Goddard applauds work of Democrats

Congratulating members of the Democratic Club of the Santa Rita Area for leasing Democratic headquarter space for the 2008 elections, Attorney General Terry Goddard said, “What an amazing transformation… I remember when it was illegal to be a Democrat in Green Valley.”

The former gubernatorial candidate also congratulated Democrats for their victory in 2006 that gave a formerly held Republican U.S. House of Representatives seat to Democrat Gabrielle Giffords. The payoff for early work, Goddard said, helped give six new seats to Democrats in the Arizona Senate.

“Democrats have accomplished a lot; give yourself some applause,” he told the audience. “A lot depends on what’s done early; it takes hard systematic work.”

On his visit to Green Valley last week, including a visit to the Green Valley News office, Goddard reminded residents about a “Medicare Bus” will be at Casa de Esperanza in Green Valley from 8 a.m. to noon on Friday.

Medicare officials will be available to help recipients review their Part D drug coverage and will also explain how low income residents can obtain extra financial help to pay for premiums, deductibles and co-pays. A representative of the Arizona attorney general’s office will explain how consumers can protect against fraud and identity theft.

He spoke about his top four legislative priorities: anti-predatory lending for mortgages; identity theft, methamphetamines and anti-gouging.

Identity theft has a connection to methamphetamines, Goddard said. In a study of 1,000 cases of child abuse and neglect 65 percent was blamed on methamphetamines. “Meth destroys people; meth labs are toxic sewers,” he said.

Identity theft can start with stealing mail and what Goddard called “dumpster diving”—a practice that he said is alive and well. He urged the audience not to give out their Social Security numbers easily, to ask why it’s required, to read credit card statements carefully and to request a credit report annually from one of the three credit-reporting agencies.

A free credit report is available at www.annualcreditreport.com. A new Identity Theft Repair Kit publication is available from the Arizona Attorney General’s office at www.azag.gov.

“Your identity can be stolen without any fault of your own,” Goddard said.

He spoke about election integrity and the need to ensure that electronic voting is secure. A recent independent review of Pima County elections revealed there hadn’t been any abuse but the chances for abuse were very high. It was labeled “security deficient,” he said.

Then, responding to a question from a woman in the audience who said the excuses for the high price of gas in Green Valley is “a lot of baloney,” Goddard called gasoline “a dysfunctional market.”

“Anti-trust suits have not been successful… gas pricing is a very serious problem with no regulatory hammer and marketing has been taken advantage of,” he said.

Before attending the Democratic Club evening event, Goddard visited the News office, where he was also asked about gas prices. “Price fixing is extremely hard to prove; Green Valley has its own set of gas problems; it is whatever the market will bear, unfortunately,” he said.

Goddard explained that station owners are afraid to lower the price of gas because if they did and volume increased substantially they might run dry. “They don’t have an unlimited supply of gas… if they went dry then they can’t sell cigarettes, Cokes, Ding Dongs and chips.

“There’s not enough competition, not enough supply lines (for gas); it’s a major problem,” he said.

Goddard also told the News how homeowners can easily become victims of mortgage scam artists. Homeowners who are two or three months behind in a mortgage can easily fall victim to “foreclosure rescue loan” scams;’ what will sound like the best deal ends up being the worst deal. Homeowners in dire financial straits unknowingly sign over their house to the scam artist and end up making mortgage payments for a home they no longer own.

Goddard said seniors will soon be seeing scams on reverse mortgages. “There are scam artists out there… seniors are targets; there’s no question scam artists go where the money is.”

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.