8th Special Session: Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends

OK, they're not so "special" any more, but this one is definitely a "show". In fact, it is almost *all* show with no "substance," but that isn't stopping Jan Brewer and the Republicans in the legislature.

On Monday, the opening curtain rose, and some bills were introduced in each chamber for the special session.

HB2002/SB1001 states that federal health care reform infringes on states' rights (much like certain groups used to say about federal civil rights legislation) and giving the Governor the authority to bypass the state's Attorney General Terry Goddard in order to pursue a lawsuit against the health care reform law.

HCM2001/SCM1001 is a postcard to the U.S. Congress demanding that Congress pay all state costs associated with health care reform.

The House versions will be heard in the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in HHR1; the Senate versions will be heard in the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday at 9 a.m. in SHR1. The respective chambers' Rules committees will hear the bills shortly after the main committees hear the bills.

Sharp-eyed readers may have noted that the relevant House Bill is numbered 2002, not the expected 2001.

Well, it turns out that one Democrat was quicker on the draw than the House's Republicans were.

HB2001 was introduced by Rep. David Lujan, the House Democratic leader as well as a candidate for Attorney General.

His bill would bar the use of taxpayer monies to fund such a lawsuit as is planned by the Republicans.

In an unsurprising non-development, Lujan's bill hasn't even been referred to committee, much less agendized. In other words, the Rs won't even allow the bill to be discussed, much less publicly voted on.

I signed in to the lege's Request to Speak system, not to speak but simply to comment on the bills. If you have visited the lege and set up a profile and login for the RTS system, you may want to do the same, to at least let the lege's Rs know that there are folks in this state who don't drink the Kool-Aid that they're pouring.

Here's the comment that I entered for both HB2002 and SB1001 -

Enough already. If you insist on engaging in partisan posturing, at least do it on the RNC's expense account, not that of the taxpayers of Arizona.

Based on today's news, the RNC has far more cash to burn on lost causes than we do.

That last refers to the latest news from the RNC's financials, which include expenditures on things like visits to a high-priced strip club, complete with leather lesbians, private jets, ritzy hotels, and worse.

I'm not sure where the Republicans' priorities are, but they aren't with the American people, and the AZGOP isn't interested in looking out for the average Arizonan.