Plat the video above to see these stories on AZ Illustrated Politics for Friday, Oct. 11 with guests Lea Marquez-Peterson, president of Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Jeff Rogers, former chairman of the Pima County Democratic Party. Also, host Jim Nintzel sat down with Democrat Fred Duval, who is seeking the office of governor in 2014:
Duval said that he believes that Arizona must put more focus on building a tech-based economy or risk falling back on the boom-and-bust of real-estate development. He told AZ Illustrated Politics that he would have vetoed SB 1070 if he had been governor, but he supported Gov. Jan Brewer’s push to expand Medicaid to anyone below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
AZ Illustrated Politics roundtable topics include:
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: Marquez-Peterson said the federal government’s shutdown was hurting businesses across Arizona and the nation. Rogers said that Congressman Ron Barber was facing criticism from local Democrats because he crossed party lines to vote alongside House Republicans on some of the bills related to the showdown over the government shutdown.
CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS: Both Rogers and Marquez-Peterson said that the City Council elections had not attracted much attention from voters this year, but both were looking forward to a pair of public forms featuring the candidates next week.
IMMIGRATION REFORM: As the government shutdown continued to paralyze Congress, talk of comprehensive immigration reform has continued to stall in the House of Representatives. Marquez-Peterson said she continued to hold out hope that the House would act on immigration and said she was part of a group that was traveling to Washington to talk about the issue with GOP lawmakers. Rogers said that he was increasingly pessimistic that Congress would act on the issue.
AZ Illustrated Politics is produced by Jim Nintzel. Contact him at jnintzel@azpm.org.
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