How the Left was Won

One of the organizations who helped gather signatures, canvass, and collect completed ballots for the LD 18 recall election was Promise Arizona en Accion (PAZ).  The founders of this organization include Petra Falcon and Raquel Teran.

This post will focus on Raquel Teran.

Teran's resume reads like the ideal Community Organizer.  Complete with the Center for Progressive Leadership training.

Raquel is a community organizer who helps improve the life of Arizonans through dignity and justice. Raquel currently works on a grassroots coalition which involves community base organizations, unions, leaders, and workers. As an organizer for the coalition, she helps to mobilize the community to send a message of no tolerance to disrespect and injustice to the community. Previously she served as an organizer for SEIU, where she recruited and trained employees to organize.

Through other coalitions and organizations she has greatly been involved in the fight for immigration reform. She has worked with the Latino community to promote voter participation, increase new citizenship applicants, and has organized immigration forums to keep the community informed of current immigration issues affecting the immigrant community.

She was actively involved with Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability along with Randy Parraz back in 2008.  The goal of MCSA was to hold the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff's office accountable.

Her most recent endeavor is Promise Arizona's action arm, Promise Arizona en Accion.  PAZ received a $20,000 infusion from the union UNITE HERE on the day that the group first registered with the Arizona Secretary of State's office.  UNITE HERE endorsed Randy Parraz in his failed Senate campaign in 2010. 

PAZ also received an "in kind" labor donation of $9000 from a group called Campaign for Community Change.  We'll look at these two groups in depth later.

The job of PAZ was to get out the young, Latino vote.

PAZ were active in recruiting, training and engaging their members.  They even boldly canvassed conservative LD18 wearing the matching t-shirts with the "POWER fist" emblazoned on the front which said, "Don't Let SB-1070 Happen Again". 

Speaking at the AzAN immigration Forum in 2009.  Arizona Advocacy Network

 Somos Leaders Workshops are organized to train future leaders in areas of grant writing and proposals, personal narratives and grassroots fundraising.  (Classes taught by Teran and Parraz)

  The poster reads, "Increase the vote (?) of civic engagement within the under represented minority community and change the political landscape of Arizona by developing new leaders, educating through house meetings, voter registration training and movement building training."

(3:16)  "Cuidado Joe Arpaio!  We're coming after you!"

(Any Republican who is willing to turn a blind eye from these kinds of leftist, radical groups who actively campaigned on their behalf by justifying that they never personally met them, should be ashamed of themselves. They aren't the kind of Republicans the party needs.)