Random Musings

Pearce throwing in papers to run for state senate seat: He's baaaaack...

2012-02-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

From the Arizona Capitol Times, written by Jeremy Duda -

Recalled former Sen. Russell Pearce is eyeing a return to the Capitol.

Pearce, who was ousted in a historic recall election in November, filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office on Jan. 30 to run for the Senate in the new District 25.

In the article, Pearce is indirectly quoted (from this article from Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services) as saying this is not a guarantee that he will run, that the paperwork was only a "technical" matter.

However, given the arrogance of Pearce and his supporters, I expect that he will have to be defeated two or even three times before he (and they) start to get the message.

If he does actually run (and I think that he will run for *something*, but for now, I'm presuming that he is going to run for the senate), because the maps of the new legislative districts place his house in the new LD25, he will face current Sen. Rich Crandall. Crandall is often referred to as a moderate Republican in the media, but he is the guy who is pushing a bill in the lege to allow Arizona's schools to opt out of the federal free/subsidized lunch program for poor students.

In other words, calling him a "moderate" Republican says a *lot* about where the Arizona GOP is located ideologically these days, but it doesn't really say much for Crandall.

Anyway, Pearce's candidate committee information is here.

More candidate updates and other stuff...

2012-02-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

...First, the "other stuff" -

On a sad note, Michael D. Ryan, the highly-regarded former Arizona Supreme Court Justice, passed away on Monday. His funeral services will be held Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church on Central Avenue in Phoenix at 3 p.m. Services will be preceded by visitation at 2 p.m. As a veteran (a hero, actually), his body will probably be interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Calling him "highly regarded" is an understatement. He is one of the reasons that the Arizona Judicial branch is the branch of Arizona government that is respected across the country for its professionalism, in many ways because it now reflects the professionalism, diligence, and fairness that he brought to it as a prosecutor, Superior Court judge, and finally, as a Supreme Court justice.

My condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues.

...Now for the "candidate" stuff -

...State Rep. Matt Heinz (D-Tucson) has announced his candidacy for the CD8 seat recently vacated by the recovering Gabby Giffords. He is a likely candidate for the special election in June (though he has said that he will support Giffords staffer Ron Barber if Barber runs in the special) and a definite candidate in the regular election in November. Because he is in the last year of his term in the lege, he won't have to resign under Arizona's "resign to run" law.

He may be the first candidate to jump into the race, and is the first state legislator to jump in, but he won't be the last, on either count.

Note: State Sen. Frank Antenori (R-Bully) has announced that he will run for the seat in November. I'm not sure about his plans for the special election.

...Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock has announced that he will not seek reelection. He has been fighting the effects of a sex scandal involving his wife, his daughter, and an underaged boy. He was already facing a strong GOP challenger, but this should open up the race completely.

Resignations, plants, and rumors: Candidates update

2012-01-30T20:20:00.001-07:00

...Confirming rumors of long standing, Andrei Cherny has resigned as chair of the Arizona Democratic Party to run for Congress in the new CD9. He joins State Senator David Schapira and Kyrsten Sinema in the field pursuing the Democratic nomination. No paperwork is up on the FECs website, but his campaign website is already up (bare bones, but it's there). His entry muddies up the race somewhat. Rumored results of recent polling (in other words, take this with a grain of salt) point toward Cherny not being able to win a three-way race, and it looks like he would be unlikely to defeat Sinema straight up. He trails but is closer to Schapira. It will be interesting to see in which direction his attacks are aimed.

...As for the Congressional seat recently vacated by the recovering Gabby Giffords, there's an email circulating saying that Tim Sultan, a former candidate for Congress and the lege and an active member of the Democrats of Greater Tucson, is going to jump into that race. As of last week, he was still officially just "considering" the move, but the email makes it sound like a done deal.

...One John Rowan has entered the race for the Democratic nomination for Maricopa County Sheriff. He's touting himself as a "conservative Democrat". Given that the job of county sheriff in any county in any state should filled by a non-ideological professional, it was a little surprising to read about Rowan's proclamation of his ideological position. However, becomes less surprising when one finds out that until recently, Rowan was a registered Republican.

His organizational paperwork is here. He is serving as both his own committee chair and committee treasurer.

...In Scottsdale, Virginia Korte, a long-time presence in the business community, has opened a committee for a run, not at mayor as was rumored, but for city council. Her campaign co-chairs are Carolyn Allen, a retired state senator, and Jim Bruner, a former Maricopa County supervisor.

The coming week, part 1

2012-01-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

Due to the lateness of the hour, this post will cover only Monday's schedule at the Arizona Capitol. A post on the rest of the weeks schedule will go up Monday night. I'm not going into a lot of depth here tonight, so if an agenda or committee covers an area that you are interested in, click on the agenda and check out the rest of the bills...

All agendas and their specifics, including but not limited to, times, places, and bills to be considered, are subject to change without notice.

Note: All rooms beginning with an "HHR" prefix are in the House of Representatives building; "SHR" indicates the room is in the Senate building.

On the House side of the Capitol -

Rules will meet at 1 p.m. on Monday in HHR4. Long agenda, and mostly, but not completely, non-controversial. Most of the measures will appear on a floor agenda later in the week.

Ways and Means will meet at 2 p.m. on Monday in HHR1. Lots of mischief on this agenda, much of it focused on gutting or completely ending the state's capital gains tax.

Energy and Natural Resources will meet at 2 p.m. on Monday in HHR4. Some "red meat" kind of bills on the agenda, mostly of the "federal government is bad" variety.

Education will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR3. Some bad bills on this agenda, but the "highlight" of the agenda is a presentation on "Biblical Literacy and Academic Achievement" by an academic hired gun from California.

Banking and Insurance will meet at 2 p.m. in HHR5. Short agenda that looks to be pretty harmless.

On the Senate side of the Capitol -

Rules will meet upon adjournment of the floor session in Senate Caucus Room 1. Long agenda.

Natural Resources and Transportation will meet at 2 p.m or upon adjournment of Rules in SHR109. The agenda looks short and relatively harmless.

Judiciary will meet at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of Rules in SHR1. Some very bad bills on this one. The worst: SB1241, mandating that weapons and explosives used in crimes that are forfeited must be sold off by the confiscating entity within a year, and removes local influence over the process. Note: it is already a requirement in Arizona that such confiscated items be sold and not destroyed. This measure would add a time requirement.

Education will meet at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of Rules in SHR3. Short agenda, and not too bad. Yet. It's early in the session, though.

Andy Tobin taking the lead in the Republican fight against independent redistricting

2012-01-28T11:37:00.003-07:00

...and the fun part is: he wants the voters to pay $8 million for the privilege of subverting their own will...

Rep. Andy Tobin (R-Paulden), the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, has introduced HB2710, HCR2051, HCR2052, HCR2053, and HR2005. If passed, they would mandate a special election in May where the voters would be "asked" to amend the independent redistricting provisions in the Arizona constitution.

HB2710 would call the special election.

If passed by the voters, HCR2051 would take the "independent" out of "independent redistricting commission". It would take the current 5-member Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), where no political hacks are allowed (meaning no party precinct committeemen, or PCs. Full disclosure: I'm a Democratic PC, so I can call PCs "hacks." :) ) and turn it into a cesspool of hackery, with 12 politically-appointed members. It would also remove the requirement under current law that there be an Independent member of the AIRC. In addition, it would remove the requirement that the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments screen the applicants.

[start sarcasm] Obviously, as the judicial branch of government in Arizona is the only branch the receives, or is even worthy of, respect for its professionalism, so it shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the redistricting process. [end sarcasm]

If passed by the voters, HCR2052 and HCR2053 would scrap the the legislative and Congressional maps, respectively, in favor of maps drawn by Tobin.

HR2005 is a resolution where the legislature (or to be realistic, the Republicans in the legislature) pledge to base their maps on the scribblings and the electoral alchemy of the Republicans' own Andy Tobin.

It's "alchemy" because Tobin is trying to turn the iron clauses of the Arizona constitution into a golden opportunity for job security for the Capitol's elected Republicans.

Even more infuriating than Tobin et. al.'s open contempt for the will of the voters (we are the ones who created the independent redistricting process specifically to take it away from legislators interested only in serving their own self interests above all else) or even the best interests of the people of Arizona (we are served best by public officials who have to answer to the entire electorate in their districts, not just a few partisan extremists) is his plan to have the voters pay (subscription required) more than $8 million for the special election/Hail Mary pass. On top of that, Tobin has defended (subscription required) the secrecy that shrouded his drawing of the maps that he wants to implement, and the use of a taxpayer-funded employee of the legislature, John Mills, to aid him in his quest to overthrow the voters' independent redistricting process.

An interesting two-step for someone who has criticized the AIRC for spending too much money (expenses incurred in part to deal with the litigation stemming from previous attempts to subvert the process by elected Republicans) and has complained that the AIRC's dozens of meetings and hearings with hundreds of hours of testimony isn't transparent enough.

Note: in this context, "interesting" is a synonym for "hypocritical." In case you couldn't figure that out on your own. :)

Of course, Tobin's scheme pre-supposes that...

a) the other Republicans in the lege go along with Tobin's scheme (IMO, highly likely);

b) the voters go along with Tobin's scheme (IMO, less likely, but given that a special election would be a low-turnout affair dominated by partisan GOTV efforts, definitely possible); and

c) the US DOJ goes along with Tobin's scheme (IMO, highly unlikely given the secrecy and deliberate exclusion of minority groups specifically and the public in general from the crafting of his maps).

On the other hand, Tobin's proposals are so sloppily written that it makes me wonder if this is more about posturing for his caucus or for the inevitable redistricting-related lawsuits than anything else.

As written, HCRs 2052 and 2053 appear to be mutually exclusive. They each propose to amend the same part of the Arizona constitution by inserting identically labelled clauses.

From HCR2052

From HCR2053

Now, I'm just a layman with no advanced (or even beginning-level) legal education or experience, but it seems any credible attempt to amend the Arizona constitution would at least be correctly written, especially as it comes from putative subject matter experts such as Tobin and his "associate" Mills.

However, given that Tobin's maps guarantee him a safe district, credibility may not have been a consideration in Tobin's scheming, just ensuring his continued seat on the West Washington Gravy Train.

As near as I can tell, the measures haven't been agendized for committee consideration as yet, probably because they haven't been assigned to any as yet while they await for the Speaker to "first read" the bills and assign them to committee. The timing of that and the specific committee that they are assigned to is completely within the Speaker's discretion and is often subject to the vagaries of the relationship between the introducing sponsor and the Speaker.

In this case, I expect the measures to be formally introduced, First Read, and assigned to committee on Monday.

Something tells me that Rep. Andy Tobin is on good terms with Speaker Andy Tobin. :)

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

AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has his take here.

Steve at Arizona Eagletarian offers his take here.

The Democratic caucus of the Arizona House of Representatives has a statement from Rep. Chad Campbell, House Minority Leader, here.

Wendy Rogers talking up a run for Congress

2012-01-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

According to a little birdie (meaning a source I can't name, but who I trust) Republican Wendy Rogers, late of a losing campaign for state senate (she challenged and lost to David Schapira in 2010), was at a Republican LD meeting this week talking up a run for Congress in the new 9th Congressional District.

Apparently, she is still so ticked at Schapira for defeating her once, she wants to give him a chance to do it again (Schapira is already running in CD9)...

Anyway, the rumor looks spot on - while her paperwork isn't on the FEC's website, her legislative campaign website has been reborn as a Congressional campaign site.

Arizona: The place where free speech goes to die...

2012-01-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

By now, everyone has heard of the Republicans', led by Tom Horne and John Huppenthal, banning of Tucson's Ethnic Studies program, and of the Tucson Unified School District topping that by banning the books that were part of the curriculum (as well as many more).

The Republicans didn't and don't approve of anything that contradicts their ideological stance that all brown people are bad.

By now, most Capitol watchers have heard of the decision by the Legislative Council, the group tasked with directly overseeing Capitol operations, imposing new restrictions on free speech and protests at the Capitol. While there are a number of provisions, basically the Department of Public Safety (what Arizona calls its state police agency) will now shut down any protest or gathering deemed as too loud or disturbing by the Speaker of the Arizona House, the President of the Arizona Senate, or the head of the Legislative Council's staff (all Republicans, or working for Republicans).

The Republicans didn't and don't approve of anybody criticizing them within their hearing.

Now comes the latest outrage - they plan to bar public input on the state's budget. On Tuesday, two of the agencies that represent two of the biggest chunks of the state's budget gave presentations to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee chair, Sen. Don "Tequila" Shooter (R-Yuma) forbade public testimony on the subject. That went so well (for him and the other Rs on the committee, anyway), he now plans (subscription required) to impose the same barrier when the Senate takes up actual budget proposals.

The Republicans didn't and don't approve of anyone who stands up and calls them out for their moves to steamroll the state's schools and middle and working classes.

To top it off, while they oppose and wish to suppress any and all speech that they disagree with, they have no problem with *mandating* speech that they like.

Witness HB2041, requiring a high school course on "free enterprise". Students would have to pass the course before they could obtain a high school diploma. Based on the text of the bill, the curriculum requirements could have been written by Ayn Rand (though more likely, it was written by a Goldwater Institute or ALEC hack. Especially since Ayn Rand has been dead since 1982 or so ).

Welcome to Arizona, where the people are free to express...whatever the Republicans, particularly those in the legislature, are OK with.

The coming week...part two...

2012-01-23T22:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the Arizona House; tonight, the Senate and other stuff...

...Tuesday at 9 a.m., Veterans, Military, and Government Affairs will meet in SHR3. Fairly quiet.

...Tuesday at 2 p.m., Banking and Finance will meet in SHR3. Fairly quiet. (caveat: There are bills on this short agenda that I don't understand, so they may be sneaky bad bills.)

...Tuesday at 2 p.m., Appropriations will meet in SHR109. Presentations but no bills.

...Wednesday at 9 a.m., Public Safety and Human Services will meet in SHR3. There are a few adoption/child custody-related measures that don't appear to be too bad (perhaps not coincidentally, two of the measures are sponsored/cosponsored by Democrats) and SB1114, slightly weakening Arizona's requirements for ignition interlock devices in the cars of DUI violators.

...Wednesday at 9 a.m., Government Reform will meet in SHR1. Relatively quiet, though there are a few measures related to HOAs and to planned communities.

...Wednesday at 9 a.m., Commerce and Energy will meet in SHR109. A few executive nominations, a few bills, and a presentation from Freeport McMoran.

...Wednesday at 2 p.m., Water, Land Use, and Rural Development will meet in SHR3. Another quiet one.

...Wednesday at 2 p.m., Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet in SHR1. Executive nominations, a presentation, and a couple of bills. Highlight: SB1032, an anti-health care reform/anti-federal government "health care compact bill".

...Thursday at 9 a.m., Finance will meet in SHR1. Looks relatively quiet.

...Thursday at 9 a.m., Border Security, Federalism, and States' Sovereignty will meet in SHR109. As with last year, this committee looks like it will have the most ideologically pure, and purely batty, bills. Nuggets up this week: SB1081, giving county boards of supervisors the authority to declare a state of emergency in national forests and contract out logging of those forests; SCR1008, a concurrent resolution related to SB1081; SB1083, creating and funding the "Arizona Guard", a state-sanctions "border security" force (aka - an anti-brown people vigilante force).

The House and Senate floor calendars are here.

This week's Capitol events calendar is here; Arizona Capitol Times' Capitol Events calendar is here.

