Policymaking is complicated. Officials talk in circles. Politics can get ugly.
It’s easy to tune this stuff out. It’s even easier to say it doesn’t matter.
But it does matter.
It matters when county officials try to take away your right to see public records.
It matters when people die on your city streets year after year.
It matters when your city council spends $2 billion of your tax dollars.
It matters when courts allow people to languish in jail just because they don’t have money.
It matters when campaign finance laws hide who’s funding political campaigns.
These moments make us all ask: Who are these people? What are they doing? How can I fix this?
Well, the Tucson Agenda is here to help. It’s run by Caitlin Schmidt and Curt Prendergast, two longtime local reporters who know what they’re talking about. We launched the Tucson Agenda in July as a sister newsletter to the Arizona Agenda.
We’re here to make sure you know your Tucson and Pima County politicians, how your government works and how you can change it.
When our Republican legislators in Phoenix go off the rails, we tell you about it.
When local Democratic elected officials succumb to group-think and rubber stamp everything, we call it out.
When they scurry behind closed doors, we bang on those doors.
We know our way around Tucson politics and government. We’ll show you how to navigate it all, point you to who’s to blame when things fall apart, and who to thank when something actually gets done.
We’ll introduce you to Tucson’s power players and give you the background on who’s a dirtbag, and who’s in it for the right reasons.
We’ll be your guide…and your comic relief when it’s warranted. After all, staying in the loop about local politics should be fun.
And we live in Southern Arizona, too. We want honest political leaders as much as you do.
What we do:
We connect the dots between who is doing what and why - as far as we can tell - at Tucson City Hall, the county building, and beyond.
We help Tucsonans understand local political machinations, so our readers - our fellow voters - can make informed decisions, show up to town halls, or otherwise agitate for what matters most to them, whether it’s advocating for policies or just voting them out.
We show you how your neighbors step up, take on problems and find solutions.
Read the Tucson Agenda if you need:
To understand the effects of political decisions and the motives of the people behind them.
Something more entertaining and revealing than traditional political reporting. We offer the context and insights that help you understand what is happening in Tucson.
Political coverage without the both-sides nonsense. We are not partisan hacks; we are equal-opportunity harassers. Some politicians just deserve it more often than others.
A daily dose of local news that keeps you in the conversation.
Reliable tools to keep tabs on your community.
Jokes, snark and gossip to keep you (and us) sane while reading this stuff.
Why pay for this stuff??
You care about the people who live in Tucson and the city’s future.
You recognize local news is essential, but you’ve watched it dwindle over the past decade.
The Agenda is a local, journalist-owned publication that puts you front and center — not clicks, corporate profits, or a political party.
All this can be yours for $10 a month.
Think of it this way: Would you buy us a beer or some tacos once a month to hear all the crazy stories we can dig up about Tucson politics and government? Of course you would!
Who we are:
We are a for-profit, nonpartisan, independent news and information company that is not beholden to corporate overlords, capitalist monsters or bureaucratic boards. We are, however, people with bills to pay. So, we rely on your paid subscriptions.
OK — if you were going to buy us that beer, you’d shout the following names at the bar:
Caitlin Schmidt is a co-founder of the Tucson Agenda. She’s been reporting on Southern Arizona for a decade, specializing in stories about social justice and solutions.
Curt Prendergast is a co-founder of the Tucson Agenda. He’s covered Southern Arizona for a dozen years and reported on just about everything there is to cover.
Hank Stephenson is the founder of the Arizona Agenda and co-founder of the Tucson Agenda.
Contact us at curt@tucsonagenda.com or caitlin@tucsonagenda.com.
