More evidence that Jan Brewer should stay away from open microphones

...She is not having a good month when it comes to interview show appearances...

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer appeared on ABC's This Week.  She spent most of last week lobbying and schmoozing in Washington, D.C. with the other state governors.

As part of her visit, she appeared with three other governors on ABC News' This Week.

While most of her appearance was limited to spouting typical Republican talking points (Scott Walker is great, the Wisconsin 14 are despicable, etc.  - and no, she didn't use those exact words.  I'm paraphrasing), one statement caused my ears to perk up.

"I think government is a necessary evil."

Doesn't that mean, that since she is Arizona's Governor, she is 'evil-doer-in-chief'* here?  Inquiring minds want to know.  :)


* = Officially, anyway.  As Governor, she is the official "head of government" here, though in practical terms, Russell Pearce and Joe Arpaio have strong cases for being considered the practical evil-doers in chief.

Huffington Post has complete coverage here, including a video clip from the show.

Ben Arredondo, party animal - Who knew?

The Cronkite News Service, a part of the ASU School of Journalism and Mass Communication, recently interviewed State Representative Ben Arredondo of Tempe.  Rep. Arredondo is a longtime fixture in education and political circles in Tempe and Maricopa County, and is now in his first term in the state legislature.

The video compilation of the interview is below.




The most interesting question and answer came at approximately the 1:22 mark of the video.


Q:  "What would your high school classmates voted you most likely to do?"

Arredondo: "Party."


At first, that answer surprised me, but given his love for his alma mater, the hometown ASU, one of the most famous party schools in the country, perhaps it shouldn't have. :))

Other Cronkite News Service videos can be found here.

Hat tip to the Arizona Capitol Times for the heads up on the video...

First proceeding in the Andrew Thomas, et. al. Arizona Bar disciplinary case on tap for next Thursday

The Presiding Disciplinary Judge of the Arizona Supreme Court has set a time for the initial case management conference in the Arizona Bar Association's complaint against former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and two of his former assistants, Lisa Aubuchon and Rachel Alexander.

That conference will take place on Thursday, March 10, 2011 in the Arizona State Courts Building.  It shouldn't be too colorful, as it is more to establish a schedule than to make any substantive decisions concerning the complaint against the threesome, but it may be worth keeping an eye on this.

Backgrround info: 

The Bar complaint against Thomas, Aubuchon, and Alexander is here.

Thomas' motion to disqualify the Bar's Independent Counsel, John Gleason, from the matter because he isn't admitted to the Arizona Bar, is here.  Gleason is an attorney in Colorado, and was appointed by the Arizona Chief Justice to serve as Independent Counsel in this matter.

Thomas' motion to dismiss the complaint, based in no small part on the previous motion, is here.


News coverage:

Phoenix New Times coverage of the complaint here.

AP coverage, via the Arizona Capitol Times, here.

Joke of the day: A unionized public employee, a teabagger, and a CEO are seated at a table...

In honor of the public employees in Wisconsin, and everywhere, who are standing strong against the unrelenting attacks on public servants and public servants from Republicans, tea party types, and corporatists.

Stolen from a Facebook friend, who stole it from somebody else.  I have no idea who the originator is, but that person deserves some serious wiseass points. :)

A unionized public employee, a Tea Bagger, and a CEO are seated at a table. In the center of the table is a plate holding a dozen cookies. The CEO reaches across and takes eleven cookies. He looks at the Tea Bagger and says, "Watch out for that union guy, he's going to want part of your cookie".

On a related note, evidently the police in Wisconsin understand that people cannot be arrested simply on the whim of an elected official.  A law has to be broken first.

 
From AP via Yahoo! News -

Police allow protesters to remain at Wis. Capitol


The occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol by protesters fighting efforts to strip public workers of union bargaining rights carried on Sunday after police decided not to forcibly remove demonstrators and end a nearly two-week-long sit-in.


{snip}

Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said demonstrators who had occupied all three floors of the Capitol would have to relocate to the ground floor overnight. Anyone who left the building was barred from returning until Monday morning, although police did allow union officials to bring food into the building for the protesters.


No demonstrators would be arrested as long as they continue to obey the law, Tubbs said. By late evening, the air smelled of pizza and lemon-scented disinfectant as demonstrators quietly ate dinner and several janitors worked around them to clean the Capitol's marble floors.

"People here have acted lawfully and responsibly," Tubbs said. "There's no reason to consider arrests."

Later...

Bundgaard case: And the spin begins

By now, most observers of the Arizona political scene are aware of the fact that state Sen. Scott Bundgaard was involved in a domestic violence incident Friday and invoked his immunity from arrest as a serving legislator to avoid incarceration.

The Arizona Republic has coverage here, written by Connie Cone Sexton, with contributions from Mary K. Reinhart and Kristena Hansen.

The Arizona Capitol Times has AP coverage here.

My intent here isn't to rehash the story - I don't have any facts in this matter other than those in the Republic article.

Nor is it to bash Bundgaard in a partisan manner - Democrats aren't perfect in this regard...though if any had similarly invoked legislative immunity from arrest, I have absolutely no doubt that they'd have been raked over the coals in the RW blogosphere and by the columnists at the Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star for doing so.

In addition, in the interests of fairness to all involved, I am going to wait until more facts come to light before passing judgement, and urge all other observers to do the same.

However, it is evident that all observers aren't of a similar mind.

KTAR.com has Bundgaard's rather self-serving press release on the incident here.  Note to Bundgaard:  "name dropping" isn't a viable defense.

Republican blog Seeing Red AZ isn't holding back, rising to Bundgaard's defense by attacking the integrity and professionalism of the reporters of the Republic story.  The comments section of their post show a similar ideologically-based disregard for the law (no matter if they aren't living together, violence between a boyfriend and girlfriend *is* "domestic violence") or for waiting for more facts to come to light.  They've blindly accepted the word of Bundgaard, given through his flack Jason Rose.

Republican blog Sonoran Alliance has a much briefer (and better) press release from Rose over the names of Bundgaard and the woman in the incident, Aubry Ballard.  In it, they apologize to everyone, announce that they are going their "separate ways," and ask for privacy.  It's still self-serving, but in a lower-key manner.

To be sure, some of the uninformed angst is coming from the other side - the comments on the Facebook posting from 12News on the story are mostly divided into two categories.

1.  "If it is a domestic violence case, the man must be 100% at fault."  Until we know all of the facts, we don't know *who* is at fault.  My initial reading of the story is that both were dishing out the violence, and both should have been arrested.  And that the police who responded to the situation *wanted* to arrest both, but couldn't arrest Bundgaard due to his immunity from arrest under the provisions of the Arizona Constitution.  Which brings us to...

2.  "How did the legislature pass a law granting themselves immunity for their crimes?!?"  Actually, they didn't.  It's in Article Four, Section Six, of the Arizona Constitution, approved by the voters of Arizona.  And even there, it's only immunity from arrest, during the legislative session, except for treason, felony, or "breach of the peace."  It isn't immunity from prosecution.

Also, many people are now calling for a change in that section based on this one incident.  It shouldn't be. 

Such provisions have a valid purpose - they prevent the use of incarceration to harass political adversaries.  Given last week's arrest of Sal Reza, a loud critic of Senate President Russell Pearce, at the behest of Pearce, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine Pearce using that tool against recalcitrant legislators if the tool was available to him.


