A Ray Of Hope For Working Arizonans: $0.10 Increase In The Minimum Wage

A marginally brighter New Year is still brighter...

From the Arizona Daily Star, written by Alex Dalenberg (dated December 13, 2010) -

Arizonans making minimum wage will see a small bump in their paychecks starting Jan. 1 when the state minimum increases 10 cents per hour to keep pace with the national cost of living.

The state minimum wage will increase from $7.25 to $7.35 per hour on New Year's Day and remain at that level throughout 2011. The new state minimum will also be 10 cents higher than the federal minimum wage, $7.25 per hour, which is required for the vast majority of Arizona businesses.

Tipped employees in Arizona will also get a 10-cent boost, from $4.25 to $4.35 per hour.

As Rebekah Friend, Executive Director of the Arizona AFL/CIO wrote (dated December 21, 2010) -

The minimum wage gives low-income working families some solution to these questions, and this New Year's Day it will automatically increase to keep up with a rising cost of living.
The minimum wage ensures that our society rewards hard work and that working families find economic security.

But until Arizona voters passed Proposition 202 in 2006 to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation, its value had dropped to its lowest level in 51 years.

Now, yearly adjustments to keep up with the rising cost of living are helping to ensure that working families don't fall behind again.

On Jan. 1, the minimum wage in Arizona will increase by 10 cents to $7.35 an hour and to $4.35 an hour for tipped employees such as waiters.

A dime hardly seems like much, but the small boost gives low-paid workers more money to take care of their families - about $200 a year for a full-time minimum-wage employee.

These workers aren't simply high schoolers flipping burgers to pay for gas, as skeptics of the minimum wage sometimes portray them. Nationwide, adults make up more than 75 percent of those working for that rate.

Most significantly, when Arizonans voted to raise the minimum wage in 2006, they gave raises to the parents of an estimated 200,000 children.

Starting tomorrow, minimum wage earners in six other states - Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington - will also see small adjustments to their wages.





 

Arizona: Finally #1, I think...

While we are the worst, or one of the worst, states in terms of our support for education (depending what metric is used), and are near the bottom in many other areas - poverty, children without health insurance, percentage of Arizonans who are incarcerated (where a higher number is bad), etc. - as far as a can tell, we are number one in one area.

We seem to be the first state with a lawsuit over 2012 redistricting!!  We beat even Texas*!!  Whoooo hooooo!!!!

{Wiping away tears of joy} I'm so proud...


* = To be fair to Texas, they're still cleaning up after the last redistricting process.  I'm sure once they can focus on the present, they'll be back hard at work, screwing up their future.

Redistricting update: "Cry Havoc, and Loose The Dogs..."

...Of Litigation...

Having been unsurprisingly unsuccessful in their attempt to intimidate the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments into changing the pool of possible appointees to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) to one more of their liking, Russell Pearce and Kirk Adams are turning to the Arizona Supreme Court in another ploy to get their way.

From the Phoenix New Times' Stephen Lemons -

Well that didn't take long. As anticipated, state Senate President-elect Russell Pearce and his so-far compliant wingman state House Speaker Kirk Adams, are taking to court their bid to rig Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission.


After being shot down yesterday by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, which showed some backbone and refused to remove three nominees to the IRC as Pearce and Adams had demanded, Pearce and Adams have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to weigh in and force the Commission to do the pair's bidding.

It's a move that has all the subtlety of a South American coup.

Didn't really need the last line of that quote for this post, but Lemons' line is a good one, and deserves a little recognition.  :)

The petition for special action went out over the names of Peter Gentala, counsel for the House of Representatives, and Gregrey Jernigan, counsel from the Senate, who will argue for Pearce and Adams.  The Appellate Court Appointments commission will be defended by the Arizona Attorney General's office, which, given the fact that Tom Horne, one of Pearce's fellow travellers on the nativist path to political power, will be the AG by the time this reaches a hearing, the "defense" may more closely resemble the Washington Generals than the Attorney General for this case.

And no matter how things turn out, the taxpayers will be footing the bill for both sides of the fight.

The Arizona Supreme Court's "high profile cases" webpage is here.  It contains both the special action filing (linked above, courtesy the Phoenix New Times) and a motion for expedited consideration.

Stay tuned...

Top 10 AZGOP “Are you kidding?” Moments of the 2010 Election

Earlier today, the Democratic National Committee released its list of the top 10 GOP jaw-droppers of the election season.

That has inspired an Arizona-centric list.  Much like the national list, there are many items that were worthy of consideration, but there's only room for 10.

10.  The incoming R caucus in the state senate electing Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) as the body's president. They apparently took him at his word when he pledged to them that his focus would be on balancing the state's budget, not on attacking immigrants and immigration. 

So what are his plans for next week?  To venture to D.C. to pimp legislation attacking the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

9.  Jan Brewer announcing that there were headless bodies in the Arizona desert, left there by undocumented immigrants.

8.  Barry Wong, an R candidate for Arizona Corporation Commission, tried to "out-demonize" the nuts in his own party by campaigning on a plan to compel Arizona's utility companies (power, phone, water) to cut off services to undocumented immigrants.

7.  Trent Franks, Arizona's delegate to the IQ-deprived caucus in Congress, pronouncing that African-Americans were better off under slavery.

6.  John McCain - "Build the dang fence".

5.  Steve May, a former Republican legislator, trying to restart his career as an elected official by running for the legislature in LD17 and recruiting a number of homeless people from Tempe to run as faux Green Party candidates.  When his scheme was discovered and publicized nationally, he dropped out of the race, leaving his recruits hanging.

4.  Jon Kyl and John McCain, Arizona's Twin Terrors "Towers" in the U.S. Senate opposing *everything,* including some stuff that one or both had supported before this year - health care reform, DREAM Act, DADT repeal, START treaty, Wall St. regulation, etc.  If it was proposed, they trotted out the filibluster to block it.

3.  Joe Arpaio cracking open the piggy bank, even incurring a fine of almost $154K, in order to campaign against a fellow Republican.

2.  There was a wave of violent acts directed at Democrats all across the country, including here in Arizona.  Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' office was targeted because of her vote in favor of health care reform, and Congressman Raul Grijalva's office was targeted because of his vocal opposition to the nativists' SB1070. 

1.  Jan Brewer and the brain freeze that was heard 'round the world.



Still, of all of the jaw-droppers from the AZGOP this year, none of them top this video from Ohio for sheer entertainment value -



Later...

The corporatization of Arizona continuing apace...

...with a minor hiccup...

First, the hiccup.

From Mary K. Reinhart, writing for the Arizona Republic -

The commission charged with recommending ways to shrink state government is finding the task to be larger than expected.

Gov. Jan Brewer's Commission on Privatization and Efficiency was to have issued its final report this Friday. But a spokesman says it will be at least another month before it's finished.

So, Jan Brewer's organization created to identify the government functions that private corporations can profit from (OK - that they can use to siphon money from taxpayers into their own bank accounts) under the pretense of "efficiency" is in itself, inefficient? 

Shocking!

OK, not really.

Then, a legislative tie-in with the governor's move to "privatize" everything.

Sen. Linda Gray has prefiled a bill for the next legislative session, SB1018.  If passed, it would remove the requirement that the Arizona Department of Corrections administer a transition program for non-violent inmates.  The current law mandates both the creation and administration of a transition program by ADOC, with the actual services provided by private contractors.  Such a program would still exist, but its administration would be totally privatized, with reduced or no oversight of the services delivered.

