Rep. Ed Ableser -
...From this week's Political Insider in the AZ Rep:
Young legislator gets straight up with older dudes . . . Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, is one cool dude. As one of the youngest members of the Legislature (age 29), he brings a certain street cred to the usually staid body.
Witness his verbal displays during a caucus meeting Tuesday: He talked about "capping" people when discussing a gun bill and sent a "shout out" to Rep. Ray Barnes for his work on an air-quality bill.
...In a letter to the editor published in Saturday's AZ Rep, state Sen. Jim Waring (R-LD7) took issue with Rep. Ableser's vote (as well as those of Democratic Reps. Tom Prezelski and Steve Farley) against harsher prison sentences for DUI offenders.
...He was also mentioned in an AZ Daily Star article concerning the House's passage of a bill legalizing the reconstruction of Summerhaven, a community in a forest on Mt. Lemmon that has twice been destroyed by fire. For reconstruction to proceed, legislation is needed to waive legal requirements for an assured water supply.
Rep. Ableser argued for some restrictions, but those were defeated.
From the article:
Ableser sought to add a requirement that the exemption would be allowed only if the county has adopted a specific building code for the "wildland-urban interface" designed to mitigate the damage from wildfire "basically to protect themselves from this upcoming fire season and future wildfires."
But Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, whose district includes Summerhaven, said the requirement is unnecessary.
Paton also led the battle against a second Ableser proposal to grant the exemption, but just once. "If you want to rebuild after a second wildfire ravages your community, that probably is telling you something that maybe you're not supposed to be building in one of the deadliest areas that's prone to wildfire," Ableser said.
...Ed was also mentioned in an April 3rd article from KTAR.com on the differences between the Democrats' and the Republicans' ideas for addressing gang activity in Arizona.
To summarize -
Republicans - Longer prison sentences, aka "Round 'em up and lock 'em up. For a verrrrry long time"
Democrats - Address some of the underlying reasons that people join a gang, aka "Teach gang members the skills needed to survive in society."
From the article:
Tempe's Ed Ableser supports more funding for helping gang members when they're released from prison. "Prisoners that will be released within six months and giving them social skills, working on job integration, and job skills and job training, even job placement."
Rep. David Schapira -
...He was quoted in an April 5th article in the AZ Daily Wildcat (U of A's paper) about a march by students for more financial aid.
From the article:
Several lawmakers spoke out at the event, including Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, who is a former Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University student and also brought a megaphone to help students chant.
"Financial aid is extremely important," Schapira said. "I see it as one of my biggest jobs down here to fight for affordable higher education."
...In an AZ Rep article, Rep. Schapira was also mentioned as one of the signatories of a letter from some legislators to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors asking for an investigation of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas for his office's release of an undocumented immigrant who later murdered his cousin.
...An EV Tribune article about the lege's Republican leadership plan to fight a federal judge's decision that the state still isn't adequately funding English language learner (ELL) classes.
aka - "the Flores case".
From the article:
They pointed out the lawsuit was filed in 1992, and it has been seven years since another federal judge first ruled the state isn’t meeting its obligations.
Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, said failure to provide more funds for English instruction programs hurts more than students who come to school speaking another language. He said school districts, which must make these students proficient, have been robbing money from other programs.
For example, he said Tempe Union High School District is weighing whether to stop offering special programs for "gifted" students.
"We know it's extremely important to make sure that our best and brightest students are educated and prepared to become leaders of this country someday," Schapira said. "Those kids ... are suffering."
...His latest column was published in the Tempe community edition of the AZ Rep. He used it to take the Republican leadership in the legislature to task for tactics they use to suppress dissent and criticism in the lege.
From the column:
...We elect these types of leaders, the charismatic and well-spoken communicators, but passion is not rewarded at the Legislature. When members of the Legislature stand up to voice their concerns and the concerns of their constituents, they are commonly chastised and told to hold their tongues.
{snip}
My fellow representative from District 17, Ed Ableser, is commonly a victim of such censorship. He is known for being very outspoken on important issues like mental health, higher education and criminal law.
When he speaks out on these issues at the Legislature, he is often stymied or cut short by other legislators.
The entire column is a great read; in fact, when combined with Rep. Steve Farley's weekly email updates, they present an informative insider's view of the workings of the legislature. I strongly recommend signing up for Farley's email list.
Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill had a quiet couple of weeks in terms of MSM coverage.
Note: The Senate and the House play each other in a softball game on Tuesday at the Pera Club in Tempe. Scheduled start time (according to the lege's website) is 5:00 p.m.
Later!
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