Meet Our Candidates: Mark Manoil for Arizona Treasurer

The time to fight back — and fight forward — for reproductive justice is fast approaching. The stakes are high in this year’s state election, with candidates for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and other races on the ballot. The Arizona general election will be held November 6, 2018 — and early voting began on October 10. Voters needed to have been registered by October 9 to cast their ballots. Reproductive health has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who put our health and our rights first. Get to know them now in our series of “Meet Our Candidates” interviews, and make your voice heard in 2018!

[M]ark Manoil came of age in Phoenix during the 1960s and ’70s, an era that saw his hometown boom as it built out infrastructure and provided children with quality education. It was a time period when “government understood how responsible investment could help our communities thrive” — in contrast to today’s Arizona, where lawmakers have turned away from that forward-thinking belief in responsible investment. He saw it when his family struggled during the 2008 recession while the government chose to bail out banks, and he sees it in millennials burdened with student debt. Mr. Manoil is hoping for a change of course, in which lawmakers reinvest in Arizona’s citizens and allow them to prosper — and he’s running for Arizona treasurer so he can be at the helm for these changes.


“We should be pulling from all of the great minds in this state rather than ignoring them.”


The state treasurer oversees Arizona’s $40 billion budget and $15 billion in assets, and is responsible for distributing taxpayer money to state agencies, local governments, and public schools. The treasurer also has influence over investments, loans, and state lands. Arizona’s current treasurer is stepping down from her post, leaving the seat open for either Republican Kimberly Yee and Democrat Mark Manoil.

As a state senator, Ms. Yee consistently opposed reproductive rights and received the lowest ratings possible from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona and NARAL Arizona. She also supported tax cuts for corporations, a move that Mr. Manoil says has made the state too dependent on regressive sales taxes that disproportionately affect lower-income people. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona is excited to endorse Mr. Manoil for Arizona treasurer, trusting him to fight for families over corporations.

Mr. Manoil generously took the time to tell us more about his background and his candidacy on October 4.

Please tell us a little about your background and why you’re running for office right now in this political climate.

I am a fourth-generation Arizonan with roots stretching back to territorial days. My great grandfather and his brother both served as Arizona territorial treasurers. I am a proud graduate of our public schools and a prouder public school parent. Today, I’m a small business owner focused on enforcing our property tax laws, especially on greedy speculators trying to skirt taxes. More and more we see people who can’t pay off their college debt, can’t afford a house, can’t qualify for a small business loan, and can’t afford to start a family. Our kids can’t live at home forever — things have to change. When the government stops working for the people, we must elect new leaders to fix it. I will fight to create opportunity and restore dignity to an office that for too long has let politicians get away with bad budgets and self-dealing. Continue reading

Meet Our Candidates: Joe Bisaccia for State Representative, LD 12

The time to fight back — and fight forward — for reproductive justice is fast approaching. The stakes are high in this year’s state election, with candidates for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and other races on the ballot. The Arizona primary election will be held August 28, 2018, and early voting began on August 2. Voters need to have been registered by July 30 to cast their ballots. Reproductive health has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who put our health and our rights first. Get to know them now in our series of “Meet Our Candidates” interviews, and make your voice heard in 2018!

[P]lanned Parenthood supporters are in every legislative district in Arizona, including one of the reddest: Legislative District 12, which ranks behind only two other districts — 13 and 22 — as the most conservative in the state, and encompasses the San Tan Valley, cities like Gilbert, and eastern spans of Maricopa County. That didn’t stop Joe Bisaccia from getting into the race for the House of Representatives from LD 12. His is the voice we’re looking for!


“I will work for laws that ensure women retain the right to make their own health care decisions.”


Mr. Bisaccia, a middle-school robotics and technology teacher, has been on the front lines of what the Republican-run Legislature has done to shred public school funding. The impact of stripping billions — that’s “billions” with a “b” — from K-12 funding for public schools, the zeroing out of community college funding, and diverting taxpayer money to multiple “voucher” programs is felt deeply by public school teachers and their students. And, when high tech jobs opt to build and invest in other states because Arizona’s education system doesn’t elicit a lot of confidence, Arizonans are deprived of the good jobs they deserve.