In short, while there are many emotional reasons to jump to conclusions one way or another, this is a situation where rationality should reign - wait until all of the facts are in, and *then* make an evaluation of the situation.

Of course, a rational person won't ignore the fact that Bundgaard has been in and out of court a multitude of times (30+) over the last two decades, ranging from civil cases (both as plaintiff and defendant), traffic cases* (all defendant, some guilty, some dismissed, but he must be paying a fortune for car insurance :) ), and family court (a lengthy divorce that included at least one order of protection).  In his favor:  nothing popped up on a search of criminal cases using "Bundgaard" as a search term.  Also, there doesn't seem to be any indication of violence in his past, with the caveat that I don't know the nature of the order of protection in his divorce.

Stay tuned on this one.  I'm betting that the story has legs...


* - His traffic cases show a pattern - he's got a lead foot all over the Valley and extending up to Yavapai County (Payson).  Speed was the most frequent reason given for one of his citations, though far from the only reason (unregistered/uninsured, failure to yield, stop sign violation, obscured plate).

And he's probably *really* happy that photo enforcement has been discontinued on Arizona's freeways.  They kept nailing him, which probably led to the license plate violation.  :)

The coming week: Legislative edition

As usual, all info gathered from online sources, mostly the website of the Arizona Legislature, and subject to change without notice. 

While there are more active committee agendas than last week, they're still short enough for both the Senate's and the House's work to be combined into one post.

Most committees in each chamber, other than the respective chambers' Rules committees, are now considering bills that have passed the other chamber.

Note:  an "SHR" prefix indicates that a room is a Senate Hearing Room;  "HHR" indicates a House Hearing Room.

All legislative calendars (1st Read, 2nd Read, 3rd Read, COW, and Caucus) can be found here.

House committee agendas can be found here.

Senate committee agendas can be found here.

All legislative bill proposals can be found here.

Capitol events for the week can be found here (courtesy the lege's website) and here (courtesy Arizona Capitol Times).

On the Senate side of the Capitol -

- Rules will meet on Monday in Caucus Room 1 at 1 p.m.  Lots of bad bills to be rubberstamped for floor consideration later in the week.  However, SB1611, Russell Pearce's latest anti-immigrant measure isn't on this particular agenda, even though many of the other bills that were on the same Appropriations agenda last week *are.*  Not sure why not, but it could be related to the hubbub over Pearce's "blacklisting" of certain critics from the Senate building.  Or maybe he is getting some flak from his own caucus over breaking his promise not to push his nativist agenda before the state has a balanced budget.

Of course, SB1611 could pop up on a Rules agenda later in the week.  Rules is a gatekeeper for the legislative leadership, and all bills must be considered by the committee prior to floor consideration.  If a Senate President/House Speaker doesn't want a particular bill to reach the floor, he can just ensure that it never sees a Rules agenda.

At this point in the legislative session, it isn't unusual for the Rules committees in each chamber to meet two or more times each week.    Right now, only Monday's agendas are posted.

- Natural Resources and Transportation will meet on Monday in SHR109 at 2 p.m.  Relatively quiet.  Of possible interest:  HB2360, relating to the membership of the Game and Fish Commission Appointment Recommendation Board.  Legislative summary here.

- Judiciary will meet on Monday in SHR1 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet thus far, but this committee is chaired by Ron "fly a confederate flag on the Fourth of July" Gould, so that could change at any time.

- Education will meet on Monday in SHR3 at 2 p.m.  Looks relatively quiet, but there could be some fireworks over HB2197, barring the establishment or operation of charter schools in "an age restricted community in unorganized territory."  Better known as a "keep children out of Sun City" bill.  Also: a presentation from AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal.

- Banking and Insurance will meet on Tuesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Government Reform will meet on Wednesday in SHR1 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  HB2005, loosening the rules regarding subdivisions "acting in concert."  Looks like the real estate equivalent of weakening antitrust laws.  Legislative summary here.  All House Democrats opposed this one.

- Commerce and Energy will meet on Wednesday in SHR109 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  HB2558, giving landlords the ability to collect larger, utility-related, deposits from tenants.  All House Democrats opposed this one.

- Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m.  Quiet so far.

- Water, Land Use, and Rural Development will meet on Wednesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m.  One presentation and no bills on the agenda thus far.

- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet on Wednesday in SHR1 at 2 p.m.  On the agenda:  HB2443, banning abortions whose purpose is race or gender selection.

- Finance will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  Looks quiet so far.

- Border Security, Federalism, and States Security will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. in SHR109.  No bills on the agenda, so this *should* be a quiet one, but leave it to Sylvia Allen to come up with this agenda item -

4. Presentations

Attorney General Tom Horne -- Update on the Arizona Lawsuit
David & Donna Lamoreaux -- Drug & Human Smuggling Route Affecting Farmers
Richard Valdemar -- The Unholy Trinity: American Street Gangs, Mexican Drug Cartels, & Radical Islamic Terrorists

After the meeting, collectibile Burning Cross keychains will be available in the lobby.

On Monday's Third Read (final passage) Calendar:

SB1334, allowing hunting within city limits, and forbidding a municipality from regulating same

SB1388, barring Maricopa County from regulating the sale of consumer fireworks in unincorporated areas of the county

SB1546, declaring that the state can use eminent domain to acquire federally-owned land.

SB1466, giving a justice of the peace control over the prosecution of a case in his/her court, specifically requiring a county attorney to gain a JP's approval before diverting or defering prosecution of an offender.  The JP pushing for this, Lester Pearce of the North Mesa Justice Court in Maricopa County and brother of Senate President Russell Pearce, is noted for his belief that the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is too lenient.  And that the amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting the right to vote to women is a violation of states' rights.

SB1174, barring the establishment or operation of a charter school in an age-restricted community.

SB1231, decreasing the state's revenue expenditure limit

SB1403, barring conditioning the award of public works projects on the use of union labor

SB1406, allowing the governor to enter into interstate compacts/New Confederacy treaties regarding the creation of a fence along the border with Mexico

SB1465, barring the acceptance of consular-issued identification cards as legally valid identification

SB1525, restricting a municipality's ability to assess development fees

SB1530, creating the most important appointed position in the state, that of "Poet Laureate."

SCR1024, asserting state sovereignty over "intrastate water resources."  A "federal government GO AWAY!" postcard to D.C.

SCR1025, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution to eliminate public funding for candidates for public office (aka - end Clean Elections)


...On the House side of the Capitol -

- Rules will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 1 p.m.  Long agenda, lots of bad bills, rubber stamp.

- Energy and Natural Resources will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Education will meet on Monday in HHR3 at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House floor session.  Looks quiet so far, but sometime bills are "sneaky bad."

- Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday in HHR5 at 2 p.m.  On the agenda:  SB1094, "requires a legislative committee of reference to examine data from multiple sources and evaluate effectiveness when considering a legislative proposal regarding mandated health coverage"; SB1122, exempting faith-based "health care sharing ministries" from insurance regulations.

- Government will meet on Tuesday in HHR4 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Employment and Regulatory Affairs will meet on Tuesday in HHR3 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet on Wednesday in HHR3 at 9 a.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Health and Human Services will meet on Wednesday in HHR4 at 9:30 a.m.  Looks quiet so far. 

- Commerce will meet on Wednesday in HHR5 at 10 a.m.  Looks quiet so far. 

- Technology and Infrastructure will meet on Thursday in HHR1 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda (possibly):  SB1171, allowing a municipality to force a county to transfer a wastewater treatment facility to the municipality.

