The following four weekend canvasses are our last opportunities to make a difference in Legislative District 29.
Saturday, August 23
3pm - 8pm
Medical Research Building, 1656 E. Mabel Dr.
Sunday, August 24
3pm - 8pm
Medical Research Building 1656 E. Mabel Dr.
Saturday, August 30
3pm - 8pm
Medical Research Building 1656 E. Mabel Dr.
Sunday, August 31
3pm - 8pm
Medical Research Building 1656 E. Mabel Dr.
We will meet in the parking lot or outside patio of this building in order to train, give turfs and arrange post-canvassing meet-up times. If you have any questions, or any problems finding us, please call James Lamb at 757-537-0558.
We need you to come out to these last canvasses, talk to the voters and let them know why you think they should vote for Ephraim Cruz on September 2nd! We’ve already spoken to over 4,000 voters over the course of this campaign; let’s make sure everyone knows about their best choice for State Representative: Ephraim Cruz.
See you next weekend! If you are planning to come, please email questions@ephraimcruz.com so we will know to expect you!
Thank you for all your hard work this week. No one can drive south past 22nd Street and miss our campaign, and for that I thank you.
Still, door-to-door canvassing presents our single best option to offer change in this campaign. We have to stay on the ground as much as possible, and I ask you for your help this weekend to meet this goal.
We will meet at the University of Arizona’s Medical Research Building, at 1656 East Mabel Street, at 3 PM on Saturday, August 9, 2008. We will have a short training on canvass particulars, and then hit the streets!
Our activity during these next few weeks will maintain the street-level support we require to win. I ask for your help this Saturday at 3 PM to offer voters in District 29 the information needed to make a reasoned choice for State Representative. Our campaign has always promoted public education, public transportation, and healthcare access in Southern Arizona, because that’s exactly what voters in District 29 wish to improve.
The status quo isn’t good enough in this election. I ask you to help me change things. See you this Saturday at 3 PM.
Ephraim Cruz
Candidate for State Representative from District 29 Cruz for District 29
I just got back from our general volunteer meeting earlier this afternoon, and I was completely blown away by the level of energy and enthusiasm. We had nearly twenty volunteers show up on the middle of the day on a Saturday, and all were excited to be involved in the Cruz campaign. More volunteers emailed us earlier this week letting us know they wouldn’t be able to make it, but that they were ready to jump into high gear this coming month.
We discussed the overall campaign strategy and showed some previews of our upcoming publicity materials. After the meeting, which took about an hour, a few of us donated even more of our time and canvassed the streets to talk to voters!
The level of support volunteers are demonstrating is truly astounding.
I can’t wait to get to work! If you want more information and sign up for the many, many outreach events we have scheduled this month, please shoot an email to questions@ephraimcruz.com.
Andres Gabaldon, one of Cruz for District 29’s most dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, was injured in the arm earlier tonight. Andres was taken to the University Medical Center, where the campaign was relieved to hear he is expected to make a full recovery.
Cruz for District 29 sends our most heartfelt prayers to Andres and his family. Cruz for District 29 supporters who wish to send their thoughts and well-wishes to the Gabaldon family can send them care of the campaign at questions@ephraimcruz.com.
Check out our brand-new radio spot, titled “Service” (.mp3). It will run on “The John C. Scott Show”, on 690 AM KVOI “The Voice”, throughout the remainder of campaign season.
I was thrilled to be a guest on Mr. Scott’s show earlier this morning. I really enjoyed our conversation on the pressing political issues facing District 29. A recording of my appearance on the show will be available shortly.
My heartfelt thanks go out to Mr. John C. Scott and Mr. Gerald Cross for their professionalism and assistance. Listen to “Service”, and email me at questions@ephraimcruz.com with your comments!
We have one more month left in this campaign. We have a field of 7 able candidates who vie for 2 available seats, and competition has become very fierce.
Still, we have the most powerful ground organization in the District 29 race. You dedicated your time, energy, and money to real change in District 29, and with your continued support, we will elect a candidate who wants to increase state spending for public education, public transportation, and health care access.