Later...

The coming week...

2012-01-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time to watch your civil rights and hide the children and small animals - the lege is back in town.

Actually, they've been back for a couple of weeks now, but I've been busy and the first couple of weeks are mostly dedicated to getting organized. Most of the bills that move through committee this early in the session tend to be pretty non-controversial (though that's not always true, it's close enough for now).

So for the first schedule post of the year:

On the House side of the Capitol -

...Monday, the Rules Committee is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. in HHR4. The agenda is a long one. It may take them all of five minutes to approve it en bloc. The long Rules agenda this early in the session may be an indication that the lege is planning on an early exit this year, mostly so they can ramp up their election campaigns as soon as possible.

...Monday at 2 p.m., the Ways and Means Committee will meet in HHR1. Highlights: HB2212, raising the revenue threshold that must be met before tax-exempt organizations are required to file a state income tax return; HB2123, Rep. Steve Court's proposal to establish a committee to study and recommend ways to end the state's income tax and go to a system where the government's revenue would be based almost totally on a regressive sales tax.

...Monday at 2 p.m., the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will meet in HHR4. There are two bills on the agenda currently. Both have Democrats as the lead prime, or originating, sponsor (Reps. Chad Campbell and Matt Heinz). As such, while the measures may pass this committee, they almost certainly won't go any further. In the AZ lege, most proposals from Democrats go nowhere fast - unless an R decides he/she likes it and proposes a duplicate proposal, with the R's name as the lead sponsor.

...Monday at 2 p.m., the Education Committee will meet in HHR3. On the agenda: HB2171, a plan to repeal the Public School Information Hot Line Program and the School Safety Clearinghouse Program; HB2180, creating a "pilot program" for basing school funding on student test scores and other criteria.

...Monday at 2 p.m., the Banking and Finance Committee will meet in HHR5. Highlight: Rep. Jack Harper's HB2079, proposing to make it easier for mortgage loan originators to obtain a mortgage broker's license. The measure looks to be a self-serving one. From Harper's Twitter page -

The other measures may qualify as "sneaky bad", but none are as entertaining as anything proposed by Harper.

...Tuesday at 2 p.m., Employment and Regulatory Affairs will meet in HHR3. On the agenda: HB2264, a proposal to return the employer/employee contribution percentages into the state government retirement fund to 50/50. It was changed to 47/53 last year, but now the Republicans want to change it back. Not sure why yet, but my cynicism is running wild on this one. This would be the decent and honorable thing to do, and the majority in this legislature doesn't do "decent and honorable." Waiting for the other shoe to drop here...

...Wednesday at 9 a.m, Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet in HHR3. Highlight (so to speak): HJR2001, a mish-mash of 2nd Amendment and anti-UN rhetoric from Jack Harper and Sen. Ron Gould.

...Wedneday at 9 a.m., Higher Education, Innovation will meet in HHR1. Highlights: HB2349, a move to add institutions of higher education to the list of places where possession and use of medical marijuana is barred. The voter-approved (and protected) medical marijuana mandate already lists pre-K to 12 schools as places where medical marijuana is barred but does NOT list higher education facilities; HB2383, Rep. Eddie Farnsworth's ~~Measles Protection Act~~ proposal to bar the state's universities and community colleges from requiring that applicants receive immunizations as a condition of enrollment/admission.

...Wednesday at 9 a.m., Health and Human Services will meet in HHR4. The agenda is fairly long and filled with items that are either non-controversial or that I don't completely understand. If your area of interest is covered by this committee, examine the agenda and then look into an bills that interest you.

...Wednesday at 10 a.m., Commerce will meet in HHR5.

...Wednesday at 2 p.m., Appropriations will meet in HHR1. The agenda is short. Highlight: HCM2007, pleading with the US Congress that they pass a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution.

...Thursday at 9 a.m., Transportation will meet in HHR3. Highlight: HB2512, a ban on texting while driving.

...Thursday at 9 a.m., Technology and Infrastructure will meet in HHR1. Highlight: HB2403, the now-annual proposal to end the requirement that public notices (articles of incorporation, etc.) be published in a newspaper by allowing the notices to be published on the internet.

...Thursday at 9 a.m., Judiciary will meet in HHR4. On the agenda: HB2385. a measure regarding campaign finance reporting for corporate "independent" expenditures; HB2386, a bill to limit the liability of corporations for asbestos-related claims.

...Thursday at 9 a.m., Agriculture and Water will meet in HHR5. For some reason, HCR2007, a proposed amendment to the AZ Constitution declaring state sovereignty over pretty much everything, has been assigned to this committee; HJR2002, a resolution to allow the state's director of water resources to "forbear" Arizona's rights to a certain part of its Colorado River water allocation. I freely admit that I don't understand this one, but given that 1) we live in a desert and need every drop of water we have and 2) legislative Republicans are behind this bill, it may be a case of Arizona's future being sacrificed in order to benefit somebody's campaign contributors.

Yes, I'm a cynic. :)

On the Senate side of the Capitol -

It's getting late, so I will have to write up that half of the week on Monday night. The Senate's committee schedule is here. Monday's schedule includes meetings of the Rules, Judiciary, Education, and Natural Resources and Transportation Committees.

...

Breaking: Giffords retiring

2012-01-22T13:25:00.001-07:00

A year after she was was shot through the brain in an attack that claimed the lives of six people and wounded 13 other people, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has announced that she is stepping down from Congress this week.

Message from Giffords -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAetv47b-Eg

This will necessitate a special election to fill her seat for the remainder of her term. The winner of that special election will then have to run again in November for a full term.

More details on the candidates for the race(s) as they make themselves known. Expect a slew of former and current state legislators to look at the seat.

Let me say this:

We will miss her deeply, and I hope her stepping back from public life isn't for long.

David Schapira makes it official: Next stop, Congress

2012-01-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

State Senator David Schapira (D-LD17) ended weeks of speculation Tuesday when he announced that he is running for Congress in Arizona's new 9th Congressional District.

His focus, both personally and politically, has been, is, and will be on education and economic issues.

One of his motivations for running for a Congressional seat is to see that the coming reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind act is handled properly.

Schapira has been a legislator since 2007, serving two terms in the Arizona House before winning a seat in the Arizona State Senate in 2010. He is also now serving as the ~~captain of the Senate Democrats' softball team~~ Democratic caucus (hey - there's nine of them, and I'm not too proud to go for the obvious punch line :) ).

In addition to that, currently he is a member of the Tempe Union High School District Governing Board.

Even before his first election, Schapira was already a public servant, working as a high school teacher.

In addition to his legislative duties over the last few years, he has been a small business owner and an instructor at Arizona State University.

Schapira was born in west Mesa and lives in Tempe with his wife Rosemary and their two daughters.

His campaign website is here.

A few pics from his announcement event Tuesday night -

In case you're more of a visual learner.

Schapira greeting some supporters (OK, family :) )

Rosemary Schapira introducing her husband

The next Congressman from Arizona, and the first from Arizona's 9th District, speaking to the crowd of supporters (crowd's the right word, too - more than 150 people attended)

Schapira and his friend and colleague, Representative Ed Ableser

Schapira talking to Tim Palmer of Tempe

My favorite two pics from the night aren't of the people (though there were many great people there), but it is of the cake from Honeymoon Sweets in Tempe -

Before

After :))

Candidate and committees update

2012-01-13T23:30:00.001-07:00

Federal developments of note:

...In a totally unsurprising development, State Sen. Ron Gould (R-The South will rise again!) announced that he is running for Congress in the new CD4. It is pretty much a safe R district, so the interesting fight will be in the primary. He joins Congressman Paul Gosar and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu as officially in the race. There are also rumors swirling about Andy Tobin, the Speaker of the Arizona House, a Republican from Paulden.

State developments of note:

...Former Arizona Cardinal Michael Bankston has formed a committee to run as a Democrat for the State House.

...Krista at Democratic Diva has a report of the goings-on in the new LD24. Apparently, former state senator Ken Cheuvront and current state representative Katie Hobbs, both Democrats, are both interested in the senate seat, and there is already a rift developing between the two camps. Hobbs' camp includes current representatives Chad Campbell and Lela Alston. Cheuvront's includes his mom.

I'm not kidding.

...Current state representatives Judy Burges (R), Steve Farley (D) and Tom Chabin (D) have opened committees for senate runs in their respective districts (Burges - NW Maricopa County; Farley - Tucson; Chabin - Flagstaff).

...Tom Rawles of Carefree is running as "party - other" (or at least unspecified) for the state senate seat in the new LD1. I'm not absolutely positive, and it is too late on a Friday night for phone calls to strangers for this stuff, but I think this is the same Tom Rawles who, as a Mesa City Council member in 2007, created a national uproar when he declined to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to protest the US invasion of Iraq. He's one of the few Libertarians in AZ who could have a serious impact on a race.

...Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, perhaps still basking in the glow of his recent "victory" over Tucson's ethnic studies program, has opened an "exploratory" committee for 2014. No office is specified, so he could intend for it to serve as a fund-raising conduit for a reelection campaign, or he could have his eyes on another office (both the Secretary of State and Governor's offices will be open because of term limits)

Maricopa county developments of note:

...Something must be going on with Lester Pearce, brother of Russell, the recalled former state senator, because yet another big name has opened a committee to run for Lester Pearce's spot as North Mesa Justice of the Peace. Now Romney has filed for the seat.

No, not former governor of Massachusetts and proud job cremator Mitt.

Nope, Jess Romney has filed for the seat. And before someone asks, I have absolutely no idea if Jess and Mitt are related.

...Manuel Burboa of Laveen has filed as an Independent to run for the District 5 seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors currently held by Democrat Mary Rose Wilcox.

...And with all due respect to the candidates named above and to the candidates I haven't listed in the interest of saving time and keeping the post readable, the big announcement of the week was that Democrat Paul Penzone, a retired Phoenix police officer, has filed to run for Maricopa County Sheriff.

In local level developments of note:

...Scottsdale City Council member Bob Littlefield has opened an exploratory committee for consideration of a run at the mayor's office. As he is not in the last year of his term on the council (he was reelected in 2010), he'll have to resign if he does actually get in the race. If the race comes down to a choice between Littlefield and incumbent Jim Lane, Littlefield will get my vote. He is far from the perfect choice, but at least Littlefield doesn't think that south Scottsdale exists for the sole purpose of concentrating liquor licenses.

...In Fountain Hills, there is only one candidate for mayor after the second candidate withdrew from the race. The remaining candidate is Linda Kavanagh, wife of State Representative John Kavanagh. Assuming that she gets the job *and* takes seriously the mayor's obligation to work for the best interests of the town, there could be some interesting conversations over dinner in the Kavanagh household.

Particularly around budget time, when Rep. Kavanagh will have to explain to Mayor Kavanagh the legislature's annual drive to screw over the cities and towns of Arizona.

Later...

818

2012-01-12T21:43:00.001-07:00

818.

After one (1!) full week of the legislative session, that is how many bills, resolutions, and memorials have been introduced.

After *one* week.

Guess whoever took the "over" in this year's pool is smiling right now.

Anyway, most of the bills fall into one of four categories.

...Gems of good governance, like Sen. David Schapira's SB1071, banning racial profiling (easily the smallest category, and don't expect any of these to pass)

...Sneaky bad, like Rep. David Stevens' HCR2044, proposing to amend the AZ Constitution so that ballot questions referred there by the legislature would be voted on in primary elections, not general elections (guess they're sick and tired of those pesky independent voters turning aside some of the lege's nuggets of stinkiness, so they're looking to cut the independent voters out of the process

...Ugly bad, like Rep. Carl Seel's HB2582, mandating that anybody receiving any kind of welfare benefits carry a bright orange card with "Government Assistance Card" or "Government Food Stamp Card" printed in big black letters on it (this one was floated last year, and passed committee, but was amended to remove the petty clauses intended to arbitrarily humiliate poor people)

...Crazy bad, like (this is the biggest category, but I've got to pick one, so let's go with...) Sen. Sylvia Allen's SB1081, declaring an "emergency" and giving county boards of supervisors the authority to hire out the logging of federal forest lands under the guise of "thinning" the growth there

While most observers seem to think that this legislative session will be a short one because it's an election year, it's going to feel absolutely interminable.

Underground mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. Sen. John Nelson doesn't think it's dangerous enough

2012-01-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Underground mining has long been one of the most dangerous occupations in America. At the beginning of the 20th Century, thousands of miners died on the job every year. By the end of the century, that number was cut to "dozens" because of both heightened awareness and safety measures mandated by laws passed during the century.

In the latter part of the 20th Century and during the first decade of the 21st, some backsliding took place as the "Reagan Revolution" (followed by Bush I and Bush II, and, sad to say, Clinton) took place and corporate profit margins were allowed to grow at the cost of reduced miner safety margins.

In Arizona, the same pattern is being followed.

For instance, this state was so progressive at its inception that our constitution created the position of State Mine Inspector, who was supposed to help ensure miner safety by keeping an eye on mines in Arizona.

By the beginning of the 21st Century, that position had been turned into a sinecure for Republican legislators looking to pad their pensions. They got and kept the job by serving up miners' safety to mining companies.

Now, Sen. John Nelson (R-Litchfield Park) is working to make Arizona's mine and miners even less safe than they are.

While the measure is low-profile (so far), it may be one of the most deliberately reckless and dangerous bills to come along in decades, if not in Arizona's nearly century-long history.
Nelson's SB1054 would remove one of the basic safety measures accorded to underground miners - an eight hour work day.

Under current law, miners can spend no more than eight hours in a 24 hour period underground. Nelson would raise that limit by 50% to 12 hours.

Speaking as someone who has worked 12-hours shifts, in an environment far less stressful and hazardous than an underground mine (though one that was hardly hazard or stress-free), I can state unequivocally that the longer hours lead to fatigue and mistakes.

And if you don't believe me, read this report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. While the report focuses on the effects of fatigue on nurses, the concepts apply to miners, and the rest of us.

Interestingly, Nelson's measure would also change a previous legislature's finding that *declared* that underground mining is "injurious to health and dangerous to life and limb" to the people engaged in the activity. His bill would change the law to read that underground mining "can be" injurious to health and dangerous to life and limb of miners.

That's like saying that because guns are occasionally unloaded or misfire, that stepping in front of a gun only "can be" dangerous, not *is* dangerous.

Jack Harper wants a promotion

2012-01-09T20:53:00.001-07:00

...He's leaving, but he's not leaving soon enough, and he's not going far enough, to benefit the state.

State Rep. Jack Harper (R-Surprise) today announced that he will not seek reelection in November. He sent out an email to supporters stating his desire to run for Arizona Secretary of State and then, perhaps, be an ambassador to a foreign country.

Not exactly being one of his supporters, I wasn't included on the email distribution list. (Shocking, that. :)) )

However, our Jack is a dedicated user of Twitter. From his Twitter feed -

Zeroing in -

For once, I'll leave the wiseass comments to you the reader. Mostly.

Realistically, Harper has almost no chance to get through a Republican primary, and for the second-highest elected office in the state, there surely will be one (he won't be challenging the current AZSOS, Ken Bennett. Bennett is term-limited and will be running for governor in 2014.)

For an open seat that is a heartbeat away from the 9th floor, Republicans of all stripes will be going for that office (that means that the SOS is next in line for the governorship, and given that it has been a quarter-century since Arizona had a governor who both entered and exited office as the result of an election, most recent AZSOS' have ascended to the governor's office. Which is on the ninth floor of the state capitol's Executive Tower.)

