Politics heating up in the parking lot

On my way to the Chile Festival I dodged 2 young men with #ACTNOW t-shirts who were seeking my signature for something or the other. I told them I’d look them up online. That seem to have worked because they turned away and started toward some other people. I’ve since tried to find ACTNOW online and have come up with this organization in Europe and North Africa. The same group? A U.S. branch? Different altogether? And what were they doing in the Rillito Farmers market parking lot? Maybe I should have asked questions rather than just blowing them off.

Not far away I came across 2 women who were using ironing boards as “tables’ for their political efforts. Ironing boards: nice domestic touch! They were soliciting signatures for 4 or 5 different referendums and citizen-sponsored ballot measures.

I was only interested in signing one of them–the “Red for Ed” one that countered the Arizona Legislature’s effort to undermine funds from Prop 208 which passed in November 2020. Prop 208 essentially added a surtax on rich Arizonans with that surtax money going to the schools. But then I learned that the Legislature and Governor had passed and signed a new state flat tax that disallowed any other taxes–like the school surtax. They snatched the money away from schools.

What?? I definitely need to start paying more attention and asking more questions.

When I lived in California I used to sign petitions all the time because I figured voters would become informed by the opposing sides and do the right thing on election day. But then in Los Angeles a few years ago a multi-million dollar bond issue passed that amortized repairing potholes over 30 years. L.A. Mayor Garcetti’s Office touted the bonds as being for expansion of the Metro–but repairing potholes was actually the highest priority for use of the funds. I’ll spare you my rant about Garcetti and another rant about Feinstein. Two utterly worthless politicos if you ask me.

In the meantime here in Arizona there is that idiocy going on up in Maricopa County keeping lawyers and journalists busy. We’re all still waiting (and waiting) for the Cyber Ninjas’ report. They say–again–this is the week we’ll all read it. This week–sure.

So it looks like Arizona politics are heating up. And its more than a year to the November 2022 election.

Meanwhile, I was off to the 2021 Chile Festival where the heat was edible. Yum!