Jess Phoenix is whip smart, has won every debate she’s participated in, and has a message that means a lot to me: We need to bring back evidence-based policymaking. Jess Phoenix is a Democrat, but thinks beyond partisan or tribal politics when it comes to making or deciding on policy.
It should be all about the evidence. If the evidence says a policy won’t work, then it shouldn’t pass. It’s really that simple. If the evidence shows a policy is financially untenable, then it should be voted down. It’s really that simple. If a policy can be shown to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people, then it should pass. It’s really that simple.
Jess Phoenix hasn’t attacked any other candidate (except Knight) and has never used anything other than her own positions to gain support. And she’s done it all with one-tenth of the money that the other two Democrats have raised. While they are collecting war chests, Jess Phoenix is collecting votes. Her enthusiasm rating is admirable, too. She has 21,000 followers on Facebook, where Caforio and Hill have a combined 10,396 follows. Jess has 63,000 followers on Twitter, compared to 9,650 for Hill and Caforio combined.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m already tired of this election cycle. As a liberal, I’ve been watching the Democratic candidates for the last year. Lately, two of them have started tearing each other to shreds. Bryan Caforio has released a few mailers comparing Katie Hill’s blue-dog tendencies to the conservative positions of our current GOP Congressman Steve Knight. Caforio has spent months collecting Hill quotes in her own words and is now using them all against her, in her own words, no less. Hill has flip-flopped so much over the last year, that it wasn’t exactly hard for Caforio to do this. It even gave him enough ammunition to fill up three mailers with this stuff.
Hill’s attacks are more under the radar. She lets her supporters go after other voters who don’t support Katie Hill. And they sure do. If you’re not a Hill supporter, you get endless lectures about how Hill has more money and doesn’t make up lies about the other candidates (except for when she does).
What does all this add up to? Easy – Jess Phoenix for Congress. It’s really that simple.
Gretchen Zovak
Canyon Country