- Judiciary will meet on Thursday in HHR4 at 9 a.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Agriculture and Water will meet on Thursday in HHR5 at 9 a.m.  Looks quiet so far.

Monday's Third Read calendar hasn't been posted for the House yet, but the calendar (agenda) for the Committee of the Whole, or COW session has been.  COW is the last chance to debate or amend bills on the floor of a chamber of the legislature.

There are fourteen bills on the House COW calendar, but two are certain to grab most of the attention, both at the Capitol and in the media.

HB2384 and HB2416, both attacking women's reproductive rights.

From the legislative summary of HB2384: "HB 2384 prohibits the use of public funds for abortion procedures to any person or entity that provides, pays for, promotes, provides coverage of or referrals for abortion and training related to abortion procedures that are paid by tuition or fees for students at an Arizona university or community college.

From the legislative summary of HB2416: "HB 2416 specifies an abortion shall not be performed without voluntary and informed consent by the woman receiving an abortion and prohibits the use of telemedicine to perform an abortion.


Note:  Given the length of the floor calendars for Monday, both Third Read and COW, no one should expect Monday's (non-Rules) committee meetings to start on time.

Breaking: Sen. Scott Bundgaard involved in a domestic violence incident

From the Arizona Republic -

Scott Bundgaard, R-Peoria, the majority leader of the Arizona state Senate, was briefly taken into custody with marks on his body Saturday, indicating he had been involved in a fight, an act of domestic violence, Phoenix police officers said.

Sgt. Tommy Thompson said police responded to a call of a man pulling a woman out of a gold vehicle, which was stopped northbound next to the median on Arizona 51, just south of Cactus Road.

Bundgaard invoked his legislative immunity to avoid arrest and incarceration,  However the woman in the car, who also had marks on her body indicating involvement in a fight, Aubry Ballard, was arrested on an assault charge.

More details as they become available...

Arizona Legislature: week in review

...and a sneak peek at next week...

- Signed into law this week: HB2167, banning "Spice," a dangerous synthetic version of marijuana.  Passed both chambers and all commitees in those chambers unanimously.  Because of an "emergency" clause, this law goes into effect immediately.

- Controversial bills that passed one or the other chamber this week -

...HB2558, allowing landlords to require larger, utility-related, deposits from tenants.  Passed committee and the entire House on party line votes.  Slated for Senate committee consideration on Wednesday.

...HB2443, banning abortions intended for race or gender selection.  Passed by a mostly party line vote.  Scheduled for Senate committee consideration on Wednesday.  Arizona Capitol Times coverage here.

...SB1225, makes forgery in connection with the purchase, lease or renting of a dwelling that is used as a drop house as a class 3 felony.  All Republicans and approximately 1/2 of the Democrats in the Senate voted for this.  Not assigned to a House committee as yet.

...SB1306, relating to landlords; tenants; bedbud control.  Passed the Senate by a truly split vote - of the twelve who voted against it, six were Democrats and six were Republicans.  Not assigned to a House committee as yet.

...SB1470, the dissolution of the Mohave County Water Authority.  Barely passed the Senate (16 - 14).  All Democrats and five Republicans voted against the measure.  Not assigned to a House Committee as yet.

- Bills passing committee this week, and thus are still alive: 

...Senate Appropriations held a marathon meeting starting Tuesday afternoon and continuing into the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  They passed a number of bad bills, relating to immigration, birthright citizenship, dissolving the Arizona Board of Regents, implementing drug testing for welfare recipients and, oh year, ending AHCCCS.  Full summary of the meeting here.  One of the many lowlights was the passage of SB1611, Russell Pearce's latest anti-immigrant bill.  Summary here.

...SB1609, making extensive changes to the state''s public employee pension plans.  Passed Senate Finance 3 - 1, 3 not voting.  Scheduled for Rules Committee consideration on Monday; probable floor consideration later in the week.

...SB1167, another bill to make extensive changes to the state's public employee pension plans.  Passed House Employment and Regulatory Affairs by a 5 - 4 vote.  Next up: Rules Committee, but not scheduled as yet.

...HB2070, establishing the "state guard," an armed force outside of the National Guard that is only answerable to the governor, and funded by monies redirected from the National Guard, passed House Appropriations on a party line vote.  Next up: Rules Committee, not yet scheduled.

...HB2301, requiring school districts to spend at least 50% of their Maintenance and Operations budgets on teacher salaries, and lift the restriction on "soft capital" (books and desks and so on) money that required that such money be expended on soft capital, passed House Appropriations on a mostly party line vote.  Next up: Rules Committee on Monday.


- Other news at the legislature:

...Senate President has evidently created a "blacklist," barring from the Senate building certain critics.  This resulted in the arrest of Latino activist Sal Reza on Thursday.  He went to the Senate to meet with his Senator, Sen. Steve Gallardo.  Upon entering the building, Reza was asked to leave.  When he refused to do so, he was arrested, even after Gallardo informed the police that Reza was there to meet him.

Pearce has denied the existence of such a list, but Senate Democratic Leader David Schapira (D-LD17) tweets otherwise.

Prediction: Lots of lawsuits, most/all of which the state will lose, and all of which will be paid for by taxpayer funds.

...The four members of the new Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) met Thursday to interview candidates and select the fifth member of the AIRC.  They conducted the interviews, but delayed the selection of the fifth member, who will also serve as chair of the AIRC, until Tuesday.


Sneak peek at next week:  The agenda for Thursday's meeting of the Senate Border Security, Federalism, and States Sovereignty Committee (9 a.m., SHR109) includes the following -

4. Presentations


Attorney General Tom Horne -- Update on the Arizona Lawsuit
David & Donna Lamoreaux -- Drug & Human Smuggling Route Affecting Farmers
Richard Valdemar -- The Unholy Trinity: American Street Gangs, Mexican Drug Cartels, & Radical Islamic Terrorists

What?  David Duke wasn't available??

- New bill introduced this week: SCR1059, declaring the legislature's support for the governor of Wisconsin in his Koch-fueled quest to roll back collective bargaining rights for public employees in his state.  Not on an agenda as yet, but sure to be fast-tracked.  It'll probably pass the Senate by the end of the week.

Later...

Redistricting update: not much to update

Today, the four partisan members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) met to interview the five Independent candidates for the final, and chair's, spot on the AIRC, but after the interviews, they chose to delay the selection until Tuesday.

The meeting start a few minutes late, at approximately 2:35 p.m. (the time listed on the agenda was 2:30 p.m.)

After a brief explanation of the history of the room - it used to be the meeting room of the Arizona Supreme Court and was the home of many decisions, including the famous Miranda decision.  Not relevant, but OK...until he went on with a somewhat odd recounting of that decision and the future activities of the principals), Bennett proceeded to swear in the four AIRC members who have been appointed by the legislative leadership.

Richard Stertz, Scott Freeman, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Jose Herrera, and Linda McNulty











Things proceeded a little faster than expected - because the published agenda indicated that the first interview would start at 3 p.m., they had to recess the meeting for a few minutes.  After that, however, the interview part of the meeting proceeded efficiently.

As should have been expected for a group of applicants who have already been thoroughly researched, interviewed, and screened, they all did a good job at their interviews.  While each exhibited a couple of "weak" answers to the questions posed by the panel, each them was thoughtful and polished and appeared to be eminently qualified.  Even without the political pressures on the current AIRC foursome, they'll have a tough time making their choice.