In fact, Harper has a better chance at becoming an ambassador. So long as he doesn't get too picky about his assignment.

Currently, the US has only a "Virtual Presence Post" in Somalia, but for someone of Harper's caliber,
I'm sure that the State Department will find the money in their budget to put up a new facility in Somalia.

If one considers a lean-to against the back of a broken-down Winnebago to be a "facility."

Note: I went with pics of the tweets in question instead of simply quoting them because if/when Harper's SOS campaign fails, those tweets could disappear.

Bundgaard's out, but the fun at the lege never ends...

2012-01-08T19:29:00.011-07:00

...It just reboots...

...The coda to the 2011 session of the Arizona legislature took place just three days before the convening of the 2012 session. The Senate Ethics Committee held its inquiry into the actions of Scott "Fists of Fury" Bundgaard relating to his February assault of his then-girlfriend.

After witness after witness gave damning testimony against him, Bundgaard chose to resign from the Arizona State Senate rather than take the stand himself. The resignation effectively ends any further inquiry into the events in February as the worst punishment that the Ethics Committee could have recommended was Bundgaard's expulsion from the Senate.

It should have happened months ago, but Bundgaard spent those months trying to blame everyone but himself for his actions when he had no one to blame but himself.

He never should have assaulted his girlfriend, and once he did, he should have stood up, 'fessed up, and then shut up.

He didn't.

Good riddance.

...On Monday, or "today" as many people will be reading this, the legislature will open its 2012 session to great pomp and circumstance...ok, a lot of handshaking and picture taking. And the Governor's annual state of the state address.

They won't get much work done this week, which may be a good thing, as Bundgaard's resignation leaves the Senate down two members, as Kyrsten Sinema submitted her resignation shortly after the beginning of the year. She left the Senate so the work there doesn't distract from her campaign for a seat in Congress.

Others who may join Bundgaard and Sinema in resigning in the near future include Sens. Frank Antenori and Ron Gould (likely, as both are "exploring" runs for Congress) and Paula Aboud and Rep. Matt Heinz (less likely, but they have been the subject of speculation regarding possible candidates if Gabrielle Giffords passes on running for reelection).

Of course, if Giffords doesn't run, *every* southern AZ legislator, past and present, will be the subject of rumors surrounding that seat.

And then there's northern AZ where incumbent Congressman Paul Gosar has chosen to move to Prescott to run for a different district than the one he currently represents. His current home of Flagstaff is now in a more competitive district and rather than face a stiff general election fight from Ann Kirkpatrick or Wenona Benally Baldenegro or any other Democrat, he has decided to move to a district that is safer for Rs. There he will face the above-mentioned Gould and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu (and possibly others, but those look to be the three big names in the race).

Gosar's relocation of his carpetbags to the south opens up that district's Republican race for legislators from northern and rural AZ, as well as perennial candidates like mining lobbyist Sydney Hay. Others, like Gary Pierce, current chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, and Bill Konopnicki, a former legislator, are also rumored to be interested in the seat.

It's safe to expect more resignations before the session is done, perhaps even before the month is done.

Aside from the conjecture about which people who are members of the lege right now but won't be around when the session ends, there is also speculation about possible bill proposals this year.

Gould has already vowed to bring back "guns in schools" legislation, plus the Arizona Citizens Defense League is pushing a proposal to allow hunters to use silencers. More in this Arizona Republic story from Alia Beard Rau and Mary Jo Pitzl.

Bills that have already been filed for the 2012 session can be found here.

Russell Pearce trying for a political comeback

2012-01-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

...and in at least this observer's opinion, that's a good thing...for Arizona's Democrats and Independents.

In November, former state senate president Russell Pearce became the first sitting legislator in Arizona history to be successfully recalled. Now, he is planning for a political comeback.

Donna at Democratic Diva has a report quoted from The Yellow Sheet, the Arizona Capitol Times' pricey political gossip rag, and other outlets (R blogs mostly) have copies of an email that support the Cap Times' story, Russell Pearce's next political move.

He's running for 1st Vice Chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

Now some will say that Pearce should just stay gone, and I understand that position. However, I respectfully disagree with it.

One of the down sides, perhaps the ONLY down side, of Pearce's recall was that Democratic candidates all over the state could run by making Pearce and his arrogance, abuse of office, and divisiveness the poster child of the AZGOP and all of its candidates. His ouster took that away, because politics is definitely an "out of sight, out of mind" enterprise.

His possible...ok, *probable*...return will serve to keep him in the public eye, and cause some of the contempt the voters have for him and his misdeeds to wash over onto all AZ Republican candidates.

As Donna speculated before me, this may just be a move to put himself in line for the chair of the AZGOP after this cycle, but that's only speculation on my part.

For some reason, I'm not on the "good Republican" email distribution lists. :)

To Russell Pearce: Please don't out of this race like you did when you (almost) ran against Jeff Flake in 2007/2008. The sane and reasonable majority in Arizona needs you...to serve as a negative example.

To AZGOP state committee members: Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease be blindly loyal to one of your past electeds, no matter how craven his misdeeds. We need you (and him) to remind voters of the true face of the GOP.

Candidate and campaign committees update

2012-01-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

As expected, with the calendar turning to the new year, campaign season is heating up.

...As expected, Democratic state senator Kyrsten Sinema resigned her office and announced that she is running for Congress, most likely in the new 9th Congressional District. She doesn't live in the district, but under federal law, she only has to live in the state, not the district.

As of right now, she is the only official candidate in the race, though State Senator David Schapira is exploring a run, and AZ Dem chair Andrei Cherny and others are rumored to be considering a run for the seat also. Republicans who are rumored to be eyeing the seat include Hugh Hallman, the outgoing mayor of Tempe, and Steve Moak, who lost to Ben Quayle in the CD3 R primary last year.

...Also as expected, Republican Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu officially announced that he is running for Congress, probably in the new CD4. State Sen. Ron Gould is still officially exploring a run and will announce his decision soon.

Other potential candidates are expected to announce their intentions in the coming days and weeks.

On the legislative front, new candidates/committees include:

Scott Prior of Apache Junction, Libertarian

Matthew Cerra of Mesa, Democrat

Reginald Bolding of Laveen, Democrat

Ed Bunch of Scottsdale, Republican

Ken Cheuvront of Phoenix, Democrat (a former state senator, looking for a return to the Senate)

Douglas Coleman of Apache Junction, Republican

Jean Cheuvront McDermott of Phoenix, Democrat (between her middle/maiden name and the fact that Ken is the chair of her election committee, it's probably a safe guess that she is related to Ken Cheuvront)

Scott Morris of Peoria, Republican

Judy Novalsky of Apache Junction, Republican

Kelly Townsend of Gilbert, Republican (a tea party type, who went to many meetings of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission to berate the commissioners for not producing Republican-friendly maps)

More to come...

The Tucson shooting, one year later: memorials, dedications, and celebrations

2012-01-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since the mass shooting in Tucson, when Jared Loughner shattered the peace of a quiet Saturday by taking a pistol with an extended ammo clip and shooting as many people as he was able to before he was tackled by bystanders while he reloaded.

When the smoke cleared, six of his victims lay dead or dying while 13 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, were wounded.

As the anniversary approaches, different folks and organization are commemorating the anniversary in different ways.

...Tonight (Wednesday, January 4) at 7, Channel 12 (Phoenix) will be airing a program that includes retired Supreme Court Sandra Day O'Connor and a group of students discussing ways that the next generation can bring civility to public discourse. Inspired by and in honor of Christina Taylor Green, the youngest victim of the Tucson shooting.

...Earlier today, a trailhead east of Tucson was dedicated in honor of Gabe Zimmerman, one of the fatalities in Tucson and a staffer for Congresswoman Giffords. On a related note, on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. there will be hikes up South Mountain in Phoenix in honor of Zimmerman, a noted hiker. The event in Phoenix will also be a food drive for St. Mary's Food Bank.

...Saturday, there will be a candlelight vigil at the state capitol on West Washington in Phoenix, starting at 7 p.m.

...Sunday at 1 p.m., there will be an interfaith memorial service at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave., Tucson. The service will include Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Baha'i and Sikh prayers and rituals.

...Sunday at 3 p.m. at University of Arizona's Centennial Hall, The Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding will sponsor REFLECTIONS: Honoring the Lives of the January 8 Shooting Victims. A series of speakers, mostly colleagues or friends of the victims, will speak about the lives of the victims and survivors.

...Sunday at 6:30 p.m., there will be a vigil on the University of Arizona Mall. Hosted by the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and The University of Arizona Medical Center, the vigil will feature a number of speakers, including Ron Barber, a survivor of the shooting, Jonathan Rothschild, mayor of Tucson, and Mark Kelly, husband of Gabrielle Giffords.

...and last, and certainly least appropriate, the gun-toters crowd is ~~celebrating~~ ignoring (Really! The date is just a coincidence! Just ask the organizers!) the deaths and shattered lives by holding a gun show on the anniversary.

From KVOA -

With the anniversary of the January 8th tragedy less than a week away, we've learned a gun show is coming to Tucson that very day.

"I don't understand why they would do it that day. Not the day that Gabrielle Giffords was shot," said Casandra Ridlinghafer.

Wonder if they will have a special on Glocks with extended clips at the show?

The website Remembering January 8th has a more complete list of events here. Reports are that Congresswoman Giffords will attend some events, but her schedule has not been announced.

2011: The year in review in Arizona politics

2012-01-01T00:30:00.002-07:00

2011 was a memorable year in Arizona politics, beginning with a horrific January Saturday in Tucson and culminating on a historic November Tuesday, with all sort of goings-on in between and after.

...The biggest story of the year was also the first major story of the year, the most shocking, and easily the most tragic.

On a quiet Saturday morning in early January, Tucsonans were going about their business, shopping at a Safeway and stopping to talk to their hometown Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

That quiet was shattered when a gunman opened fire, killing six people and wounding 13 others.

Among the wounded: Congresswoman Giffords, who was shot through the brain. She is still recovering from her wound, though she is making remarkable progress.

The fatalities (courtesy KVOA):

-John Roll, 63, a federal district court judge.
-Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, Giffords' director of community outreach
-Dorwan Stoddard, 76, a pastor at Mountain Ave. Church of Christ.
-Christina Green, 9, a student at Mesa Verde Elementary
-Dorothy Morris, 76
-Phyllis Schneck, 79

...In any other year, the most surprising story would also have been the biggest political story.

Russell Pearce, the (in)famous state senator from west Mesa, became the first sitting state legislator in Arizona history (and so far as anyone has found, the first sitting state senate president in US history) to be recalled. The recall effort was lead by Randy Parraz and powered by the energy of hundreds of volunteers. While its success was a surprise to many observers (including me), it shocked and infuriated Pearce, his friends, and his allies.

...Arizona's redistricting process was particularly acrimonious. When the voters created the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) in 2000, we actually wanted an *independent* and impartial commission to lay out the lines for Congressional and legislative districts. Ten years ago, the Republicans were able hijack the process by successfully planting a Republican into the position of chair of the commission, who is supposed to be independent (as in neither a D nor an R). They were able to get the maps that they wanted, ensuring control of Arizona's legislature and Congressional delegation all out of proportion to their actual voter registration percentage.

This time around, they were less prepared and an actual independent slipped through and on to the AIRC.

And the Republicans FREAKED.

They spent the summer sending out panicked calls to their tea party wing, and the TP'ers responded by haranguing the AIRC at most of the dozens of public meetings and hearings held by the Commission. When that didn't intimidate the AIRC into crafting maps that were lopsided in favor of Republican incumbents, they convinced Governor Jan Brewer to remove that independent, Colleen Mathis.

That removal was overturned by the Arizona Supreme Court. The AIRC then continued its work. Now, individual legislators are threatening lawsuits because they don't like their individual districts.

This one will definitely trickle over into 2012, and may make next year's "year in review" post.

...Another one that will trickle over into 2012 is the ongoing saga of State Sen. Scott "Fists of Fury" Bundgaard. He was involved in a February "domestic violence incident". That is a euphemism for "he beat up his girlfriend by the side of a Phoenix freeway."

Since that February Friday, Bundgaard and his supporters (amazingly enough, he still has a few), he has done everything he can to avoid being held accountable for his actions.

He's invoked legislative privilege against arrest to get out of being arrested, blamed his victim for his violent acts, sued the Senate Ethics committee twice to keep it from looking into his behavior, and pled no contest to a lesser charge.

The Ethics Committee investigation is scheduled to begin on January 5, 2012, so the next chapter of the Bundgaard saga will be written next year.

...In June, the lege held a special session, ostensibly to correct a couple of words in Arizona law so that the Arizona's long-term unemployed could collect some extended unemployment benefits. The Republicans in the lege ultimately refused to help their constituents, even though doing so would not have cost the state a dime. That wasn't surprising news.

What was surprising (though maybe it shouldn't have been) was the brazen contempt for the people of Arizona that many of the Rs displayed. The worst may have been Sen. Don Shooter (R-Yuma). He show up for the session dressed in a serape and sombrero and swigging from a bottle of tequila.

It was his idea of a joke.

...In yet another development that will continue over into 2012, the disciplinary proceeding against former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is continuing. A final decision is due in February, but the State Bar of Arizona is pushing for Thomas' disbarment.

...On the Joe Arpaio front, after one of his biggest allies and closest friends Russell Pearce lost his job in November, Arpaio saw the change energy that had been directed at Pearce refocused on him. First came withering criticism of his department's sacrificing of sex crimes investigations and the victims of those crimes in order to move MCSO resources into his camera-friendly anti-immigrant sweeps. Then came a report from the US Department of Justice that detailed the mismanagement of MCSO and the mistreatment of Latinos by Arpaio and his underlings at MCSO. That has fueled widespread calls for Arpaio's resignation.

One of 2012's biggest stories will be the outcome of this - resignation, retirement (i.e. - not running for reelection), an electoral loss, or an outright win to salvage his political career.

Best guess at this point: Retirement, but it's only a guess.

If you have anything you think should be added, feel free to do so in a comment.

Have a great new year everybody!

Some legislators are going district shopping

2011-12-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

From the Arizona Republic, written by Mary Jo Pitzl -

The new legislative district map is living up to its promise of promoting competition, but perhaps not in the way some lawmakers envisioned.

With its redrawn political boundaries, the map pits numerous incumbents against each other in potential party primaries. The speaker of the House and the president-elect of the Senate are among those facing likely primary challenges this year.

Because of the changes, lawmakers are checking real-estate listings, moving into a second residence and even threatening lawsuits as they try to figure out how to keep a seat in the Arizona Legislature after the 2012 elections.

Among the legislators listed as considering a move to another district, or just simply whining about not liking the voters that they'd have to deal with in their new districts:

Jerry Weiers (R-Glendale) - move and whine
Lori Klein (R-Anthem) - whine
Debbie Lesko (R-Glendale) - move and whine
David Smith (R-Cave Creek) - whine
Oliva Cajero Bedford (D-Tucson) - move
Matt Heinz (D-Tucson) - move

At least the Ds weren't whining, but I have to ask all of the legislators named in the article, as well as those with similar plans and thoughts but who weren't mentioned by name:

Given that the average citizen doesn't have the option of owning two homes or picking up everything and moving for a job, how can people who do own two homes or are in a position to move for a job that pays all of $24K (officially, anyway) per year claim to be "representative" of the voters in *any* district?

