ANOTHER MYSTERY

Robert, another Gifford's canvasser, has also been fired and I'm very surprised that happened. According to an e-mail I received from him, he was dismissed because he mentioned that on his own time, he made posts on various sites meant to incite the wingnuts. One of the younger canvassers objected to this and told Caitlyn Jensen. In the end, Robert was fired by Kyle.

This seems bizarre because we've been told repeatedly that we work for "Move Arizona Forward," NOT the Gifford's campaign, so even if someone working for Tim Bee found out that Robert was doing work to re-elect Giffords, I can't see how that would make any difference.

As far as I could tell, Robert was by far the most knowledgeable canvasser. He seemed to know the local politics down to the street level.

JENSEN ODDITIES

This is a story about the bathroom at the canvasser's office for the Gifford's campaign. As canvassers, we were told we work for Move Arizona Forward and our checks come from Urban Projects, Inc. which seems to be based in Philadelphia. In theory, there is supposed to be a strict separation between the official campaign and our office, although they are adjacent and we've had Zack, the campaign manager, and Jen (not sure what she does) come in and speak to us. So strict, that we aren't even supposed to use the bathrooms in the campaign office. This is something of a problem because the sink in the canvassers bathroom doesn't have running water. I brought that up to Caitlyn Jensen and she said that there was running water - she apparently turned off the valve because she didn't trust us not to make a mess! This is another symptom of the contempt she has for the canvassers.

This is a story about canvassing protocol. Generally we canvass in pairs and we aren't supposed to canvass separately and are to remain within site of each other. According to Jensen, this is a security issue but there's a definite limit to how concerned she is about our security. A few weeks ago, Mark (Jim) and I canvassed a shady area on the Northwest side of town and when we came back, Mark told her that it was a pretty dangerous place - he saw 3 drugs deal go down while we were there. Jensen replied "that's part of the turf."

I'M OUT $50 AND A TEMPORARY JOB

A couple of weeks ago, I went canvassing near where Houghton Road meets Old Vail Road. Despite the extra time it took us to get there, I managed to get 61 door knocks. A couple fo days later, Caitlyn Jensen, my supervisor, asked me what happened and then accused me of knocking off work at 6:39 instead of 7:39. That's the time stamp the Palm Pilot I had gave to my last knock. I didn't have an explanation other than to suggest that it could've been a software problem. Jensen then said she would have to send others back out to get the "lost data."

The next paycheck, I found that I wasn't paid for that day. I sent an e-mail to the Gifford's campaign about this and other matters and as a result I had a meeting with Jensen and Kyle McNally, the field director for southern Arizona for the Democratic Party. Kyle said he wanted to get the pay issue behind us and told me I would not be getting the $50.

Later, when I talked about this with other canvassers, I discovered the likely cause of the time discrepancy: The Palm was set to the wrong time zone. Kent told me that that had happened to him before and Phillip (the one who has the blue, 4-door pickup truck) told me last night that Jensen knows about this time zone discrepancy. Apparently, Jensen didn't check the time stamp on the 1st knock I had.

Today, I wasn't given an canvassing assignment and Kyle told me that I was fired, mostly because I hadn't shown Caitlyn enough respect, according to others on the staff. I assume that "staff" means other canvassers and it is true that I've asked others about pay issues.