And have no doubt, they're already feeling some *heavy* pressure. 

A member of the public, Norris Nordvold, speaking on behalf of candidate Ray Bladine, issued a not-too-thinly veiled threat to the AIRC. 

Some concerns over the AIRC's budget cropped up during the afternoon.  The original AIRC had approximately $6 million to use; the new AIRC currently has $500K. 

Nordvold mentioned the possibility of the Legislature appropriating significantly less money for the next fiscal year if they don't like the choice for chair.

Call it a "don't you dare pick Paul Bender" moment.

Nordvold addressing the panel









The next speaker, Jim Huntwork, a Republican member of the original AIRC, spent his entire time railing about native tribes, in an attempt to influence the members of the new AIRC to nullify the recent decision of the Arizona Supreme Court to allow Professor Bender's candidacy to continue in spite of the same objections from Russell Pearce and Kirk Adams, the Senate President and Speaker of the House, respectively.

Other than that, however, things seemed pretty straightforward today.

We'll see what the next meeting, as well as the next few months, look like.

I hope this isn't jinxing things, but I predict the next lawsuit will be rooted in today's discussions - if the current members of the AIRC surrender to Pearce and Adams on the selection of the chair, they'll be opening themselves up to litigation from the other candidates as well as others.  If they don't surrender and the lege tries to use its budgetary powers to retaliate, interfering with the redistricting process, court actions from the feds and from other groups who are affected by redistricting.

And that doesn't even begin to address what the U.S. Department of Justice could do to Arizona if they believe that Pearce and Adams are trying to corrupt the process.

I'll let attorneys speak more on this; they know far more than I do.

Anyway, candidates under consideration are:

Kimber Lanning

Colleen Mathis

Ray Bladine

Paul Bender

Margarita Silva

The next meeting, at which the selection will presumably be made, will be Tuesday at 1 p.m. in the conference room of the Arizona State Library (the same location as today's meeting.)

Steve Muratore of the blog The Arizona Eagletarian has coverage here.


Some pics from the meeting:

The members of the AIRC and Ken Bennett speaking during the first recess of the committee.  On the far left: Jim Barton of the Arizona Attorney General's Office, present to provide legal advice, when necessary.

Professor Paul Bender thanking the members of the panel after his interview.

candidate Ray Bladine during his interview

candidate Colleen Mathis during her interview

candidate Kimber Lanning during her interview

candidate Margarita Silva during her interview

During Kimber Lanning's interview, from left to right:  Bennett, Herrera, McNulty, and Lanning.  I'm not sure who the man in the corner is; he was photographing the proceeding for an MSM outlet, I think.

Russell Pearce bringing Senate Judiciary to heel

Over the last couple of weeks, Senate President Russell Pearce and his "associates" have been thoroughly embarrassed by the failure of his Sen. Ron Gould's anti-birthright citizenship and other anti-immigrant bills to pass the Senate's Judiciary Committee.

In successive weeks, SB1308, SB1309 (anti-14th Amendment/birthright citizenship) and SB1405 (turning hospitals into immigration checkpoints) had to be pulled from the committee because it was evident that the measures didn't have enough support on the committee to pass.

Specifically, Republican Sens. Adam Driggs and John McComish joined the Democratic members of the committee, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Steve Gallardo, in questioning the legality of the measures.

As a result, all three bills were removed from Judiciary and given to the Appropriations Committee, which is a larger committee (13 instead of 8 members) and has only one Republican with a conscience (Sen. Rich Crandall of East Mesa).  Those bills, and more, were passed by Appropriations after a marathon system

Given that the committee had eight members, that meant the best possible outcome for the measures was failure on a 4 - 4 tie vote.  A measure needs five out of eight members to support it in order for it to go forward.

Note the use of the past tense "had" in the last sentence.

Pearce could have simply removed Driggs or McComish, or both, from the committee.  That's his privilege as Senate President.

However, internal politics make such a peremptory move problematical - McComish and Driggs are both incredibly conservative and cannot be attacked as "RINOs".  In addition, McComish was Pearce's chief rival for the Senate presidency, and arbitrarily removing him from a committee could smack of unwarranted retribution.  Pearce's position atop the Senate pecking order, while not exactly "tenuous," is based in no small part on a promise to complete the budget before pushing through his pet anti-immigrant bills.

A promise that he has thoroughly broken.

So he has now done the next best thing - he has simply added another, more pliable, member to the committee, bringing its membership count to nine.

Wednesday, he added Sen. Scott Bundgaard to the committee without removing anyone else.

By handling things in this manner, Pearce kept the number of votes necessary to pass a bill at "five" but also was able to add a fifth reliable vote to the committee.  He also was able to bring the committee back under control without appearing to be vindictive (he may, in fact, *be* vindictive, but this doesn't make him *look* that way).

With Judiciary (presumably) back with the program, look for more "bad" bills to be assigned to Judiciary and to actually gain the committee's approval.

Off to the meeting where the fifth member and chair of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) will be selected...

UFO and tea party conventions in metro Phoenix this weekend: Coincidence?

Arizona's wingnuts are going to spend the weekend trying to be in two places at one time this weekend.

- Beginning yesterday at the Ft. McDowell Casino and Resort just outside of Fountain Hills and extending through the weekend, the 2011 International UFO Congress is taking place.  Full brochure here.

- Beginning tomorrow at the Phoenix Convention Center in downtown Phoenix and extending through the weekend, the Tea Party Patriots will be holding their "American Policy Summit."

No word on where confabs' lists of attendees and speakers will overlap (Fife Symington?  Karen Johnson?), though it should be noted that Joe Arpaio is listed on the tea party folks' website, while he *lives* in Fountain Hills, a mere few miles from the Ft. McDowell Casino.

Jus' sayin'....

Short Attention Span Musing...

Mostly because I need to decompress after yesterday's events...

....Part of the AZGOTP's "dream" society - "2nd Amendment remedies" for business disputes

From the Arizona Republic -

An argument between a Phoenix homeowner and a roofer regarding the quality of the work left the roofer with a life-threatening gunshot wound, Phoenix police said.

At about 1:15 p.m., a three-man crew was working on the roof of a home near 59th Avenue and Encanto Boulevard. The homeowner, a 68-year-old man, was not satisfied with the work that the crew had done, police said. The homeowner began to argue with the crew's 42-year-old foreman, said Sgt. Tommy Thompson, spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department.

...There's a little justice in the world, no matter how much certain people want to downplay that fact.

From The Independent (UK) -

A jury has sentenced the leader of an anti-immigrant group to death for the murder of a young girl and her father, in what prosecutors said was an attempt to steal drug money to fund the group's activities.


Shawna Forde, the leader of the Minutemen American Defence, has become the third woman on death row in the state of Arizona. The 43-year-old was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder and other charges related to a raid on a home in Arivaca, a desert community about 10 miles north of the Mexican border, in May 2009. Raul Flores, 29, and his nine-year-old daughter, Brisenia, were killed in the raid.

I should be clear here, I am opposed to capital punishment, for a variety of very rational reasons, and could never have imposed the death penalty on her (or anyone else.

However, I'm human, and humans have emotions. 

And the emotional side of me isn't bothered by the verdict or the sentence.  Not in the least.


...Daniel Scarpinato, late of the AZ Daily Star and Jonathan Paton's abortive 2010 campaign for Congress, is now the press guy for Kirk Adams' Congressional campaign communications director for the AZ House Republican caucus, is known for his interesting press releases, where "interesting" means "gets creative with the facts."