Also, even more to the point, Arizona's government is ideally supposed to be overseen by "citizen legislators" performing a temp job, and not "career politicians." The average person will consider moving for a career, but not for a temp job. Anybody have an explanation of the apparent disconnect here?

Personally, I find the whining the most unseemly. These people who are supposed to look out for the best interests of the Arizonans in their districts and neighborhoods (yes, I'm just a wild-eyed idealist) are showing that they place a higher priority on their own convenience than on their constituents' interests.

They also seem to have forgotten that the voters get to pick their representatives, not the other way around.

Early bill filings for the 2012 session of the legislature

2011-12-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's early, but a number of bills have been pre-filed for the 2012 session of the Arizona legislature.

A large number are "technical correction" bills, or bills that exist mostly to serve as shells for strike-everything amendments late in the legislative session.

Some are head scratchers, meaning that either I don't really understand what they do, or do understand but don't see the point. Most of those have names like Harper, Allen, or Seel attached as sponsors and so are presumed to be bad. Very bad.

With the other bills, there's no doubt. They're just plain ugly.

A few of the high/lowlights -

HB2022, Rep. Jack Harper's annual proposal to repeal the one year waiting period on former legislators coming back as paid lobbyists

HB2024, one of the head scratchers relating "waste of finite resource; repeal". I think it has to do with a specific kind of speeding violation, which doesn't sound too bad. However, it is sponsored by Sylvia Allen, Chester Crandell, Brenda Barton, Michelle Ugenti, and John Fillmore. There are a few leaders of the lege's tin foil hat brigade on that list, so the bill is probably a bad one.

HB2035, Kimberly Yee's attempt to undermine the voter-approved medical marijuana law by punishing health care providers who prescribe medical marijuana for other than "an accepted therapeutic purpose." That doesn't seem too unreasonable, until you realize she doesn't actually specify the definition of "accepted therapeutic purpose". While the AMA concedes that medical marijuana has benefits, the federal government adamantly disagrees.

HCR2004, a not-quite-a-proclamation of secession in the form of a declaration of Arizona's sovereignty over the federal government, courtesy of Allen, Barton, and Crandell.

HCR2005, a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution to require periodic reauthorization of any voter-approved initiatives that affect state spending by requiring that certain things are funded. Call this "the Legislature really hates having its hands tied by the voters" measure.

HCR2006, a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution from Jack Harper, Judy Burges, and Carl Seel. It's yet another attempt to create school vouchers, this one geared to "helping" students in public schools with an average class size of 35 or more pupils.

Interesting. They force class sizes to balloon by making massive cuts to education funding to pay for tax cuts for corporations, and then turn around and try to use the large class sizes that they foisted off on public schools to justify taking more money from those schools and funnelling that money to private schools.

David Safier at Blog for Arizona has a write-up on the Rs plans to ~~gut~~ "reform" public education here. This measure looks to be just one salvo in their ongoing war against public education.

And last (for now), but certainly not least is a bill that hasn't been filed yet. Ron Gould is promising to bring back a "guns in schools" bill. It passed the lege last session, but Governor Jan Brewer vetoed it (it may be her only wise act during her term as governor, but I'll give credit where it is due. She was on the right side on that one.)

This is just the beginning, so this much is clear: Russell Pearce may be gone, but the wild and insane ride that is the Arizona legislature at work will still be running at full speed...

Russell Pearce, martyr? Not so much...

2011-12-28T20:27:00.007-07:00

...though to listen to the whining among the Republicans, you'd think they were Al-Quaeda and Pearce was a suicide bomber...

As soon as it became clear that Russell Pearce had lost his November recall, the whispers started. And when it became clear that Pearce didn't just lose but was thoroughly thumped, the whispers became shouts (whiny, wheedling shouts, but shouts nonetheless).

Tuesday, the Republican blog/press release site Sonoran Alliance posted a long and rather revisionist paean to Pearce that effectively sums up what most of the Rs have been saying.

Their main spin has been to claim that Pearce was the subject of a recall because of his anti-immigrant policies, positions and speeches and particularly because of his SB1070.

Now, I cannot deny the fact that Pearce's bigotry makes him much easier to dislike. However, if the recall effort was based on that, why has only one other supporter of SB1070 faced a recall effort? And that effort actually pre-dated SB1070 and was pushed by Republicans who fell the legislator in question (Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa) isn't conservative enough.

Another R talking point is to claim that the recall process was abused and was never intended to an unpopular legislator.

Ummm...the recall law was followed to the letter, and it's been used once in a century.

Pearce wasn't just unpopular. He misused and abused his office.

...He ordered the arrest of people who criticized him when those critics peacefully entered the Senate building for a scheduled appointment...

...He proclaimed that legislators could ignore the laws barring possession of weapons in public buildings...

...When the other legislators caught up in the Fiesta Bowl gift scandal shut up and paid up, Pearce refused to repay the Fiesta Bowl and still denies wrongdoing...

...When his friend and close political ally Sen. Scott Bundgaard was involved in a "domestic violence incident" (i.e. - he assaulted his girlfriend by the side of a Phoenix freeway), Pearce declared that Bundgaard was the victim...

It should be pointed out here that the GOP's whiners and spinners are expressing criticism only of the fact that Pearce was held accountable for his bad conduct in office, but have said nothing about the conduct itself.

Apparently, they believe if someone is stridently nativist, they should be forgiven "minor" foibles like corruption in office, abuse of power, and si\nple unbridled arrogance (not a crime in itself, but the attitude that he and the rest of his caucus were and are above the laws that govern the rest of society was the root of his downfall).

Bottom line: the recall was legal, proper, and most importantly, deserved.

Sylvia Allen, keeping the "AZ" in crazy

2011-12-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

State Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-LD5) is a conservative legislator from northeastern Arizona. During her career in politics, she's been best known for two things - she's a close friend and ally of Russell Pearce, the recently recalled former president of the state senate, and she's prone to uttering some of the whackiest things ever to pass the lips of an elected official in AZ (and that's saying something in a state that boasts among its past and present electeds folks like Evan Mecham, Karen Johnson, and Jack Harper).

Whether it was claiming that it is OK to strip mine uranium because the Earth is 6000 years old and is doing fine, that people should think of more ways to help the wealthy, that trees in Arizona should be destroyed because they suck water out of Arizona's water supply, or even crazier, she's been embarrassing her district and her state for years.

She's still going for the crazy, as this article from The Payson Roundup from last week illustrates.

From the article, written by Pete Aleshire -

State Sen. Sylvia Allen called for a state struggle against federal authority in a wide-ranging appearance last week before about 50 members of the Payson Tea Party gathered at Tiny’s Restaurant.

{snip}

...she decried the mostly federally funded Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System as “socialized medicine.” AHCCCS provides coverage for about 30 percent of the residents of Gila County.

{snip}

“We need to tighten this program up and have people pay for babies. That’s not life and death. They won’t let you charge (the patients) a penny for that care. That’s the socialized direction we’ve gone in for 50 years.

{snip}

Sen. Allen also decried various efforts to increase voter turnouts, with things like mail-in ballots and online voter registration.

Now to be fair to Senator Allen, I have to leave open the possibility that she isn't crazy.

She may just be someone who revels in pure ignorance while relying on party talking points to get her through contact with actual voters.

Happy Holidays...

2011-12-25T00:01:00.002-07:00

To all readers, regular or drive-by, 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

Time to state the obvious: Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee

2011-12-24T10:48:00.001-07:00

...Yes, for months it has seemed likely that Romney would be the nominee in spite of his tepid support (at best) among the tea party/most extreme wing of the GOP. Every few weeks, a new darling of the screamers arose, only to fall by the wayside as their (metaphorical) warts were exposed by the glare of the light of scrutiny that all front-runners face.

Still, it's a large field, meaning that a candidate could win a state's primary/caucus with 20 - 25% of the vote.

Only now the field is getting smaller, without anyone actually getting out of the race.

From Time Magazine, written by Will Lester -

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have failed to qualify for Virginia's March 6 Republican primary, a setback in their bids for the Republican presidential nomination.

Also not on the ballot, courtesy the Arlington County (VA) GOP - Michelle Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Gary Johnson.

That leaves Romney on the VA ballot alone with Ron Paul.

Now, Paul has a small but dedicated core group of followers in the far-right reaches of the Republican Party, but his usually extreme (even by the GOP's standards) positions make him all but unelectable in a contested general election.

His party's poo-bahs (insiders and power brokers) won't allow him to get even within sniffing difference of the actual nomination, though he may win a few primaries or caucuses.

In the end, the R nominee will be Romney, with someone like Chris Christie or Tim Pawlenty as the VP candidate.

Next November's election will be about returning Barack Obama to office, perhaps with a Congress that won't be dedicated to keeping the economy cratered for political gain, or returning to the blindly pro-greed and pro-corporate bottom line policies that got the US and world into this mess.

Note: as of this writing, Romney and Paul are the only two "major" candidates on the ballot for Arizona's Republican primary, though the others have another couple of weeks to submit their names.

The maps are in, and other 2012 updates

2011-12-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick updates...

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) has submitted its "tentative final" maps for Congressional and legislative districts to its analysts. Assuming that the analysts don't find any major issues with the maps (and they probably won't), the maps will then be submitted to the US Department of Justice for preclearance under the Voting Rights Act. If DOJ doesn't find any major issues (the likelihood of that is anybody's guess), those maps will form the basis of elections for the next decade.

Some national media outlets (The Hill and Politico) are calling the maps a victory for Democrats, but they aren't, really. They guarantee Republican control of the legislature for another 10 years, and all but guarantee a Republican-majority Congressional delegation for the same period. What they do however, is make it more difficult for the Rs to maintain their outsized domination of the legislature.

As such, the Rs are crying about the maps, but the tears may be mostly of the "crocodile" variety...

Steve at Arizona Eagletarian has more complete coverage of the AIRC here.

...Neil Giuliano, former mayor of Tempe, a rumored candidate for the Democratic nomination in the new 9th Congressional district, has announced that he will not be pursuing that job (subscription required). State Sen. David Schapira is currently exploring a run at the seat, and State Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Arizona Democratic Party chair Andrei Cherny are rumored to be eyeing the same race.

...Lastly, the list of candidates on the ballot for February's Republican presidential preference primary is now five strong - Ron Paul, Mitt Romney...and Wayne Arnett, Raymond Perkins, and Al "Dick" Perry.

No, I don't know those last three either. Look for the final ballot to include 20 - 25 names, with seven or eight that people actually know.

...

"Merry Christmas" from the GOP sounds a lot like "up yours"

2011-12-21T08:11:00.012-07:00

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the House, the Teapublicans were jostling, each trying to prove that he was the biggest louse..."

Tuesday, the Republicans in the US House of Representatives voted to increase taxes on 160 million Americans when they voted to reject a Senate compromise that would have extended the payroll tax holiday by two months.

They're trying to blame President Obama and the Democrats in Congress for this betrayal of the the vast majority of working Americans, but the bottom line is that the people who oppose any tax increases that affect corporations and wealthy people shamelessly threw average people under the economic bus.

Beside the expected outcry from Democrats and other advocates for middle class and working families, even Republicans as disparate as Sen. Scott Brown (MA) and Sen. John McCain (AZ) have roundly criticized the actions of the House Republicans.

Brown, as perhaps the most vulnerable R senator up for election next year, is justifiably worried about the impact of the Teapublicans' tantrum on his reelection chances. With consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren hot on his heels, Wall Street's favorite senator has realized that he'd better look like he has Main Street's back if he wants to return to the Senate in 2013.

McCain on the other hand was just reelected last year and is from an R leaning state. He has no short-term motivations when he points out that the House Rs' greed (they want what they want and refuse to compromise or even negotiate in good faith) is hurting the entire R brand. Going into a presidential election year.

Most observers, including me, expect that the payroll tax holiday will be extended eventually. The only real question is how much damage the House Republicans will wreak upon the middle class and the economy as a whole before they do right thing.

Note: Of the AZ Congressional delegation, Republicans David Schweikert, Ben Quayle, Paul Gosar, and Trent Franks voted to raise taxes on the middle class while Democrats Raul Grijalva and Ed Pastor and Republican Jeff Flake (running for US Senate) voted against it. Gabby Giffords didn't vote as she is continuing her recovery from January's shooting in Tucson.

State Sen. Steve Gallardo proposes stricter domestic violence penalties

2011-12-19T21:33:00.001-07:00

...and the denizens of the Capitol wait with bated breath for the next lawsuit from State Sen. Scott "Fists of Fury" Bundgaard...

Sen. Steve Gallardo (D-Phoenix) has introduced SB1027. If passed, it would strengthen the penalties for misdemeanor domestic violence. Under existing law, people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence can be sentenced to as little as counseling.

Gallardo's measure would mandate that those convicted on or pleading guilty or "no contest" to domestic violence charges face a minimum of mandatory treatment (that the offenders would pay for), supervised probation, two days in jail and a $50 fine.

Which doesn't sound like much, until you remember that it's stronger than current law by, oh, mandatory treatment, supervised probation, two days' jail time, and a $50 fine (at a minimum).

The money collected from the fines will go toward programs to assist victims of domestic violence.

“Right now in Arizona, someone who beats their dog can face harsher punishment than someone who beats their girlfriend. This legislation sends a strong message to those who engage in domestic violence. Arizonans won’t put up with that behavior, but we will help domestic violence victims escape abusive situations," said Gallardo.

For the record, Bundgaard pled "no contest" to the charges stemming from his February assault.

Look for him to complain, maybe to the Senate Ethics Committee (you know, the people he is suing to stop them from looking into his actions), that he is personally attacked by this bill and that Gallardo should be disciplined for his lack of decorum (or some such BS.)

A few Christmas stocking stuffers...

2011-12-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year. Many commentators do something along the lines of a "diamond/lump of coal" theme for their Christmas stocking pieces, I'm going for the practical this year.

This year, the list of Arizonans who deserve a little something special in their stockings includes...

...State Sen. Scott Bundgaard. In the wake of his "domestic violence incident" (a euphemism for "beating up his girlfriend by the side of a freeway"). After invoking legislative immunity from arrest (for misdemeanors, and only while the lege is actually in session), he is expending massive amounts of effort to keep the Senate Ethics Committee from weighing in on his conduct. Now he is suing the members of the committee to block any inquiry.

Bundgaard seems to think that he stands a chance in hell of winning reelection next year.

So here's to hoping that on Christmas Day, Bundgaard looks in his stocking and finds a clue.

...Marcia Busching. She has opened a committee for a run at a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission. While the ACC is incredibly important, it's also incredibly low profile. On top of that, she'll be running against some incredibly well-funded Republicans who aren't shy about taking "contributions" from the industries that they are supposed to regulate.

So here's to hoping that on Christmas Day, Busching looks in her stocking and finds two things - a little good luck and a good communications person for her campaign. It better be a big stocking... :)

...Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. After seeing his buddy Russell Pearce go down in flames in November, the deluge just hasn't stopped. He's been coming under growing criticism for his sacrifice of investigations of rape and child molestation cases while funnelling MCSO resources into his never-ending anti-immigrant raids (which apparently are far more camera-friendly than actual police work).

Now, the US Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has released the scathing report of its investigation of Arpaio's operation of MCSO, and "scathing" may be something of an understatement.

Instead of the usual combination of legalese and bureaucrat-ese that are the usual hallmarks of such things, it reads like it was written by someone who's a combination of Stephen King and Franz Kafka (OK, with a generous smattering of legalese and bureaucrat-ese thrown in. It *is* DOJ, after all :) .)

