ADP Resolution – Concerning Senator Kyrsten Sinema
Reaffirm Our Support For Ending The Filibuster and Giving Notice of Possible Vote of NO Confidence
Whereas, we all are facing a critical crossroads and nothing less than our Democracy is at stake, and as all indicators show Democrats could lose both the House and Senate in 2022 if we do not "deliver the goods" by passing voting rights, healthcare, Medicare expansion, two year free college funding, immigration reform
, specifically a path to citizenship for Dreamers, labor rights, green jobs, Climate Emergency /environmental protection legislation and more, and;Whereas, the AZDP State Committee overwhelmingly (by 91%) passed a resolution in May 2021 officially calling for an immediate elimination of the Senate Filibuster and as 36 Democratic members of the Arizona State Legislature, including ADP Chair Raquel Teran, in June signed on to a letter also calling for a reform to the Filibuster rules in order to pass voting Rights legislation and;
Whereas, polls show that the vast majority of Democrats support Ending the Filibuster and that Arizona party leaders including Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Representative Ruben Gallego, Representative Greg Stanton and others have voiced their dislike of the current filibuster rules and that national leaders like President Barack Obama, Stacy Abrams, Senator Reverend Warnock, Beto O'Rourke and others are also calling for ending the "Jim Crow" Filibuster and for passing the For The People Act and;
Whereas, over the past 6 months after scores of protests, thousands of phone calls and letters, and two peaceful sit-ins at Senator Sinema's office - (where some 50 "Democracy Protectors", including Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend William Barber were arrested), Senator Sinema remains steadfast in her support for the filibuster, does not support much of President Biden's Build Back Better Agenda and does not support the platform of the Arizona Democratic Party, and on a zoom call with the ADP Executive Board, she disregarded appeals of our leaders doubling down on her factually contrary "we need bipartisanship" argument for keeping the filibuster, and has failed to hold a single northern, southern or central town hall with the citizens of Arizona as requested by the ADP Executive Board, and
Whereas, while we want Senator Sinema to be SUCCESSFUL, her argument that the filibuster protects the rights of minorities has become laughable in the face of Republican state legislators' actions on voting rights, public health during the pandemic, and abortion rights and;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Arizona Democratic Party does hereby declare and re-affirm our support for the immediate elimination of the "Jim Crow relic" known as the Senate Filibuster; and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED - that the Arizona Democratic Party will closely watch Senator Sinema's votes in the coming weeks and if Senator Sinema, does not vote in favor of Filibuster reform to change the Senate rules in order to allow the passage of The For The People Act - voting rights bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill, and other urgent legislation, for example the PRO ACT, that has already passed by the House and if she votes against the Senate Reconciliation Budget Bill, also referred to as the Human Infrastructure Package and the American Families Plan supported by President Biden and the vast majority of Democrats in both the House and the Senate, and if she continues to delay, disrupt, or votes to gut the Reconciliation Package of its necessary funding, then the Arizona Democratic Party State Committee will go officially on record and will give Senate Sinema a vote of NO CONFIDENCE.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED - that before the next State Committee Meeting (Jan. 2022) the ADP State Committee gives the ADP Chair and the Executive Board the authority and power, if the conditions of the preceding paragraph are met, to issues a formal letter of CENSURE to Senator Sinema with the clear understanding she could potentially lose the support of the ADP in 2024.
Submitted Sept 2nd 2021 for ADP State Committee
Co-signed,
Paul Stapleton-Smith, LD 10 Ann Heitland, LD 7 Shanna Leonard, LD 9 Brianna Westbrook, LD 24 Michael Slugocki, LD 28 Xenia Orona, LD 27 Martin Quezada, LD 29 Alison Jones, LD 9 Jade Duran, LD 24 Heather Mrowiec, LD24 Debora Nardozzi, LD 24 Crystal Carillo, LD 30 Missa Foy, LD 7 John Lutes, LD 7 Aubrey Sonderegger, LD 6 Patti Serrano, LD 17 Kyle Nitschke, LD 6 Mikkel Jordahl, LD 6 Dan O'Neal, LD 12 Xanthe Bullard, LD 13 Jeffrey Tucker, LD 18 Barbara Warren, LD 9 Eve Shapiro, LD 9 Sallie Kladnik, LD 6 Jenise Porter, LD 9 Ken Kenegos, LD 30 Isabel O’Neal, LD 12 Elizabeth Putnam-Hidalgo, LD 3 Dominique Medina, LD 24 Esther Lumn, LD 27 Jeanne Devine, LD 26 Priscilla Weaver, LD7