The latest release distributed by Scarpinato crowing about HB2718, a bill earmarking $5 million for "border security operations" to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, headed by Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

Among other things, the reasons for earmarking the money to Pinal County listed in the press release include "...its unique border security operations and because it receives less federal funding than areas directly on the border."

Pinal County must have some truly "unique" border security operations - at no point does it border Mexico. another country, or even another state.

Arizona has 15 counties, and four of them have a border with Mexico - Yuma, Pima, Santa Cruz, and Cochise.


If Adams and the other Republicans are so concerned with border security, why no funds for those counties? 

Could it be because three of the counties - Yuma, Pima, and Santa Cruz - had the audacity to elect Democrats as sheriff?  Could be, but...

While as much as I'm sure the partisan factor played a part in Adams' decision to send "border security" money to a non-border county, the fundamental reason behind Adams' move to siphon $5 million in public funds to one specific county may be far more base than that.

Most Capitol watchers believe that Adams is running for Congress next year, and as a rising star in Republican circles, Babeu is being wooed by R candidates from all over the state.  The candidates will come looking for his endorsement next year. 

$5 million makes a helluva "quid" in a "quid pro quo" arrangement.

...On a related note, Scarpinato may have spent a little too much time at the Daily Star.  The last line of his press release (emphasis mine) - 

For more information or to schedule interviews, contact Daniel Scarpinato at 602-926-3233 or dscarpinato@azstarnet.com

Just for giggles, I sent a test email to that addy.  It bounced back almost immediately.  :(

I *so* wanted to write something about the Daily Star no longer bothering to hide its "in the pocket status," but all I can do is poke a little fun at him over the typo. :)

...Finally, look for a run on brown shirts at your local Wal Mart.

Today, House Appropriations passed HB2070, creating an armed force answerable only to the Governor and outside the National Command Authority, and funded by money siphoned from the Arizona National Guard.  You know, the organization that answers to the President.


Just another day in Sand Land...

Summary of Tuesday's Senate Appropriations Committee meeting...

In case you missed it, and given that they were going strong well into the wee hours of the morning, you probably did.

Note:  when a bill description is in quotes, it's quoted from the summary of that bill crafted by legislative staff.

Note2 - I didn't see the discussion for most of the bills because of the late hour, so for the most part, I am not including any of those here.

- SB1611, Russell Pearce's latest attack on people with brown skin.  Passed 7 - 6.  The four Democratis on the committee opposing, as did Republicans Rich Crandell and Sylvia Allen.  Crandall suffers from occasional bouts of decency, so his vote wasn't entirely surprising.  Allen, however, is a close friend and ally of Pearce, and usually is completely on board the nativist train.  Senior moment?

- SB1308 and SB1309, the anti-14th Amendment bills, passed by identical 8 - 5 votes (1308 and 1309).  All four Democrats on the committee, as did Republican Crandall.

- SB1405, turning Arizona's hospitals into immigration checkpoints, passed 8 - 5.  Same voting pattern as above.

- SB1407, requiring school districts to collect data on students who cannot prove lawful residency in the U.S. and district, and requires districts to forward the info to the state.  Passed 8 - 5.  Same voting pattern as above.

- SB1519, completely repealing AHCCCS, Arizona's Medicaid program.  Passed 8 - 5.  Same voting pattern as above.

- SB1380, mandating drug testing for welfare recipients, passed 9 - 3, 1 not voting.  Three Democrats opposed, and one (David Schapira) was out of the room when the vote was taken.

- SB1115, ending the Arizona Board of Regents, who oversee the state's universities, and replacing the Board with Boards of Trustees for each individual campus, passed 9 - 4.  Party line vote.

- SCR1014, related to SB1115, removing from the Arizona Constitution language regarding the Board of Regents.  Passed 9 - 4.  Party line vote.

- SCR1045, completely policizing the selection of Arizona judges by removing language in the AZ Constitution requiring professional evaluations and screening by the Arizona Bar Association for the attorney candidates for the various judicial selection commissions in Arizona.  Passed 9 - 4.  Party line vote.

SB1141, "Requires parents, or persons who have custody, of a child who will attend a public, private or charter school to provide verifiable documentation of Arizona residency, and requires school districts and charter schools to maintain the documentation", passed by a 9 - 4 vote.  Party line vote.

- SB1497, gives "Arizona Constitutional and statutory rights of public agencies to the legal entities created through intergovernmental agreements."  Passed 9 - 4.  Party line vote.

- SB1589, further privatizing the operations of MVD.  Passed 9 - 3, one not voting.  Three Democrats opposed, Kyrsten Sinema out of the room when the vote was taken.

- SB1540, "Establishes the removal or defacing of political mailers, handouts and flyers as a class 2 misdemeanor and requires a condominium and planned community to allow door to door political activity."  Passed 11 - 2, Aboud and Cajero Bedford dissenting.

- HB2016, updating language regarding budget reports.  Passed 12 - 1, Aboud dissenting.

- SB1013, tranferring the Arizona Capitol Police, currently a part of the AZ Department of Administration, to the Department of Public Safety.  Passed 11 - 0, 2 not voting.  Schapira and Cajero Bedford were out of the room when the vote was taken.

- SB1113, barring "existing licensed facilities operated by the state or contracted with the Department of Economic Security (DES) to provide intermediate care facilities for mental retardation services for developmental disability members", passed 13 - 0.

- SB1353, "Repeals state photo enforcement and adds an assessment of $10 on every civil penalty or fine resulting from a citation issued by a peace officer for a traffic offense. Requires a municipality to use monies to supplement funds available for the purchase of protective armor, electronic stun devices and other safety equipment." Passed 13 - 0.

- SB1583, updating the membership of the state nursing board.  Passed 13 - 0.

- SB1039, creating a "home certificate program" relating to trust deeds and housing finance.  Complete legislative summary here.  Passed 13 - 0.

Of course, one should not forget the passage of the most vital bill of the entire legislative session, one that is key to the future success of the entire state.

SB1610, declaring that the Colt Single Action Army Revolver is the state's official firearm.  Passed 9 - 4.  Party line vote.  I saw the debate on this one.  The Democrats didn't actually object to the content of the bill, just the fact that is was being considered while the Republican majority refuses to address the real problems facing the state.


...Whew!!

Seriously, we should all thank the four Democratic members of the committee, Senators Aboud, Cajero Bedford, Schapira, and Sinema, as well as the committee and facility staffers who stayed throughout the entire proceeding.  Contrary to some of the evidence, there are still a few dedicated public servants in Arizona.

Pearce's latest anti-immigrant screed passes committee

After more than two hours of discussion, and by a 7 - 6 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved SB1611, Russell Pearce's latest effort to one-up last year's SB1070.

The four Democrats on the committee, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, David Schapira, Paula Aboud, and Olivia Cajero-Bedford, were joined by Republican Sens. Sylvia Allen and Rich Crandall, in voting against the bill.

The Crandall vote wasn't surprising as he voted against the anti-14th Amendment bills earlier in the evening, but I have no idea where Allen's vote came from.  She's normally on board with all of the nativist garbage.

The debate was long and mostly involved Sen. Sinema going over the bill page by page with Pearce, the bill's sponsor, and pointing out everything that was wrong or just sloppily-written.