At this point, it looks like he should be less worried about winning reelection next year and more concerned with making an exit from office that doesn't involve an indictment.

However, he has spent the week declaring that it's all politics and that the investigation was a "sneak attack" and other similar utterances that prove that "denial" isn't just a river. Of course, the list of his misdeeds may be longer than the Nile, but I digress... :)

Anyway, Arpaio is going on and on, even though the investigation has been going on for years and he has been the one who has used his office for politically-motivated investigations.

So here's to hoping that on Christmas Day, Arpaio looks in his stocking and finds a clue (hope Santa has one to spare after giving one to Bundgaard).

This was fun. Have to do it again, soon. :)

How to undermine your credibility as a blogger/online commentator

2011-12-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

I generally don't counter-post here. If I've got something to say about another's blog post, I just comment on the post.

However, some things just beg for a counter-post.

Plus you can't add a pic/screenshot to a comment, and I want to do that for this. :)

Earlier today, someone over at Sonoran Alliance put up something, complaining that State Sen. David Schapira (D-LD17) is exploring a run for Congress but has failed to file the appropriate paperwork with the FEC. The post included a link to the FEC page covering exploring or "testing the waters".

The problem?

The linked page actually refuted, not supported, their argument about Schapira.

To quote (emphasis added) -

Before deciding to campaign for federal office, an individual may want to "test the waters"—in other words, explore the feasibility of becoming a candidate. An individual who merely test the waters, but does not campaign for office, does not have to register or report as a candidate even if the individual raises more than $5,000—the dollar threshold that would normally trigger registration. Nevertheless, funds raised to test the waters are subject to the Federal Election Campaign Act’s (the Act) contribution limitations and prohibitions. See Advisory Opinion 1998-18 [PDF].

It's a really good idea to *read* the sources one cites in support of an argument before, you know, citing it.

Corporation Commission meeting this week to gut solar power's future in Arizona

2011-12-12T09:05:00.002-07:00

As the calendar moves inexorably to the holidays, most political bodies in the state try to get any work they need to perform done during the early part of the month so that they enjoy those holidays.
One of the side effects of the holiday rush is that the average member of the public isn't really paying attention to political matters during the holiday, both because of the large number of items on agendas and because they have a lot going on in their personal lives.
Many bodies use the chaos of the holidays and the laxity in public oversight to push through some of the less palatable measures before them to help minimize the ability of opponents to organize.
One of those bodies is the Arizona Corporation Commission, particularly since the election of former ALEC president Brenda Burns. While Gary Pierce, rumored to be mulling a run for Congress, is the chair of the ACC, the addition of Burns in 2010 signaled the change of the ACC from an industry regulatory agency into an industry front group. Burns replaced the term-limited Kris Mayes

The ACC is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, and some of the items on its agenda illustrate just this.

Docket numbers E-01345A-11-0264 (APS), E-01933A-11-0269 (Tucson Electric Power) and E-04204A-11-0267 (UNS Electric) relate to approval of those companies' 2012 Renewable Energy Standard implementation plans (enter those docket numbers into the ACC's E-Docket webpage for more info).

Those items sound wonky and more than a little technical, because they are. However, one of the little gems hidden deep in the provisions of the plans is that they basically end any real incentives for those utility companies to "go solar."

However, while solar incentives are being slashed, tax breaks for coal-fired generating plants remain in place (note: those are controlled by the legislature, not the ACC). The impetus behind this appears to be a reverence for accounting principles over scientific principles -

The utility corporations have a lot of money tied up in their coal (and nuclear) facilities and want to maximize their profits from those. Solar power, particularly distributed solar power, is both more sustainable and lower cost than those, and would lead to lower profits.

On top of that, the Rs on the Commission have taken steps to declare that inefficient, high-cost energy generated by *trash burning* plants is "green", or renewable, and deserves as much or more support than solar power.

Apparently, for the three Rs on the ACC, Burn, Pierce, and Bob Stump, and the corporations that they are working for (instead of regulating), "energy efficiency" is more about generating profits in the most efficient way than in generating (and using) energy in a more efficient and sustainable way.

Anyway, people who are interested in weighing in on the renewable energy standard items, or any other items on the agenda, are advised to watch the meeting(s) this week via the ACC's online streaming video page. ACC meetings tend to run long, so you are better off staying aware of when your item of interest is coming up, and then heading down to the meeting than in trying to sit through the entire session.

Short Attention Span Musing...

2011-12-11T09:47:00.006-07:00

...Jan Brewer may yet be inducted into the Arizona Governor's Hall of Fame. Unfortunately for her, it's looking more and more likely it will be in the Mecham/Symington wing.

From the Phoenix New Times, written by James King -

Federal authorities spent more than a year investigating Governor Jan Brewer's role in collecting Social Security benefits intended for her mentally ill son, Ronald, who currently is in a state hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1990 on kidnapping and sexual assault charges.

The federal government, according to the Arizona Republic, which broke the story, was trying to determine whether $75,000 in benefits were improperly paid to the governor on behalf of her son.

Yes, Brewer is the same governor who earlier this year cut healthcare benefits for an estimated 135,000 poor Arizonans.

As of right now, the feds have chosen not to file charges. However, given this, her close ties to industry lobbyists (i.e. longtime advisor/friend Chuck Coughlin, et. al.) and her predilection for pronouncing that she is above the laws and constitution of Arizona (i.e. the her effort to hijack the independent redistricting process), nobody will be shocked if she finds herself indicted before the end of her term.

...Do Brewer et. al.'s lawyers get paid extra every time they receive a slap-down from a judge?

I as that question because the best explanation for the continuing efforts to use the legal system to overthrow the AIRC is bill padding. On the heels of a separate decision by the AZ Supreme Court overturning the Rs' removal of the AIRC's independent chair, a judge at the Maricopa County Superior Court derailed another of the R efforts to take over the redistricting process when he ruled against their move to say that the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) violated the Open Meeting laws.

...The constant stream of losses isn't dissuading the Rs from continuing their attacks on the independence of the commission. The Arizona Capitol Times has a story about a number of changes the Rs in the legislature want to foist off on the commission and the process. However, they all seem to be ignoring one basic fact - the voters wanted an independent redistricting commission, so we set one up. If we wanted to set up an elected officials job security commission, we'd have done that, instead.

...Yeah, education is her number one priority, but doesn't say if *supporting* it or *eviscerating* it is what she most wants to do.

From the Yuma Sun, written by Chris McDaniel -

“We have to get our population educated,” said Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday at the University of Phoenix Yuma Learning Center.

The ceremony marked the grand reopening of the Student Resource Center. It was recently upgraded to include 23 high-speed computers, two interview rooms, a faculty room, and printing and copy services.

{snip}

Education is my No. 1 priority."

To be fair to Brewer, I think that Brewer's actual target is *public* education. As documented by the article ("University of Phoenix Yuma Learning Center"), she's been pretty consistent in her support of "for-profit" education companies (private and charter K-12, and private post-secondary), while cutting hundreds of million of dollars from public education.

...Joe Arpaio spent Saturday going after people with brown skin. Perhaps he'd have left them alone if they were dressed up as rapists and child molesters...

...From the "deja vu" department: State Rep. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) has reintroduced one of his regular bills, a proposal to repeal the restriction on former legislators that makes them wait a year after leaving the legislature before they can return to lobby the legislature. This time around it is HB 2022.

Look for the measure to NOT pass, for at least two reasons:

1. It's an election year, and even AZ's Republicans don't want to be seen as that blatantly self-serving, especially because...

2. Most former legislators find ways around that particular restriction anyway, often by simply not registering as lobbyists.

Later...

Committees update...

2011-12-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

While redistricting is still a bit of a mess, with Arizona's Republican elected officials still trying to hijack the independent redistricting process, more and more candidates are stepping up.
Note: when district designations are used, they are for the current designation and used for reference only. They'll change after the new district maps are finalized.

...Republican John Lervold of Sierra Vista has started a committee for a run at a Congressional seat. Don't know anything about him.

...Republican State Senator Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City has formed an exploratory committee for a Congressional run. He's term-limited in the state senate, so the "exploratory" part of the committee is just pro forma. He's running. Period.

...Republican John Lyon of Glendale has formed a committee for a run at US Senate. Tea party type.

...Democrat Amanda Aguirre of Yuma, a former state senator, has announced that she is exploring a challenge to incumbent Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva. I couldn't find the paperwork on the FEC's website, but will post it when it is available.

...Republican Peter Eidsness of Bullhead City has formed a committee for a run at an LD3 state representative

...Democrat Carol Lokare of Peoria has formed a committee for a run at the LD9 seat in the state senate.

...No new committees have been formed in Scottsdale or Tempe for municipal offices. However, since Tempe's elections are on a March/May schedule, candidates are already turning in signatures. Four of them have been certified for the March ballot -

Mark Mitchell and Michael Monti for mayor
Kolby Granville and Dick Foreman for council

...In Maricopa County news, Republican state representative Cecil Ash (LD18) has formed a committee for a run at the North Mesa Justice of the Peace office currently held by Lester Pearce, brother of the recently recalled former state senator Russell Pearce.

...Far and away, the race with the most candidates is one that most people haven't heard of - the governing boards of the Salt River Project (SRP). I'm not going to list them all, but so far I've found at least 17 candidates, most of whom seem to be incumbents of one sort or another. SRP's summary of its governance is here.

My summary: 1. Only landowners in SRP's area vote in the election. 2. The highest paid elected official in the state isn't the governor (~$120K) or the state's members of Congress (~$175K), but the president of SRP (~$180K)

Later...

Reminder: North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Area CIG meeting tonight

2011-12-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder -

Tonight, Wednesday December 7, 2011, the Community Involvement Group (CIG) of the North Indian Bend Wash (NIBW) Superfund Area will meet.

Details:

Time - 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Place - Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (Stage 2, Main Floor), 7380 E. Second Street

Agenda:

Results of Indian Bend Wash Five-Year Review

Overview of NIBW Groundwater Data

Well PCX-1 Long-Term Measures Schedule & Implementation

Questions & Answers

Later...

Technical issues

2011-12-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

FIve years is barely the beginning in human years, young adulthood in dog years, and maybe a week in tortoise years.

In laptop years it's at least two, perhaps three, complete generations.

Due to some technical issues*, it will be a few more days until the blog gets back up to speed.

* = The screen on my five-year old laptop finally gave up the ghost. While it stood me in good stead during the joyous 2008 election season, and the not-so-joyous 2010 election season, and dozens of legislative, government, and public meetings.

It's time to gratefully let it retire.

See you in a week or so.

...And I so wanted to write about Herman Cain, Jan Brewer, Lori "Cain couldn't have cheated on his wife because he didn't make a pass at me" Klein, and more... :)

Santa with an automatic weapon? What's next? Frosty with a flamethrower?

2011-11-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

The ongoing effort to desensitize children and others to guns and weapons in society in general is, well, "ongoing"...and continuing apace...

From the Daily Mail (UK) -

I want an assault rifle for Christmas or the reindeer gets it! Gun club invites children to pose with Santa... and their choice of firearm

It's definitely one way of making sure Christmas goes off with a bang.

A gun club in Scottsdale, Arizona is inviting children to pose for pictures with Santa Claus – and a high-powered firearm.

Each family member carries their choice of weapon, from pistols to $80,000 machine guns.

From the website of the Scottsdale Gun Club, the organization at the center of the latest controversy to subject Arizona to ridicule -

The Daily Mail ran some additional pics from the Scottsdale Gun Club's Facebook page, including a couple with an infant and another with a small child, but those particular pics seem to be missing as of this writing.

Still, it seems that children are the target of this move, much like the tobacco industry used the cartoon character "Joe Camel" to market cigarettes to children and pre-teens.

It's simply propaganda, making firearms and weapons seem "warm and fuzzy" by associating them with Santa Claus.

In addition to efforts like this, working to associate firearms with something positive, they, through the NRA, also work to fight efforts by others to "de-weaponize" childhood, as shown in this column from an NRA bigwig from Christmas 2010. In it he admits that their "fight" for guns is a "cultural" one right after decrying a toy gun exchange event (turn in a toy gun, get a non-gun toy in return).

While the legislative push is meant to make it easier for their members to be able to obtain and carry almost any weapon without regulation, the cultural push is aimed mostly at younger Americans to "help" them grow into adulthood wanting to possess and carry (and use?) more and bigger firearms.

Another aspect of their effort is to introduce people to "gateway" weapons that are one step (OK, maybe two or three) above the toy guns that the NRA so ardently defends.

Like NRA-branded pepper spray (from the website of the vendor) -

Pepper spray may be "non-lethal" (yeah, right) and more socially acceptable than firearms (semi-automatic pistols with high-capacity magazines won't fit on a keychain anyway :) ), but it's still a weapon. And the introduction of weapons of any variety into stressful social situations can lead to chaos. Witness this year's Black Friday:

...A woman in California who pepper-sprayed other shoppers in a Wal-Mart to gain an advantage over those other shoppers in pursuit of one of a limited number of discounted video game systems

...A group of men who shot and critically wounded a shopper at another California Wal-Mart to rob him of his Black Friday purchases...

...At a Fayetteville, NC mall, two men who fired shots near people gathering for Black Friday "deals." No one was hurt and the motive is unknown as of this writing. But hey, at least it wasn't another Wal-Mart..

Think of the opportunities with other holidays!

How about -

"Make your St. Patrick's Day parade the talk of the town...and the county morgue! Hire our leprechaun with a double-barreled shillelagh to lead your parade and work DUI checkpoints! It's better than a breathalyzer!"

"Your children will squeal with delight when they wake up Easter morning and find that the Easter Bunny has left them a basketful of mini-grenades, now in a wide variety of colors, covering the entire Easter palette!"

"Celebrate the New Year with your handy, dandy, .40 caliber noisemaker*! *Except in Arizona. Remember to write to your legislator about repealing the crazy law that was enacted because some darn teenaged honor student got in the way of somebody else's celebratory bullet."

This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters' mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.

Black and Blue Friday retail violence: Is there really any hope for us, and U.S.?

2011-11-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the fall, we've witnessed the growth of the Occupy Wall Street protest from a single rag-tag, barely organized gathering of grass roots activists into a nationwide collection of...rag-tag, barely organized gatherings of grass roots activists. As befits a "barely organized" movement, the motivations for protesting expressed by the people involved are almost as numerous, and varied, as the people themselves.

One of the most common reasons for the protests, however, is outrage at the devastation caused to America's people and society by the unfettered greed of the 1%.

And, after weeks of being held in contempt by officialdom, all-but-completely shunned by the mainstream media, and being the subjects of outright violent assaults by police officers, it seemed like they were making inroads in the struggle to open up America's eyes to damage caused by the concentration of economic resources in the hands (and wallets and bank accounts and trust funds and so on...) of the country's wealthiest 1%.

Then came Black Friday, an MSM propaganda-fueled orgy of mania, materialism, and all too often, unfortunately, violence.

Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people sacrificed part or all of their holiday to camp out at stores to await early openings, hoping to take advantage of some "great deals", only to see -

...A woman in California who pepper-sprayed other shoppers in a Wal-Mart to gain an advantage over those other shoppers in pursuit of one of a limited number of discounted video game systems

...A group of men who shot and critically wounded a shopper at another California Wal-Mart to rob him of his Black Friday purchases...

...At a Myrtle Beach, SC (stop me if you've heard this before) Wal-Mart, a woman shot in another Black Friday robbery attempt...

