Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Pima Dems Endorse Prop 401

Posted By on Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 1:16 PM

Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers managed to swing an endorsement of Prop 401 (which would increase the power of mayor, reduce City Council elections to once every four years, increase the pay of City Council members and give the city manager more power to fire department heads) from the Pima County Democratic Party. Today's press release:


It is our sincere belief that passage of Prop 401 will save Tucson taxpayers money, streamline Tucson government, make bureaucrats accountable to the citizens and voters of Tucson and pay a fair living wage to those dedicated public servants who choose to serve our great city. Tucson is a wonderful place to live, work, raise a family, and start a business. We are dedicated to giving Tucson the best government structure possible. We hope the voters will agree that Tucson deserves more than an antiquated 81 year old City Charter designed for a city of 30,000 residents when it now encompasses the entire valley with a population of over 500,000 and a budget of over a billion dollars per year.

Proposition 401 is backed by an extremely diverse array of groups and individuals. Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF), an arm of the AFL-CIO which represents 28 labor unions in Southern Arizona, joins with traditionally conservative business groups such as the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC), the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce

and the Tucson Association of Realtors in backing this forward thinking measure. Environmental groups, Non-Profits including Nonprofit Executives Together, Republicans, Democrats - even Trent Humphries of the Tucson Tea Party all agree that this charter change is important for Tucson’s future. Co-chairs of this campaign include PALF Chair Linda Hatfield, former congressman Jim Kolbe, El Charro owner Carlotta Flores and U of A President Emeritus Peter Likins.

Please join us in improving the structure of our city government and vote yes on Proposition 401.