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Transcripts

September 29, 2004

Host: Michael Grant
Topics:
· Voter Registration;
· Proposition 105;
· Hunger Town Hall
In-Studio Guests:
· Joe Kanefield, Director, State Elections;
· Tom Dorn, Arizona Charter Schools Association;
· Terry Shannon, Executive Director, St. Mary's Food Bank

>> Michael Grant:
Tonight on "Horizon," the last day to register to vote in the general elections is October 4th at midnight. We talk about that and other election deadlines.

>>> Michael Grant:
In November, voters will be asked if they want to change the makeup of the State Board of Education.

>>> Michael Grant:
Plus, hunger and poverty are on the rise in Arizona, according to national statistics. Find out how you can help lower those numbers. That's next on "Horizon."

>> Underwriter: "Horizon" is made possible by the friends of Channel 8, members who provide financial support to this Arizona PBS station. Thank you.

>> Michael Grant:
Good evening, I'm Michael Grant. Is there a threat of voters being harassed and denied their right to vote on Election Day? One organization will have volunteer monitors on the lookout for voter intimidation at the polls. Supporters of the Election Protection Project were at the State Capitol today. They are members of an organization called the People for the American Way Foundation. Volunteers will be working in at least 17 key states, including Arizona, which they say has a history of voter intimidation.

>>> Michael Grant:
If you are not yet registered to vote, time is running out for you to take that opportunity so you can cast a ballot in November. Next Monday, October 4th at midnight will be your last chance to register. Here to talk about that and other voting deadlines is State Elections Director Joe Kanefield. Joe, welcome back.

>> Joe Kanefield:
It's good to be here.

>> Michael Grant:
Let me go to that voter intimidation issue. I would assume the Secretary of State would keep records on complaints about voter intimidation or reported incidents?

>> Joe Kanefield:
Well, certainly there is nothing that concerns the Secretary of State Jan Brewer more than rumors of voter intimidation at the polls on election day. We are not aware of any orchestrated efforts to do this. It concerns us greatly that people talk about it, and we want the public to know that intimidation at the polls will simply not be tolerated in this state and that if there is any news information that this is going to occur, or will be occurring on election day, we want to know about it and we will definitely do something about that.

>> Michael Grant:
Historically, is there any record of that? I would assume county elections directors would also keep track of that kind of data?

>> Joe Kanefield:
Not that I'm aware of. I'm sure if you go back in time, we can find instances, isolated instances of activity that wasn't lawful, but my understanding, and my recollection is that this is not been a serious issue in Arizona the last few elections. Of course, we are a voting rights state, and in the '60s, there were rumors of that happening and that's one of the reasons we are under jury diction by the Department of Justice, but that is not something that has happened in any orchestrated manner in the last several -- in any orchestrated manner in the last elections that I'm aware of. We want the public to know that this will not be tolerated.

>> Michael Grant:
There are election laws that force a perimeter away from polling, if I recall correctly. I want to say it's about 75 feet or so. I assume one of the reasons for that is so that some candidate or whoever right before you walk -- at least right before the walk in the door can't get in your face and say something to you?

>> Joe Kanefield:
That's correct. There is a 75-foot perimeter around every voting site. It's a campaign free zone. Voters should know when they go in that zone, that they are free to make their decision without being bothered by anyone. And who is allowed in that zone is regulated by law. Essentially it is the voter, of course, and the poll workers and very few other people can be inside a polling place. Groups that claim to want to come and monitor the elections need to know that they are going to have to comply with Arizona law, and that requires them to stay outside of that 75-foot limit so voters can vote in an unobstructed manner.

>> Michael Grant:
Let's get to some of the details here. Last day to register is Monday?

>> Joe Kanefield:
Monday at midnight.

>> Michael Grant:
Give me the various ways in which people can register.

>> Joe Kanefield:
There is a couple of ways. Of course, the old-fashioned way is to fill out the form and send it to the county recorder. With technology we now have voting on line or sorry, registration on line. You can do this by going to our web site, www.AZsos.gov. You can register to vote on line. Fill out an on line form and it works through a partnership with the Secretary of State's office and the motor vehicle division and you are registered instantaneously.