With your continued support, we can elect a candidate who will fight to increase money for science and technology research, a candidate who will work to attract alternative energy industries to Arizona to create jobs for our hardworking citizens.
Even if you haven’t been around in a while, come out to this meeting, and learn where our campaign has succeeded over the past few months, and where we need to go. The meeting needs each and every one of you to come out and be heard. This is our time.
I hope to see you this Saturday. After this meeting, many of us will hit the streets and Canvass for Cruz! We have only one month left, and District 29 needs to hear our message of change. I invite you to be a part of that message.
Thank you for everything,
Ephraim Cruz
Democratic Candidate for State Representative from District 29 Ephraim Cruz.com
PS - You can listen to me as I visit with John C. Scott on KVOI AM 690 at 11 AM, Tuesday, July 29, 2008. We will discuss the LD 29 campaign, and our ideas for improving our district. Thank you for your support.
On July 8, 2008, Cruz for District 29 received a document via email (view the document we received, which we converted to .pdf for easier download) that claims discrepancies in the campaign finance reports of one of Ephraim Cruz’s Democratic opponents for LD29’s two open State House seats. The document was sent from a person identifying herself only as “Christine”, and Cruz for District 29’s further attempts to contact this person have gone unanswered. The document sent to our campaign presents several pieces of evidence to support its claim that Daniel Patterson misrepresented his campaign donations and expenditures in his January 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008 campaign finance reports.
In summary, the document claims that Mr. Patterson:
Failed to report the cost of his campaign website to voters,
Failed to report the cost of bumper stickers used to publicize his campaign prior to receiving Clean Elections Commission funding to voters,
Hid campaign expenditures through extensive withdrawals of petty cash from the campaign,
Failed to disclose the details of a reimbursement made to himself from his campaign funds in December 2007.
Cruz for District 29 was alarmed to learn of these claims. We maintain openness and honesty with all our campaign activities. We are dedicated to ensuring that all campaign donations and expenditures are reported to the voters, and that all press releases and campaign updates are immediately made public via our website. We are the only campaign in LD29 to use YouTube to bring the voices of our supporters directly to the voters of LD29.
Our campaign strongly believes that transparency in all aspects of our campaign will indicate to voters Mr. Ephraim Cruz’s intention to maintain an open line of communication to his constituents when he is LD29’s next State Representative. The voters deserve honest representation from their elected State Representatives.
Therefore, Cruz for District 29 feels it is our responsibility to investigate these claims. If verified, these discrepancies would seriously violate the rules (and spirit) of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) and its public financing system, and should be brought to the attention of the voters. However, if these accusations could be proven baseless, our campaign felt they should have no place in our issue-based contest to represent the voters of LD29, and was prepared to immediately denounce them.
Regarding Mr. Patterson’s campaign website (DanielPatterson.net), Cruz for District 29 has verified that Mr. Patterson registered his domain roughly six months prior to launching his campaign for LD29. The website was registered through a service that charges $8.95/month for a two-year package (total of $214.80 + tax), and that this cost does not appear as either a personal donation or a campaign expenditure on Mr. Patterson’s campaign finance reports. DanielPatterson.net is repeatedly publicized by Mr. Patterson as his campaign website, and (as of July 26, 2008) it still bears the disclaimer that it is paid for by Mr. Patterson’s candidate committee, though to-date it is not. Thus, the website qualifies as a campaign cost that must be disclosed to voters.
Based on the fact that Mr. Patterson’s website was purchased prior to Mr. Patterson’s declaration of his candidacy, the cost of the website falls under the definition of a contribution (see ARS-16-901.5) and should have been reported by Mr. Patterson as an in-kind donation from himself to his campaign (subject to his personal and family contribution limit of $610) on his financial disclosure form submitted at the time of his campaign launch date.
While Mr. Patterson’s financial disclosure form is not available online, Mr. Patterson reports the maximum $610 personal and family contribution on his January 31 report (all donated as cash), indicating that the cost of his campaign website was not disclosed as an in-kind donation from himself to his campaign when he launched his run for office. The absence of any reporting of the costs of Mr. Patterson’s website is an egregious violation of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission policies.
