There are all sorts of low level and petty shenanigans among the candidates in our brand spanking new LD’s 9 and 10. I haven’t written much about them because they don’t seem to rise much above rumor and innuendo, and far be it from me to write about nonsense like that.
Our beleaguered primos up North are not, however, short of drama and vitriol in their legislative primaries.
Robert Meza is running for re-election to the senate in District 30. He’s facing a spirited challenge in the primary from activist and (gasp!) community organizer Raquel Teran. Teran has been active for years in organizing against Joe Arpaio, even at one point being on the wrong end of his deputies when Arpaio decided to go full on Stasi.
Teran has a crew of young people, dubbed Team Awesome, that has been helping her work the district. These are students fired up by their opposition to our state’s direction on immigration laws and their support for the DREAM Act.
One happened to knock on the door of one of Meza’s cousins. He went through the usual knock-and-talk about Teran’s experience and the need to sign up for the Permanent Early Voter List. So, the cousin asked why Meza needed to be replaced. The activist, a young man named Tony who grew up in Mexico, told the cousin about Meza’s poor attendance record (he took off for a vacation shortly after the opening of the last session) and his votes for anti-immigrant legislation (one example here).
The cousin made a call to Meza, who made a call to…Tony. Nope, not a ticked off call to Teran, but a bullying call to the kid that’s knocking on doors. He threatened him, including a threat to sue for defamation. Meza apparently forgot that a defamation suit is hard to win in politics and even harder when what the person is saying is verifiable. Meza is now claiming he ever made the call, but he made the same charges in a call to Maricopa County Chair Ann Wallack.
Meantime, in the house race, long time legislator Debbie McCune-Davis is running for re-election, but there is an open seat too. Iraq veteran Jonathan Larkin is hoping to become the first UFCW member to be elected to the legislature. His campaign has been cooperating with Teran. The combination of both labor and DREAMers has made for a legion of activists that some congressional campaigns would envy.
Larkin is an impressive candidate, so Meza was hard pressed to find a candidate to run against him. He went for an interesting choice: his boyfriend. The guy has a decent resume, but if your political experience is mostly hanging out with Meza, I am not going to have much trust in your broader political judgement.
There has been dissatisfaction with Meza for a number of years for his shaky commitment to progressive issues and the legislative games he’s played. This is the first time in a long time he’s had a real race. When he takes his next mid-session vacation, I don’t think he’ll have to ask the speaker for permission.
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Interesting report on some unsavory stuff going on in Phoenix.
It should also be noted that Meza has some of the dirtiest hands in the Legislature regarding the Fiesta Bowl.
How dirty? According to officials documents he accepted $5,728.87 in meals, tickets and travel from the Fiesta Bowl.
Meza has some redeeming qualities, but his legislative attendance is marginal and he plays footsie with some characters who should be kept at arms length.
Interesting to read about up north; however, those of us in the southern regions actually have a vote at stake soon. Don’t ignore the scoop in our regions because you are an insider and it’s not interesting to you. Your readers need to hear what’s out there and have opportunity to check it out. Since the news media refuse to cover local politics, we are out on our own, and see how that has worked out in the past!
Tedski is a statewide blogger. While he focuses primarily on issues south of the Gila, his greatness cannot and should not be limited to one county.
While on the subject, Exhibit A: Items provided by the Fiesta Bowl and included in the initial investigation report, pages 40-41 detail Meza’s trips and show that his companion, Mr. Snitz was always traveling with him.
Bob, do you have a dog in that fight?
What’s next for Meza? Is he going to claim that his opposition is biased agsinst him because he is a Jew?
I’m a constituent of what is now re-districted as LD30 and I am sorry to say that Larkin is definetly NOT an impressive candidate. I have loads of respect that he is a former US Marine but along with Teran, he doesn’t even have his college degree. How do they expect to manage a state budget without a degree? I agree that immigration is a pivotal state issue but there are so many more issues at hand that the state legislatures must take on. With all due respect, it also surprised me to learn that Larkin has a reading and writing disability. I don’t know how anyone could support someone who has such a disability when it comes to the state legislature because then they are only doing a disservice to the state by electing an official who is incapable of doing even the very least while in office. Meza may have a bumpy history but from what I have researched, he is actually the highest percentage voting democrat in office. He may have taken a vacation but made 99% of his votes. If Meza was actually anti-Latino then why would he have worked for and raised hundreds and thousands of dollars for Chicanos por La Causa or even for Aguila Youth leadership, a program that prepares Latinos and undocumented students to go on to four year universities. Meza has done countless deeds for the community that sadly go unnoticed. Like always though, only the negative news makes the headlines because that is what people would rather read.
According to the Secretary of the Senate attendance record, 50 legislature first regular session, Meza was absent 27% of the time.If you adjust for those times Meza was so late he is noted “excused and seated” this guy is either not there or so late he cant get anything done a whopping 47% of the time…and as for his pro-immigrant credentials Meza votd for the Border Militia. This guy is an embarrassment.
LD30 voter, you should be ashamed of your comments. It takes an incredible amount of courage and determination to overcome any impairment or disability, and for Jonathon Larkin to have done so, served in the Marines, and then gone to college and to work in a high-stress job shows just how prepared he is for elected office.
You obviously went through life without any sort of learning disability, because if you had you would never write such a thing.
Meanwhile, Larkin, the guy you think is too stupid to be elected, is running for office, and you are commenting on a blog.
He never went to college!!
Alfredo, let’s be honest, the “attendance record” means nothing. When they take “roll call” it’s just people brown-nosing one other– a total waste of time. What REALLY matters is the voting record, which, if you actually read up on THAT, you’d see that Meza actually has the HIGHEST voting record of ANY democrat in the Senate– yes, even more so than Steve Gay-ardo. Furthermore, voting in favor to secure the boarder is actually NOT synonymous with being “anti-Latino” at all– it’s a matter of NATIONAL SECURITY; of keeping our SOVEREIGN BORDER from being open to drugs, immigrants who end up exhibiting criminal behavior once they are here, and spillover cartel violence. So please stop saying he is not “pro-immigrant” because of that one vote, you are implying a false analogy, while he has actually helped many DREAMers go to college… You’re welcome.
Also, Prezelski, did’t you steal $10k from me once, if you’re readers don’t know of this, you should really write a blog post on THAT. (Nothing worst than a crooked and biased journalist. I challenge him not to delete this entire post,so I’m counting the minutes it lasts up here.)
Ex:
Where to start?
First off, funny how you throw in that characterization of Gallardo while defending Meza. It’s an odd choice given the accusations of homophobia from Meza’s camp.
Secondly, there are all sorts of reasons I know that you aren’t the ex in question. You may want to check which twin has the Toni before making criminal allegations. And by the way, you may notice nothing came of those allegations, which weren’t even against me.
What a BAD week for Robert and Mike or should we say, Rose and Max (see complaint). I feel as they sabotaged their campaign intentionally or did Robert feel like the Teflon Don (untouchable). Just a bunch of rookie mistakes, for a career politician, working with Jason Rose (worked recall election for Russell Pearce).
As for all these gay accusations, is it true Mike refused Equality Az endorsement?
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[...] a bit of a follow up to the piece I did on the campaign against Robert Meza. Apparently, some political reporters have been snooping around about the tale too, and Meza has [...]