As a middle school teacher, Mr. Bisaccia is also in a unique position to understand the value of medically accurate comprehensive sex education, including concepts like dating violence, consent, and anti-bullying techniques. He understands the value of having students respect personal boundaries, engage in understanding consent, and be able to make informed decisions about one’s future. He wants his kids to be successful, and medically accurate comprehensive sex education can offer ways to remain healthy and safe.

Mr. Bisaccia was gracious to enough to take a break from campaigning on July 30, 2018, to share his responses to our questions. Continue reading

ACT TODAY! SB 1318 Is on the HOUSE FLOOR TODAY!

The Trouble with SB 1318

BREAKING: FACT-CHECK on 1318

fact check thumbnailSB 1318 passed the Arizona House Rules committee this afternoon and is headed to the House floor later this week — NOW IS THE TIME to STOP 1318. SB 1318 is too extreme and relies on illegitimate science to prop up an extreme and messy bill. #STOP1318 and contact your 2 Representatives and ask they vote NO when it gets to the floor.

  1. No taxpayer money is used in Arizona to fund abortion. NONE. No taxpayer funds are used at the federal level either since laws exist explicitly averting public funds for paying for abortion. Proponents claim to protect the taxpayer from erroneously paying for an abortion — instead Arizona taxpayers will be on the hook not only for court cases and lawyer fees, but for numerous medical malpractice suits for compelling doctors to misinform patients. SB 1318 is a bad bill.
  1. SB 1318 does NOT redact doctors’ private information from public documents when doctors lawfully comply with ADHS regulations. Under public records laws, doctors’ private information is made public. Doctors should NOT be targeted simply because of the care they provide and SB 1318 targets doctors, plain and simple.
  1. Complete with an amendment that compels doctors to “inform” patients that their medical abortion may be reversed if they change their mind, but SB 1318 relies on illegitimate science. Although medically unsubstantiated, Arizona providers will now be forced by the state to potentially commit medical malpractice by having to misinform patients.
  1. While SB 1318 does have an exception for survivors of rape and incest, the bill does not outline how doctors or insurance adjusters go about determining if an individual was in fact a victim of such a crime. The vagueness of the bill forces doctors and insurance companies to be de facto police detectives to determine if a pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. This is too extreme — even in Arizona.

SB 1318 targets doctors for the care they provide, relies on illegitimate science, and is too extreme. #STOP1318 and contact your 2 Representatives and ask they vote NO when it gets to the floor.

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

  • ACA birth controlArizona anti-choicers claim to be pro-life but they’re beating the hell out of a dead horse. They are again trying to defund Planned Parenthood. In hilarious quotes news, some anti-choice lawyer goes, “Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the work of abortionists. Arizona should be free to enforce its public policy against the taxpayer funding of abortion and in favor of the best health care for women.” That deserves maximum LOLs. Taxpayers are forced to subsidize all kids of crap they’re not in favor of. Namely wars. You think I wanna pay for the dropping of drones? Hell no! But we don’t get to pick and choose what our taxes pay for and I have to suck it up — as do the rest of you clowns. Additionally, many of these “taxpayers” they’re alluding to are pro-choice. (AZ Central)
  • If you’ve been on birth control pills for a lengthy period of time, be sure to have your eyes checked regularly — just to be safe! (NYT)
  • New York Magazine has a lengthy but stellar piece with women sharing their abortion stories. Their stories are hopeful, wrenching, inspiring, heartfelt, and, most of all, real. (NY Mag)
  • Birth control has a profound effect on the global economy. (HuffPo)
  • There have been hundreds and hundreds of cases since Roe v. Wade depriving women of their right to decide the fate of their own bodies — including arrest, detention, and forced medical interventions. A fetus has more rights than I do. A fetus. Inside of my body. That needs me to live on. That isn’t born. That is technically my property. THAT IS INSIDE MY BODY!! Good to know. (Advocates for Pregnant Women)
  • The horror stories about Essure keep on coming! (LAist)
  • New Device to Protect Against Pregnancy, Herpes, and HIV Is Possible. (RH Reality Check)
  • Apparently a lot of women don’t know about the contraception mandate? *brings out megaphone* Attention, ladies — Birth control is now FREE under the ACA!! WOO HOO! #ThanksObama (CNBC)
  • Long-term contraception: Effective but not popular. (NBC News)