Accountability matters. When Mr. Patterson hid the cost of his website (his only tangible campaign advertisement for voters for the eight to nine months prior to his Clean Elections funding) he gave himself an over two-hundred dollar advantage over every other candidate. This is no different than hiding the cost of campaign literature or hiding the cost of campaign radio ads. All of us deserve an explanation from Mr. Patterson regarding his decision not to report his campaign website. Everyone else with a campaign website in this race has done so.
Regarding the claims that Mr. Patterson distributed bumper stickers that are not reported on his campaign finance reports to-date, without tangible evidence that these bumper stickers existed and were distributed by Mr. Patterson earlier this year, our campaign can not verify that the cost of such bumper stickers should appear as an expenditure or donation on Mr. Patterson’s two campaign finance reports.
While Mr. Patterson’s $600 in petty cash withdrawals display a general lack of transparency in his campaign finance reporting, they are fully legal under our understanding of CCEC rules. In contrast, Cruz for District 29 has not made any petty cash withdrawals, and our campaign finance report from June 30 outlines each and every payment made for goods and services by our campaign. Our campaign is fully transparent.
Lastly, we cannot find any reason to believe that Mr. Patterson’s reimbursement to himself for a meeting taken in December 2007 were in violation of any CCEC rules.
In conclusion, while our campaign does not concur with three of the document’s four accusations against Mr. Patterson’s campaign finance reporting, we do find serious merit behind the document’s accusation that Mr. Patterson failed to report the cost of his campaign website to the voters of LD29 as an in-kind donation at the launch of his campaign, and in-so-doing exceeded his personal and family contribution limit.
Cruz for District 29 is disappointed that Mr. Patterson has not yet chosen to address — and put to rest — concerns regarding discrepancies in his campaign’s finance reporting. Mr. Patterson has been given numerous opportunities to provide clarification regarding these matters. For the sake of the voters, Cruz for District 29 strongly encourages Mr. Patterson to immediately amend his campaign finance reports to correct this discrepancy and to provide an honest, public statement regarding his accounting oversight to the voters of LD29.
As a candidate for one of the two hotly-contested State Representative seats open in LD29, Ephraim Cruz (like his opponents) is inundated with questionnaires from local news organizations and special interest groups.
Unlike his Democratic opponents, however, Ephraim Cruz faithfully answers as many of these questionnaires as he can. Other politicians might think that responding to a questionnaire from an organization that probably won’t endorse your candidacy is a waste of time.
But, Cruz believes that communicating his Democratic ideas to the voting public helps the voters of LD29 make an educated and informed vote, even if that means responding to questionnaires from conservative-leaning, Phoenix-based papers like the Arizona Republic — who are unlikely to endorse a Democratic candidate in LD29.
Cruz has never shirked from the opportunity to tell the hard truth to a tough crowd. As a federal whistleblower, Cruz sacrificed his career with the U.S. Border Patrol to represent the interests of those who could not fight for themselves.
Cruz’s willingness to spend time answering questions for the Arizona Republic demonstrates the personal integrity he possesses to unwaveringly represent fundamental Democratic beliefs and values in a Republican-led State Legislature.
Ephraim Cruz doesn’t just answer the questionnaires of special interest groups and media outlets who already agree with him and his positions. He’s not just looking for endorsements to help catapult him into power as other politicians might. Ephraim Cruz is running because he wants to faithfully represent the hard-working voters of LD29 in the tough Republican-led State Legislature that has ignored our interests for so long.
Ephraim Cruz commits his energy and reputation to fighting for increased state spending on public education, public transportation, and health care access for all Arizonans. To accomplish this, Mr. Cruz cannot be afraid to talk to Republicans who do not agree with him — or you — on these issues.
What good is a vote for a Democrat who’s only interested in speaking to those who already agree with Democratic Party philosophy? Ephraim Cruz will be proud to bring the fight for LD29 to the front-door of the Republicans in Maricopa County, and he willcome back with results.
