Dr. Don Jorgensen elected Chair of Pima County Democratic Party

Dr. Don Jorgensen was elected the new Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party today, replacing attorney Jeff Rogers who served for 4 years. In his statement of candidacy Jorgensen said:

Dr. Don Jorgensen

As a lifelong Democrat I believe in personal freedom, social and civil justice, inclusion and equality for all and economic opportunity. These are not simply Democratic values; they are indeed American values.

The Pima County Democratic Party is strongest when we come together with a broad variety of viewpoints to unite and advance our shared goals.

I seek to serve as your County Chair to lead the continuing effort to grow stronger, louder and smarter as we create a shared strategic vision for attracting new Democrats and electing Democrats at all levels of public service.

Info on Jorgensen:

President of Jorgensen Brooks group,
email: don@jorgensenbrooks.com
520-575-8623, 1-888-520-5400 toll free.

Founded in 1991, Jorgensen Brooks Group is a leading provider of “high touch” workplace intervention and performance support services, including fully integrated Employee Assistance Programs, leadership development, crisis management and training services for employers who value their employees and seek to maintain a healthy workplace.
We specialize in Employee Assistance Programs for municipalities, mining companies, private businesses, school districts, casinos, hospitals and health care providers and non-profit organizations.

from website, www.jorgensenbrooks.com

Jorgensen’s Professional resume:

· Owner – Jorgensen Healthcare Associates, Inc. (22 Years)

· Developed strategic leadership plans for international associations, NPOs, small businesses.

· Brought Union and Business leaders together in a global organization to create fiscal stability and service expansion.

· Developed workplace health, conflict management and crisis response services for over 70 municipalities and businesses in the United States

· Designed comprehensive regional substance abuse and behavioral health service system

· Professional Speaker and Trainer in the U.S., Canada, Ireland and China

· Past President – International Employee Assistance Professionals Association

· Past President – Greater Tucson Leadership

· Board Member – National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

· Board Member – YMCA of Southern Arizona

· Recognized in “40 Under 40” for Community Achievement

· Former NPO Director

· Ph.D. (Health Services Administration)

Jorgensen won the Democratic primary in September 2008 for State House in LD 26 with incumbent Nancy Young Wright (had been appointed in early Jan. 2008 after Rep. Lena Saranik resigned). But Jorgensen lost in the General Election to newcomer Vic Williams (R) and Nancy Young Wright in a 4 way race with Republican newcomer Marilyn Zerull, for 2 House seats. Jorgensen’s name had also been submitted to the Pima County Board of Supervisors (along with Cheryl Cage and Nancy Young Wright) when that vacancy in LD 26 occurred in January, 2008.

Good luck to Dr. Jorgensen as Chair of the Democratic Party in Pima County. Carolyn Cox was re-elected to her seat as Chair of the Pima County Republican Party on December 15, 2012 (click here for previous post about Cox).

Republican LD 26 House Rep. Vic Williams files for District 1 Pima County Supervisor

Republican 2 term LD 26 House Rep. Vic Williams has filed to run for the District 1 Pima County Supervsior seat to be vacated by retiring Supervisor Ann Day. Prior to becoming a legislator in 2009 Williams was a small businessman & had started his first firm, Racksource, a warehousing equipment company in California, and had also invested in real estate.

House Rep. Vic Williams

Read more from his AZ House of Representative bio here.

Williams is entering a four-way Republican primary for this seat. Political newcomers Stuart McDaniel and Ally Miller, and former CD 8 House candidate/former AZ Republican Party chair Mike Hellon have previously announced their candidacies. Only former LD 26 House Rep. Nancy Young Wright is running in the Democratic primary for District 1 Supervisor (so far).

Williams and Marilyn Zerull won the September 2008 Republican primary for this House seat in LD 26 over Trent Humphries (Tucson Tea Party founder), and then Williams and appointed Democrat House Rep. Nancy Young Wright prevailed in the Nov. 2008 General Election for the 2 House seats. In August 2010 Williams and political newcomer Terri Proud won the Republican primary over Dr. Wade McLean in that race, and also prevailed in the General Election upsetting Democrat incumbent Nancy Young Wright.

So if Williams prevails in the District 1 Republican primary on August 28, he will face off once again against Young Wright.

