Report Card for CURE: D-

The Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education sounds like something we could all support, right? However, take one look at their website, and you’ll probably hit your “back” button.

Even if you support the same issues (anti-abortion, anti-welfare, anti-same-sex marriage), the way the organization is talking about them, as you can see above, will probably leave you wanting to disassociate.

CURE attacks every single opponent of the issues they support. Whether it’s saying that Obama used “bait and switch” tactics to get elected or taking a tip from progressives and playing the numbers game when it comes to health insurance reform, they’re not making friends and they’re not appealing to people’s values.

Which is exactly why they’re at the bottom of my class.

Center for Community Development and Civil Rights forum with Reverend Al Sharpton and Raul Yzaguirre

I joined Reverend Al Sharpton and Raul Yzaguirre, former CEO of spanish activist group La Raza, during ASU's Center for Community Development and Civil Rights forum, which was an intimate dialogue on contemporary civil rights.

Arizona Together, Part One

In this video I talk about how my book came to be. I was approached by a publisher to write "Unite and Conquer" after traveling around the country speaking about how we beat an anti-same-sex marriage initiative in Arizona - and were the only to do so in the country. As you will see, we chose to focus less on the inequality that the initiative would bring and instead focus more on who would truly be effected - 100,000 straight and LBGT residents of Arizona.

Legally Blonde 2: A surprising suggestion of how politics should be

No, I don’t just mean that D.C. should all revamp their wardrobes to be more befitting of Elle Woods, but that they should all take notes from the Delta Nu Alumnae. Granted it may not be the most profound movie of our time, but Ms. Woods actually took a lot of moves out of the Unite and Conquer handbook.

When fighting for Bruiser’s Bill, she communicates values such as compassion and equality and makes friends with unlikely people. She doesn’t compromise on her values, but is willing to compromise on how she goes about achieving her goals. She also doesn’t throw her opponents under the bus or talk about them negatively.

And if you’ve read Unite and Conquer, the ending of the movie shouldn’t come as a surprise. Miss Woods left Washington accomplishing her interest and left many seeing a new way to go about creating positive change.

Moby must be reading Unite and Conquer because he’s noticing how President Obama just gets it

Moby: Obama Gets It.

One of the chapters in my book is titled “Letting Go of the Bear and Picking Up the Buddha.” In this video, Moby sees that President Obama is the epitome of this philosophy. He’s very patient, never retaliatory and if he does utilize power in his speech, it’s always a peaceful and never negative. In other words, as Moby points out, he acts like a grown-up.

It’s critical to remain calm and pick up the Buddha when working in a Coalition or on legislation. For one, people are a lot more inclined to work with a group that’s rational and calm, as opposed to those who are defensive and abrasive. In addition, it also makes you seem more credible, rational and positive, and people will view you—and your cause or issue—in a better light.

Senator Durbin knew that to Unite and Conquer open lines of communication were key, even if he agreed to disagree

In 2006, Time Magazine awarded U.S. Senator Dick Durbin as one of the greatest Senators of all time. I can see why.

Senator Durbin refuses to use notes when addressing issues on the Senate floor, as I’m sure a lot of us progressives are guilty of doing the exact opposite. He often will call people out, asking them the hard questions, which has garnered a lot of respect (especially from CNN viewers) since he is able to truly show how passionate he is about the issues. Because Senator Durbin had very open lines of communication – and was always willing to talk things out and listen to the other side (despite disagreeing) – he has been able to work with some very unlikely people.

During his career, he worked with Senator Santorum, a Pennsylvanian Republican, to push the government to give additional funds of $866 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In 2006, he also helped Democrats and Republicans reach a compromise in the USA Patriot Act, helping keep more personal information private without an order from a judge.

Keeping an open line of communication is crucial to working with people. It’s obvious that Senator Durbin knew how to put differences aside and focus on the greater good and accomplish a lot by working with very diverse people.

I’m so glad Dick Pombo didn’t know how to Unite and Conquer

If Dick Pombo was on Twitter, he would get a #fail.

This past congressman devoted his entire political career to savage our planet’s environmental resources. He’s best known for attempting to cease the Endangered Species Act, because, according to him, it put “rats and shellfish” before people. Really, Dick? I would think you would be all for saving rats and spineless creatures…

The name of the act he was trying to pass was ironically called the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act” and if it would have passed, we could have said good-bye to every single endangered animal by 2015.

Somehow this past Congressman was able to gain enough support to pass legislation that stopped habitat protections from being operated on 150 million acres of wilderness and that lifted a 25-year moratorium on drilling for oil off the shores of the U.S.

In politics and when building coalitions, you’ll be lucky if you never run into the Pombo’s of the world. These people often have a lot of power and somehow manage to get support. It’s easy to get enraged when dealing with someone that’s fighting for very opposite ideals.

When dealing with people like Pombo, do some research and figure out what key messages are going to convince people that the opposition is wrong. Instead of listing 1,356 reasons why species need to remain protected, have a few well-crafted messages that speak to values that we all can relate to (see: sustainability, humanity, protection).

Unite and Conquer on 12 News