>> Michael Grant:
Because if I recall correctly, the ability there is to be able to match your signature against a signature that is in the data bank associated with your driver's license?

>> Joe Kanefield:
Exactly. If you have a driver's license issued, and I can't remember, sometime in the early to mid-90s, your signature will have been digitized and when you register to vote through service Arizona, through our web site, it takes a signature from your driver's license and transposes it actually onto your voter registration form. If you go down and look at your form at the county recorder's office, you'll see a signature that looks like the one on your driver's license.

>> Michael Grant:
What are the latest raw voter registration numbers in the state?

>> Joe Kanefield:
As of the primary election, we had approximately 2.4 million voters registered. Of course, we anticipate that that number will increase as we get closer to the deadline on Monday.

>> Michael Grant:
Is that the historic trend? Is there normally a fair amount of registration, say, in the last week before the deadline?

>> Joe Kanefield:
Yes, and definitely there is an increase in the number of voters that register between the primary and the general election.

>> Michael Grant:
Okay.

>> Michael Grant: What about early ballot requests? What do you hear along those lines?

>> Joe Kanefield:
We have some rough numbers as of Monday -- as of Monday, about 600,000 plus Arizonans have requested early ballots from the different counties around the state. That number, of course, can increase because an early ballot request can be made up till the Friday before the election, which is October 22nd. You'd have to do that. It can be done in writing, on the telephone, by E-mail. On hour web site, incidentally, is a link to the county recorder's web sites where you can request an early ballot on line directly through our web site.

>> Michael Grant:
Given the fact that we're still roughly five weeks away from the general election, 600,000 early ballot requests with a universe of 2.4 million registered voters seems like a heavy expression of interest in the election?

>> Joe Kanefield:
It would appear that way, and early balloting, of course, is a convenience that a lot of voters take advantage of. It enables them to vote from home where they can sit at their kitchen table and make their decisions and maybe they may not be able to make it to the polling place for whatever reason on election day, so it definitely has -- the trend has increased from election to election. We see more and more people voting by early ballots.

>> Michael Grant:
Speaking of polling places, any reason for me to suspect that my polling place would change from the primary to the general?

>> Joe Kanefield:
Well, the polling places are determined by the counties, and I would -- you definitely will want to look at your sample ballot when you get it in the mail. You should get that in the mail within two weeks or so before the election, and on the front of that envelope near where your address line is, it'll indicate where your polling place is, and you definitely want to take a look at that. The other thing, if you are not sure where your polling place is, you can go on line, or you can contact your county election department directly and ask them and they'll be able to tell you where you need to go.

>> Michael Grant:
It certainly might have changed from the year 2000?

>> Joe Kanefield:
That's correct.

>> Michael Grant:
Final question. Election turnout. 2000 was very strong. We were just talking about it.

>> Joe Kanefield:
I did some quick math, which is always dangerous in my case. If I'm not mistaken, the turnout was slightly higher than 70%, around 71%. Looking at my notes here, in 2002, it was about 56%.

>> Michael Grant:
That was an off presidential year.

>> Joe Kanefield:
So we would anticipate a higher turnout this year given it is a presidential election.

>> Michael Grant:
Okay, Joe Kanefield, thank you for joining us and talking about the issues.

>>> Michael Grant:
There is one proposition on the ballot that is getting little attention, Proposition 105. Still, some have a stake in the measure, charter school advocates. The proposition would change the makeup of the State Board of Education, adding two members, a layperson and a person representing charter schools to the 8-member board. In a moment, we'll talk about that. First, details of proposition 105.

>> Reporter Merry Lucero:
The State Board of Education regulates and has general supervision over the conduct of the public school system. The board is currently made up of the state superintendent of public instruction and eight members appointed by the Governor. The president of a state university or college, a superintendent of a high school district, a classroom teacher, a county school superintendent, three public members and a member of the state junior college board. Proposition 105 would amend the Arizona constitution by changing the makeup of the board and increasing the membership from 9 to 11. A president or chancellor of a community college district would replace the member of the state junior college board. One additional public member would be added, as well as one owner or administrator of a charter school. Joining me is Tom Dorn. He represents the Arizona Charter Schools Association. Tom, we searched high and low and we couldn't find a spokesman for no on proposition 105.