Williams’ campaign website: www.vote4vic.com, (520) 390-9946 or info@vote4vic.com.

All Pima County Supervisors are up for re-election this year, and to date there have been no announced challengers to the present incumbents- Democrat Ramon Valadez (D 2), Democrat Sharon Bronson (D 3), Republican Ray Carroll (D 4), Democrat Richard Elias (D 5). For my previous May 2011 blog about these Supervisors, click here.

Recap of Arizona Daily Star’s endorsements (legislative seats & TUSD Governing board)

In case you missed them, here’s the AZ Daily Star’s mixed take of endorsements (mostly Democrats, some Republicans, and one Green) for the Southern Arizona Legislative District races (LD 26 through 30). Or as we say back home in Hawaii– true “chop suey style”.

LD 30: Dr. Todd Camenish (D) for Senate;
no endorsements for House (2 seats)
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/article_83353865-fba0-5be5-8623-e58ff430eb23.html

LD 29: Rep. Matt Heinz (D), Pat Kilburn (R), Rep. Daniel Patterson (D) for House (2 seats)
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_272ed619-d0d5-5150-9429-64ef25fe166d.html

LD 28: Senator Paula Aboud (D);
Rep.Steve Farley (D), Bruce Wheeler (D) for House (2 seats)
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_6f210c1c-b162-5f30-a047-a8c5568191df.html

LD 27: Dr. Macario Saldate (D), Kent Solberg (G) for House (2 seats)
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_c43e72bb-a51e-5b3d-b1b4-6337a88f82fc.html

LD 26: Cheryl Cage (D) for Senate;
Rep. Vic Williams (R), Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D) for House (2 seats)
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_1546a09c-6763-5823-9979-94f7a72225ba.html

And for the TUSD Governing Bd. race, the Star endorsed current board member Adelita Grijalva and Armand Salese:
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_8a0c264e-1ff8-59cd-ad68-d55cc28de2db.html

And for other endorsements read my previous blog “Do Tucson newspaper endorsements matter?” (click here.) Still waiting for any Star endorsements in the races for Governor and Secretary of State.

Vote wisely, on or before November 2nd.

LD 26 House debate: vote for 2 of these 3 Republican candidates

View the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) online debate between the three GOP LD 26 House candidates (click here). McLean is running “clean” (C) while the other two candidates are traditionally (T) funded. Note the differences in the answers provided by these Republicans:

— Dr. Wade McLean, (C), Marana Unifed School District Superintendent, www.wademclean2010.com

— Terri Proud, (T), community activist and paralegal, www.vote4proud.com

— Rep. Vic Williams, (T), Arizona legislator and businessman

Rep. Vic Williams (R) and Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D) are the two incumbents in this legislative district. Young Wright is the only Democrat running in this race. Map of LD 26 from Pima County Republican Party’s website.

This debate was held on July 7 at the Pima Community College NW campus.

Dr. Wade McLean

Rep. Vic Williams

Terri Proud

Clean elections debate schedules for House races in LDs 26, 27, 28, & 30

Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) has announced the legislative debate schedule for their qualified candidates. Log onto www.azcleanelections.gov for updated info, but here’s the preliminary schedule for contested State House legislative districts in the Tucson area (for the August 24 primary):

C indicates “Clean” candidate, T indicates Traditionally funded candidate (per CCEC website)

July 07, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 26 Republican Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College Northwest Campus
7600 N Shannon Road
Tucson, AZ
(Wade McLean- C, Terri Lynn Proud – T, Rep. Vic Williams – T)

July 08, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 27 Democrat Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College District Office
Community Board Room
4905 E Broadway
Tucson, AZ
(John Martin Bernal – C, Eric Bustamante- C, Dustin Cox- T, Bob Gilby – C,
Sally Ann Gonzales – C, Sami Hamed – C, John Kromko – C, Dr. Macario Saldate – C)

July 13, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 28 Democrat Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College District Office
Community Board Room
4905 E Broadway
Tucson, AZ
(Rep. Steve Farley – T, Ted Prezelski – C, Mohur Sidhwa – C, Tim Sultan – C,
Bruce Wheeler – C)

July 20, 2010
Candidate Debate
LD 30 Republican Candidates House of Representatives
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Pima Community College East Campus
8181 E Irvington Road
Tucson, AZ
(Brian Abbott – C, Rep. David Gowan – C, Kurt Knurr – C, Parralee Schneider – C,
Doug Sposito – T, Rep.Ted Vogt – T).