When Pearce wasn't resorting to "the law is the law and we must enforce it" to buttress his arguments, he was 'pooh-pooh'-ing concerns that the language of the bill might have some unintended consequences with statements like "it's a great spin" when Sinema brought up the point that Pearce's bill would penalize small children for crimes that they cannot legally be liable for because of their age).  He was similarly dismissive of concerns that his bill would cause abused women to be turned away from domestic violence shelters if they didn't have proper documentation.  He also tended to simply avoid answering questions that he didn't like.

He also tended toward hyperbole instead of verifiable facts - consular-issued ID cards are the "greatest threat to homeland security" and citing "facts" and statistics of dubious veracity in support of his position.

Allow me to sum up his position:

Those darn Mexicans!!

I wish I could write more, but I'm tired and I'm ticked off.  It's 11:30 p.m.  The Approps meeting is still going strong. It's time for bed.

Anti-birthright citizenship bills pass Senate committee

By matching 8 - 5 votes, the Senate Appropriations Committee today passed the two anti-14th Amendment bills, SB1308 and SB1309.  The closest thing to a surprise vote was from Republican Sen. Rich Crandall, who voted against both bills.

Before readers start calling him a "moderate" or a "RINO," rest assured, he's neither of those things.

He just isn't a cross burner, either.

More later...

Some pics from the early part of the day at the Legislature

The Senate Appropriations hearing is underway, and I am in the overflow room (SHR1).

They haven't gotten to the "good" bills yet, but here are a few pics from earlier in the day -

The targets of Russell Pearce's bills...

Senate hearing room cordoned off by police, who moved the gathered crowd, mostly opponents of the bills on the agenda, into another room.

One of the few pro-Pearce protesters.  His mouth was loud, but he didn't really get a rise out of anybody.

Just the truth...

The labor rally in support of the workers in Wisconsin

Motorcycle Day at the Capitol.  Not relevant to anything in Senate Appropriations, but I like the picture.

The crowd in the overflow room.  The capacity is 140, and they need to open up two additional rooms to handle the overflow from the overflow.

Legislators Catherine Miranda and Albert Hale at the Latino Caucus' press conference on the anti-immigrant bills.

Quick legislative update: Senate Appropriations not yet meeting; room locked off

Just a quick hit:  Senate Appropriations is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m., but that isn't going to happen.

The Senate is still on the floor doing Third Read (final passage) of a number of bills.  The lowlight, however, isn't that the committee meeting will start later than scheduled, that is "business as usual" here.

What is almost unheard-of is the fact that the committee hearing room, SHR109, is locked tight and Capitol police have just cleared the hundred+ people waiting for the hearing.  Most of the folks present are opposed to one or more of the bills on the agenda. 

Everybody has been funnelled into SHR1, which is serving as overflow seating.  It's at least 3X the size of SHR109, and it is full.

More later...

Russell Pearce in 2011: trying to outdo his 2010 anti-immigrant screed

AZ Senate President Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) is attempting to out-SB1070 last year's SB1070, the bill that became the law that both powered and rode the wave of nativist sentiment sweeping across large portions of the country (and not coincidentally, the law that the utterly unqualified Jan Brewer used to gain an elected term as governor of Arizona.

He has introduced this year's SB1611.

Among other things, it...

...removes all consideration of federal law when determining eligibility for federal benefits...

...mandates a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail for using a false ID to obtain employment...

...mandates that if an undocumented immigrant is caught driving a vehicle, that vehicle will be forfeited to the state...

...mandates that if an undocumented immigrant is caught driving a vehicle, he/she must serve at least 30 days in jail, no matter what...

...mandates that if an undocumented immigrant is caught driving a vehicle, he/she must pay for all of the costs of his/her incarceration...

...bars school districts from admitting students who can't demonstrate "lawful presence" in the district (this one conflicts with federal law), and severely limits the documents that are acceptable proof...

...bars students from being homeschooled unless they prove "lawful presence" with the same documents as above...

...mandates indefinite suspension of all business licences of employers who don't use the E-Verify systems, even if there aren't any other violations of law involved...

...mandates that issuance of a title to an automobile is contingent on proof of lawful presence in the country...

...mandates that all applicants for any public housing must prove lawful presence before their applications are accepted...

...mandates eviction of any resident of public housing who allows an undocumented immigrant to reside in their unit...(so if your minor child, or elderly and ailing parent can't prove their immigration status, they're on their own)...

...mandates that any police officer lose his/her AZPOST certification (basically, the equivalent of a professional license for police officers.  No AZPOST certification = no job) for any officer "who refuses to uphold the United States and Arizona constitutions and enforce the laws of this state."  No word on what will happen if an officer refuses to enforce an Arizona law that has been found to violate the U.S. Constitution.  Under this clause, he would lose his/her job no matter what he did.

...mandates that consular ID cards cannot be accepted as identification by the state or any political subdivision (this one has been floating around in one bill or another for a few years now.  What if a consular official is stopped by the police?  Under this provision, he/she has no way to prove his/her right to access consular premises...


Of course, the committee will be hearing the [cue up the sarcasm] *the single most vital piece of legislation of the Senate* - at least it must be, since the budget hasn't been balanced, the school system hasn't been firmed up, and an adequate permanent water supply hasn't been guaranteed for the state, but they are considering...

SB1610.

That one answers the most profound question of our time - "What is the official firearm of Arizona?"

After the bill's enactment, the official firearm of Arizona will be the Colt Single Action Army Revolver.

Whew!  Now we can all rest easy tonight.

/sarcasm


The meeting to hear this bill, and the other *really* bad bills, will be held Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  Arrive early, as seating is limited and the room is sure to be packed. 

Arizona Republic coverage of this, from Mary Jo Pitzl, is here

Arizona Capitol Times coverage, from Luige del Puerto, is here.

Maricopa County Community College District to consider increasing tuition and fees

The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is meeting Tuesday night to consider increasing tuition $5 per credit hour (7.04%) and individual course fees by various amounts.  The proposed increases are due to rising costs and dwindling resources, including drastically lower state aid.

The meeting will take place at the District's office, 2411 W. 14th Street in Tempe at 6:30 p.m.

The agenda for the meeting is a "normal" one.  Most of the items on it that are "consent" items that will be approved as a bloc. 

The tuition and fee hike items are "information" items only, meaning that no final vote will be taken though there may be some discussion.  The final vote is scheduled for the Board's March 22 meeting.

The current tuition is $71 per credit hour, with a $241 per credit hour surcharge for out-of-state students.  There isn't a proposal to increase the surcharge.

The proposed increase would make the cost for a typical full-time student (30 credit hours per academic year) $2,280, with the cost for out-of-state residents $9,510 per student (tuition and surcharge).

The course fee changes are expected to impact different campuses differently, with Phoenix College and Rio Salado College experiencing the greatest net increase, while Scottsdale Community College and South Mountain Community College expected to feel the least impact.  Actually, Scottsdale CC is expected to see a small net decrease in course fee-related revenue

The tuition increase is expected to bring in additional revenue of $12.9 million.  The course fee hikes are expected to net a total of $346K. 

The last time the Board considered a tuition hike (two years ago), it defeated the move over the urgings of students who supported a small hike to support and maintain the quality of the education provided across the district.  The Board majority at the time was led by Colleen Clark and Jerry Walker who opposed any tuition hikes as a way to force deeper cuts to the District. 

Clark as since resigned (replaced by Doyle Burke) and Jerry Walker lost his reelection bid (to Dana Saar), so I cannot predict the fate of the proposed increases.

