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Organizations train possible candidates to run for office

By Howard Fischer

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-861637.mp3

Phoenix, AZ – The Arizona Education Association and Planned Parenthood are
sponsoring training sessions, beginning this coming weekend for
would-be legislators. But AEA President John Wright said they're
not just being civic minded.

(It's really part of the work we do in relation to impacting
public policy. Sometimes you can't get the right public policy
you want with the people in office. So we try to find people to
run for office who are going to be supportive of the sorts of
things we think are important.)

Both groups have lost legislative battles for years but had Janet
Napolitano to veto many of the measures. But now Jan Brewer is
governor, a change Wright said makes the legislative make-up more
important. While those groups are looking for candidates to
train, so is the Center for Arizona Policy which opposes abortion
and supports tax credits to help students go to private and
parochial schools. Organization president Cathi Herrod said the
successes her group has had at the Capitol are not guaranteed
forever.

(We can't rest on our laurels. We can't ignore what's going on.
We need to make sure we're not alseep at the switch and that we
are also gearing up and that people are considering how they can
respond to all of this.)

Both sides plan to teach candidates everything from raising money
to getting their message out. For Arizona Public Radio this is
Howard Fischer.