Congress | Tucson Progressive

Category Archives: Congress

Trump Ends DACA: Will Congress Save Dreamers?

Our country’s most ill-prepared president just lobbed one of our country’s stickiest problems into the court of the country’s least effective Congress, ever. What could go wrong? The dreams of nearly … Continue reading →

September 6, 2017

Balancing Responsibility & Liberty: The Yin & Yang of Public Policy (video)

This is the text of the talk that I gave at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson (UUCT) on July 30, 2017. (Watch the video here.) Our lives are made … Continue reading →

August 19, 2017

The Yin & Yang of Public Policy: Can We Achieve Balance?

On one hand, the news media often tells us that we are a country divided. Social media fuels this idea with countless stories of political and ideological intransigence despite mounting … Continue reading →

July 20, 2017

Abortion Access & Domestic Violence: #SCOTUS Delivers 2 Big ‘Wins’ for Women (video)

The Supreme Court is in the midst of its 2016 decision season, when legal cases that have been winding their way through the system for years have their big day. … Continue reading →

June 27, 2016

Lest We Forget: ‘Guns Do Not Make a Nation Safer’

I originally wrote the blog post below on Sept. 18, 2013, a few months after the Congress failed to act on post-Sandy Hook legislation. In the US, there have been … Continue reading →

June 12, 2016

Rubio & Kasich: The Myth of the Republican Moderate (video)

I was appalled by last night’s Lawrence O’Donnell Show on MSNBC. O’Donnell and his guests were discussing the “moderate” policies of Republican Party Presidential contenders Florida Senator Marco Rubio and … Continue reading →

February 23, 2016

New York Times Editorial Board Nods Toward #Marijuana Legalization

It’s been a big week for marijuana legalization in the Americas– with a Mexican court allowing limited cannabis growing rights, new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing he intends to … Continue reading →

November 7, 2015

Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley with members of the Tucson Chapter of NOW on opening day at the Arizona Legislature, 2018.

Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley with Red For Ed

Protesters hand deliver symbolic big check from corporate American to McCain.

Martin Luther King, Jr. march.

Despite the sweltering heat, Jim and I had a great time at the Labor Day Picnic. We collected a lot of Clean Elections $5 donations and signatures. Here I am with LD9 chair Michael Dues.

Protesting cuts to education

PDA members, including Advisory Board Chair Mimi Kennedy, protested food stamp cuts in front of Congressman Henry Waxman’s office.

#RedForEd teachers and supporters in the Arizona House Gallery, 2018.

Desconocido (unknown)

Visiting with PALF chairman Fred Yamashita at the 2016 Labor Day Picnic.

Rev. Ron Phares and Pamela Powers Hannley

Jim and I were part of a contingent of Unitarian Universalists who came up from Tucson. Here I am with Rev. Ron Phares from the Mountain Vista UU Church in my district. (Jim is photobombing us.)

Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales and I were interviewed by NBC at the Phoenix rally.

The Oberlin Rescuers outside of the Cuyahoga County Jail.

This is a broken sink in the Ladies’ Room at the Arizona State Building in downtown Tucson. One of the elevators also was broken. It’s time to fix Arizona government.

We often hear that corporations need migrant workers because Americans “don’t want to do these jobs.” When I hear this statement, I picture farm workers picking vegetables. Recently, I toured two dairies and an animal feed packing plant in Pinal County. The photo above from the Zinke Dairy shows a giant cow milking carousel. Nine migrant workers milk 4000 cows three times a day at this dairy. Legislators watched the two men pictured here– working at a brisk pace– bend over and pick up, lift, and attach large electronic suction cups to the cows as they ride the carousel around the giant facility. This level of automation is the wave of the future for industrial jobs.

We are the 99%.