Additionally, requirements that ADOC evaluate the inmates who are part of the transition program and that the contractors train and provide mentors as part of the transition program would be removed.

While I couldn't find direct ties between Sen. Gray and the private prison industry through her campaign finance reports - she runs as a Clean Elections-funded candidate.  However, most of her "seed" money contributions for at least the last couple of election cycles came from people employed by lobbying firms.

However, the biases of the members of the governor's commission to privatize everything are clearer -

Mark Brnovich, Brewer's commission chair, is a former talking head for the Goldwater Institute, an anti-society/pro-corporation "think tank" based in Arizona and a former lobbyist for a private prison company.

Welcome to Arizona where what's ours is for sale to the highest bidder.  The highest bribe-paying bidder, that is.

Look for more stuff in this vein as the legislative session unfolds.

PSA time - AZ road closures 12/30/2010

Updated at 6:45 p.m. on 12/30/2010:

From ADOT:

I-17 is now open in both directions. Traffic had been closed Wednesday due to snow and congestion. This reopening will allow motorists to move between Flagstaff and Phoenix, although drivers should expect longer-than-normal travel times and continued snowplow patrols. However, if conditions change drivers should be prepared for delays or temporary closures.


I-40 is now open in both directions after being closed earlier Thursday from roughly Kingman to Flagstaff to Holbrook. I-40 is a primary national transportation corridor and, like I-17, will remain a top priority for ADOT to keep clear and passable as weather conditions continue to evolve.

State Route 89A remains closed from Pumphouse Wash at milepost 386 to Forest Highlands Road at milepost 397 due to winter conditions and resource allocation. The highway may open late Thursday afternoon based on weather.

US 180 remains closed north of Flagstaff and is expected to remains so until at least Friday.

State Route 77 between Globe and Winkleman has been reopened.

State Route 366 in Graham County has been closed because gusting winds, snow and icy roads that are causing dangerous conditions. ADOT has deployed available crews and snow removal equipment from the Safford area to more heavily traveled routes on US 191 and US 70. With colder temperatures and more snow possible overnight, ADOT expects to keep SR 366 closed to all traffic until Saturday. Known locally as Swift Trail, SR 366 runs west off of US 191 south of Safford and goes to the top of Mount Graham.

US 191 is impassible between Morenci and Hannigan Meadow in Greenlee County because snow, wind and ice. Drivers should avoid using the highway, which leads into the White Mountains. Travel though this area is made more difficult by the closure of US 180 in New Mexico, which serves as an alternate route between Morenci and Alpine.

Other highways in northeastern Arizona, north of Payson, continue to experience extreme weather and whiteout conditions. State Route 87 and State Route 260 require snow chains or four-wheel-drive vehicles; temporary periods of closure in segments may be required based on current weather conditions.

Any further updates can be found at the website of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Drive safely everyone...

End edit...


This blog has been receiving a number of hits on an old post that detailed some road closures in AZ approximately two years ago.  As a courtesy to the people looking for info on current weather related road closures, here the latest from the Arizona Department of Transportation -

Interstate 40 stretching through Kingman, Flagstaff and Holbrook (milepost 71 to 250) has been closed in both directions due to winter driving conditions.


I-17 northbound remains closed north of State Route 179. Traffic at this time is being diverted to southbound I-17. Drivers are advised to detour in advance or delay travels to avoid congestion at the turnaround.

I-17 southbound is closed at Airport Road, about two miles south of Flagstaff. Traffic is being rerouted back to the north. Travel south from Flagstaff at this time is not recommended; no reopen time has been established.

State Route 89A remains closed from Pumphouse Wash at milepost 386 to Forest Highlands Road at milepost 397 due to winter conditions and resource allocation.

In other words, avoid travel in northern Arizona.  If you are already there, hunker down and stay warm for a couple of days.
 
For more updates, call 5 - 1 - 1 or visit www.az511.gov/ (link not working right now, probably due to heavy site traffic) before venturing out.

Redistricting update: No change, Pearce and Adams fended off

The Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments met today to consider the "Communication from House Speaker Kirk Adams and Senate President-Elect Russell Pearce" - basically, they met to decide whether to reopen the nomination process for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission because Pearce and Adams didn't like the list of candidates from which they will select two members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).

Summary:  NO, the Appellate Court Appointments Commission won't reopen the process.

Details:

As has been her practice, Chief Justice Rebecca Berch started the meeting on schedule at 9 a.m.

After a couple of housekeeping items (i.e. - approval of minutes), the first to address the assembled Commission members were Kirk Adams and Russell Pearce.  As expected, both requested that the Appellate Court Appointments commission reopen the nomination process, remove three candidates that they consider to be unqualified, and add the name of Christopher Gleason to the pool.

Then they both left the meeting.

They were the last people who weren't members of the Appellate Court Appointments commission to speak in favor of reopening the short list.

All of the other public speakers, including luminaries such as Paul Berman, Dean of the ASU Law School, Lattie Coor, former President of ASU, Sue Gerard, currently a member of Maricopa County Special Healthcare District and one of the driving forces behind the proposition that set up the AIRC, and State Representative Chad Campbell, House Democratic Leader-elect, stood up to support the process so far and its results.

Campbell went so far as to advise the Commission members to ignore him and any other elected officials who weigh in on this.  The voters have chosen to make the redistricting process independent, and it should stay that way.

It was clear from the outset that the majority of the Appellate Court Appointments commission did not support making any changes, but it took two hours to make that official.

One factor that lengthened the meeting was a technical point.  The physical list of nominees hadn't been sent to the legislators who will make appointments from that list, leaving open the possibility that the nominating process wasn't complete.  And with the withdrawals of two of the Republican candidates, the constitutional requirement that the R list contain 10 names couldn't be met.

However, that point brought up another question - if there was no list, how then could Pearce and Adams find problems with the list and then very publicly pressure two of the members of that list to withdraw?

The outcome was that the Commission voted to *not* accept the withdrawals of Republican candidates Schnepf and Sossaman and to affirm their earlier inclusion of Paul Bender on the list of Independent candidates.

One sentiment that most of the members of the Commission seemed to share, R, D, and Independent alike, was that none of them like to be bullied.

Other than Doug Cole (R-Chuck Coughlin's plant on the board) and three others, the board members objected to the heavy-handed tactics of Pearce and Adams -

- John Taylor, an Independent from Yavapai County, observed that "[t]hey (meaning Pearce and Adams) are trying to tell us what to do."

- Dewey Schade, a Republican from Maricopa County, added that Pearce and Adams "tipped their hand" when they pressured Schnepf and Sossaman to withdraw from consideration, and that the Commission should "consider the source" when pondering the complaints that have come up.

- Jane Strain, a Republican from Cochise County, advised everyone present "I don't deal well with threats" in response to suggestions that failing to accede to Pearce's and Adams' demand would result in a lawsuit.

In response to the other issue that had cropped up, the complaints from Pearce, Adams, the Center for Arizona Theology Policy and others that a remark from a now-former member of the Appellate Court Appointments commission regarding one of the candidates who didn't make it onto the final short list (the aforementioned Christopher Gleason) constituted a "religious test" for public office.

