(one reason) Why Kyrsten Sinema is an exceptional legislator
Posted by: Katie
I was in the House Judiciary Committee today for a hearing on HB2660 (joint; several liability; criminal offenses). This bill will create financial joint and several liability for those who create ”dangerous materials” that promote criminal or terrorist activity. It is being promoted as a victim rights bill that will allow victims to sue assholes that produce beyond despicable materials (primarily DVD’s) that promote rape, assualt and other violence against women.
Sounds good, right? The argument for it is truly compelling. Don’t we go after people who post bomb-making instructions on the internet? If these DVD’s contribute to rape, why wouldn’t we want the producers of them to be held accountable for that?
Because as intolerable as we might find these DVD’s, as much as we might like them to not be available, the producers aren’t the ones who chose to go out and commit a rape. The rapist did. As a victim advocate, the last thing I want to do is give a perpetrator one more excuse for what they did, one more reason to not take responsibility.
So, the Dems don’t like this bill, for this and other reasons (it’s probably unconstitutional), and in committee today, they were all going to vote no. Except they didn’t. The three who voted before Rep. Sinema all voted yes, leaving her, the only woman on the committee, to be the lone no vote on this bill. As I said, the argument for the bill was very compelling, and I guess as a guy sitting there listening to it, you wouldn’t want to seem like a misogynist pig by voting against it. I’m just guessing here, I don’t know why they changed the way they were going to vote.
As I listened to Sinema explain her vote, I could tell it was very difficult for her. She is a champion for women’s rights and has worked with domestic violence and rape survivors. The easiest thing for her to do would have been to vote yes. But it wasn’t the right thing and she stuck to her convictions. Which is something I have seen her do time and again ~ take the hard way because it’s the right way, even when her personal safety has been threatened.
I don’t always agree with her votes, but I am glad she represents me, because I know she will always vote her convictions and act with integrity even when it would be so much easier to just go along, and that is something we all deserve in our representation.
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I can’t agree with you more! Not only is she the best dressed represenative she is also the smartest and most passionate. Rep. Sinema is one amazing woman and advocate. We need more like her and then we will have real change in Arizona.
Not only is Rep. Sinema a great legislator, but she’s also a great organizer. She understands that politics isn’t something just conducted within the walls of the legislature or the Ninth Floor. Politics is also in the streets; whether it’s fighting back against conservative initiatives that everybody else said couldn’t be beat or holding labor unions and non-profits accountable for their commitment to real change. She is a great politician because she was a great organizer first and she’s remained committed to that tradition: that power comes from the people and it is in their empowerment that democracy truly flourishes.