The tuition increase item is here, its associated attachment with a schedule of current and proposed tuition and general fees is here.

The course fee changes item is here, its associated attachments are here and here.

I'll try to attend the meeting Tuesday evening, but there will be a very long meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee at the State Capitol starting a 2 p.m.-ish, and I expect to be there for the duration.  In other words, unless a LOT of bad bills are pulled from that agenda, I should be there until at least 6 or 7 p.m.  Folks interested in the MCCCD meeting should make arrangements to attend the meeting themselves or to have one of the attendees give an update.

Gettinger on "Illegals"

Friend of the blog Jerry Gettinger has written another piece, this one offering the sort of historical perspective on the immigration issue that I cannot, being a relatively new resident of Arizona (17+ years).

Here it is -

Every time I hear Pearce or Arpaio talk about “illegals” taking over, I think back to when I was growing up on a farm in South Texas. My dad’s farm was literally on the border with Mexico. It was during the Second World War when any young man who could went to war. My Dad was exempt because of the farm. It was a large farm (3500 acres) and the family also had a packing shed. The whole operation ran 24 hours, 7days. We shipped everything we grew. It was a year-round growing season.



In those days, the only mechanization on a farm was a tractor and a plow, and so manual labor was crucial. Dad had built a village for the workers where about 250 lived, some with their families. No one questioned who or where the workers came from. Without them the crops did not get harvested.


Every so often, a border patrol agent would stop by. Everyone knew each other and everyone knew that there was a war and food was most important. So the agent would mention to my father that the agent and one or two others might visit the next day around 3 o’clock to make sure everyone had papers. 3, maybe 3:30. I remember Dad half-smiling saying something like “well. Ok, but everybody here is where they are supposed to be.” The agent smiled, nodded and left.


The next day around 2:30, Dad would yell in his broken Spanish for everyone to take a break. Everyone knew what he meant. All of a sudden, the place was empty. Soon a Border Patrol car drove up, parked and an agent got out. He knew Dad and vice versa. “Everybody ok here, Joe?” (My Dad’s name) Dad would say “take a look,” and the agent looked at an empty village. “Looks OK to me.” And the agent got back into the car and drove off to the next farm. You see, without those “illegals,” crops didn’t get harvested, soldiers didn’t get fed and the war effort slowed down. During those difficult times no one was called an “Illegal.” They were workers and were important to the war effort as any factory worker. At times there was a problem, but not often. The workers were there to earn money for their families and the work they did was key. Without them a lot less food would get sent. I would imagine some of them stayed after the war and made Texas their home. They sure weren’t illegal in those days.

Thank you for your writing, Jerry.

Later...

12News' Sunday Square Off: Jan Brewer's "Let them eat cake" moment

Resnik - "Is it fair that businesses should get these tax breaks while universities suffer and those patients suffer?"

Brewer - "Absolutely.  Absolutely."

Earlier on Sunday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer appeared on 12 News' (KPNX) Sunday Square Off program, hosted by Brahm Resnik, to defend the hundreds of million dollars worth of corporate tax cuts she signed into law a few days ago. 

Her appearance was an exercise in regurgitation -

She regurgitated the long-refuted theories of trickle-down economics (which should be referred to as "tinkle down" economics).

I regurgitated the undigested remnants of breakfast while listening to her spout (that's just a metaphor - I hadn't eaten breakfast yet :) ).

My favorite quote is above, but there were other "profound" tidbits from the program (video clip embedded below) -

3:32

Brewer -  ...I know that the free enterprise is what really stokes the fuel of the furnace, and the furnace is business in Arizona..

Resnik -  So it *is* something of a gamble?

Brewer -  Life is a gamble.

Or how about -

4:00 (talking about the impact of the corporate tax breaks on Arizona's unemployment crisis)

Resnik - People are asking "How soon will half a billion dollars in tax breaks create a job for me?"

Brewer - Because we know businesses, particularly high paying wage businesses, are the people who create those jobs and if you stymie them and you make it impossible for them to maintain here by charging them above their competitive states that we're competing with, they won't come here, they won't stay here, they will go someplace else and if we become competitive, they will bring new jobs, we will keep the jobs that we have, and that means that it's, [not] to use the phrase "the trickle down, the bottom line is that more people will have jobs, and therefore those people with the jobs are going to go out and it's going to trickle down to the lawnmower guy, to the dry cleaner, it's just the facts.

Resnik - So if those tax cuts don't take effect for another few years, how soon would you expect to see new jobs here created by those tax breaks?

Brewer - Well, you know, we have been very creative since I have been governor, and we've been very successful at bringing new businesses here. We've been named the solar king of the nation, which we're very proud of and that's one of my number one goals in regards to what kind of jobs that we're looking for. So we have been somewhat successful, but we know that if we have the ability to move forward, and now that we have done that with the competitive package, big businesses don't just pick up and move overnight. They need to know that there's stability and predictability, and then, they come, and so, we have the very best people working on the Commerce Authority, and it's going to be a good thing for Arizona.

Resnik - Speaking of predictability/unpredictability, you and many Republicans have said this year, next year, and the year after that, the state is going to have trouble paying its bills. A lot of folks might be wondering how you explain these tax breaks to universities who are going to be losing millions of dollars in funding, to tens of thousands of people who are going to be losing their health care. Help us understand how you can justify tax breaks on the one hand and all these deep cuts on the other hand.

Brewer - Well, we don't...if we do not encourage business growth, that brings jobs to Arizona, it's going to get worse. So we have to look out of the box, and have not the money to continue down that path of spending. So we have cut up into this point of time over two billion dollars out of government. Government needs to get smaller. And businesses need to be able to have and appreciate and work within the free enterprise system. That's what's going to generate, that's what's going to turn us around.

Yup.  In case you didn't notice, Brahm Resnik asked a direct question and for nearly three minutes, Brewer wasn't even in the same area code as a direct answer.

The quote leading this post happened at about the 6:58 mark -

Resnik - Is it fair that businesses should get these tax breaks while universities suffer and those patients suffer?

Brewer - Absolutely. Absolutely.

Resnik - Because?

Brewer - Because it is business that drives our economy. It's business that allows people to have jobs. It's the jobs that allow people to spend the money and it's jobs that allow people to become and be self-responsible for themselves.

And finally, on her cuts to education -

Brewer - Since I have been governor, I have been, really, the leading advocate for education, all the way from the grammar schools, to the junior high schools, the middle schools, and high schools, and the universities. And I went in, and I was the one that stepped forward to try to protect education from some devastating cuts the last year when I went to the public and asked for the temporary one cent sales tax because I knew that we needed that bridge to protect that portion of our education system. And then I went to the universities and spoke with the presidents and I spoke with the Board of Regents, of which I am a member, and told them exactly what's going to take place, that we were headed for a cliff, and it's not only happening here in Arizona, it's happening across the country, and they needed to come forward and bring me a plan, that was two years ago. During those two years, there was a lot of dialogue, they started working with the community colleges, and so they were very much aware of what was going to take place. So now, I am still waiting. They have presented a few things to me in regards to what they can do. The bottom line is they're going to have to streamline just like everybody else has had to streamline. We all know how important our research and development is at our universities. We know that businesses work with them. That's why there's an incentive piece in the Commerce Authority bill to allow that to happen. The bottom line is, is if you don't have the money, then everyone is going to have to share some of that responsibility, of streamlining, and doing a better job with the revenues that they have.  