>> Thomas Dorn:
That's fine with me.

>> Michael Grant:
All right. Why should people vote yes on proposition 105?

>> Thomas Dorn:
Well, the charter schools, the number of students in charter schools is now around 76,000 and growing. It's getting larger every year. When you have around 900,000 students in the public school system, we roughly make up about 8-10% of students in public schools. So we find it appropriate that they be included on the State Board of Education since that's the policy-making board.

>> Michael Grant:
Why the extra public member.

>> Thomas Dorn:
Superintendent Horne wanted an uneven number and the legislature took care of that.

>> Michael Grant:
Tom Horne anticipating a lot of deadlocked 5-5 votes or?

>> Thomas Dorn:
I don't know, may be.

>> Michael Grant:
Why couldn't the interests or why aren't the interests of charter schools adequately represented with sort of the mix of representation that you have currently?

>> Thomas Dorn:
Well, I'm not saying they are not. Actually, the State Board of Education does a fine job with regard to charter school issues. We just find it would be helpful to have some charter school expertise, people actually in the field working in charter schools as an owner or administrator. It helps gives a different perspective when they are making policy that affects all students. So we find -- like we say, we find it very appropriate. And the legislation also had no problem with it. They passed it through almost unanimously, I believe, and as well as the district schools, they voiced no opposition during the legislative debate on it.

>> Michael Grant:
Tom, give us a broad overview, because I don't think a lot of people know what the State Board of Education actually does. You have a superintendent of public instruction, you have county superintendents of schools, you have the Board of Regents. You have a variety of different entities and individuals. Where does the State Board of Education fit in this entire scheme?

>> Thomas Dorn:
I'm no expert on the State Board of Ed, you want to talk to someone like Crissy Farley who runs it or the superintendent himself, but we just find that they are the policy making body. They are not the regulatory body for charter schools, but the policy-making body for the education system. That's why we find it -- we really want to be part of it.

>> Michael Grant:
Well, for example, I know that the AIMS test policies have been taken to the State Board of Education. I believe also they deal with curriculum matters and those kinds of things?

>> Thomas Dorn:
Exactly.

>> Michael Grant:
Those sorts of policies? Now, in relation to those policies, though, I guess what I'm struggling with partly is how decisions would be made differently in relation to curriculum policies and those kinds of things for charter schools as opposed to for public schools? We do want a fairly uniform school system.

>> Thomas Dorn:
Well, it is uniform. Charter schools are public schools. They are privately operated public schools. So the curriculum matters are the same. It's just you do have district representation on the State Board of Education, so we want to make sure there is also charter representation. If you add up all of the schools in the State of Arizona that are public schools, one quarter of them are actually charter schools, because we have 493 charter schools in the State of Arizona.

>> Michael Grant:
Okay. And that number, if I recall correctly, has been growing rather rapidly. When did charter schools --

>> Thomas Dorn:
We are coming up on our 10-year celebration here in 2004. We're having a conference here at the end of the month at the Hyatt downtown and Governor Napolitano is going to be there to give a proclamation celebrating 10 years of charters.

>> Michael Grant:
So literally from 0 to -- what was the number that you gave me in the 10 years?

>> Thomas Dorn:
The last number was 493. That's the last number I have.

>> Michael Grant:
Well, proposition 105, Tom Dorn, I appreciate you joining us and talking about it.

>> Thomas Dorn:
Thank you very much, Michael.

>> Michael Grant:
New census data shows poverty is on the rise and Arizona is above the national average. Along with poverty comes hunger. But social service experts say hunger is one of the most "solvable" social and economic problems being faced today. "The Politics of Hunger, a Town Hall Meeting," is being hosted by St. Mary's Food Bank in an effort to engage communities on the topic of hunger. We'll talk more about that free public town hall in a moment. First, Merry Lucero profiles one organization that is doing something about the problem.

>> Reporter Merry Lucero:
Volunteers at community economic development alliance or CEDA stack of bags of food in the hallway. The bags will be gone by Thursday.