At the December 8, 2010 meeting where most of the AIRC candidates were interviewed, Louis Araneta stated that the reason he wouldn't be voting to send on Gleason's name to the legislature was that he questioned Gleason's ability to separate church and state.

That set off a ginned-up furor, with cries of "religious discrimination!" and the like. 

However, as was pointed out in today's meeting, many of the other applicants' applications exhibited far more religious involvement than did Gleason's.  Additionally, many of the members of the Appellate Court Appointments commission also have strong religious components in their lives.

Chief Justice Berch noted that she thought that Araneta's comment went to Gleason's ability to be  impartial not his faith.  The rest of the Appellate Court Appointments commission echoed her sentiment.

A candidate's impartiality is something that the commission members are constitutionally required to consider in their evaluation of a candidate.

Commissioner Strain pointed out that she prays every night, including for the "five poor souls" who will eventually be named to the AIRC, whoever they might be.  There was more than a little laughter at that comment.

After the meeting, Rep. Campbell summed it up best when he said simply that "[t]he voters of the state won today."

Pic of Campbell addressing the meeting

























Today's meeting was recorded.  That video will eventually be uploaded to the AIRC website, or the nominations website, or perhaps the Appellate Appointments commission's website.  That much wasn't made clear, but the fact that it *will* eventually be uploaded was definitely stated by Chief Justice Berch.

Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services has coverage here, via the East Valley Tribune.

Mary Jo Pitzl of the Arizona Republic has coverage here.

Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times has coverage here.

Would reopening the Redistricting Commission nomination process violate the AZ Constitution?

As the clock winds toward 10 p.m. and I have to get ready for bed so that I am wide awake for tomorrow's meeting of the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, I am struck by a thought (don't be so shocked.  It happens once in a while, even to me :) ) -

If the Appellate Court Appointments commission reopens the nomination process for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) because Russell Pearce and Kirk Adams were successful in their efforts to force two of the Republican nominees to withdraw because Pearce and Adams didn't approve of them, wouldn't that be giving the Republicans 12 nominees to choose from? 

If so, that could create a problem for Chief Justice Berch and the rest of the Appellate Court Appointments commission.

From Article Four, Part Two, Section One, Paragraph Five of the Arizona Constitution -

By January 8 of years ending in one, the commission on appellate court appointments or its designee shall establish a pool of persons who are willing to serve on and are qualified for appointment to the independent redistricting commission. The pool of candidates shall consist of twenty-five nominees, with ten nominees from each of the two largest political parties in Arizona based on party registration, and five who are not registered with either of the two largest political parties in Arizona.

Mark Schnepf and Steve Sossaman withdrew their names at the direct urging of Pearce and Adams.  They were never found to be unqualified for the AIRC.

Pearce and Adams had 10 nominees to choose from, and they chose to eliminate two of them from consideration.

As such, they have nothing to complain about.

Of course, since this will be going down on West Washington, little things like the facts and the Arizona Constitution may be pushed aside by partisan bullying. 

We'll see tomorrow.

Good night everyone...

Redistricting update: Another one bites the dust

...and some interesting ties between the Tucsonan (maybe "Tucsonite"?  Have to ask Tedski some time... :) ) that Senate President-elect Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) and House Speaker Kirk Adams (R-I'll think of something clever and snarky soon) want added to the pool of applicants for the Independent Redistricting Commission and a failed tea party Congressional candidate who is lining up for a second run in 2012.

First up, Mary Jo Pitzl of the Arizona Republic has updated her story from yesterday.  Now, both Mark Schnepf and Steve Sossaman have withdrawn their applications for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).  They did so in response to a letter from Pearce and Adams, even though Schnepf believes that he is qualified to be a member of the redistricting commission.
Second, Jim Nintzel, writing for the Tucson Weekly, has found some interesting ties between Christopher Gleason, the applicant that Pearce and Adams want added to the pool of people that they can consider when making their picks for the AIRC.

From the article -

The Range hears that Republican Jesse Kelly, who lost his bid to unseat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by fewer than 4,200 votes last month, may be itching for a rematch.

The GOP rumor circuit is buzzing with word that Kelly will announce his plans to run against Giffords as soon as mid-January.

And, depending on how things go at tomorrow’s hearing of the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, he may end up with a friend on the Independent Redistricting Committee.

{snip}

Here’s a detail that hasn’t been explored in all the controversy over Gleason’s application: He was also a member of the Conservatives for Congress Committee, which ran a number of below-the-belt hits against Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in an unsuccessful effort to boost Jesse Kelly earlier this year.

We hear from multiple sources that Gleason—who didn’t return a phone call from The Range—is now helping set up a new non-profit with the working title of Tucson 360. The plan is to hire Kelly as an executive director of the non-profit so he’ll have a perch from which he will be conducting his 2012 congressional campaign.

It wouldn't be too surprising (to me, anyway) if Pearce, Adams, or one of their mouthpieces stand up at tomorrow's meeting to request that the Appellate Court Appointments commission reopen the pool of applicants because two of the candidates have withdrawn their names from consideration.

Of course, they probably won't mention the fact that the two who withdrew did so at the behest of Pearce and Adams.

What's the cliche?  Oh yeah...


That's like someone murdering his parents and then pleading for mercy because he is an orphan.


To put it in a less snarky (or cliched) way -

The Appellate Courts Commission was required to give Pearce and Adams ten names from which to choose two Republican members of the AIRC.

They did so. 

Pearce and Adams then considered the available options, and then, of their own free will, informed two of the applicants that they wouldn't be chosen.  That notice isn't required, but I can't find anywhere in the law re: AIRC where it is barred, either.

Pearce and Adams can now continue their deliberations, considering the remaining eight Republican applicants.

What's the problem?


BTW - if they really want to keep independent Paul Bender, former dean of the law school at ASU, from being the fifth member and chairman of the AIRC (and they *really* don't want him there), there is one certain way to prevent that -

Pearce or Adams can make him one of the first four picks.

When the going gets tough...

...some folks would rather step off than step up...

Chris Christie, the Republican Governor of New Jersey frequently touted as a contender for the R presidential nod in 2012, likes to talk tough about about things, especially public employees, but when the going gets tough, he can be found...

...vacationing at Disney World (from a Washington Post piece by Rachel Weiner) -

As New Jersey crawls out from under piles of snow, it's being helped not by Gov. Chris Christie or Lt. Gov Kim Guadagno but by Senate President and acting governor Stephen M. Sweeney, a Democrat. Why? Because the state's two top executives skipped town before the storm hit. (Christie is at Disney World in Florida; Guadagno is in Mexico.)

{snip}

Christie left for Florida on Sunday, the same day Sweeney declared a state of emergency in New Jersey. (He rescinded that call Monday night.)

While this is an outrageous desertion of duty (doubly so because Christie's Lieutenant Governor, fellow Republican Kim Guadagno, whose sole real job is to serve as governor when Christie is out of state, chose to go on vacation at the same time), it shouldn't be a surprise.

Christie (and obviously Guadagno, his hand-picked running mate) is part of the Republican clique that exhibits the same contempt for public service that they show toward actual public servants.

This is the sort of thing that while it will negatively impact his chances for reelection as governor, it could help him win the GOP nod in 2012.

Redistricting update: one candidate withdraws, Rs pressuring two more to follow suit

From an Arizona Republic article, written by Mary Jo Pitzl -

Elevating their dispute with the state's redistricting effort, the top two Republicans in the Legislature are asking three nominees for the Independent Redistricting Commission to step aside.