Blogging for Cruz: Written by Jenn
Update/Correction (7/26): Within a few hours of this post, Mr. Daniel Patterson, a fellow candidate for the LD29 seat, graciously notified us that he had in fact also turned in his Arizona Republic Q&A and that he and his questionnaire were erroneously listed under the LD29 State Senate (not State House) race. We appreciate Mr. Patterson’s rapid response to our campaign and applaud him for his willingness to also engage the Arizona Republic. Let’s hope the other five candidates in the LD29 race choose to make their views known to all those who ask, regardless of partisan affiliation or potential bias.
Democratic Party Activist Bob Schwartz Endorses Ephraim Cruz
TUCSON, Arizona (July 24, 2008) – Bob Schwartz, long-time Democratic activist and respected voice in the Southern Arizona Democratic Party, endorsed Ephraim Cruz yesterday for Arizona State Representative for Legislative District 29.
“Ephraim’s demeanor, his approach to public service, his whole biography just speaks to somebody that we want as one of our leaders for the future,” said Schwartz.
“I’m also very impressed with Ephraim’s passion for his beliefs – that’s something that some people can claim to have but when you see it for real, it comes across. Ephraim believes in what he’s doing: he wants to see better jobs for Southern Arizona, he wants to see better transportation in Southern Arizona, he wants to see better services… in Southern Arizona, and I believe he has the ability, the passion, the drive, the background and the experience to do it.”
The full video of Schwartz’s statement is available for download at EphraimCruz.com.
Schwartz is an attorney and an influential Democratic activist in Southern Arizona. Schwartz is also a former candidate for the State Legislature and a former member of the State Committee. In 2006, Schwartz pioneered the Arizona Minimum Wage Initiative, a ballot initiative that established a state minimum wage above federal levels.
Ephraim Cruz is a whistleblower and a former U.S. Border Patrol Agent who witnessed human rights violations inflicted on detainees, including starvation of women and children. Cruz blew the whistle to stop these abuses, and was consequently forced to resign from the U.S. Border Patrol on November 9, 2007 after nearly 10 years as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent. Cruz launched his campaign for the Arizona State House on March 24, 2008.
For more information on this endorsement, please visit the campaign website at EphraimCruz.com.
Thanks to the hard work of volunteers, the campaign is delighted to announce that we have been approved for Citizens Clean Elections Commission funding, and are expecting to receive our initial public financing check later today.
Below is the text of the press release detailing this amazing achievement that you helped accomplish:
TUCSON, Arizona (July 24, 2008) – Ephraim Cruz, candidate for Arizona State Representative for Legislative District 29, is proud to announce that he has been approved for public financing by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
On July 7, 2008, Cruz for District 29 submitted 240 $5 qualifying contributions to the Arizona Secretary of State. Cruz for District 29 was notified on July 22, 2008 by e-mail that they were approved for public financing. Cruz has requested reallocation funding and will receive $19,382 from the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. The initial public financing check of $12,921 will arrive on July 24, 2008, with the remainder to follow shortly.
Most of Cruz’s $5 qualifying contributions were collected over the months of June and July by groups of dedicated volunteers who walked door-to-door throughout Legislative District 29 to speak to voters about their issues and concerns.
“We collected our qualifying contributions in record time, canvassing more than 3,000 voters in less than three months,” said James Lamb, Cruz’s campaign manager. “We’d like to thank our volunteers for their hard work, which has produced the strongest ground game in LD29. We look forward to a tough, but exciting race to the finish line.”
“I’m delighted that I am running a clean campaign,” said Cruz. “Our focus on education, transportation, and healthcare resonates among the voters in District 29. Our commitment to public financing keeps this race about those issues that matter most to the voters.”
Ephraim Cruz is a whistleblower and a former U.S. Border Patrol Agent. While stationed at the Douglas Border Patrol Station, Cruz witnessed human rights violations being perpetrated against detainees, including prolonged starvation of women and children. Cruz blew the whistle to stop these abuses, and was consequently forced to resign from the U.S. Border Patrol on November 9, 2007 after nearly 10 years as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent. Cruz launched his campaign for the Arizona State House on March 24, 2008.
For more information, please visit the campaign website at EphraimCruz.com.
We’re looking forward to an exciting final leg of this race! We’ll be increasing the number of canvassing events we’ll be having over this final month of the campaign; please contact questions@ephraimcruz.com to find out how you can get involved.