>> Laura Smith:
I came on board about a year ago, and we were probably seeing about 20 people a week, and that was combined. Now we're seeing over 200 people a week.

>> Merry Lucero:
Nonprofit CEDA assists low-income families and individuals. The organization functions as an East Valley hub for St. Mary's food bank. Case managers with behavioral service provider value options also uses CEDA's pantry to help their clients.

>> Laura Smith:
The truck comes, they drop the food in the back also with Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas turkeys, they use us also. We do it the Saturday before the holiday. Last year we serviced almost 900 for Christmas and 900 for Thanksgiving.

>> Merry Lucero:
Emergency food is assistance is the majority of the service provided.

>> Laura Smith:
It's every 30 days. You can come back again October 27th. It's emergency assistance only. It's going to last you a week.

>> Merry Lucero:
Smith says many of her clients are single mothers.

>> Laura Smith:
And it's not just the homelessness. These are families coming in that need food boxes. Each month it helps them to spread it out until they get their other assistance in.

>> Reporter Merry Lucero:
CEDA assists low-income clients with housing and other needs.

>> Laura Smith:
I try to give out resource information. I'm always, you know, if people come in and they are looking for jobs, or looking for other ways. I get people who say I'm going to come and volunteers, and they do. And when they get back on their feet, they do come back and they do give items.

>> Reporter Merry Lucero:
Still, Smith says, the need for assistance is always growing faster than the resources to fill the gap.

>> Laura Smith: I'm concerned every week. Every week I'm concerned, because when I go to St. Mary's to pick up, every week it's getting lower and lower.

>> Michael Grant:
Joining me now is Terry Shannon, Executive Director of St. Mary's Food Bank. St. Mary's Food Bank is the first food bank.

>> Terry Shannon:
We are the first. We were founded in 1967 by a gentleman named John Van Hingle.

>> Michael Grant:
Give me some of the background, 1967 to here on St. Mary's food bank?

>> Terry Shannon:
John discovered that he was working at St. Vincent de Paul and was picking up food at Bayless, bringing it back to St. Vincent de Paul and ran across a woman who -- he struck up a conversation with, about how she was feeding her family. One was the soup kitchen, the other she said you would be amazed at the amount of food thrown out by grocery stores out the back door, and it wouldn't be nice if all of that food was available in a centralized place like money is in a bank. That was the birth of food banking. John secured a small loan at that point to start it up, and out of gratitude named it St. Mary's Food Bank.

>> Michael Grant:
And obviously. The attention of the community focuses most on organizations like St. Mary's Food Bank and others at the holiday period, but St. Mary's Food Bank is a seven by 24, 365 operation?

>> Terry Shannon:
Absolutely. People are hungry year round. While that giving season, November-December time frame is a terrific time for us, the summers, we move just as much food, because if you think about it, the school feeding programs shut down at that time. The kids who are in a difficult situation don't even have the school feeding breakfast and lunch programs to turn to. So they turn to community centers and boys and girls clubs and those kinds of organizations, which draw food from us to be able to serve meals.

>> Michael Grant:
St. Mary's food bank is also the founder of a national --

>> Terry Shannon:
There is a national network of food banks called America's second harvest which John van HENGEL also started 25 years ago next year. That's 213 food banks all across the country, united in the cause of eliminating hunger in our communities.

>> Michael Grant:
Would we find a St. Mary's Food Bank type of operation in most major -- you mentioned 235, in most major metropolitan areas?

>> Terry Shannon:
Absolutely. I think we have coverage across all 50 states, and actually, food bank is branching internationally now, but we definitely have coverage in the up.

>> Michael Grant:
Terry, tell me how the subject, the concept of a town hall on this subject came about.

>> Terry Shannon:
America's second harvest approached three different food banks across the country to pull off a town hall meeting on the politics of hunger during this election time frame. Obviously the hunger issue and the challenge that it represents is not at the forefront of the heavy debate kinds of things and so forth, yet it is a problem. It is a challenge. And to be able to get public policy makers, public policy advocates and the community creating a greater awareness, that's what this town hall is all about.

>> Michael Grant:
Now, are similar town halls being held elsewhere?

