Name: Barbara Jones Home: Tempe, Arizona Profession: Director, Lesbian Resource Project Office Sought: Tempe City Council Primary Date: 22 March 1994 Election Date: 10 May 1994 Barb Jones for Tempe Arizona City Council Arizona is one of the states targeted by the Far Right for an anti- gay initiative in 1994. Home of Evan Mecham, John McCain and Charles Keating, Arizona still has a sodomy statute and is one of few states in the nation that spends no state tax dollars on AIDS or HIV. In the midst of this bastion of conservatism, the city of Tempe is a welcome relief. The home of Arizona State University, Tempe is the site of many progressive groups both inside and outside of the university community. It is here that dynamic lesbian activist Barb Jones is making a bid for a seat on the City Council. With your support, Jones can become the first openly lesbian or gay elected official in Arizona and fight from within the system to protect Tempe from right wing encroachment. THE CAMPAIGN Barb Jones is running in a nonpartisan, citywide race for the Tempe City Council. To win one of the three open seats on the six-person council, she needs 50 percent plus one of the votes cast in the March primary. In previous elections, the voter turnout has been low, with only about nine percent of voters going to the polls. This means that Jones could win with as little as six percent of the registered voters. Any candidate who does not receive that amount of votes will be put into a general runoff with the top vote-getters taking the prize. Since there are, at this time, three open seats and four declared candidates (only one of whom is an incumbent), it is important that Jones make a show of strength now to discourage others from entering the race and forcing all the candidates into a general election. With the campaign theme of "Bringing Us Together," Barb Jones is maximizing her support through heavy targeting of environmental groups, downtown business owners, homeowner's associations, and the liberal, progressive, university, and gay and lesbian communities. Emphasizing popular concerns, her platform includes abatement of airport noise, managed growth, building a more positive relationship between the city government and private businesses, implementing creative, practical solutions to local crime problems and making city services accessible to all citizens. At a time when voters seek change, Jones has the advantage over "business-as-usual" career politicians; citizens and the press have commented favorably on her abilities and on her "guts" to run as an open lesbian. The Candidate Tempe resident and homeowner Barb Jones was born and raised in a single-parent household in Seattle's public housing projects. She is the first person in her family to go to college, receiving a B.A. in Education and an M.S. in College Instruction. Before moving to Arizona, she directed the Seattle Conservation Corps, a work training program for homeless and economically disadvantaged young adults, managed a vocational training program designed to prepare women for non-traditional employment and administrated environmentally sound water projects to address pollution and wildlife preservation. She learned economic development and fiscal responsibility by starting a small business with members of her family. A working class lesbian activist, Barb Jones is the founder and current director of the non-profit Lesbian Resource Project, a community-based organization designed to meet the needs of Phoenix-area lesbians. She also serves as board co-chair of the Valley of the Sun Gay and Lesbian Community Center, of which she is a founding member. Jones has already established her credentials with the local political establishment through her work to establish a non-discrimination policy in city government and a hate crimes unit in the Tempe Police Department. She even convinced the mayor to declare Gay and Lesbian Pride Week during the local pride celebration the first time a local mayor had agreed to attend Desert Pride. Her political skills have been further strengthened by her participation in the Arizona Human Rights Fund Lobbying Committee. The District The landlocked city of Tempe lies between the much larger capital city of Phoenix and the very conservative east valley city of Mesa. Of its population of 150,000, 49 percent have college degrees, the highest percentage in Arizona. Tempe is the site of Arizona State University, the nation's fifth largest university, and many of the city's residents are students. This highly educated citizenry has fostered many of the more progressive elements of the Valley of the Sun, and the city has a large percentage of lesbian and gay voters, whose experience in grassroots mobilization will be of great value to Jones' campaign. Working for the Gay and Lesbian Community In 1990, Barb Jones founded the Lesbian Resource Project in Tempe, which she now directs. With a budget of $40,000 and a membership of 350, the project has become a model agency for coalition building and community activism. Jones was also one of the founders and the current co-chair of the Valley of the Sun Gay and Lesbian Community Center, a flagship project which is both a focal point and place of pride for the gay and lesbian community. In addition to serving as a member of a statewide coalition designed to address lesbian/gay youth issues, Jones has been active in lesbian health issues serves on a task force designed to address education and AIDS prevention for women. Jones and her partner of 14 years, a professor at Arizona State University, were recently granted domestic partner benefits at the University Club on campus. They continue to work toward full domestic partnership benefits in all aspects of the university. Can She Win? Tempe is one of the most liberal communities in Arizona and Jones' profile and platform reflect popular concerns. She has a "non-incumbent" advantage and, depending on the size of the field and the voter turnout, she could win the election with as little as 6% of the registered voters. She has received the endorsement of the Arizona Human Rights Fund and has already recruited significant volunteer support from the large university community, both the students and faculty, the local district Democratic party and the lesbian and gay community. Why Barb Jones' Campaign Matters to You Because of its heavily conservative history, Arizona is one of the many states targeted for an anti-gay initiative by the Far Right. Tucson has had an anti-gay ordinance for years and Phoenix passed one in 1992. However, the tide has been changing. Local unions are including domestic partners in their contract negotiations, the Phoenix police department recently dropped their anti-gay hiring policy and Arizona State University has added a nondiscrimination clause. We must stop being reactive to the Religious Right and instead foil its agenda by becoming proactive in electing more gay and lesbian like Barb Jones, who can work for change from within the system. If we can do it in Arizona, and we can, the message will be sent nationwide that lesbians and gays are no longer going to be the scapegoats for hate politics. Why Your Contribution Matters to Barb Jones Your financial support is crucial to the success of Barb Jones' campaign. She has less than three months to raise badly needed funds in a right-to-work state with one of the lowest levels of pay and social benefits in the country. And many of Jones' local supporters will be financially drained by efforts to stop the proposed anti-gay initiative. Your investment in Jones' campaign will increase her viability in this race and yield big rewards for our community. To support Barb Jones Make your checks payable to: Barb Jones for City Council and mail them to: The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund 1012 14th St NW, Suite 707 Washington, DC 20005 Individual contribution limit is $250, PAC limit is $250. No corporate contributions are allowed. Paid for by the Victory Fund and authorized by Barb Jones for City Council Committee.