Thursday, April 2nd, 2009...10:45 am
Scratch Another Name
You can take a name off the list of possible candidates for State Legislature next year. TUSD school board member Adelita Grijalva has told associates that she will not be running next year. She told me that she doesn’t think she can juggle a race for legislature (and the weeks spent in Phoenix after she gets elected) with her current job and raising a young family.
Grijalva would not only have been the most formidable candiate in the District 27 house race, but she would have brought the concerns of younger people with families into the debate. It’s not that other candidates won’t be capable of speaking to these concerns, but the voice of someone who faces them every day would have been valuable in the campaign and at the legislature.
By the way, a new name that has been floated in the wake of Grijalva leaving the race: Sami Hamed, an aide to Adelita’s father Raúl.
4 Comments
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The problem we have here (a district that should be winnable for a Democrat, even one not named Jack Brown) is that it’s like pulling teeth to get someone to run for the legislature.
The legislature has in effect guaranteed themselves permanent control by doing such a lousy job– when the issue of raising legislative salaries comes up, voters decide they don’t deserve it (which this crew doesn’t) and vote against it reflexively.
Which keeps it at $24,000 which pretty much guarantees that only the independently wealthy and/or the full time retired can afford to run for the legislature– which in turn continues to work against the interests of younger people, especially in terms of university funding since neither of those groups tend to be particularly disposed to funding universities.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:01 am
I just really would like Sammi to run…He is a great driver you know.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I live in Dist. 27 and I want to get away from the control of Grijalva. I’m glad Adalita has higher priorities like family, but we don’t need a Raul Grijalva clone to run. Put someone like Hamed up and I’ll be forced to vote for the Republican no matter how bad he is…
April 6th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Another political dynasty? I’d prefer Sami as well.