The video included here is short, approximately 10 minutes, and it is included to both show that none of these quotes were made up, or were misleadingly taken out of context (hey, I may be partisan, but I have higher journalistic standards than, say,  Fox News.)

BTW, Brewer's handlers really might want to go back to their campaign plan of keeping her away from open mikes.  Resnik didn't ambush her or treat her poorly, but she still crammed both of her feet in her mouth.

Up to her knees.

The coming week: legislative edition

As usual, all info gathered from online sources including the website of the Arizona legislature and all info is subject to change without notice.

This week since most committees either aren't meeting or are just receiving presentations, the schedules of both chambers will again be combined into one post.

Just a few days ago, I put up a post about this week's meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  It was already scheduled to be the nastiest of the week, and with a revision to the agenda that was posted Friday afternoon, it became one of the harshest slates of bills of the session thus far.

Details ahead...

On the Senate side of the Capitol this week -

Only a few of the Senate's committees are scheduled to meet this week. 

On Monday, Rules will meet at 1 p.m. in Caucus Room 1.  There are 39 bills on the agenda right now, and all will be rubberstamped by the committee.  Of real interest is an agenda item seeking approval for late introduction of bills relating to Roosevelt Dam, a state firearm, and changes to the public safety employee pension plan.

On Tuesday, Appropriations will meet at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  Even during a typical week for committee activity, this one would stand out for the utter vileness of most of the bills scheduled for consideration -

- a "strike everything" amendment, aka "striker", to SB1039 from Al Melvin, creating some sort of "home certificate" program involving "timeout deeds of trust" and other things relating to housing-related debt instruments.  I don't really understand this one, but since it is from Cap'n Al "let's tie education funding to turning AZ into a nuclear waste dump" Melvin, it is presumed to be bad, very bad.

- SB1113, Andy Biggs' move to prohibit long term care facilities currently operated by the state or contracting with the state from providing "intermediate care facilities" for mental retardation for a member who has a developmental disability (Arizona Long Term Care System, or ALTCS).  This looks to be part of a scheme to totally privatize this function, and steer the contracts (and associated $$$) to a particular provider, one who isn't currently a contractor for the state

- A striker to SB1115 aimed at hamstringing higher education in Arizona.  It would serve to permanently reduce state aid to community college districts.  It also would end the Arizona Board of Regents, instead creating a Board of Trustees for each individual state university.  Call it the "divide and conquer" clause - instead of one unified voice fighting for the state's university system, each separate university would claw at the others for a piece of an ever-dwindling pool of money.  The closest thing to a "good" clause in this would be the creation of an Arizona Polytechnic University in Mesa.  Otherwise, this is completely bad

- A striker to SCR1014, an amendment to the Arizona Constitution removing gubernortorial appointment language regarding the AZ Board of Regents (related to the above measure)

- A striker to SB1141, requiring school districts and charter schools to demand and maintain proof of residency in Arizona for their students.  This looks to be the creation of a target list for those who wish to use the school system to hunt immigrants

- SB1308 and SB1309, the anti-14th Amendment/birthright citizenship bills that have been held for a couple of weeks as Russell Pearce and Ron Gould (and others) twist arms to raise support for the measures

- SB1405, turning Arizona's hospitals into immigration checkpoints

- SB1407, requiring that AZ's school districts collect information on immigrant students and forward that info to the state, and penalizing school districts that don't do so

- SB1519, completely repealing AHCCCS

- SB1589, mandating that ADOT authorize all titling, registration, licensing (all varieties), and tax reporting functions.  It allows the director of ADOT to establish minimum standards of service and a quality assurance program but doesn't exempt ADOT from the current moratorium on agency rule-making.  In other words, no oversight

- SB1610, relating to a "state firearm" (no text available as yet)

- SB1611, "immigration omnibus."  No text available as yet, but it wouldn't shock me if this turns out to be an attempt to reinstate some of the provisions of 2010's SB1070 that were blocked by a court ruling

Both of the above measures still need to be introduced, with the approval of the Rules Committee, and assigned to committee

- SCR1045, making appointments to the various judicial selection panels totally political (no more screening of attorney applicants for the panels by the AZ Bar Association)


On Wednesday, Finance will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  One bill on the agenda: SB1609, relating to changes to the state's public pension plans.  No text available, and will need Rules Committee approval for introduction (it will get that, but it will be a few days before the bill text is available online)

No agendas have yet been posted for committees that meet on Thursday.


On the House side of the Capitol, they will begin hearing Senate-passed measures -

On Monday, Rules will meet at 1 p.m. in HHR4.  46 bills on the agenda right now; rubberstamp.

On Monday, Energy and Natural Resources will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  Presentations only (SRP and AREVA Solar).

On Tuesday, Government will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  Two bills on the agenda:

- SB1153, allowing municipalities with an appointed auditor to allow that auditor access to the executive session minutes of the local council or local municipality committees.  Seems non-controversial.

- SB1171, allowing municipalities to force a county to transfer a wastewater/sewage system operated by the county within the municipality to that municipality.  Not so non-controversial.  Rooted in a conflict between the town of Marana and Pima County.  At this point, as much a personality conflict as anything else, a conflict where one party is looking at the legislature to intervene.

On Tuesday, Environment will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  Presentation from ADEQ on particulate reduction (air quality).

On Tuesday, Employment and Regulatory Affairs will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  One bill on the agenda: SB1167, making changes to the state's retirement system.

On Wednesday, Higher Education, Innovation, and Reform will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR2.  Presentation from the CEO of the Lumina Foundation for Education, an organization dedicated to undermining/corporatizing the American higher education system.  A report from the American Association of Colleges and Universities here.

On Wednesday, Health and Human Services will meet at 9:30 a.m. in HHR4.  The agenda is all Senate bills that look to be harmless, so far.

On Wednesday, Appropriations will meet at 2 p.m in HHR1.  House bills on this agenda, including -

- HB2070, which has been amended to create an armed "state guard" force outside of the National Command Authority.  It would be answerable to the governor and legislature, and be funded by monies siphoned from the Arizona National Guard

- A striker to HB2136 to create a state agency fee commission to study and pass judgement on state agency fees

- HB2301, mandating that school districts spend at least 50% of their maintenance and operation budget on teacher salaries and removes the restrictions against using "soft capital" funds (books, desks, etc.) on non-soft capital expenditures

- A striker to HB2592, relating to "schools; classroom budget funds."  No text available as yet.


On Thursday, Judiciary will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  The only item currently on the agenda is "adoption of rules."

On Thursday, Agriculture and Water will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR5.  On the agenda:  two presentations (Arizona Well Water Association and Central Arizona Project) and two seemingly non-controversial Senate bills.


Some Capitol events (and here, from the Arizona Capitol Times):

Monday is Arizona Citizens Defense League/NRA Lobby Day, aka - "Gun Fetishists Running Wild At The Capitol" Day.  Look for the Capitol lobbyist dress code to call for Kevlar suit jackets that day

Wednesday at the Wyndham in Phoenix at 11:30 a.m., Kimber Lanning of Local First Arizona will speak on the impacts of buying locally.  Mentioned here because Thursday, Ms. Lanning will be one of the five Independent candidates for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission interview for appointment to the chairmanship.

Thursday, as noted above, the four partisan legislative appointees to the AIRC will meet to select a fifth, Independent, member to serve as chair of the AIRC.

Later...