Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
American Chinese restaurant menus have long had columns (Column A, Column B, etc.) for ordering food family style. One could choose one item from Column A, two items from Column B, and so forth. The method became so familiar that choices from “Column A” and “Column B” in anything (business, mathematics, et al.) have often been called a “Chinese menu” system. The Big Apple: “One from column A, one from column B” (Chinese menu ordering).
The Arizona Daily Star is using the “Chinese menu” system in its endorsements of state legislative races: one Democrat and one Republican in House races, the Democrat in Senate races. It is no more principled than this.
LD 2: Ackerley, Gabaldón for state House (Linda Lopez (D) elected at the primary election)
LD 8: We choose Pratt, Bustamante for state House, McGuire for Senate
LD 9: Farley for state Senate; Sidhwa, Orr for House
This is a disservice to the residents of Southern Arizona.
The problem with the current Arizona legislature is that it has a Tea-Publican super-majority, which has allowed for radical extremism to go unchecked. How do we moderate the legislature and make it more responsive to the electorate of Southern Arizona? Even a child has the common sense to tell you: "elect more Democrats -- duh!" The Arizona Daily Star doesn't do math.
Baja Arizona ("South of the Gila" River) has eight legislative districts: 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14. That is eight senators and sixteen representatives, slightly more than one-quarter of the legislature. Baja Arizona can moderate the "Kooks" from the state of Maricopa, as Laurie Roberts from The Arizona Republic(an) has dubbed them, if we all stick together as a region. It is in our best interests to elect more Democrats to the legislature if we want our regional interests represented in Phoenix.
Combined with expected Democratic seats in the state of Maricopa and in the rest of Arizona, this would move the chambers of the state legislature closer to parity -- and that is a good thing for moderation. It forces compromise, and it gives Southern Arizona a block of votes that it can use to leverage our regional interests for the first time in years.
Admittedly, Districts 11 and 14 are weighted heavily for GOP voter registration, but these districts are also responsible for some of the most egregious radically extreme "Kooks" - Cap'n Al Melvin, Steve Smith, David Stevens, David Gowan and Gail Griffin. Voters in Districts 11 and 14 owe it to your neighbors in Southern Arizona not to return these "Kooks" to the legislature. You deserve better than this - we all deserve better than this. You have good Democratic candidates for whom to vote. Just do it!
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