>> Terry Shannon:
There is one being held in Pittsburgh, one being held in Kansas City, and ours here in Phoenix.

>> Michael Grant:
Okay. The constituent parts, all of us are sort of familiar with the town hall concept, but you know, how does it work in this particular case?

>> Terry Shannon:
The goal of this town hall, we've got five panelists. We wanted to get representation from local governments, state governments, from the agency and the community resource -- or grassroots kind of level, and then we've got a gentleman from a national perspective, a fellow bite name of Eric MAZONE who is president of MAZONE, Eric Shockman, excuse me, president of MAZONE, who is the national Jewish response to hunger. Having all of those different viewpoints gives us the ability to address issues focused on the connection of poverty, and food insecurity and hunger in the community, the ability to talk about food stamps and that being the first point of relief to a challenged situation for a family, and then the nutrition component, and nutrition is so vital to a young mind from an education side and from a learning standpoint in school. If they are hungry, they are not going to learn very well at all.

>> Michael Grant:
What are some of the participation stats? Obviously you mentioned food stamps. I think you referred to it -- is it a first line of defense?

>> Terry Shannon:
First response kind of opportunity.

>> Michael Grant:
And in Arizona, you were mentioning that there are a number of people who theoretically could qualify for food stamps but who do not?

>> Terry Shannon:
In Arizona there are 740,000 Arizonans living below the federal poverty level. Those folks in turn have the ability to qualify for food stamps and go through a pretty rigorous application and interviewing process to be able to get that accomplished. The challenge is potentially -- right now, almost 65% of those who are eligible for food stamps in Arizona are not receiving them for one reason or another.

>> Michael Grant:
What is food insecurity?

>> Terry Shannon:
Food insecurity speaks to not knowing where your next meal is coming from, or that that meal doesn't have reasonable nutritional balance, having popcorn for dinner will take care of a hunger pain, but it's not the right nutritional breakdown. In the State of Arizona, we have, you know, those 700,000 plus folks are potentially in a food insecure environment, because the monies that they do earn, the working poor, focuses on mortgage payments and transportation kinds of needs and those kinds of challenges, and food tends to fall out the bottom.

>> Michael Grant:
I mentioned in the introductory copy that hunger is the most solvable social problem? How so?

>> Terry Shannon:
Studies have been done nationally that indicate that there is enough food in our country to solve hunger today if it was channeled properly, if it went through the right distribution kind of networks. The amount of food being thrown out that potentially has gone by a sell-by date but is consumable. If all of that were gathered and made available to the population that we're talking about, that food insecure population, it's solvable. It is fixable.

>> Michael Grant:
So is it a logistics issue that there are not enough St. Mary's Food Bank type organizations that literally will seize those assets and collect them? Or is it something else?

>> Terry Shannon:
It's not necessarily -- the food banking community deals with that emergency environment, not the systemic part of the problem. We'll respond to the family in need that comes to us through a caseworker or through one of the agencies we work with and put food in their hands and solve a short-term need. The real issue has to deal with bringing people out of the poverty basement, giving them the opportunity to earn a reasonable enough wage to be able to secure and buy food on their own. The food that is available that I'm talking about that's being thrown out, that'll solve that short-term need. The long-term solution, though, is addressing the poverty issue.

>> Michael Grant:
So there is an adequate supply?

>> Terry Shannon:
Yes.

>> Michael Grant:
Obviously not linking up with demand?

>> Terry Shannon:
That's exactly it.

>> Michael Grant: All right. We appreciate very much your joining us. Take care. Best of luck on the town hall. That town hall on hunger will be held a week from today. That's Wednesday, October 6th at the Arizona Historical Society in Tempe. The event is free and open to the public, but you do need tickets, which you can pick up at St. Mary's Food Bank on 31st avenue. It is just south of Thomas in Phoenix. You can find details on the town hall at St. Mary's web site. The address for that is WWW.AZPBS.ORG. You can click on "Horizon." You can view transcripts of "Horizon" to find out about upcoming topics. "Horizon," Channel 8, your home for the presidential debates. The first of them is tomorrow night. Thanks for joining us this evening. I'm Michael Grant. Have a great one. Good night.

 

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