Now that the 2012 Primary Elections are
over, we want to take a close look at some of the Democrats running in the
General Election.
KYRSTEN SINEMA, former Legislator, is the
Democratic Socialist nominee for AZ CD-9! Sinema defeated 2 other Dems for the
nomination. Let's take a close look at Kyrsten Sinema and her
record:
Adult Sinema
A candidate with a lengthy history of anti-Israel
activism is on course to gain the Democratic Party’s nomination for a new
congressional district in Arizona, raising alarms in party circles.
Longtime Arizona state politician Kyrsten Sinema is
vying for the Democratic nomination in the state’s Ninth
Congressional District, a sickle-shaped enclave
encompassing portions of Tempe, Mesa, and the outskirts of Phoenix.
Sinema, a former Arizona state senator and Barack Obama
delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, bills herself as
the archetypal Democratic candidate—pro-environment,
pro-jobs,
and, without doubt, staunchly pro-Israel.
But a closer examination of her career reveals that
Sinema has advocated against what she calls the “Israeli occupation” and helped
create several groups that oppose the U.S.-Israel alliance.
“She’s trying to scrub a 10-year record of radicalism on
all aspects, and she doesn't realize you can't erase things you've said and done
for the sake of running for office,” said one Democratic Arizona lawmaker who
has worked with Sinema. “For us [Democrats] it’s a very scary situation because
we don't want our reputation to be diminished by one ambitious politician. Many
of us pro-Israel politicians don't want to see her win because it will diminish
our positions on Israel.”
Another Democratic insider in Arizona described Sinema’s
past deeds as “albatrosses hanging around her neck.”
Sinema’s foray into anti-Israel activism began in the
early 2000's when she organized
for the Arizona Alliance for Peace and Justice (AAPJ), a
group whose members have denounced
Israel’s “disproportionate” use of “violence and oppression.”
The group also decried U.S. military aid to Israel as
well as the expansion of Israeli settlements “into Palestinian
lands.”
Sinema later urged
supporters of the AAPJ to deluge the phone lines of a radio
show hosted by “an unapologetic unconditional supporter of Israeli
policy.”
To this day, AAPJ continues
to take a hardline stance against Israel, aligning itself with the far left
Occupy AIPAC movement and sponsoring various speeches “against the Israeli
occupation.”
Another of Sinema’s progeny is Local to Global
Justice, a grassroots advocacy group that has positioned
itself as one of Arizona’s leading critics of the Jewish state.
In February 2004, the group
brought the anti-Israel bus tour Wheels of Justice to
Tempe—a junket that the Anti-Defamation League described
as “distinctly anti-Israel.” The AAPJ cosponsored the
event.
Like the AAPJ, Local to Global Justice has continued
to sponsor events singling out Israel for undue criticism. Sinema’s headshot
remains displayed
on the group’s website.
The organization has advocated
in favor of the Palestinian “right of return,” a policy
that critics say would all but destroy Israel’s Jewish character.
In addition to playing a principal role in these far
left, Israel bashing outfits, Sinema formerly served as a
spokesman for Women in Black, an anti-war group that was
founded in part to support Palestinians during the Intifada.
“It’s a very generous reading [of her past] to think
she’s just critical of Israel,” said the Arizona Democratic
insider.
Her advocacy has “put her in opposition to the existence
of Israel, and there’s not a lot of ways to talk around that. The groups and
individuals she’s been associated with are unequivocal.”
Sinema became a Democratic Arizona legislator in 2005
following a
stint
as the spokesperson for Ralph Nadar’s Green Party, which has advocated ending
U.S. aid to Israel.
As a lawmaker in the State House, Sinema continued to
fraternize with Israel’s fiercest opponents, including
the anti-war group CODEPINK, which has promoted
conspiracy theories claiming that the so-called “Israel lobby” exerts ultimate
control over U.S. foreign policy.
In 2006, Sinema penned a laudatory missive to the Israel
critic Marwan Ahmad, a native Palestinian who was booted
from a Phoenix political committee for “promoting messages of intolerance
against Israel [and] the Jewish community.”
Though Sinema later condemned Ahmad after local Jewish
newspapers applied pressure, she initially praised
him for “13 years of service to the mosaic ethnic
communities here in the Valley of the Sun.”
Since that incident, Sinema has continued to align
herself with Ahmad, sending him videotaped messages of
support and allowing her image to be featured on
his
website.
Sinema has a record that should cause alarm for the
district’s large Jewish community, said the Democratic Arizona lawmaker who
worked with Sinema.
“It’s important for the Jewish
community and pro-Israel supporters to recognize that whoever wins this primary
will likely win the election,” said the source. “People should be concerned
because I don’t think she has a moral compass, and when you have to make
decisions on national security, you need a moral compass.”
A spokesperson for Sinema maintained that the candidate
has a well-established pro-Israel record and directed a reporter to read an
Israel
policy paper posted on the campaign’s official
website.
The document in question portrays Sinema as a
mainstream, pro-Israel activist who would champion the Jewish state on Capitol
Hill.
Politicos in Arizona and D.C., however, are not buying
it. They maintain that Sinema is dissembling in order to secure a seat in
Congress.
“Kyrsten Sinema launched her
career as an extreme committed leftist. But when she realized she couldn’t get
elected to Congress on such an extreme platform, she moderated herself,” said
one Arizona political figure. “Problem is, that still makes her the most liberal
politician in the entire state of Arizona.”
