ICYMI: Jewish News of Greater Phoenix Endorses Kyrsten Sinema

Today, the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix endorsed Kyrsten Sinema for Congress, writing that Arizona can “trust Sinema when it comes to promoting and fostering our partnership with Israel. Profoundly affected by her 2009 visit there, Sinema understands well the deep and complex problems Israelis deal with daily. She will join the overwhelming, bipartisan consensus in Congress that supports our relationship with the Jewish State.”

Read the entire editorial here.

Sinema for CD9

Jewish News endorses Kyrsten Sinema to represent Arizona’s newly created 9th Congressional District. Sinema reflects well the values of this moderate district and will be a strong addition to our congressional delegation.

After the 2010 census, Arizona received an additional congressional district, CD9, which includes Central and East Phoenix, Tempe and parts of Paradise Valley, Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler. Independents outnumber both Republicans and Democrats in CD9, and the electorate has favored (slightly) moderate Democrats in the last two election cycles. Sinema is a perfect fit to represent this district. Over her four terms in the Arizona Legislature, she was always in a substantial minority. Rather than obstruct the majority party’s agenda, Sinema found Republicans to partner with to get important legislation passed. Among the significant laws she helped pass were ones reversing budget cuts to schools, requiring insurance companies to cover autism treatment for children, ensuring public health care coverage for children living in poverty, and reducing tuition costs for returning veterans.

Yet, unlike many who wrap themselves in the bipartisan banner, Sinema will not back down from a fight. In 2006, she co-chaired the successful opposition to the ballot initiative that would made it a violation of Arizona law for public benefits to be provided to domestic partners. Sinema further has been a tireless advocate for women’s rights and reasonable solutions to our vexing immigration problems, such as the DREAM Act.

If elected to Congress, Sinema would be a member of the minority caucus. She would continue to fight for the issues she has championed in Arizona – job creation, education, energy independence, immigration reform and women’s rights. If a bipartisan consensus can be developed in these areas, she will be at the center of it.

We also trust Sinema when it comes to promoting and fostering our partnership with Israel. Profoundly affected by her 2009 visit there, Sinema understands well the deep and complex problems Israelis deal with daily. She will join the overwhelming, bipartisan consensus in Congress that supports our relationship with the Jewish State.

We expect her opponent, Vernon Parker, would do the same. That said, the prospect of a President Romney gives us pause. As Israel’s former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy said last weekend, Romney’s presidential campaign, by its repeated and forceful condemnation of negotiations with Iran, is “mortally destroying any chance of a resolution without war.” Parker, as a newly elected member of the Republican majority, would be unlikely to push back his party’s president, even when his actions would deal, as Halevy describes it, “a heavy blow to the ultimate interest of the United States and Israel.”

On domestic issues, Parker has tried to cast himself as a moderate. When pressed, though, he cannot name a single important policy on which he would oppose his party leaders. If elected, we expect the moderate voters of CD9 would find out quickly enough that Parker was anything but. He is the wrong candidate at the wrong time for the wrong district.