Democratic Diva

15 Jul 2008 11:27 pm
Posted by: Donna

This evening Mark and I attended the Native American Voting Rights 60th anniversary celebration at the Fort McDowell reservation.   Prior to a 1948 AZ Supreme Court decision, Native Americans were considered to be “under Federal guardianship”.  That meant, essentially, that they were wards of the state,and therefore disqualified from voting.   Pretty shocking to think that a people who have been on this soil since time immemorial were not deemed American enough to vote until fairly recently. 

Part of the night’s agenda was devoted to honoring people from various tribes who have been active in voter participation and voter rights.   The woman who won the top award was a septuagenarian Navajo woman named Agnes Laughter.   Agnes lives a traditional life on the reservation.  She has never attended school and speaks no English.  She carries no identification because she doesn’t drive and rarely goes far from home.  Agnes had been voting at the same location for over 30 years with no problem. 

Until 2006, that is.  That was the year that she was turned away from the polls and as she told us via her daughter’s translation “was made to feel like nothing in front of my whole community”.    You see, Agnes had run afoul of Prop 200 and hadn’t the appropriate forms of ID to prove she’s a bona fide citizen.   So Agnes didn’t get to vote that day.  But Agnes was so incensed at what happened that she agreed to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the Navajo nation against the state, charging that the new voter ID requirements unfairly disenfranchise people like her. 

Which brings me to Randy Pullen, AZ GOP Chair.  Randy was in attendence at the event, along with his Democratic counterpart Don Bivens.  Both gentlemen were given an opportunity to speak at the podium.  When it was Randy’s turn I was only half paying attention.  It was the usual Republican boilerplate blather about bootstraps.  I swear to god there’s not a single subject they won’t turn into a lecture on personal responsibility anymore.  It’s getting really tiresome.   Randy used the word “persistence” a lot.   I guess his message was that if you’re disenfranchised (due to the numerous impediments people like Randy put before you when you try to vote) you should just pull up those ol’ bootstraps and overcome them!  Otherwise, you weren’t “persistent” enough, loser. 

Anyway, the reason that Dandy Randy is such a colossal putz is not simply because he stood before a community who has unfairly borne the brunt of onerous voter ID laws and told them to be “persistent”.   Oh no, it’s so much more than that.   Randy Pullen was the chairman of the Yes on Prop 200 committee and touts his continued defense of it in ensuing court cases.  http://arizonaeighth.blogspot.com/2007/01/randy-pullens-profile.html

I can’t believe he had the nerve to show his face to Agnes Laughter.  

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