One senior Democratic official in D.C. said, “There’s no
room for [Sinema’s] extremist views and for her to have any serious position in
the Democratic Party—especially not in Congress.”
If Sinema were victorious, she would become “the
least-supportive member of Congress for Israel since Rep. Cynthia McKinney,”
added the Democratic official.
Travis Grantham, a Republican frontrunner who could
potentially face the controversial Democrat in a general election, recalled that
Sinema was cozying up to various officials at the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee’s annual gala earlier this year.
“Kyrsten was trying very hard to make herself look
pro-Israel—but she’s not,” Grantham told the Free Beacon. “She’s trying
to play clean up. It’s obviously her trying to raise money and attract voters in
the primary.”
In addition to her views on Israel, Sinema has rallied
against America’s war on terrorism and, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks,
led
demonstrations against the military’s hunt for Osama bin
Laden.
On the domestic front, Sinema has often displayed what
some observers termed erratic behavior.
In 2003, for instance, she recalled “singing
and spiraling” in a “pagan” dance pit during an anti-war
protest rally.
Her liabilities are not limited to foreign
policy.
“These women who act like staying at
home, leeching off their husbands or boyfriends, and just cashing the checks is
some sort of feminism because they’re choosing to live that life. … That’s
bullshit. I mean, what the fuck are we really talking about here?”
“She has a pattern of radical views, and she certainly
shouldn’t be holding herself up to represent the Democratic Party,” said the
D.C. Democrat.
Kyrsten Sinema is a State Representative from Arizona. She serves as the Assistant Leader to the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives and represents central Phoenix in the Arizona Legislature District 15. Now in her third term, she is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee and the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Regarded as an high flyer, Sinema will almost run for national office at some point in the future. Sinema is an Arizona native, born and raised in a border region. She graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work at the age of 18. While advocating for "marginalized and oppressed communities in the state", she earned her master’s degree in Social Work and later went on to graduate cum laude with her juris doctorate from Arizona State University. In addition, she was hired as an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at ASU at the age of 26 to teach master’s level courses in fundraising and political and social policy. Kyrsten Sinema was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, after nearly a decade of professional practice as a social worker and "social justice" advocate. The Communist Party USA, plays a major role in Arizona's "progressive community" and has in the past counted Sinema among its affiliates. Kyrsten Sinema was a signatory to an advertisement "May Day and Cinco de Mayo greetings" placed in the Communist Party paper People's Weekly World May 4, 2002. Such ads were traditionally placed in the Communist Party paper every May Day, sponsored by local party clubs, members or supporters.
Arizona's progressive community extends May Day and Cinco de Mayo greetings to all our friends across the country. We commit ourselves to resist the Bush Administration's drive for ever increasing military spending and a neverending state of war. We must redouble our efforts to build a people's coalition that will drive the ultra right out of Congress next November
Co-signing the advertisement with Sinema were Communist Party USA members Joe Bernick, Jack Blawis, Lem Harris, Lorenzo Torrez, Anita Torrez, Carolyn Trowbridge, Steve Valencia, the Tuscon and East Valley Clubs of the Communist Party and party fronts the Arizona Peace Council and the Salt of the Earth Labor College.
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Here is Kystern Sinema's endorsement;
To see the whole page, go here;
Shortly after her election in 2004, Kyrsten Sinema and former State
Representative Steve May formed Arizona Together, the statewide coalition to
defeat Arizona’s same-sex marriage ban. During the course of the two years
leading up to the 2006 election, Sinema led the campaign’s effort to raise
nearly $3 million, research, craft, and deliver a winning message, and build a
broad-based, statewide coalition of community leaders, organizations, and
businesses.
Arizona made history Nov. 7 2006, when its voters became the first in the
nation to reject a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Wrote Arizona
Communist Party leader and Arizona Together activist Joe Bernick
So how did we do it? The answer is: educating, organizing and mobilizing.As soon as proponents started circulating petitions to put 107 on the ballot, opponents brought out their own clipboards, signing up thousands of volunteers. Arizona Together emerged as the campaign committee, chaired by progressive state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.
Circa 2008, four members of the Arizona state legislature, including Sinema, joined together to form a "Progressive Caucus" in the House of Representatives of the Arizona State Legislature. In 2010, Kyrsten Sinema served on the Board of Directors for the Progressive States Network, an organization which seeks to "transform the political landscape by sparking progressive actions at the state level". This organization is funded by George Soros' Open Society Institute. Sinema serves on numerous community and national boards, including as Board President of Community Outreach and Advocacy for Refugees, the YWCA of Maricopa County, the influential Center for Progressive Leadership, and the Young Elected Officials’ Network. She is the recipient of awards for her political leadership, including the NAACP Civil Rights Award, AZ Hispanic Community Forum Friend of the Year, Planned Parenthood Legislative CHOICE Award, Sierra Club’s Most Valuable Player, and the AZ Public Health Association Legislator of the Year. Significantly, Sinema also serves as board member of Progressive Democrats of America (as the only state legislator on the board), a project of Democratic Socialists of America, the far left Institute for Policy Studies and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, designed specifically to move the Democratic Party to the far left.
To whom does Kyrsten Sinema owe her primary allegiance - the progressive Soros agenda, her old friends in the Arizona Communist Party, or to the "mom and pop" voters of Arizona?
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