So far, they've had mixed results: One nominee declined their request, another dropped out, and the third has been silent.

{snip}

The letter went to Republicans Mark Schnepf and Steve Sossaman, as well as Paul Bender, an independent.

{snip}

Bender, a former dean of the Arizona State University Law College, replied in a letter to Pearce and Adams that he would not withdraw. He said he studied the constitutional requirements for serving on the commission and believes he meets them.

{snip}

Schnepf on Sunday wrote to Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch, who chairs the vetting panel, saying that he believes he is constitutionally qualified to serve. But he is withdrawing from consideration, he wrote, because it's clear neither of the lawmakers would name him to the redistricting panel.

The third nominee, Sossaman, did not respond to inquiries from Pitzl.

It's interesting and heartening to note that a number of Arizonans are paying attention to this process and Pearce's and Adams' attempt to subvert the independence of the "Independent" Redistricting Commission.

The letters regarding the latest kerfluffle sent to the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments are here and here and here.

That last link includes a letter that was sent to Appellate Courts Commission supporting the existing pool of 25 applicants, a letter that was signed by 12 people, current and former electeds and community activists, including:

State Sen. Carolyn Allen
Fmr. State Rep. Jennifer Burns
Fmr. AZAG Grant Woods
Fmr. State Sen. Sue Gerard
Fmr. State Rep. Pete Hershberger
Fmr. Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson

Others who submitted letters of support include Lattie Coor, retired ASU President, David Schapira, Democratic leader-elect of the incoming state senate, and one of the candidates who didn't make it this far.

A quick look at the three .pdfs of comments submitted to the Appellate Court Appointments commission showed 177 pages of emails and letters, the overwhelming majority of which express support for the Commission, its process, and the pool of applicants.  A few, perhaps three out of the more than 100 comments submitted, directly stated that they wanted the nomination process reopened because of the controversy over one of the excluded candidates.

Having Russell Pearce serve as one of the front-men in this ploy by the Rs may not have been wise.

Many, perhaps even most, of the letters submitted in support of the current pool of applicants referred to Pearce and/or Kirk Adams by name or title and urged the Appellate Court Appointments commission to stand up to the attempt to strong-arm the process.

There were a number of commenters who desire to stop the redistricting process entirely.  Apparently, they are unaware of the U.S. Constitution and Arizona law on the matter, nor do they seem aware of the ballot measure that was approved by the voters in 2000 with over 56% of the vote that created the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (Prop 106 on page 16 of the linked .pdf).

Wednesday's meeting of the Appellate Court Appointments commission will begin at 9 a.m. in room 101 of the Arizona State Courts Building, 1501 West Washington, Phoenix.

Be there early to get a good seat.  Popcorn recommended (but building security probably won't allow it  :) ).

State Rep. Frank Pratt (R-LD23) beaten on Christmas Day

From the Arizona Republic, written by Laurie Merrill -

An Arizona state representative from Pinal County was beaten, knocked unconscious, tied up and left bound inside his Casa Grande business after 2:30 p.m.Christmas Day.

Rep. Frank Pratt, R-Casa Grande, had gone to his shop, Pratt Pools, to check on it when he was attacked by someone already in the building in the 100 block of W. Cottonwood Lane, police said.

According to the article, Pratt was discovered by his wife at approximately 8 p.m.  He is currently hospitalized in Phoenix with non-lifethreatening injuries.

The Casa Grande Police Department (and presumably, the Pinal County Sheriff's Department) are looking for Pratt's state-issued vehicle, a gold-colored 2007 GMC Yukon with an Arizona license plate, 815 - KYJ.

If the vehicle is spotted, notify your local law enforcement agency via a call to 911.  If you have any information about the crime, call the Casa Grande PD at 520-421-9700.

Best wishes on a speedy recovery go out to Rep. Pratt.

Getting ready for the next session of the legislature - dates

Culled from an Arizona Republic article written by Alia Beard Rau.  The House and Senate schedule/deadline memos aren't posted yet, but when available, they'll be posted on the legislature's website.

Commentary, some snarky, some not, added by me for educational and entertainment value.

Some of the scheduled upcoming events (OK, some of the "scheduled" dates are more "fervently hoped for" than "definitively planned"):

- The inauguration of the statewide constitutional officers (Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Mine Inspector) will be on January 3, 2011 at the Capitol on West Washington.  Open to the public.

- Russell Pearce and a rogues' gallery of nativists from across the country will trek to D.C. to announce an attack on the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

- The 50th Arizona Legislature will be sworn in and start its work on January 10, 2011.  This is also the day that the Governor traditionally delivers the State of the State address.  There are limited public seats available.  The best course of action for those who wish to attend the festivities is to contact your legislator.  Though if your legislator is a Republican, you'd better be a family member or a favored lobbyist if you really expect to obtain a ticket.

Speaking of lobbyists, the Capitol Events calendar, showing the different events that have booked time or space near the Capitol (usually, but not always, the House or Senate lawns) is filling quickly.  The first "event" of the legislative season will be a "prayer walk" conducted by the Center for Arizona Theocracy Policy.

- The deadline to introduce bills in the Senate is January 31, 2011.  To introduce bills after that, approval of the Senate Rules Committee will be required.

- The deadline to introduce bills in the House is February 7, 2011.  To introduce bills after that, approval of the House Rules Committee will be required.

Except for "strike-everything" amendments which change a previously introduced bill into something completely different.

- The last day for House and Senate committees to hear bills introduced in their respective chambers is March 12, 2011.  At that point, any unheard bills are considered dead.

Except for those bills revived by a strike-everything amendment.

- The last day for House and Senate committees to hear bills that were introduced in and approved by the other chamber is April 9, 2011.  At that point, any bills that haven't be heard in both chambers will be considered dead.

Except for those bills revived by a strike-everything amendment.

The 100th day of the session, and the traditional target date for adjournment of the lege, is April 19, 2011.

Hey, anything could happen.  Though it hasn't happened in recent memory, and usually the only years they come close are election years (time spent legislating takes time away from campaigning to keep their jobs as legislators).  Of course, even if the R leadership keeps the railroad running on schedule by sacrificing accomplishment (you know, like passing a budget that's actually balanced), they can always call a special session.

They had *nine* special sessions during the 49th Arizona Legislature.  And the budget still isn't balanced.

Fun with campaign finance reports...

Oh, the stuff that I dig into when I'm feeling bored diligent... :)

Notes:  Most information gathered from the last four finance reports of the cycle.  In addition, I didn't go through the reports of Democratic candidates.  Partly because I'm a partisan hack (like that's breaking news to any regular readers! LOL) and partly because most of the Democratic candidates financed their campaigns through Clean Elections, and CE candidates are actively discouraged from using their campaign funds for non-campaign purposes.  I checked a few, but their reports, as well as the reports of R candidates who utilized CE funding, were really boring.

Today, between basketball games and gift unwrappings, I was perusing some Maricopa County and State of Arizona campaign finance reports (political geek that I am), and learned that many candidates and PACs use their campaign funds "creatively".  Nothing that is necessarily illegal, but stuff that doesn't seem to have much to do with electing candidates.