...At a Fayetteville, NC mall, two men who fired shots near people gathering for Black Friday "deals." No one was hurt and the motive is unknown as of this writing. But hey, at least it wasn't another Wal-Mart...

...At a South Charleston, WV Target, a man collapsed and died in the store, laying on the floor as shoppers stepped around or over him, ignoring his distress as they chased down "bargains". But hey, at least it was only callous disregard for human life. It could have been outright violence...

...In a Kinston, NC Wal-Mart (there's that word again), an off-duty police officer who pepper-sprayed a crowd with many children and elderly people in it. Lest you think the crowd was rioting, the only person arrested was a man who criticized the police officer for pepper-spraying a crowd with children and elderly persons in it. And lest you think the man was some wild-eyed radical, he was a former Kinston police officer himself and a 20 year veteran of the Army.

...In a Buckeye, AZ Wal-Mart, police injured an alleged shoplifting grandfather while arresting him. The police say that he concealed a video game by placing it in the waistband of his pants, under his shirt, and then resisted arrest. The suspect (or victim, depending on your perspective) says that he did that, but only to free his hands so that he could protect is small grandson in the surging crowd. In other words, either a grandfather tried to steal a video game and resisted arrest when he was caught or the police officers felt they lost control of the crowd and took out their frustration on a grandfather who was trying to protect his grandson.

Either way - shoplifting grandfather or violent police, it doesn't speak well of us.

All of this - the violence, the mindless materialism - doesn't do anything to benefit the average person.

The vast majority of the products sold on the day after Thanksgiving are "want its", not "need its", and the profits derived from the sales go to the 1%'ers, who are the owners of the "big box" retailers and malls.

Only in America - protest the 1% and get assaulted by the police (Occupy Wall Street), or go out of your way to transfer wealth to the 1% and get assaulted by the police and others (Black and Blue Friday shoppers).

The 2012 session of the Arizona Legislature hasn't started yet, but it's easy to see it's going to be a long one

2011-11-25T12:42:00.023-07:00

In approximately a month and a half, the 2012 session of the Arizona Legislature will start, and while there will be some major differences from the 2011 session (new Speaker of the House, new President of the Senate, no Russell Pearce!!), some things don't change.

Usually, sitting legislators start "pre-filing" bills starting around two months before the start of a session, and this year is no different.

Sometimes, as with Sen. David Schapira's SB1001 last year (restoring transplant coverage to AHCCCS), the early measures are meant to make a statement about where the priorities of the lege should be, knowing full well that the bill(s) won't pass (and Schapira's SB1001 was never even heard in committee, much less given a floor vote).

Other times, the bills are introduced to give the sponsors an early start on lobbying their colleagues for passage.

The first couple of bills introduced this year, including a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution, have to do with creating a mechanism for exchanging state trust lands for the purpose of protecting military reservations from encroachment by developments (this summary may be a little oversimplified, but these bills aren't the focus of the post. If you're interested, the bill is here, the proposed amendment is here).

The amendment is necessary because under the Arizona Constitution, those trust lands can only be sold or transferred for the benefit of the state's education system.

The lege has been trying to crack that restriction for years. They tried a similar scheme in 2010, only to see the measure go down to defeat, at least in part because a majority of Arizona's voters don't trust the legislature or its intentions.

In addition to those, at around the same time, Rep. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) filed a different amendment proposal, this one to overturn the prohibitions in the AZ Constitution on damage awards in lawsuits. They've tried this one before, but limiting or eliminating punitive damage awards is a pet project of corporate lobbyists and their "friends"/tools in Congress and state legislatures across the country.

After that, there were a few innocuous "technical corrections" bills introduced by Rep. Judy "Birther" Burges. Officially, technical corrections bills are supposed to contain minor, non-controversial fixes to things like typos, misspellings, and bad grammar/legalese to laws, and generally speaking, the bills do just that. However, they rarely pass the lege as technical corrections bills. Mostly, they exist to serve as "vehicle" bills that can be changed late in the legislative session by "strike everything" amendments, aka "strikers.".

Strikers frequently turn previously innocuous bills (like technical corrections bills) into utter bile. Of course some bills, like 2010's infamous SB1070, are amended only in specific language, not actual intent. For example, SB1070 started off life as an ugly anti-immigrant bill and was amended into an ugly anti-immigrant bill.

All this background brings us to Rep. John Fillmore (R-Apache Junction). While until now he has been an almost-unknown backbencher, it looks like he wants to make a splash during this coming election year.

Among others, he has proposed bills that...

...would halve the maximurm income level to qualify for coverage under the Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS). ALTCS provides coverage to low-income senior citizens or disabled who need long-term medical care (i.e. - nursing home, assisted living, or ongoing home health aides)

...would arbitrarily impose a limit on the amount of "respite care" that someone covered by ALTCS could receive in a calendar year at 360 hours. Respite care is perhaps best characterized as a relief pitcher for long-term caregivers.

...would grant a teacher the right to kick any student out of class for any reason, and that action would not be reviewable by or appealable to anybody. Fillmore's proposal is written so broadly that a teacher (say, a follower of Russell Pearce's) could order a student out of class because the student's skin is, shall we say, too tan, and there would be no recourse (though a federal court would probably step in eventually).

...would give school principals the authority to fire any teacher in their schools for any reason, subject to the review and approval of the district's school superintendent. The measure also includes a clause that bars school district governing boards from entering into collective bargaining agreements that inhibit the ability to exercise that authority, including the establishment of a "due process" process for the teachers. No AZ Republican wants to appear to be "pro-teacher"... The measure also takes control of textbook selection from the hands of the governing boards of individual school district and bestows it on the school superintendent of the county in which the school district is located.

...would bar courts from paying for, under any circumstances, court-ordered anger management and domestic violence counseling for defendants.

...would establish a minimum cost to the beneficiaries of state employee health insurance plans of 18 percent of the overall cost. Currently, there is no minimum or maximum limit in statute. While this measure would establish a minimum limit, it would not establish a maximum cost to the beneficiaries.

...and in his piece de resistance, Fillmore has proposed an amendment to the AZ Constitution regarding punitive damage awards, like Harper's proposal above. However, this one has an "Isn't that crazy, quirky, loony Arizona just so precious?" sort of way -

His proposal doesn't eliminate punitive damage awards, Instead, it would mandate the confiscation of such awards by the state and puts the monies into a fund that would be dedicated to funding K-12 education in Arizona.

If passed, not only would this measure effectively reduce the number of lawsuits with punitive damage awards (if the victims of injuries cannot benefit from such lawsuits, why would they file them?), it would also serve as a smokescreen to cover moves to reduce education funding in AZ (eventually, the lege would base the budget for education on projections of the amount of money available in the fund established in this proposal, and when those funds decreased, they would use it as an excuse to further cut education).

This measure, as with Harper's, could very well be a welcoming gift for next week's conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization crafted to facilitate corporate influence over state level legislation. The conference will be held in a Scottsdale resort.

ALEC has long pushed for corporation-protecting limits on lawsuits in general and punitive damage awards in particular (examples here, here and here, courtesy ALECExposed.org).

Fillmore and Harper are among the many members of the R caucus in the AZ lege who are also members of ALEC. but in Arizona, that association isn't limited to the legislature. Check out this notice from the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) -

Notice of a Joint Appearance of a Quorum of Commissioners

(Not an Official Meeting of the Arizona Corporation Commission)

November 30 - December 2, 2011

Location:
The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa
6902 East Greenway Parkway
Scottsdale, Arizona 85254

This notice is provided as a courtesy to the public that three or more Commissioners may be present at the above location to attend the American Legislative Exchange Council, States and Nation Policy Summit. The Commissioners attending this meeting will not vote on any issue.

Please note: The ACC is supposed to *regulate* corporations, not *party* with them. Of course, current ACC member Brenda Burns is a former president of ALEC, so she (and the other Rs on the ACC) may not make that distinction.

I'd love to be able to tell you that the above measures are likely to be the worst offered up by Republican AZ legislators during the coming session, but it seems likely that they are going to for the "full nutty" this session. They realize that one of two possibilities exist.

Either a majority of voters will NOT hold them responsible for their shameless disregard for the will of the voter (attacks on the independence of the voter-established independent redistricting process, their brazen contempt for the rule of law (assaulting a woman by the side of a Phoenix freeway, pointing a gun at a reporter in the Senate building), or their sacrifice of the interests of their "official" constituents (no jobs, gutting education) on the altar of corporate profits (corporate tax cuts paid for by gutting education and rest of the social infrastructure in AZ), or this year will be their last best chance to wreak unchecked havoc upon the state, for at least a couple of election cycles.

Brewer's latest move to seize control of the redistricting process rebuffed by AZ Supreme Court

2011-11-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

...aka - the Hail Mary pass fell harmlessly to the ground...

Late this afternoon, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an order regarding the "motion to reconsider" its decision to reinstate Independent Colleen Mathis to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).

To sum up - motion to stay the reinstatement of Mathis is denied, motion to reconsider the entire previous order is denied, and the Court clarified that in her letter removing Mathis from the AIRC, Governor Jan Brewer didn't document any acts or behavior that rises to the level of being constitutionally sufficient to justify Mathis' removal.

In other words, they said "What part of "NO!" did you not understand?"only they did it in a judge-y way. Very proper, very dignified, and lots of big words. :))

The order:

IT IS ORDERED granting Respondents’ Joint Motion for Expedited Consideration.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED denying Respondents’ Joint Motion to Stay Order Reinstating Petitioner-Intervenor Mathis Pending Reconsideration.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED denying Motion to Intervene of Andrew M. Tobin, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and Joinder in the Governor and Senate’s Motion for Reconsideration. The Court will treat the Motion as an amicus brief.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED denying Respondents’ Joint Motion to Reconsider Order of November 17, 2011, except insofar as the motion seeks clarification of the Order. As the Order notes, the Court accepted jurisdiction of the petition for special action, having concluded that it has jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(1) of the Arizona Constitution. The Court further concluded that the issues presented are not political questions committed by the Constitution to the unreviewable discretion of the other branches of government.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED clarifying the Court’s November 17, 2011 Order as it concerns the letter of November 1, 2011, from the Acting Governor to Colleen Mathis. The Order states that the November 1, 2011 letter does not demonstrate “substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, or inability to discharge the duties of office” as required under Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(10) of the Arizona Constitution. Respondents seek clarification whether the Court’s conclusion was based on the format of the November 1, 2011 letter, which stated that the Governor had determined that Mathis had “failed to conduct the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission’s business in meetings open to the public, and failed to adjust the grid map as necessary to accommodate all of the goals set forth in Arizona Constitution Art. 4, Pt. 2, § 1(14).”

The Governor’s November 1, 2011 letter constitutes her findings of grounds for the removal of Mathis. The Court’s conclusion that the letter does not demonstrate “substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, or inability to discharge the duties of office” is based on the letter’s substance, not its format. The letter does not, as a matter of law, identify conduct that provides a constitutional basis for removal.

One ground identified in the Governor’s letter is a failure to conduct the commission’s business in meetings open to the public.

The Constitution directs that “[w]here a quorum is present, the independent redistricting commission shall conduct business in meetings open to the public, with 48 or more hours public notice provided.” Ariz. Const., Art. IV, Pt. 2, § 1(12). The statutory Open Meeting Law defines “meeting” in terms of a gathering of a quorum, A.R.S. § 38-431(4), and it directs that all meetings of public bodies shall be public meetings and that legal action of Supreme Court Case No. CV-11-0313-SA public bodies shall occur in public meetings. Id. § 38-431.01(A). A failure to conduct the business of the commission in meetings open to the public must at least involve violations of these laws for it to constitute “substantial neglect of duty” or “gross misconduct.” (We do not decide whether the constitutional provision preempts any statutory Open Meeting Law requirements, an issue that is being litigated in another forum.) There is, however, no allegation of any non-public meeting of a quorum of the commission in the Governor’s October 26, 2011 letter or in the responses thereto. Nor does the Governor’s November 1, 2011 letter find that a non-public meeting of a quorum of the commission occurred.

With regard to preparing maps, the commissioners perform legislative tasks in which they must “balance competing concerns” and “exercise discretion in choosing among potential adjustments to the grid map,” Ariz. Minority Coalition for Fair Redistricting v. Arizona Indep. Redistricting Comm’n, 220 Ariz. 587, 597 ¶ 28, 208 P.3d 676, 686 (2009), and the commission’s adoption of final maps is subject to judicial review for compliance with the Constitution’s procedural and substantive requirements. Id. at 596 ¶ 24, 208 P.3d at 685. The Governor’s disagreement with commissioners over whether they have properly considered constitutional criteria for adjusting the grid map before they have completed final maps is not, as a matter of law, a constitutional basis for removal.

Even before I received the order in my inbox, the reaction from House Speaker Andy Tobin was there. Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway :) ), he's ratcheting up the rhetoric -

“With the Supreme Court having clearly overstepped its bounds, I continue to believe that the reinstatement of Colleen Mathis as chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission represents a dangerous threat to the independent process Arizona voters want and deserve. I fully support any and all efforts by the Governor to immediately remove Chairwoman Mathis and call the Legislature into special session to refer a measure to the ballot allowing voters the opportunity to repeal this commission, which has shown total disregard for the Arizona Constitution. We must act immediately to ensure that this broken and biased process does not continue to unfold.”

Look for an attempt to put a repeal of Prop 106 (the ballot question in 2000 that created the independent redistricting process) before the voters of the Republican primary in February.

After that, look for federal intervention by the US Department of Justice.

And after that, or even if federal intervention doesn't happen, look for AZ's Republicans to have their asses handed to them next November.

Willfully and maliciously overriding the will of the voters for reasons that range from purely partisan to purely personal tends to tick off voters, even those who normally don't pay much attention between elections.

On a related note: the AIRC has scheduled three business meetings next week in Tempe, at the Fiesta Inn at the SW corner of Priest and Broadway.

On Tuesday, they will meet at 1:30 p.m. (agenda); Wednesday at 4 p.m. (agenda); Thursday at 1 p.m. (agenda).

"Motion to reconsider": Brewer-speak for "Hail Mary"

2011-11-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

During football games, often at the end of a half or the end of a game, one team that is desperate to score lines up its receivers on one side of the field and sends them down the field to the end zone while the quarterback heaves a pass into the crowd of players

While occasionally it works, the vast majority of the time the ball is tipped once or twice and falls to the ground incomplete.

However, teams still use the tactic because they have nothing to lose by it.

Which brings us to Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer and her paid attack dog/mouthpiece, attorney Lisa Hauser.

Steve at Arizona Eagletarian has posted links to various new filings in the case, including a motion to reconsider from Brewer and Hauser. In it they petition the Arizona Supreme Court to "reconsider" (aka - change its mind about) its order last week reinstating Colleen Mathis to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).

Their motion is basically a re-presentation of their original argument, that Brewer can remove Mathis or any member from the AIRC for any reason she wants, including a bad haircut. All Brewer has to do is call it "gross misconduct."

The argument didn't work last week and it almost certainly won't work this week. Maybe it could, if instead of just disagreeing with the court's decision, they pointed out some procedural error or presented some heretofore unknown facts, but they didn't.

I don't expect the motion to work - Brewer isn't Doug Flutie, Hauser isn't Gerard Phelan and the AZ Supes aren't the University of Miami football team of the mid-1980s (not enough felony convictions) - but like every other Hail Mary pass ever thrown, the rationale behind it is "hey, if it doesn't work, we're no worse off than we were before."

