268…Questions Answered by Deedra
I woke up this morning to my first response from one of the candidates for the Senate seat. Deedra Abboud sent a response, which I will be pasting in below so you can read her responses. If you need a reminder of who is running, you can check out my previous article here.
The message came in around 315 this morning, and Deedra let me know that she had had a death in her family, but wanted to reach out to me before leaving for the funeral and attendant business. I really appreciated that, especially because I was very up front about the size (or lack thereof) of my readership. I wouldn’t have been the least put out if she (or any of the candidates) ignored my email, given that I currently have about 15–20 daily readers.
Here are the responses from the candidate.
Of the issues listed on your website, which are you most passionate about?
My greatest passions are civil rights, social justice, freedom, & Democracy. The first four issues on my website are intimately associated with my passions: Medicare For All, Quality & Free Public Education, Separation of Religion & State, and Protecting Net Neutrality
Which of them do you find to be the most pressing concern for Arizonans?
All of them. Arizona’s includes both a large retirement community and a large millennial population, as well as diversity in ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. The youth understood the importance of net neutrality before everyone else. All groups are concerned with healthcare & education. The diversity among our state sees the unholy marriage between religion & state as a direct threat to their own lives and choices. The environment is also a great concern because we have so much public land and Native land that is currently being exploited and poisoned. Arizona has also been ground zero for repressive immigration policies.
How will you refine your position to differentiate yourself from the rest of the Democrats running for the nomination?
I have signed the Candidates With A Contract stating that I will not take corporate or special interest money, ever. It also states I will work to dismantle Citizen’s United and I explain regularly the two legal avenues available to accomplish this task. Our elected leaders are no longer listening to the voting population because they are beholden to their donors. We must get money out of politics in order to restore and protect our Democracy. Of the top two contenders in this race, I am the only one dedicated to getting money out of politics and focusing on the negative affects of Citizen’s United.
Our campaign has shown what can be accomplished with a commitment to listen to the people, being accessible to the people, and talking about the issues most important to the people. We have also shown a financial efficiency by becoming one of the top two contenders for the US Senate seat within 9 months with very little money. By utilizing people power and passion, much like the civil rights movement and the women’s voting rights movement, we have shown money isn’t the automatic determining factor in 2018 races.
Since my announcement in April 2017, I personally attended over 500 non-fundraising public events all over Arizona. We will continue that commitment in 2018. No other candidate is getting out to listen to the people at any rate close to our campaign, and some have not been accessible to the people at all.
Our social media presence surpasses all other candidates. Our website, while “Democrat” in nature, is the most extensive with details compared to any other candidate.
We have 5 Democrat candidates running right now. 4 of us are supporting Medicare For All, 1 is not.
No candidate in Arizona has made Separation of Religion & State a platform issue. Almost all attacks on women’s sexual freedom & the LGBTQ community are a result of elected leaders attempting to force their religious interpretation on society through laws. No one has religious freedom unless everyone has religions freedom, including those who want no religion at all. Separation of Religion & State is the wall we need to build for Arizona and the country.
Net Neutrality got attention at the end of 2017, but I have been talking about protecting net neutrality since I announced last April. Allowing corporations’ relationships with corporations to control what we can access on the internet is dangerous to our freedom & Democracy. No oversight for internet providers means they do not have to: treat all data equally, ensure all Americans equal access to internet service, or act fairly to consumers & competitors. If no agency has authority over internet providers, and no laws exist to define what can/cannot be done, consumers and innovators have no recourse for bad actors.
Our campaign includes raising the minimum wage to $15/hour and tying minimum wage increases to inflation. Wages have stagnated over the years while profits have soared, but every study shows the real way to increase production and spending is for normal people to have more money to spend — not corporations and the 1% who have demonstrated a commitment to hoarding money, purchasing stocks, and investing in automation rather than creating more jobs. While increased automation must be accepted as inevitable because it does create more efficiency, tax payers should not be forced to finance their own job loss through corporate tax credits that pay for automation. 4 candidates likely agree with raising the minimum wage, 1 does not.
Our campaign publicly opposes HR 620. This bill puts additional burdens on the disabled to give notice to non-ADA compliant businesses and gives businesses additional time to address compliance once notice is given. Businesses have had 27 years to get in ADA compliance and many new builds simply failed to consider ADA during construction. The ADA already allows for mediation and the majority of complaints are cured during mediation. If frivolous law suits are a concern, they should be addressed in general, not at the expense and burden of the disabled community.
Arizona passed the Voucher Bill which would allow public education money to be given to private schools, the vast majority of which are religious schools. Arizona Save Our Schools completed a successful and impressive campaign for a ballot measure to overturn the voucher bill. The Arizona voucher program is being considered by DeVoss for nationwide expansion. I oppose the voucher program because 1) public money should only support public schools, and 2) public money supporting religious schools is yet another violation of Separation of Religion and State. I do not believe other candidates have addressed this issue.
Our campaign supports completely decriminalizing cannabis on the Federal level and leaving the decision of regulation to the states, who have demonstrated a clear mandate that it is now a state issue. The federal government arresting people with a medical cannabis card for cannabis possession is a waste of resources and violates state’s rights. I do not believe any other candidate has addressed this issue.
Deedra’s answers were great, and it was good to see more information from a candidate. I really appreciated her responding, especially given her family’s loss.
Check out her website and get in touch if her answers match up with your politics or if you have more questions for her!
