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Arizona State News

Vol. 2, No. 4--May 11, 2005

Tucson Chapter:

The Tucson Chapter of AzDPC has been making great headway in the formation of new working Groups which we have also decided to call "Life Boats" (a name we picked up from a PDA chapter in California).

Our newly formed media reporters have taken on the challenge of being the Media since none of our local papers or News agencies report what's really happening either locally, statewide or nationally to our satisfaction.

Due to some extraordinary footwork, independent film was shot of the thousand-plus protestors who gathered for Bush's visit to Tucson. The "B roll" was handed over to local TV and shown on the 10:00 news--which had earlier in the day reported that only two hundred showed up. The independent film proved them wrong. We call this "Guerrilla Media."

Tucson has also decided to step out and help sponsor a fundraiser for a local citizen whose family has been devastated due to lack of medical coverage. Reverend Gerry Straatemier (an AzDPC State Steering Committee member) brought this to our attention and we are tying it together with the whole Social Security and Medicare fiasco. We felt that we were about more than just politics and needed to reach out into the community.

A new Life Boat is reaching out to young people and encouraging them to write articles in their school newspapers on topics we will suggest each month. It gets them involved in a new way. We will endeavor to make the topics non-partisan in nature and let them take it where they will. We will do this outreach at the high school and college levels.

We have put out feelers to form new alliances with other organizations in an all-out effort to strengthen the community effort to take this country back.

We are endorsing candidates for local City elections who are progressive and absolutely super human beings.

We are encouraged that our efforts to work with State and County Dems to recognize and support State legislation and legislators is beginning to take shape. Locally, the Pima county Democrats put out a weekly newsletter which, as of the last week of April, will begin to cover important issues such as those previously mentioned.

Our Chapter meets at the PCD Headquarters one week prior to the Democratic Executive Committee meeting so that we can make sure we have the latest information to share at that meeting.

Phoenix:

A new book discussion group has formed and had its first meeting at the Phoenix Library on God's Politics by Jim Wallis. There were 16 people in attendance. It was a great opportunity for us to reach out into the community to encourage them to join AzDPC/PDA. The discussion went well. The two hours passed quickly. There were many good remarks made about the subject matter. The book discussions will become a regular event of the Phoenix Chapter.

Rick Romero, the genius behind the "We The People" DVD (which can be purchased online), has been covering the State Capitol beat and now has had several good interviews from the steps of the Capitol with State legislators, which he publishes on our Web page.

Statewide:

We have formed our own Media Reporting Team to cover the state and make sure news is reported to the mainstream media as well as to our members and other alliances within the state. Thanks to the assistance of PDA's David Swanson we were able to get Press Cards to get into areas that are usually difficult to get into.

Submitted by: David Kaler

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