They have nothing to lose if it doesn't work and a lot to gain if it does. In addition, as Steve points out in his post, it may actually just be a PR move to help rationalize a special session of the lege to refer a ballot question in an attempt to overturn the proposition that originally set up the independent redistricting process.

I don't think that'll work either, but they've got a better chance that way than in court, especially if they go with the scheme proposed by many Republican legislators - put the issue to a vote during the Republican presidential primary.

Note to readers: I almost named this post " " "Motion to reconsider": Brewer-speak for "Ave Maria" " but decided the BC football reference was enough. Didn't need to go the full Catholic on everybody. :)

Guest post: Wall Street, part 2

2011-11-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

From Jerry Gettinger of Scottsdale...

What's Broken on The Street
My previous essay proffered the idea that Wall Street was broken and needed a major overhaul in order to "fix" it. First, it is important to identify what is broken and then we can suggest how to fix it.

30 years ago, The Street was the center of the world when it came to Capitalism. Socialists saw it as the root of all evil relating to our society. Graduates saw the Street as a most desirable career choice.

Companies such as MCI received capital to innovate and challenge competitors with new ideas and inventions. Money flowed from investor to company. Employment thrived with every new business. Brokers made money, investors made money and business made money. An example of capitalism working the way it was meant to.

What happened?

No one change can be attributed to the malfunction. Several changes in the mobile seem to be responsible. Competition for listings among exchanges, making memberships (to exchanges) more available, globalization and, probably the most important factor that caused changes... computers. As competition between exchanges grew, rules concerning what type of trading was acceptable changed in order to attract speculators. This type of business served no purpose but to generate profits. It did not take long for "program trading" to dominate transactions on various exchanges.

Computer generated trades and anomalies between and within exchanges generated substantial profits with little or no risk. It is worthwhile noting that not one of these transactions sent monies to corporations for expansion or modernization. In every instance, the only reason for the transaction is to make money! A financial dead end!

Let me explain how this type of trading works: suppose there is a stock that trades on both the NYSE and the German Stock Exchange. At a particular time, there is 5-cent difference in the price with the stock on the NYSE selling at $23.10, and on the German Exchange at $23.05. Computers that are programed to monitor for this situation will simultaneously buy on the German Exchange and Sell on the NYSE for a 5 cent profit. Not much, you think? Multiply a nickel times 200 million shares! Then, take that figure and multiply by six, (that number is an example of how many trades of this sort is done daily by one broker. It may be more or less.). The transaction delivers riskless profits that serve no function in the economy. No job creation, no business expansion. Just more money.

In addition, the "Bush tax cuts" have encouraged this type of business by taxing the income from this type of transaction and all related transactions at a more favorable rate.

That is the problem.

The game, which use to have rules to protect the individual now have none. Wall Street has gone from a level playing field to a 90-degree hill for the single investor. The market place is completely distorted. The individual is at the mercy of the big traders (spelled computers). An estimated 85% of the trades on the NYSE are computer generated.

Short Attention Span Musing - housekeeping edition

2011-11-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick hit...

Spent some time on Saturday talking to Ted McLaughlin, a blogger and friend from Texas. I was doing some research into a possible piece. It didn't work out for that piece, but it was great to talk to someone whose blog I've read for years.

Oh, and he's from a state where the politics and politicians are as crazy as they are in Arizona (though I think we've got Texas beat on a "crazy per capita" basis :) ), It's kind of hard to explain the politics here (and in TX) to someone who hasn't experienced them directly. People in other parts of the country hear about the "high points" (SB1070, Russell Pearce, Rick Perry) but have no clue what life out here is like on a day-to-day basis.

Anyway, while the conversation was easy - even though we had never actually spoken directly before, we didn't have to explain a lot to each other - the story I was going for just wasn't there. Hey, it happens.

However, the conversation was far from a total loss. I learned a couple of things.

1. Ted is as big a fan of the writing of the late Molly Ivins as I am. (Good taste, Ted!) Ivins blended humor, facts, and bluntness into a mix that tickled her readers' funny bones while stoking their outrage at injustice. Her voice is missed.

2. Per his recommendation, I checked out the Texas blog Juanita Jean's | The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc. It's Texas-centered, but not exclusively so, and most importantly, when he said that Juanita Jean's was the closest thing to Molly that could be found, he was right. The site has been added to the blogroll at the right, and I recommend checking it out.

Later...

A study in contrasts: Reaction to this week's court ruling reinstating Colleen Mathis to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission

2011-11-19T21:40:00.007-07:00

This week's order handed down by the Arizona Supreme Court has elicited reactions from various quarters, that while not entirely unexpected, are stark in their differences.

The AIRC itself greeted the decision with professionalism, as evidenced by their promise to get back to work (press release posted by Steve at Arizona Eagletarian).

The Arizona Democratic Party greeted the decision with cautious satisfaction.

Governor Jan Brewer took a somewhat different tack (as expected), condemning the decision while ascribing to the court and its decision the contempt for the people of Arizona that she and her cronies in the legislature showed in their attempt to hijack the independent redistricting process.

Prime bits of hypocrisy -

"Let’s not forget why we’re here: The IRC followed an unconstitutional redistricting process, conducting too much of its business behind closed doors and disregarding mapping criteria seemingly at will. They did all of this without explanation."

{snip}
"With its reinstatement of the IRC Chairwoman, the Supreme Court has averted its eyes from the Commission’s misdeeds. The Chairwoman’s actions to meet in secret, arrange critical votes in advance of meetings and twist the words and spirit of the Constitution have been forgiven – if not endorsed outright."

Ummm...when was the last time that the state budget was actually created in public and not cobbled together behind closed doors, and rammed through the legislature on a day's notice? Of course, if anyone knows what it means to "twist the words and spirit of the Constitution", it's Jan and her clan.

Brewer, however, was actually understated compared to Rep. Andy Tobin, the Speaker of the Arizona House. He called Mathis the "czar" of the AIRC, accused the the AIRC of "ignoring voter mandates", and called the AIRC's work examples of "gerrymandering."

I'd make a crack about Tobin and his caucus being experts on "ignoring voter mandates", but I used that line in the last paragraph. So how about the definition of "gerrymander," from Merriam-Webster?

1: to divide (a territorial unit) into election districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible

2: to divide (an area) into political units to give special advantages to one group

"Competitive" districts, something that Democrats and Independent voters in Arizona want (a desire expressed and enacted in 2000, when voters created the independent redistricting process), are exactly the opposite of "gerrymandered."

Of course, as bad as Tobin was, *he* is understated compared to some of his "base", rank and file members of the Republican caucus of the lege.

Rep. Terri Proud (from after the court handed down its order) -

Sen. Al Melvin (from a day before the court handed down its order) -

I'm not sure who is more scarily ignorant -

Proud for arguing that the constitution is unconstitutional (I think that she means that she believes the state constitution violates the US Constitution; since Arizona was already a "preclearance" state when Prop 106 passed, we'd have already heard from the DOJ if there was a problem with it) and that the "Founding Fathers" didn't intend for the people of the country to direct how their elected representatives are elected, or Melvin for openly advocating that an election to amend the AZ Constitution should be held when only Republican voters will be voting.

And given that his proposed subject matter is one which would affect all elections in Arizona, the US Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division would probably take a rather dim view of the whole affair.

In spite of her ignorance, Proud may have inadvertently told the bald truth about independent redistricting and the motivation for the power grab by Jan and her clan -

"It hasn't worked and it won't work for the Republicans. Not ONE state has stayed Republic with an alternative. Not ONE."

Hope she is being prophetic...

Howard Fischer of ~~the governor's PR staff~~ Capitol Media Services has coverage of a possible special session of the legislature this coming week to re-fire Mathis and other redistricting-related matters here (via the East Valley Tribune).

I'm not sure they'll be able to pull off a short-notice special session during a holiday-shortened week, but they are pulling out all the stops in their increasingly desperate efforts to override the will of the voters and seize control of the redistricting process. At this point, anything is possible.

Guest post - Education

2011-11-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

Part 2 in a series of guest posts from contributor Jerry Gettinger...

Education budgets are easiest to reduce. It is only the courageous and forward-looking governments that will use schooling to turn around this situation and offer their constituents a new path to success. If this is not done soon, there will develop a permanent unemployable class that will foster social upheaval. There is not much time left to induce positive change. It still can be done, but only with a government that sees education as a desirous utility, much like a $300 million football stadium.

Unfortunately, in some communities, education is a burdensome necessity or a social institution useful as an ideological tool that inculcates our children in religiously acceptable behavior. What is needed and needed immediately is a national goal that remakes the U.S. into a High Tech country with communities teaching the most sophisticated protocols to give students the intellectual means of, not just competing, but surpassing the rest of the world in innovation and production.

If there is one then there are hundreds, if not thousands of Stephen Jobs in our country. Those students will only evolve into highly productive individuals in a school system that encourages individual thought and critical thinking. Ours does not, and in fact, discourages such thought.

Teachers and parents feel threatened and intimidated by schools that allow students to consider all perspectives and question each one. This effort can become a part of the need to become energy independent. That coupled with changing the U.S. into a "green" nation can justify the metamorphosis. However, do not make the mistake of approaching the problem as needing justification. Educating our young to achieve the same goals in our country that were achieved during the last century is a necessity.

The love-hate relationship we have with our public schools must be turned into an attitude that values an education. Schools must receive whatever is needed to become an institution that encourages independent thinking. I suggest that the reader study the case of Intel and what saved the company from becoming a 2nd rate manufacturer of computer chips The Company had developed the computer chip to the point where when it ran faster it would over-heat and literally catch fire. The research facility in Israel came up with the idea of using a dual system instead trying to add speed with one.

It solved the problem. The suggestion came from a research assistant. The fact that the assistant promoted the idea and his supervisor was receptive resulted from their service in the Israeli army. As such, a private might be a high up officer at Intel and vice-versa. As a result, everyone had the freedom to try ideas and do critical thinking. An employee would be encouraged to present his idea to his supervisor.

We need that freedom in our schools and companies. The freedom to fail as well as succeed.

Guest post: Wall Street

2011-11-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

This is part 1 of a three part piece from occasional guest writer (and good friend) Jerry Gettinger. The next two parts of the series will go up this weekend...

I recently attended a rally a group named "Occupy Wall Street" sponsored. For the most part, the gathering was calm and peaceful. It was an experience totally unlike the scene I remember in the late 60's and 70's when it was a pitched battle between the participants and the police. Every speaker spoke of Wall Street as uncaring and corrupt. Speaker after speaker forcefully called for executives and hedge fund managers to give up their earnings in higher taxes. There were also accusations that our elected officials were bought with "Wall Street Money."

The subject of the gathering raised questions about why attitudes have changed from young people seeing Wall Street as a career goal to it being a source of anger and frustration. Having worked on Wall Street, I can view both periods in such a way as to render what I consider a unique perspective.

There is no doubt that Wall Street is not the same as when I worked there.

As a matter of fact, if one goes back to the late 1800's, one will discover that the product of Wall Street firms today bears no resemblance to the past. Like many of our institutions, Wall Street is broken. When I was in sales, I went home in the evenings with some pride and a sense of accomplishment. Those feelings came from knowing that my efforts served a purpose. That was that I sold bonds (or stock) for a company so the company had money to expand, which led to hiring additional workers who bought goods that resulted in profits used by owners to buy bonds etc. The product of Wall Street was not money; Wall Street functioned as a conduit that funneled value into production of goods and services. Not so in this age. The only thing Wall Street produces is money... to make money. That is where Wall Street is broken. Money in itself does not serve any purpose. In a capitalistic economy, money must be used to help business, not generate more money. Even the Robber Barons of the 1800's recognized the fact that unless their money was put to good use, it served no purpose. Even though the J.P. Morgans, Carnegie and Rockefeller amassed great wealth (even compared to today's wealthy), they invested their wealth in areas that benefited their country. Railroads, Oil and Steel Mills provided the products that fed growth and allowed a middle class to enjoy a lifestyle second to none.

Sadly, today's economic atmosphere is chasing the middle class into oblivion. The major source of wealth, their house, has become a burden rather that a unique investment. The ability to succeed through one's job and/or education has become unattainable to all but the very wealthy or talented. Pensions and self-contributed saving accounts are structured in favor of the rich. The worst part is that there is nothing in the foreseeable future that provides hope. While it is true that manufacturing jobs have all but disapered, careers in the IT industry offer both advancement and premium incomes. However, the mood and myopic view of governments in distressed areas add to the despondent feeling of futility.

Schapira announcement on 2012 plans coming Monday

2011-11-17T19:10:00.001-07:00

From a press release -

Schapira to Make Monday Announcement on Website

TEMPE, ARIZ. - Arizona State Senate Democratic Leader David Schapira will make an announcement regarding his ongoing work to build a strong future for Arizona and his plans for the 2012 election.

Sen. Schapira will make his announcement in a video that will be available to view beginning at 9 a.m., Monday, November 21, at http://www.davidforaz.com/.

The Arizona Capitol Times is speculating that Schapira will announce that he is forming an exploratory committee to look at a run for Congress next year (subscription required).

I can't say for certain what his plans are, but if Schapira does go for a seat in Congress, he will have my support...unless Harry Mitchell changes his mind about a run next year. :)

However, I don't think Harry is going to run again.

The Mathis ruling...

2011-11-17T18:49:00.002-07:00

Essentially, the court said that no matter how much the governor, her handlers, and their mouthpieces insist otherwise, the removal of Colleen Mathis is something that is subject to judicial review. Like almost every act committed by legislative and executive branches of every level of government since Marbury v. Madison.

It also said that no matter how much those same folks insist otherwise, Mathis has done nothing to meet the threshold set in the Arizona Constitution to justify her removal from office.

My way of putting it: Actually being the independent on the *independent* redistricting commission and conducting yourself in an independent manner is NOT grounds for kicking being kicked out of office.

No matter how much Jan and her clan click their heels together while say "we wish we still controlled district lines, we wish we still controlled district lines."

Because the order is short, here it is in its entirety -

Having considered the filings in this matter by the petitioner, the intervenor, the respondents, and the amici curiae, and the arguments of counsel,

1. The Court accepts jurisdiction of the petition for special action, having concluded that it has jurisdiction under Article 6, Section 5(1) of the Arizona Constitution;

2. The Court concludes that the issues presented in this matter are not political questions and are therefore justiciable. See Brewer v. Burns, 222 Ariz. 234, 238-39 ¶¶ 16-22, 213 P.3d671, 675-76 (2009);

3. The Court concludes that the letter of November 1, 2011, from the Acting Governor to the intervenor Colleen Mathis does not demonstrate “substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, or inability to discharge the duties of office” by the intervenor Mathis, as required under Article 4, Part 2, Section 1(10) of the Arizona Constitution;

Therefore, the Court grants the relief requested by the intervenor Mathis and orders that she be reinstated as chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission.

The Court in due course will issue an opinion more fully detailing its reasoning in this matter.

Might I suggest a title for the sequel to Jan Brewer's book?

Crow For Breakfast

From a Facebook posting from the AIRC -

The Arizona Supreme Court has reinstated Colleen Coyle Mathis as chairwoman of Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission.

The justices issued their ruling late this afternoon, a couple hours after hearing oral arguments on the issue.

Once the executive director has contacted the five commissioners and determined how they want to move forward, the staff will make the appropriate arrangements.

