Coming Attractions: A "special" session of the legislature to turn every state job into a political patronage job

On Friday's edition of Horizon on PBS, three Capitol beat journalists - Howie Fischer (Capitol Media Services), Ginger Rough (Arizona Republic), and Dennis Welch (Arizona Guardian) - discussed the final hours of the legislative session and made one prediction:

Later this year, perhaps in the fall, there will be a special session of the legislature to pass Jan Brewer's scheme to remove the few civil service protections accorded to Arizona state employees.

Brewer was hot to get her proposal passed during the waning moments of the legislative session, to take some of the GOTP thunder from Wisconsin's Scott Walker, who has been on his own anti-worker jihad.

The video archive for the show isn't available as yet, but when it is, it should be here.  The Arizona Capitol Times has a full story here.  That story is behind a subscription paywall, and is chock full o'blather from the likes of Jan Brewer, Russell Pearce and Kirk Adams about how the proposal is really isn't about attacking workers and making them political slaves to Brewer et, al., but is all about helping the economy and weeding out bad employees, but not about undermining the effectiveness of government agencies or simple base patronage.  Here is the money quote:

Pearce said the plan would allow the state to hire good employees and get rid of bad ones more quickly.


“It’s a great thing to hire at-will,” he said. “All it is, is efficiency in government."

That from the same Russell Pearce who was fired, by a REPUBLICAN governor, as head of the Motor Vehicles Divsion (MVD), after, among other things, hiring one of his sons to work there.  A son who was later caught issuing false IDs for his friends.

Well, I probably shouldn't do this, but for them, and you, here's a sneak preview of the main rhetorical thrust of the posts that will go up when they pass this scheme (and it surely will pass):

The have removed the due process protection of right to a trial by jury for those accused of misdemeanor DUI, and now they wish to remove the due process protections for those accused of nothing more than doing their jobs while not being cozy enough with elected officials, lobbyists, or other political hacks.

They should be careful what they wish for.

This is the same group of legislators who take bribes from the Fiesta Bowl, proclaim themselves above the laws that the rest of us live by when they carry guns while parading around public buildings and are simply beyond the law even after assaulting their girlfriends by the side of the freeway.

Weakening due process might not be the brightest idea for this bunch.