From recent reports filed with the Maricopa County Recorder and the Secretary of State -

Associated Highway Patrolmen of Arizona PAC, 11/18/2010 - $1000 to the ALEC Scholarship Fund (page 51 of the linked .pdf), which pays for legislators to attend various ALEC functions.  The memo on the contribution was "Various Republican Candidates/Committees Contribution."  They can contribute to anyone they want to, but have they forgotten who leads the annual charges to underfund DPS and to mess with the public safety employees' pension fund?  It sure isn't the Democrats...

Arizona Dairymen PAC, 11/15/2010 - $500 to the ALEC Scholarship Fund.

Transportation Association (Legislative and Educational PAC), 9/15/2010 - $449.41 to SRP for "ALEC AZ Nite Dinner"

Apollo Group Inc. Organization for Legislative Leadership in Arizona, 10/14/2010 - $2500 directly to ALEC

Note: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a somewhat shadowy* right-wing group dedicated to putting state legislators into contact with lobbyists and executives from its corporate sponsors.  The Scholarship Fund is intended to pay for member legislators to attend various ALEC functions.


* = shadowy because its membership is semi-secret (members can self-publicize their association with ALEC, but generally ALEC doesn't publish a complete list of its members, and it also keeps secret its contributors and the amounts contributed).

Other interesting entries include -

Frank Antenori, R for Senate in LD30, spent $104.90 on 11/3/2010 for a power strip for his laptop and a blue tooth headset.  The election was on *11/2.*  He's not the only candidate to use campaign funds for computers/electronics, but most were discreet enough to make the expenditures *before* the election.

Nancy Barto, R for Senate in LD7, spent $334.40 on 11/11/2010 for airfare, $246.34 for lodging on 11/13/2010 (and a $25 baggage fee on that date), and $175 on 9/25/2010 for a fee for a Wallbuilders conference in Texas.  Wallbuilders is an anti-choice/historical revisionist group based in Texas.

Chuck Gray, R Senator in LD19...well, actually, since Gray is retiring (for now, anyway) and didn't run this year, technically speaking nothing he spent from his campaign funds this year was intended to help him win an election, but let's not quibble over details. How about we just cover some of the highlights. 

He spent $265.43 on 10/28/2010 to renew a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.  Also, $194.04 from 10/1/2010 through 10/6/2010 on miscellaneous charges related to a trip to Boston, over $1500 on travel-related charges from 8/9/2010 through 9/13/2010.  Many, but not all, of the other things that he used his campaign funds for this year were also travel-related.

Jack Harper, R for House in LD4, spent $100 on 9/23/2010 on a two-year membership in ALEC.

John McComish, R for Senate in LD20, spent $130 on 8/13/2010 for a donation to Tempe Right To Life.

Steve Montenegro, R for House in LD12, spent $82 on 7/17/2010 to pay the fee for submitting a ballot proposition argument to the Arizona Secretary of State.

Russell Pearce, R for Senate in LD18, spent $551.17 on 11/5/2010 for "airfare and lodging" (no destination listed).

Michelle Reagan, R for Senate in LD8, spent $418.80 on 11/18/2010 for airfare to Colorado for a fellowship.  In August, she spent $675 on dues for the National Rifle Association and AZ Citizens Action for the Arts.   On 7/26/2010, she spent $86 out of campaign funds on a subscription to the Arizona Republic.

Bob Robson, R for House in LD20, spent $227.70 on 9/2/2010 on "newspaper subscription to Phoenix Newspapers (aka - the Arizona Republic).

Jim Weiers, R for House in LD10, spent $75 on 7/7/2010 to submit a ballot proposition argument to the Arizona Secretary of State.

Interesting stuff...interesting to political geeks.  :))
 

Happy Holidays from Random Musings

To all reader, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ashura, Festivus, Chrismukkah, winter solstice, or something (or nothing) else, may you all have a joyous and safe holiday.

Inspired by a mention of this event on today's edition of Pardon The Interruption on ESPN...



Yeah, it's not Christmas-y, but it isn't political either.

Jan " BrewerCare Death Panels" Brewer says that organ transplants are "potentially life-saving"

...but before anyone gets excited, she's using that to buttress her argument in support of further cutting Medicaid in Arizona...

From Governor Brewer's letter to Congress begging to be allowed to cut Medicaid (known in AZ as "AHCCCS") further -

...Because we cannot change our generous eligibility standards, Arizona has taken actions to reduce our Medicaid cost, such as limits on services not mandated by Medicaid, including potentially life-saving organ transplantations...

The "eligibility standards" (page 26 of the linked .pdf) that Brewer et. al. consider to be so "generous"?

Income that doesn't exceed 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL).  That's $10,830/year for a single adult or $22,050/year for a family of four.

Only Jan and her clan can keep a straight face when describing abject poverty as "generous."

H/T to State Sen.-elect David Schapira (D-LD17), quoted in the Arizona Capitol Times, for the heads-up on this...

Redistricting update: Latest salvo targets judicial independence

It looks like Kirk Adams, Russell Pearce, and Jan Brewer are opening up another front in their war against the judicial branch's independence.

From the Arizona Business Gazette, written by Howard Fischer -

The dust-up over the process of nominating candidates for the Independent Redistricting Commission is giving new ammunition to those who want to scrap Arizona's merit selection process for judges.

Several key state lawmakers say they would welcome the chance to revisit the 1974 constitutional amendment that took away the right of voters to directly elect judges to the Arizona Supreme Court, the state Court of Appeals and the superior courts in Maricopa and Pima counties.

Some, like incoming Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said returning to that system may be the best course of action.

{snip}

[State Rep.-elect Eddie] Farnsworth said the federal system of gubernatorial choices subject to Senate confirmation provides some "checks and balances" into the process, more so than he said exists with the current judicial selection commission.

Such a change would have the backing of Gov. Jan Brewer.

She has said she does not like the current restriction that limits her to choosing a new judge solely from the list sent to her by screening panels.

I'm not positive (not exactly on Pearce's, Adams' or Brewer's speed dials here :) ) but in addition to the long-term motives - they've made noises in this area before - this move could also serve as an implied threat toward Chief Justice Berch and the whole judicial branch -

Give us who we want for the "Independent" Redistricting Commission, or else the gloves are off.

We'll find out at next Wednesday's meeting (December 29, 2010) of the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments if this latest move is an effective one.


BTW - Am I the only one who noticed the irony of the least-qualified governor in recent memory objecting to the idea of having only qualified people to choose from for judgeships?

Later...

A brief Pearce family history

Presented without comments because none are needed.

From the Phoenix New Times' Feathered Bastard, written by Stephen Lemons -

State Senate President-elect Russell Pearce's son Joshua Trent Pearce was recently under investigation by the Mesa Police Department for allegations of possible child abuse.


Mesa PD spokesman Sgt. Ed Wessing confirmed that police responded to a call December 10 from Banner Desert Medical Center regarding a nine day-old baby girl, the daughter of Joshua Pearce and his wife Samantha.

According to Wessing, hospital staff told police that the child had a skull fracture, and that the parents' explanation of how the fracture may have occurred did not jibe with the severity of the injury.

{snip}

Today, Wessing informed me that no charges would be forthcoming.


"The Mesa Police Department will not be submitting criminal charges in this case," Wessing told me via e-mail. "At this time we do not have sufficient probable cause to charge Mr. Pearce in this case."

