Campaign News

Tucson, AZ – Ron Barber for Congress released a new ad for the special election today, a thirty-second spot called “The Right Way.” The ad shows Jesse Kelly, in his own words, talking about his support for reducing the corporate tax rate to zero and his support for the so-called Fair Tax, a 23 percent consumption tax.

“Middle class families need someone who will fight for them—not tilt the playing field further in favor of big corporations and the rich,” Barber said. “Unfortunately, Jesse Kelly has shown that he’s just fine with tax increases for the middle class—as long as corporations don’t have to pay their fair share.” Read More >>>

Tucson, AZ — Today, Ron Barber issued the following statement regarding the US Postal Service’s announcement that it plans to close Tucson’s mail processing center, Cherrybell:

“As someone who has lived in Tucson for over 50 years, I regard the Postal Service’s decision to close our mail processing center as troubling and irrational. Tucson is growing. Our metropolitan area now includes over a million people. As for the rest of Southern Arizona, the idea that a piece of mail going from Bisbee to Sierra Vista needs to travel the 200 miles to Phoenix and back defies common sense. This decision will slow down timely delivery of mail for the residents of Southern Arizona. This decision is also short-sighted–it will only exacerbate the problems the USPS faces, and further drive away customers. Read More >>>

Tea Party Jesse Kelly did it again. At a recent forum with the Green Valley – Sahuarita Chamber of Commerce, Kelly re-affirmed his support for privatizing Social Security. Kelly said that the Social Security system is “embarrassing” and again endorsed creating private accounts for Social Security – the same risky scheme to gamble seniors’ hard-earned retirement on Wall Street.

If that wasn’t clear enough, Kelly again reiterated his desire to privatize Social Security in the KUAT-TV Debate aired last night. He said that he would be in favor of “giving choices to future generations”—an often-used alternative description of plans to privatize Social Security.

Kelly’s campaign went to great lengths recently to edit their website and delete language referencing Social Security privatization, but at this recent forum and at last night’s debate Kelly restated his true beliefs. Read More >>>

The Tucson Weekly Endorsement: Ron Barber
Voters should pick trusted public servant Ron Barber to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ term
by Tucson Weekly Editorial Board

There’s a reason that Republicans who have worked with Democrat Ron Barber are stepping across party lines to support him.

It’s because those Republicans—former Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, homebuilder John Wesley Miller, former state lawmaker Pete Hershberger, former SAHBA lobbyist Alex Jacome, former president of the 162nd Fighter Wing Minuteman Committee Tim Amalong, and many others—have worked with Barber in the past. So they know from personal experience that he’s the kind of guy who will work with other people to make Southern Arizona a better place, regardless of political ideology.

And that’s why we’re urging you to vote for Ron Barber in the June 12 special election to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ congressional term. Read More >>>

Tucson, AZ — During the first head-to-head debate in the special election campaign in Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District, Ron Barber demonstrated clear leadership on the issues that matter to middle and working class families in Southern Arizona as Jesse Kelly struggled to explain his cover-up on the privatization of Social Security and Medicare, and his call to eliminate the minimum wage.

While Kelly’s statements in favor of privatizing and phasing out Social Security and Medicare have become quite well known, Ron Barber stood strongly for protecting both programs, as he has every time he has been asked about these issues.

Kelly struggled to explain his flip-flop. Today he said: “What I said from the very beginning of last campaign and this campaign is that we have to protect the seniors who are currently on these programs while giving choices to future generations. That has been the message then. That is the message now.” But during the last campaign, Kelly took very different positions, including: Read More >>>