenship isn't just the possession of rights and responsibilities; it's a state of mind."  --Jess Zimbabwe, speaking at the 2010 Open Cities conference.

It's your city.  Have at it.