Congressman Harry Mitchell will be holding the grand opening party for the headquarters of his reelection campaign on Saturday, June 14, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. The office is at 123 E. Baseline Rd. in Tempe (SE corner of Baseline and Mill) It's in the same retail/office complex as his 2006 office, just in a different part of the complex. Follow the streamers, balloons, and other signs of festiveness. :)
For more info or to volunteer, contact the campaign at 480.755.3343 or via email at info[at]harry2008.com.
...Does Randy Pullen own stock in Dolan Media?
Dolan Media is the parent company of the Arizona Capitol Times, the weekly devoted to covering the goings-on on West Washington.
The Cap Times has a feature called "Best of the Blogs". As might be expected from the name of the feature, it is supposed to feature the best commentary from AZ's blogosphere.
As a blogger, I welcome any MSM recognition for the work done by many of us, left, right, or middle of the road.
However, the Cap Times' "Best of..." feature has been exhibiting a bit of a pattern.
The blogs selected for inclusion tend to fall into one of two groups - The Yellowsheet Report, the Cap Times' own premium "blog" (it's more of a tipsheet than a blog), and AZ Republican Party press release "faux" blogs.
Since the issue dated May 2, 2008 (the earliest issue that the Scottsdale library had out on the main floor) -
Blogs featured May 2 - RedArizona, AZHouseGOP, Red State Arizona, and Yellowsheet Report.
May 9 - While the website has something, there was nothing in the print edition.
May 16 - Sonoran Alliance, Zonitics, Liberty's Apothecary, Seeing Red AZ, and Yellowsheet Report.
May 23 - PolitickerAZ, Red State Arizona, Arizona Political Heat, Yellowsheet Report.
May 30 - Arizona Political Intel, PolitickerAZ, Yellowsheet Report.
That's 16 "blogs" featured over 5 issues.
25% of the time (four) it featured its own (Yellowsheet); nothing surprising in that, Cap Times is a business, and part of that business is
12.5% (twice) of the time, it featured a 'neutral' blog in PolitickerAZ. Some might question it's "blogness" as it is more of an "online news outlet," but it's close enough for our purposes.
For the remaining 62.5% of the time (10 times), it featured hardcore Rep blogs.
[And even there, Cap Times showed bias against original content - six of the ten, Arizona Political Intel, Arizona Political Heat, Red State Arizona (twice), and AZHouseGOP aren't much more than press release outlets for the AZ GOP.]
And, in the most recent period covered by the five issues, none of the blogs featured could be considered Democratic.
Now, I don't really expect them to feature Dems on a regular basis (though Ted Prezelski, Eli Blake, Man Eegee, Michael Bryan, some of the Democratic Divas and others do some great writing, definitely worthy of recognition) - as long as the Reps have a registration advantage and control both chambers of the lege, the Cap Times will lean toward the buttered side of their bread, the Republicans.
However, even allowing for that consideration, where's Espresso Pundit, Exurban League, Arizona 8th, or even a few of the others? They're all loyal Republicans [as such, they're usually wrong, but that goes with being *Republicans* :)) ] but at least they publish their own words.
If the Cap Times wants to publish GOP press releases, that's their right, but they should be honest about it.
...Speaking of MSM outlets showing bias, the Republic shouldn't show preferences in their coverage of local elections, except in their endorsement editorials.
They dropped this line in an editorial in the Scottsdale edition of the Rep -
Joel BramOweth [sic] has been campaigning for more than a year, speaking at virtually every council meeting. Few observers take him seriously, but he has the money to mount a full campaign.
I've met Mr. Bramoweth and even signed his nominating petitions. I might not agree with him on every issue, but he's worked harder than any of the other candidates at participating in and learning about Scottsdale's governance (he's been at every Council meeting that I've been to and has been at many of the commission meetings that I've attended, too (Planning, Transportation, Human Relations). While some of the other candidates make the occasional appearance at a Council meeting, I haven't seen any of the others at commission meetings.
In addition, earlier this year at a meeting of the Community Council of South Scottsdale, he was the only candidate or sitting member of the Council to say something when one of the other attendees started spouting off some nativist bs about Mexicans.
In short, he may not always be right (that's the job of wiseass bloggers :) ), but he's an intelligent, hard-working, and decent human being.
If that kind of candidate shouldn't be "taken seriously," what does that say about the state of Scottsdale's politics?
...Oh, and speaking of the Community Council of South Scottsdale, their next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 19, with a special guest speaker on the subject of promoting humanity, unity, and civility in our culture.
Joe Arpaio.
This shouldn't be a surprise - I'm sure that he'll get to those subjects if he has any time left after promoting himself, nativism, bigotry, and hatred.
Later!
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