{snip}

This is not Josh Pearce's first brush with the law. In 2006, he was arrested by the Mesa PD for a DUI, while driving on a suspended license. He told police that he was a regular user of marijuana, but that he no longer drank alcohol because of a previous DUI.


In the car with him was Samantha and their then five day-old child Wyatt.

{snip}

His job was listed as "roofer." Court documents described his last known address as being 1247 East Inca Street in Mesa, the same listed on state Senator Russell Pearce's campaign finance reports with the Arizona Secretary of State.


Wessing stated that Josh Pearce now has a different Mesa address on file.

In 2007, the County Attorney's Office hit Josh Pearce with two felony counts of aggravated DUI. Josh pleaded guilty to one count in a deal with prosecutors and received five years probation.

Russell Pearce himself is no stranger to allegations of domestic abuse. In 2008, I revealed the existence of a marriage dissolution petition filed by Pearce's wife LuAnne in 1980, which alleged physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

It reads in part, "Further, the husband, RUSSELL KEITH PEARCE, is possessed of a violent temper, and has from time to time hit and shoved the wife, the last time being on February 3 [1980], when he grabbed the wife by the throat and threw her down."

The Pearces were ultimately reconciled and remain married to this day.

{snip}

Josh Pearce was born in November of 1980, around nine months following the document's filing.


Also in 2008, I blogged about a 1974 police report that stated Pearce, then a young sheriff's deputy, busted down the door of his first wife Karen. Karen and Russell were divorced the same year. No charges were ever filed in that incident.

A similar summary from David Safier at Blog for Arizona can be found here.

Note: I generally don't quote other writers' work this extensively (preferring to quote a paragraph or two and link to the entire piece), but I feel it is appropriate in this case as Mr. Lemons has done a far better job of succinctly documenting the Pearce family's activities than I could.

2010 Ebbie Awards

...sort of patterned after Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons In The World" segment on his nightly show...


Second Runner-Up -

Unnamed personnel from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

From Treehugger.com -

Photo: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region

To many people, Jim Hart and Khalil Abusakran are heroes. When the two men from Maryland, saw a deer stranded in the icy waters of the Patapsco River, they did what few others would dare. With an inflatable boat, the duo ventured out and rescued the animal before it perished in the frozen stream. But, after they and the deer returned to shore, it wasn't a hero's reception that awaited them -- instead, the two men were slapped with fines for not having life-jackets aboard their vessel.

I freely admit, I'm not sure I would have done the same thing - venturing out into freezing water to save a deer - I'm just not that brave.  Or foolish (hopefully :) ).  However, the act of the the officers of the MD Department of Natural Resources, fining these two men for doing something that the DNR officers refused to do, merits Christmas Eve visits from the Ghosts of Bambi Past, Present, and Future (and I don't mean the kind of "Bambi" who brings her own stripper pole, either :) ).


First Runner-Up -

Arizona Senator John McCain.

From Politico's Daily Beast -

Railing against Don't Ask Don't Tell, shooting down an immigration bill he once sponsored, pushing his own changes to START—the tougher John McCain who emerged in the primaries may be here to stay.


{snip}

Conversations with friends, advisers, and analysts reveal McCain as a man still angry at his 2008 presidential loss, fueling his desire to remain in the spotlight and an important part of the debate, even on issues where he is out of step with the majority of Americans.

For taking his anger out on gay and lesbian servicemembers, 9/11 first responders, foreign policy, DREAMers, and still doing nothing to actually represent Arizona in D.C., McCain earns a visit from the Ghosts of Mavericks Past.

Obviously, the Maverick is already gone, so there's no Present or Future Mavericks around to make some visits.



And the "winner" is...

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer

There was consideration of making this a group award, also giving it to Russell Pearce and the rest of the Republican caucus in the legislature.  Most of the wave of nastiness emanating from West Washington these days gets its start in the R caucus room, but Brewer is the one who has taken it national and has ridden the wave all the way to a full term on the 9th floor.

Latest example (and there are many examples - could have gone with imagined headless bodies in the desert, actual bodies due to BrewerCare, her ties to private prison lobbyists), blaming the tepid health care reform package passed by Congress earlier this year for her inability to balance Arizona's budget for the last two years -

Heading into a new year with a new Legislature and a new Congress, the primary area of budget focus for Arizona will be our need for action by the federal government on "Obamacare."


If our state budget is to be balanced, it will require action by Congress and the White House. They must provide flexibility to states so we have the ability to create sustainable Medicaid programs.

For her shameless leadership of the hate brigade, Jan's Christmas Eve visitors will be the ghosts of Cecilia Esquer (a long-time civil rights champion and Chicana activist), Mark Price (the first victim to succumb to her cutting off AHCCCS benefits to transplant patients) and Gary and Linda Haas (the couple murdered in New Mexico by escapees from one of the private prisons championed by Brewer and her advisers/lobbyists).

Later...

It's official - Arizona will gain a seat in Congress in 2012

Confirming something that was already widely expected, as a result of the 2010 Census Arizona will gain a 9th seat in the U.S. Congress.

The new apportionment map is here (state numbers only; actual districts will be mapped out in the coming year.)

Having 9 seats in the House will put Arizona on the same footing as...

Massachusetts, which is losing a seat (one of the Ds who is going to lose his seat will run for challenge Scott Brown for a seat in the Senate)

Indiana (no change)

Tennessee (no change)

...And ahead of those with eight seats...

Missouri (losing a seat)

Minnesota

Wisconsin

12 seats in Congress switched states.

While the population of the country, and hence its Congressional representation, in concentrated in the East (as in "east of Texas), all of the states that lost a seat in Congress are also in the East (particularly in the Northeast and Rust Belt), and all of the states that gained a seat are in the West or deep South.

The big gainers were Texas (+4) and Florida (+2); Ohio and New York each lost two seats to lead that list.

The only state in the deep South that lost a seat was Louisiana.  That wasn't a surprise due to the mass exodus from the state in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster/post-disaster debacle.

A map showing population percentage change by state is here.  The only state that showed a net loss in population was Michigan (- 0.6%).  Texas gained the most population numerically (nearly 4.3 million) while Nevada gained the most population as a percentage of its 2000 population (~35%).

More information here.


Tying this back into the ginned-up controversy over the yet-to-be-formed Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), it wouldn't be surprising if the motives of Kirk Adams and Russell Pearce (for trying to mess with the independence of the "Independent" commission) went beyond base partisanship.

The general expectations are that the new CD will be carved out in the East Valley area of Maricopa County due to the growth there and the fact that the current CD6 is already one of the largest (in terms of population) in the country.

Both Pearce and Adams are from the East Valley area of Maricopa County (Mesa, to be specific).

Pearce has already "explored" a run for Congress once, and most observers expect that Adams is going to make a run for Congress at some point.

The recent histrionics coming from them have the all of the hallmarks of a play to put someone on the commission who is friendly to their personal political interests, not just the Republican Party's.

BTW - to anybody who might view what I just wrote as an "attack" on Pearce and/or Adams:  It isn't.  It's just an observation and some speculation.  It's not like they invented the concept, either; it's been around as long as redistricting has.

North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site Update: Community Meeting In February

Just received an email from Vicki Rosen, the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator for the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site (NIBW) -

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!


We've got our next CIG meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 9, 2011. It will be held at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts--Stage 2 on the Main Floor. The Center is located at 7380 E. Second Street. The meeting will start at 5:30 pm and last until about 7:30.

