Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends

In this case, "the show" refers to the state's ongoing fiscal crisis and the refusal of the Governor and the Republican leadership to open their eyes to the reality of the depth of the state's problems.

Today, the House passed $193 million in budget cuts in a bill that the Governor is expected to sign. After that, they adjourned the Fifth Special Session of the lege so that they could all make it home for Christmas. (AZ Capitol Times coverage here.)

The next act in the show will take place on Monday morning at 9. That's the time that the Governor has set for an "emergency" meeting of her cabinet.

In an unusual move, the cabinet meeting will be open to the press (I'm pretty sure that does *not* include wiseass "intrepid" bloggers :) ).

Normal practice has been to hold cabinet meetings and then issue press releases/do coordinated interviews afterward. All this means is that Paul Senseman and the rest of the Governor's communications staff are hard at work today writing up a script for the meeting...instead of its aftermath.

I've got a couple of phone calls out about the special session and the Governor's set piece scheduled for Monday, but the people that I've reached don't have any info about the cabinet meeting or are out doing non-AZ government stuff, like spending time with their families and friends.

Sounds like some crazy priorities, but whaddya expect on a Saturday? :)

Later...