There have been many lively debates in the Arizona House in 2018. This team of House Democrats fought for consumer protections and fought against risky financial deals in a “regulatory sandbox.” (Pictured are Reps. Mitzi Epstein, Kelli Butler, Athena Salman, Pamela Powers Hannley, Ken Clark and Isela Blanc.)

Jobs with Justice marching with Occupy Tucson in support of postal workers.

Occupy encampment in Armory Park– before it was cleared out in the middle of the night by Tucson Police.

Giving the LD9 update at the June meeting. What a great crowd!

I have a background in research. Help me build Tucson’s tech industry and grow our own local businesses.

In the 1980s, the Tucson Weekly called Tucson the “Baked Apple”.

Congressman Ron Barber and Pamela Powers Hannley at Cyclovia

PDA Tucson Coordinator Jim Hannley speaks against both the crowd management ordinance and the urban camping ban at the City Council meeting.

Ironically, I posted this blog post on the anniversary of this election on June 19. 1970ish.

Arizonans for New Economy co-directors Jim Hannley and Pamela Powers Hannley with UA Tech Park VP Bruce Wright.

Protesting anti-woman laws at the Arizona state capitol.

Protesting migrant deaths in the Arizona desert.

A giant poet’s head made up of stainless steel letters marks the stop near the UA Poetry Center.

Safe Park, downtown Tucson

It was truly a honor to meet Nevada State Senator Patricia Spearman (center) in October and to confer with her regarding our efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Arizona. Spearman led the successful Nevada efforts to ratify the ERA in 2017. Here we are with activist and NOW leader Dainne Post after the ERA workshop at the We the People Conference in Phoenix. There are a lot of Arizona women who are ready to make history in 2018. Watch my blog here and my Facebook page here for ERA updates.

Pamela Powers Hannley, Progressive Democrat for Arizona House, LD9

The Living Economy event was very informative; we had a great time hob-nobbing. My husband Jim is a small business owner and a member of Local First Arizona. I have owned two small businesses in the past– Powers/Queen Associates and Wind Dancer Design. We support Local First Arizona and buying/investing locally. We believe that supporting local small businesses with low-interest loans through a public/private partnership between a public bank and community banks and credit unions is the sustainable route to improving our local economy. Trickle down economics doesn’t work; it’s time for new ideas.

Governor Ducey had proposed increasing prison beds and funding, while cutting education. Protesters took issue with that short-sighted idea.

A homeless man sleeps in the shadow of corporate America.

John Nichols of ‘The Nation’ addressed progressives and unionists at a Tucson event.

The Tucson Progressive: Pamela J. Powers

I stand on the side of Love. I believe in kindness to all creatures on Earth and the inherent self-worth of all individuals–not just people who agree with me or look like me.

Widespread economic and social injustice prompted me to become a candidate for the Arizona House, representing Legislative District 9 in the 2016 election.

My platform focused on economic reforms to grow Arizona’s economy, establish a state-based public bank, fix our infrastructure, fully fund public education, grow local small businesses and community banks, and put people back to work at good-paying jobs.

In the Arizona House, I was a strong voice for fiscal responsibility a moratorium on corporate tax breaks until the schools were fully funded, increased cash assistance to the poor, expansion of maternal healthcare benefits, equal rights, choice, unions, education at all levels and protecting our water supply.

After three terms, I retired from the Arizona Legislature in January 2023 but will continue to blog and produce my podcast “A View from the Left Side.”

Tucson Progressive

Category Archives: Congress

Trump Ends DACA: Will Congress Save Dreamers?

Balancing Responsibility & Liberty: The Yin & Yang of Public Policy (video)

The Yin & Yang of Public Policy: Can We Achieve Balance?

Abortion Access & Domestic Violence: #SCOTUS Delivers 2 Big ‘Wins’ for Women (video)

Lest We Forget: ‘Guns Do Not Make a Nation Safer’

Rubio & Kasich: The Myth of the Republican Moderate (video)

New York Times Editorial Board Nods Toward #Marijuana Legalization

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