Specific agenda items will be sent out in advance as we get closer to the meeting date. I will also send out a printed flyer on the meeting by mail to our site mailing list.

Looking forward to seeing everyone. Have a wonderful holiday and a very Happy New Year.

Vicki

As we get closer to February 9, more info on the meeting will be posted, but until then, background and history of the NIBW can be found here.

AZ Republic finally reports on burgeoning "Arizona guns in Mexico" scandal

From the Arizona Republic -

The glass entrance to Lone Wolf Trading Co. in an unassuming strip mall near 51st and Peoria avenues, bears target practice posters and a sign: "No loaded weapons in our store."

Multiple model airplanes hang from the ceiling inside. It looked like business as usual as a couple of customers last week glanced at a wall with rifles on display and a shelf with handguns.

Owner Andre Howard did not return calls and was not present when the Republic visited the store for a comment about a recent year-long Washington Post investigation. Lone Wolf ranked eighth among dealers nationwide for selling the most number of firearms (1,515) recovered by police in the last four years. The store also topsdealers with the most traces in the last two years for guns recovered in crime scenes in Mexico. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traces weapons recovered by law enforcement agencies to where they were sold originally.

The AZ Rep article is a fairly long and detailed on, so why pick on them for it?

The Phoenix New Times covered it a week ago when the Washington Post originally published the results of their investigation.

Maybe their hesitance to cover this particular story has its roots in Arizona's politics, where the majority in the legislature is so crazy about guns that not only are they trying to turn the state's college campuses into armed encampments, they want to force cities and towns to take firearms confiscated from criminals in the U.S. and transfer them to gun dealers for resale.

Something tells me that Russell Pearce, Jack Harper, Jan Brewer, and the rest won't appreciate the irony of a weapon used to kill someone in the U.S. in turn being used to kill someone in Mexico.

Actually, on second thought, they may thoroughly *enjoy* that idea.

New favorite t-shirt

From Zazzle -

Trent Franks: cut from the same intellectual cloth as Jan Brewer

Apparently, Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ2) has been getting his information from the same impeccable sources as Jan "headless bodies in the desert" Brewer.

From an interview with Franks in the Arizona Republic -

2. Will you be a leader on immigration?

{snip}

Even as the radical Iranian regime grows ever closer to a nuclear-weapons capability, some of the very terrorist organizations that are trained, funded and armed by Iran have increased their activities just miles from our southern border.

Sometimes, one of Arizona's electeds says something so perfectly inane that adding a punch line would be redundant.  And unnecessary.

In a (not) shocking development, Franks didn't offer any evidence to support his statement.

For the sake of journalistic standards, I've got an email out to the Department of Defense's press folks seeking confirmation of Rep. Franks' statement.

I'll update if anything comes through.  Though to be honest, I don't expect anything.

Later...

Final election result: Proposition 112 defeated

From the website of the Arizona Secretary of State -

The statewide recount of Proposition 112 has been successfully completed, with the results certified today by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig.


Those results confirm the defeat of Prop 112, which would have moved up by 60 days the deadline for citizens’ initiative campaigns to submit signature petitions to qualify for the ballot.

The official court filing is here.

The final margin was 194 votes out of 1,585,522 votes cast in the race, or slightly more than 1/100th of 1 percent of the total (0.0122%). 

That's the definition of close.

Later...

Latest Republican attack on Clean Elections under the guise of "free speech"

From the Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) -

Arizona’s Clean Elections system may rise from the dead just long enough to slap the people who are dancing on its grave.


Rep. Ted Vogt, a Tucson Republican, plans to introduce a bill that would drastically raise the campaign contribution limits for privately funded candidates. But the voter-approved law that created the Clean Elections system may require a three-fourths vote in the Legislature to change the contribution limits, which could slam the door on a proposal that’s certain to face stiff opposition.

Vogt wants to raise the campaign contribution limits for statewide and legislative candidates to match the limits for federal offices (currently $4800/year for humans; unlimited for corporations), but the law approved by the voters that created Clean Elections is standing in the way.  It ties funding limits for "traditionally" financed candidates to the Clean Elections law, which cannot be changed unless passed by a 3/4 vote of the legislature and only if any changes further the intent of the voters.

Given that the Rs despise Clean Elections and want to destroy it, that last seems unlikely to occur.

Lest one thinks that traditionally-financed candidates have taken vows of campaign poverty, consider these numbers, courtesy the AZ Secretary of State's website:

House Speaker Kirk Adams (R-LD19) raised over $190K for his 2010 race

Rep.-elect Ben Arredondo (D-LD17) raised $115K

House candidate Shawnna Bolick (R-LD10) raised $100K

Senate candidate Cheryl Cage (D-LD26) raised $124K

Sen.-elect Adam Driggs (R-LD11) raised $109K

Senate candidate Justin Johnson (D-LD10) raised $137K

Senate candidate Bill Konopnicki (R-LD5) raised $131K

Rep. Eric Meyer (D-LD11) raised $105K

Sen.-elect Michele Reagan (R-LD8) raised $125K

Rep. Nancy Young Wright (D-LD26) raised $120K

There were also a number of candidates who raised between $80K and $100K, but in the interests of brevity, I'm not going to list them all here.  Most of the candidates who raised less than that were either Clean Elections-funded candidates or were unopposed.

In the Cap Times article, Vogt and a talking head from the Goldwater Institute try to portray this as a matter of free speech and Clean Elections and current contribution limits as acting to suppress free speech.

Well, they are entitled to have and express their opinions, but no one that I've spoken to can find the part of the Constitution that protects one's "right" to buy and sell candidates for public office, or the right of candidates to sell themselves to the highest bidder.

And after a careful reading, I can't find such a protection either.

Jan Brewer's approach to balancing the state's budget: Abdicate...responsibility

Sunday's Arizona Republic(-an Party press release outlet) contains an op-ed published under the Governor's name wherein she assesses the reasons for the inability of the state's elected leaders to balance Arizona's budgets.

She looks at previously enacted cuts to...

...the state's work force...

...K-12 education funding...

...University-level education funding...

...prison spending...

...child care enrollees (I think that she is talking about her drastic cuts to KidsCare here)

...and the fact that she, Russell Pearce, and the rest of the Republicans on West Washington will be looking to further decimate education and social safety net programs in the coming year...

And blames the devastating cuts, past and pending, on [drum roll please]...


...the federal health care reform package that was signed into law earlier this year, describing it with the Republican epithet "ObamaCare".


In the op-ed, she blithely ignored...

...the state's increased population over the last decade, requiring an increased, or at least a status-quo, level of services...

...the state's decreased revenues due to both the cratered economy and generations of ideologically-driven but reality-blind tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Arizonans...

...years of papering over the state's structural deficits (caused by the blind revenue-cutting) with accounting tricks like pushing back mandated payments (aka - "kicking the can down the road").


This op-ed, probably written by a puppeteer/staffer but published under Brewer's name, clearly signals that she and her R colleagues have no intention of addressing the state's fiscal crisis in a professional and responsible manner, instead choosing to put their efforts into misdirecting attention away from their continued willful ineptitude.


The Arizona GOP: the party that keeps on giving...the finger to the next generation.

Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) named to House Intelligence Committee: write your own punch line

From Politico -

Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the most outspoken conservatives in the House, has won an appointment to the secretive House Intelligence Committee.