Not all legislative candidates in these races are running “clean” so refer to their website for further information (link is “2010 Candidate Listings with Funding Amounts”). 133 candidates are participating “clean” out of the total of 267 statewide candidates running.

“Participating candidates are required to attend the event and traditional candidates are encouraged to attend” per CCEC. Two will be elected from each Legislative District for the
Arizona House of Representatives.

For further info, email them at ccec@azcleanelections.gov, or call 602-364-3477, toll free (from 928 and 520 area codes) 1-877-631-8891.

logo

LD 30 precinct committeemen/women select Antenori, Vogt, and Graf

77 certified LD 30 Republican precinct committeemen and women selected 3 names to send to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, to fill the vacant LD 30 State Senate seat (created by the resignation of Jonathan Paton on Feb. 22).

Four men were nominated from the floor: former LD 9 State House Rep. Bill McGibbon (1992-2000), current LD 30 state House Rep. Frank Antenori, LD 30 Precinct Chairman Ted Vogt, and former LD 30 State House Rep. Randy Graf (2000-2004). Each man gave a 5 minute speech about why they wanted to be one of the 3 names to be submitted for consideration.

There were 3 separate written elections to select 3 names, as each name required 39 (more than half) of the 77 votes to qualify. Antenori received 71 votes on the first election, followed by Vogt who got 50 votes on the 2nd election, and then Graf got 56 on the 3rd election. Bill McGibbon was the name circulated by the media prior to today as one of the likely nominees, but Vogt was a new nominee. He served as Captain in the U.S. Air Force and is now a third year law student at the U of A. Vogt also mentioned in his introductory speech that he had clerked for U.S. Senator Jon Kyl and for VP Dick Cheney, but has never served in his own elected capacity.

Now it will be up to the Pima County Board of Supervisors to select Paton’s replacement. Supervisor Ray Carroll invited everyone to attend the board meeting on Tuesday, March 2, at 9 a.m. at 130 W. Congress (first floor),to find out whom the board will select. Usually the Supervisors select the top vote getter, but not necessarily– as the top precinct vote getter in State House LD 26 did not get the appointment, after Rep. Lena Seradnik resigned in 2008.

This LD 30 meeting was held this afternoon at Desert Christian High School, 7575 E. Speedway.

Also in attendance today:CD8 U.S. House candidate Jonathan Paton, LD 30 State House Rep. David Gowan, former LD 30 State House Rep. Marian McClure, National committeeman Bruce Ash, LD 30 State House candidate Doug Sposito.

Update: click here for 3/2/10 meeting results of Pima County Board of Supervisors.

on the House CD 8 campaign trail…Feb. 11

All four CD 8 Republican candidates for U.S. House have agreed to debate each other at an upcoming “Debate in the Desert”. This debate is hosted by Northwest Republicans, www.nwrepublicans.com, a group in NW Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, and Catalina, and co-sponsored by the Tucson Tea Party, Smart Girl Politics, Oro Valley Republican Women, and LD-26.

Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010, 6-9 pm
Place: Ironwood Ridge High School, 2475 W. Naranja Drive, Oro Valley
Time: Doors open at 6:00 p.m., seating at 6:30 p.m.

Candidates Participating:
Andy Goss, www.gossforcongress.com
Jesse Kelly, www.votejessekelly.com
Brian Miller, www.brianmillerforcongress.com
State Senator Jonathan Paton, wwwpatonforcongress.com

Moderator: David Hoefferle, 3rd Vice Chairman Pima County Republican Party
Panelists:
Roxanne Ziegler – Marana Town Councilmember
Bruce Ash – National Republican Committeeman
Joe Higgins – Host, Wake Up Tucson, 1030 AM

View event flyer (with photos of the 4 candidates) from the website here. They are requesting that attendees please bring a can of food for the Tucson area food banks. Ironwood Rridge High School on Naranja Drive is west of La Cholla Blvd.

This would be a great chance to meet all 4 Republican CD 8 U.S. House candidates facing off in the Arizona primary on August 24. The winner will be challenging incumbent Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the General Election.