The move by incoming Speaker John Boehner to put Bachmann on the panel surprised Republican insiders, who see her as a fiery grass-roots leader of the tea party movement but not necessarily a leader on national security among House Republicans.

Michele Bachmann, who was noted for her ability to "open mouth, insert foot" long before she hit the D.C. scene, but has elevated her wingnut game since her arrival there.

Things like...

"I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?" -Rep. Michelle Bachmann, calling for a new McCarthyism, Oct. 2008

"Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas." -Rep. Michelle Bachmann, April, 2009

"I don't know where they're going to get all this money because we're running out of rich people in this country." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, accusing the Obama administration of plotting to divert money from Republican to Democratic districts and planning to tax the wealthy to fund the windfalls, Feb. 2009

"I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people..." Referring to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, Apr. 2009

Older Bachmann quotes can be found here and here.

The Last Comic Standing "reality" t.v. show could have a season of shows dedicated to mocking Bachmann and still not exhaust all of the punch-line material that she has provided over the last few years.

And now, she will have access to classified intelligence material.

God help us all...

DADT repeal and the DREAM Act: .500 batting average is great in baseball...

...but it sucks in real life...

John McCain and Jon Kyl, Arizona's Senators, joined the Three Amigos (Congresscritters Flake, Franks, and Shadegg) on the "Lump of coal in their Christmas stockings" list today...not that they weren't already charter members of that not-so-distinguished group. :)

First, the good news: the Senate passed cloture on repeal of the military "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward gay and lesbian members of the U.S. armed forces.  The vote there was 63 in favor, 33 opposed.  The move basically sets an end to Senate debate on the measure and allows it to be brought up for a final vote (likely later today).  Passing cloture makes it seem likely that the measure will gain full approval because that will only require a simple majority (51 votes) not the 3/5 support (60 votes) that cloture requires.

Now, the bad news:  by a vote of 55- 41 (60 votes needed to pass), the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the DREAM Act, effectively killing the measure.  If passed, it would have created a path to "legal" immigrant status and possible citizenship for children brought to the U.S. by undocumented immigrants.  That path wouldn't have been an easy one, requiring many things, including attending college here or serving in the U.S. armed forces.  The nativist Rs, aided and abetted by five Democrats (Nelson of NE, Pryor of AR, Tester and Baucus of MT, and Hagan of NC) held sway today, however, turning their backs on the many hard-working and high-achieving residents of the U.S. who were brought to the United States through no choice of their own.

Three Rs did show some character, voting for decency over demagoguery.   Deepest thanks go out to Bennett of UT, Murkowski of AK, and Lugar of IN for their support.

Kyl and McCain showed a remarkable consistency - they were against both measures, voting to undercut members of the military who are honorably serving their country *and* to snub many of their own constituents who have done nothing but help make Arizona's (and America's) society more robust.

In baseball, consistency is good.  A batter who hits .290 every season has the same lifetime average as one who hits .240 and .340 in alternate years, yet the consistent player it considered the better player, one desired by almost every team.

In real life however, as written by Emerson in his essay Self Reliance, "consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Emerson may have been writing nearly a century before McCain or Kyl was born, but it's almost as if he was watching them in action when he wrote his essay.

Flake, Franks, and Shadegg: Protectors of child marriage, not protectors of children

Lost in the hubbub surrounding the culmination of the 2nd Session of the 111th Congress (DREAM Act, DADT, tax cut "compromise", omnibus spending bill, etc.) is the realization that a certain group in D.C. (hereafter referred to by the Randomly chosen mathematical variable "Rs" :) ) is still doing everything that they can to block even the least controversial legislation.

On Thursday, the party of "No" donned its costume for the D.C. Christmas pageant, going with the "Ebenezer" look.  (Call it a "truth in advertising moment").

They spent most of the week voting against nearly *everything.*

In itself, that isn't noteworthy anymore - they've spent the last two years voting against every piece of significant legislation.  The measures that they haven't killed outright, they've blocked as much as possible (except for the infamous tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans).

However, as the calendar has turned toward the Christmas holiday, and toward the end of the 111th Congress, their partisan obstructionism has turned into petty meanness.

This trend was highlighted Thursday, when the House Republicans killed S. 987, the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010.

This bill would have made the ending of child marriage in developing countries a goal of U.S. foreign policy.

The bill should have passed easily, and would have, if House leadership had been able to bring it to the floor under normal procedures.  However, due to the backlog caused by Republican obstruction of everything and the impending end of the 111th Congress, S. 987 was brought up for consideration under "suspension of the rules," meaning that a 2/3 majority vote was required for passage.

The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Dick Durbin and had a bipartisan list of 42 cosponsors, and was approved by the Senate unanimously.  The related House versions of the bill, H.R. 2103 and H.R. 6521 boast more than 120 cosponsors drawn from both sides of the aisle.

With that kind of broad bipartisan support, it should have passed easily (not even Rs have the chutzpah/arrogance to publicly support the practice of forcing young girls to marry men who are two, three, or more times their own age).

Then certain "pro-life" groups started whispering that this bill would cause an increase in abortions, even though abortion, "family planning" or even "reproductive rights" are never even mentioned in it.

The final House vote on the bill was 241 in favor, 166 against.  A clear majority, but not the requisite 2/3 needed for passage.

157 Republicans, including Arizona's Three Amigos, Jeff Flake, Trent Franks, and John Shadegg, expressed their support of child marriage by voting against the bill, but only one of the 157, Dan Burton of Indiana was honest enough to stand and speak to his vote.  And even he only professed financial reservations about the bill (estimated: $87 million over 10 years, *if* money was appropriated in a later bill).

In an interesting non-development, none of the Three Amigos seems to have put out a press release touting their victorious defense of the institution of child marriage. 

Why is that?

Message to Jon Kyl: If you want a Christmas break, get some work done now

The Republicans in D.C., led by Arizona's own Jon Kyl, are now trying to derail any efforts to pass significant legislation late in the year by claiming that doing so would somehow disrespect one of the "holiest" of Christian holidays.

From TPMDC -

To Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's suggestion that the Senate come back the week after Christmas isn't just a way to complete a busy lame duck agenda -- but an attack on people of the Christian faith.


"It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out," Kyl said today, "frankly, without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all of the Senate, not just the senators themselves but all of the staff."

Let me keep this brief -

There are millions of Americans right now who would love to be in a position where they could complain about having to work between Christmas and New Year's.  Yet Kyl doesn't think that is disrespectful of Christians, though many of the people affected are Christians.

There are millions more who will be working between Christmas and New Year's, and wishing that they could afford to take the week off.  Yet Kyl doesn't think that is disrespectful of Christians, though many of the people affected are Christians.

There are thousands of American servicemen and women who will be away from their families and in harm's way on one of Christianity''s "holiest" days and have no choice about that, yet Kyl doesn't think that disrespects the Christian members of the armed forces.

Senator Kyl, all I have to say is this:

If anybody is "disrespecting" Christmas, it is you with your brazenly cynical attempt to use the holiday as a political tool.

Quit whining and finish the year's work before Christmas, or plan to drag your ass back to D.C. immediately after the holiday.

Note: most of the above was sent to Sen. Kyl as a letter through his website's contact form.  There were a few minor modifications (I'm not going to use the word "ass" in a letter to a senator, even one I can't stand :) ).

Later...