Arizona Capitol Times coverage here (subscription required)

Arizona Republic coverage here

Court rules; Mathis back on the AIRC...

2011-11-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

The story is still breaking, but the AZ Supreme Court has ruled against Governor Jan Brewer and the Republicans in the state senate and has restored Colleen Mathis to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

Details as they become available...

Nineteen Arizonans apply for chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission*

2011-11-15T21:38:00.001-07:00

* - Pending the decision of the Arizona Supreme Court in the lawsuit over the removal of the original chair, Independent Colleen Mathis, by the governor and her Republican colleagues in the Arizona Senate.

If the court does the right thing, the applications will be moot. However, this is Arizona. Be hopeful (the AZ judiciary actually has a pretty good reputation), but don't hold your breath.

Nineteen people have applied for the Independent position on the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC). It became (sort of, depending on the AZ Supreme Court's decision this week) vacant when Jan Brewer and the 21 Republicans in the State Senate railroaded Colleen Mathis off of the AIRC in an effort to usurp the authority of the Independent Redistricting Commission.

Pending the court's decision, the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, which screens applicants, will meet on November 22 (next Tuesday as of this writing) to discuss the applications and decide which applicants should be interviewed at a meeting on November 28. At that meeting, they will decide upon a list of three names to forward to the other four members of the AIRC for their consideration.

The nineteen applicants are:

Alton Briggs of Scottsdale, retired

James Buesing of Peoria, lawyer

Linda Buscemi of Phoenix, psychologist/counselor

James DiRienzo of Prescott, adjunct professor at Embry-Riddle

Michael Doyle of Cave Creek, retired, and a former member of the Sheriff's Posse

John M. Fife III of Tucson, teacher

Paige Heavey of Phoenix, real estate, former member of WISH List, the Republican counterpart to Emily's List

Daniela Larson of Tucson, graduate research assistant

Eden Lewkowitz of Phoenix, instructional assistant

Anthony Merrill of Chandler, lawyer

Dale Mukavetz of Chandler, retired

Milford Rimmer of Scottsdale, self-employed technical sales

David Roberts of Scottsdale (legal address), editor at White Mountain Publishing

Margarita Silva of Laveen, lawyer (note: Ms. Silva was a candidate for this position during the initial start up phase of this year's AIRC)

Don Snider of Phoenix, an executive with a non-profit foundation

Stanley Usinowitz of Lake Havasu City, self employed

Stephen Weston Sr. of Waddell, training consultant

Marshall Whitmire of Camp Verde, self-employed

Gregory Zamora of Tempe, legal assistant

Public comment on the applicants will be accepted, so feel free to examine the applications. I know I will be.

Guns in homes: A triumph of ideology over science

2011-11-13T14:27:00.001-07:00

An article on the website of the Arizona Republic today struck a deep note inside of me, not because it was a "once in a lifetime" story or because it was an "only in Arizona" story, but because variations of it are written almost every day all over the country.

From the Arizona Republic -

Surprise child injured by gun; possible accident

A 4-year-old boy in Surprise suffered facial injuries while apparently playing with a handgun Saturday morning, police said.

Police responded to a report of an injured child around 11 a.m., said Surprise police spokesman Sgt. Bert Anzini. When officers arrived, they found a 4-year-old boy with injuries to the face.

My initial response to the article was to glance at the headline, think to myself "ho hum" and start to move on to the next article.

In mid-click, I realized that was a disgustingly blase attitude towards something that brought harm to a child.

The thing is, it's not just me. Most of us are just as blase when it comes to gun "accidents." We are so used to reading and hearing about them, we just tune them out.

Unfortunately, that "tuning out" is an opening exploited by certain people and groups to enact policies that actually make the situation worse, leading to more incidents to be blase about.

Over the years, there have literally been scores of scientific studies documenting the fact that guns in homes tend to decrease, not increase, the safety of the occupants of such homes. This has led to the practice of many physicians adding firearms safety questions and information to their discussions of risky behavior with their patients and their patients' families.

One such study was released earlier this year. In it, the author, David Hemenway PhD of the Harvard School of Public Health, found that the presence of firearms in the home increased the likelihood of violent death or injury, especially to women, children, and seniors.

Most of the studies have found that, in spite of the claims of the NRA et. al., most firearms in homes are not used for self-defense when they are used.

Pro-gun lobbying organizations like the NRA have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars attempting to refute the studies or at least undermine the credibility of the scientists involved.

When that has failed (as it usually does), they've resorted to simply trying to silence their critics and advocates for gun safety and knowledge.

In Florida, shortly after the release of the above study (a coincidence, I think), the legislature passed and the governor signed into law HB155, the rather innocuously titled Privacy of Firearms Owners bill (legislative analysis here).

The title of the bill was innocuous, but the text of the bill wasn't - it barred health care providers from asking about or talking to patients and their families about guns.

It was shepherded through the legislative process by the NRA and its proxies, who sent the "big gun" among its lobbyists, Marion Hammer, to personally and directly exercise her influence.

The measure has since been overturned by a federal judge who found, among other things, that the provisions of the measure violated doctors' free speech rights.

Note: After the court's ruling, HB4015 was filed in the Florida House of Representatives. If passed into law, it would repeal the offending language of the earlier measure (bill summary page here). It has been assigned to committee and awaits the start of the 2012 session of the Florida legislature for any action on it (in the news article linked to the word "filed", the sponsor of HB4015 indicates that he does not expect his bill to see any consideration, much less passage).

Expect more moves like this in more legislatures - when the facts (aka - the science) don't support their desired policies, the NRA et. al. pushes for policies that ignore the facts.

Still, it's not a total tragedy - the four year old child in the article cited at the beginning of this post apparently suffered only "non-life-threatening" injuries.

Unlike the victim here, from New Mexico...

Unlike the victim here, from Pennsylvania...

Unlike the victim here, from Virginia...

Unlike the victim here, from Georgia...

Unlike the victim here, from Indiana...

Unlike the victim here, from North Carolina...

Unlike the victim here, from Washington (state)...

Unlike the victim here, from Tennessee...

Unlike the victim here, from Alabama...

Unlike the victim here, from Michigan...

The list is long and will continue to grow longer so long as there are places that base public safety and public health policies on ideology rather than reality.

Campaign committees update...

2011-11-12T14:27:00.002-07:00

With the end of the 2011 election season, culminating in Tuesday's historic recall of Russell Pearce, the 2012 election cycle is in full swing. While some changes will be made if/when Congressional and legislative district lines are finalized, more folks are jumping into races.

...Spencer Morgan of Gilbert has filed paperwork to run for Congress as a Democrat in CD5 (not sure if that is the current CD5 or the one on the draft maps produced by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.) However, given that his listed website, MorganforCongress.org doesn't exist yet so all he has is his Facebook public figure page, he may not be much of a factor next year.

Note: MorganforCongress.org should not be confused with Morgan4Congress.com. That's the website of Vincent Morgan, a Democratic candidate in New York City.

Oh, I should note now that all district designations are presumed to be the current ones, unless other indicated.

...Paul Babeu, the Republican sheriff in Pinal County, is "exploring" a run for Congress. Something that has been reported before, and has been long expected. Of note to some readers is the listed treasurer for the Babeu committee: Chris Derose. He's been in and around the edges of Arizona politics for a while now, including running for a House seat from LD17 in 2006. If he later moves over to an official Babeu campaign, he won't be there as the voice of moderation (not that anybody expects a Babeu campaign to have any).

...Clair Van Steenwyck of Buckeye has formed a committee to run for the Republican nomination for US Senate. He appears to be a tea party type. And I can't say that he is an unserious candidate, but at least Spencer Morgan (above) typed out his paperwork. Van Steenwyck's is hand-written.

...It's rumored that other candidates (some of the rumors are surprising) will be stepping forward in the next few weeks, while other rumored candidates will choose to pass on a run in 2012. More when those rumors solidify into confirmable interest/disinterest...

Legislative news -

...Mary Hamway, a town council member in Paradise Valley, is "exploring" a run for the Republican nomination for an LD11 House seat. However, the "exploratory" designation on her committee appears to be pro-forma only. She announced in May that she was going to make the run.

...Victoria Steele of Tucson has formed a committee to for a run at the Democratic nomination for an AZ House seat in LD26.

...In Maricopa County news -

- Kyle Jones, formerly a member of the Mesa City Council, has filed paperwork for a run at the Republican nomination for North Mesa Justice of the Peace. That office is currently held Lester Pearce, the brother of recently recalled (and now former) state senator Russell Pearce.

Not having followed Mesa politics until the last few months, all I know about Jones is what I read in the linked article, but between Jerry Lewis' victory over Russell this week and the appearance of an apparently well-respected Republican challenger to Lester, it's possible that the Pearce machine in Mesa has seen its best days..

...In Scottsdale news...

- Debra Komarnicki of north Scottsdalei, a sales person/manager of some kind for AT&T, is running for a seat on the city council. She moved here in June.

Of this year.

I don't know her. She may be well-meaning and highly qualified (or not, I really don't know), but Scottsdale is not known for voting for newbies here. Hell, most cities and towns in the country don't do that. Anything could happen, but my guess right now is that she doesn't stand a real chance this time around.

- Joe Meli, also of north Scottsdale, has formed a committee to run for City Council. Know even less about him than Komarnicki, but he looks to have been in Scottsdale longer than a few months.

...In Tempe news -

- GC Saarup has formed a committee for a run at a seat on the City Council. Know even less about him than about Meli, above.

Expect these posts to come with a more regular frequency as the calendar approaches and turns to 2012..

Frank Antenori: Putting the "bully" in "bully pulpit"

2011-11-12T10:35:00.001-07:00

State Sen. Frank Antenori (R-Hates Tucson, even though he lives there and represents part of it) has never been known as "one of the good guys" or even as particularly civil, especially toward Democrats and anybody else who dares to disagree with him, has sunk to a new low. He's added himself to the list of people who didn't get the message that LD18 voters sent Tuesday about how fed up the voters are with the arrogance, pettiness and personal agendas that dominate Arizona's politics.

From an editorial in the Sierra Vista Herald (emphasis added) -

Among the first lessons taught to our youngest students is the importance of getting along with others.

We learn at an early age to “play nice,” and to “treat others with respect.”

Apparently District 30 State Senator Frank Antenori skipped that lesson, or flunked kindergarten.

Shortly after Tuesday’s recall election that saw Senate President Russell Pearce lose his seat to challenger Jerry Lewis, Antenori ripped into the newly-elected fellow GOP member in an Arizona Capital Times interview.

“Cold shoulder? I want him out on the freaking lawn. I don’t even want him to have a desk in the building. He can caucus with the Democrats for all I care,” Antenori is quoted telling the newspaper.

This is the man who bullied the Pima County Supervisors into appointing him to the state senate in 2010 by publicly threatening that he wouldn't do anything to help Pima County if they didn't. At the time, he was already in the state house of representatives, not representing Pima County, even though he was elected to do just that.

With Antenori, like Pearce before him, elected office is all about his own personal agenda, not the needs of his constitutuents.

And the other Republicans in the AZ Senate must agree with that premise - the just elected him to a leadership position.

For the record: Jerry Lewis, the man who soundly defeated Russell Pearce, is as conservative as any other R at the lege. He is just civil about it. And that may be why Antenori and many of his caucus-mates already despise Lewis.

They're afraid he'll make them look bad by comparison.

David Safier at Blog for Arizona offers his take here.

Short Attention Span Musing...

2011-11-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

...Some people just didn't get the message from Tuesday's recall vote in LD18.

- Recalled state senator Russell Pearce wrote a rather delusional op-ed published by the Arizona Capitol Times. Aside from the expected self-pitying and self-righteous blathering (the recall was all about his anti-immigrant positions and he did nothing wrong. His opponenets made up his misuse and abuse of office and his meanness and arrogance toward the people of his district), he dropped some whoppers that weren't directly related to the recall election. My favorite:

...we lead the nation in many areas, such as economic recovery, safer neighborhoods, job creation, quality education...

Either Pearce is completely clueless about the realities of life in Arizona, or he's trying out for a spot on Faux News.

Or both.

- State Senator Sylvia Allen, not recalled but a close friend of Pearce's, issued a press release that blamed everyone but Pearce for the recall. Like Pearce above, she hasn't heard the message, or she has and is lying about it.

“Recalls have never and were never meant to be used against lawmakers whose sole fault was they disagreed with you on the issues. They’re designed to target people who may have committed crimes or were guilty of gross misconduct in office,” says Senator Sylvia Allen, President Pro Tem of the Senate.

So, is Allen saying that things like her friend's ordering the unlawful arrests of people who dissent from his extreme positions, protectiing a domestic abuser like Sen. Scott Bundgaard from answering for his crimes, and accepting "gifts" from the Fiesta Bowl and having the arrogance to say that he didn't have to report them or pay them back (before he quietly did so) aren't gross misconduct?

Or is she saying that violating free speech protections, ignoring domestic violence laws, and ignoring the ethical standards for elected officials are just "issues" where Pearce (and Allen) simply finds himself in disagreement with civil society?

...In other news, Governor Jan Brewer and her handlers are looking to strike while the iron is hot (read: before the AZ Supreme Court rules on her partisan interference with the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission). Steve at Arizona Eagletarian has posted the text of a letter she sent to the rest of the AIRC.

She's demanding that they scrap the draft maps completely and come up with districts that are more to her (and that of Marilyn Quayle). Without using the specific words, it's evident that she wants the AIRC to protect one "community of interest" above all others -

Arizona's community of Republican elected officials.

Even if the voters don't want incumbents interests served at the expense of Arizona's interests.

...The Republican members of the state senate have selected Senator Steve Pierce to be the president of the state senate. Like his predecessor (Pearce) and his colleague (Allen), he doesn't have a clue about what happened Tuesday.

From the Arizona Republic article linked above -

"We're going to continue the good things that Russell started," Pierce said. "He did a wonderful job. He did not deserve what happened to him."

Russell Pearce was drunk with power and contemptuous of his constituents and Arizonans as a whole (unless they lined his pockets with "gift" and "campaign contributions"), and he lost an election as a result.

That's what is *supposed* to happen, and he deserved every bit of it.

...From the "has even less of a clue than Pearce, Pierce, and Allen" department - Sen. Scott "Fists of Fury" Bundgaard has formed a reelection committee for the 2012 cycle. I won't predict that he can't make it through an R primary (made that mistake with Ben Quayle last year. Never again will make the mistake of overestimating the standards of R primary voters. However, his presence on a general election ballot could turn a safe R district into a D upset.

...In a long-rumored development, Richard Carmona, a former US Surgeon General, has entered the race for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate seat currently held by Jon Kyl. He joins Don Bivens, an attorney and former chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, in the race.

Obviously, it is still early, and other candidates may yet enter the race, but I have to say this -

I hope there *is* a primary. As long as it is clean, a primary is a good thing. Especially since neither of the announced candidates has ever run for office before (so far as I can find).

Arizona Democrats have a history of "clearing the field" for well-meaning but inexperienced candidates for high office, only to watch them get buried at the polls. A robust primary will not only remedy the "inexperience" problem, it will generate media and public attention for the Democratic candidates, something that has been sorely lacking during the last few election cycles.

In addition, like their predecessors, both are bound to have highly-paid professional "consultants" on their campaign staffs who will tell each to run as "Republican-lite" candidates.

This highly-unpaid amateur is telling each candidate (and any others who may also jump into the race) -

Run as "sincere" candidates who focus more on the needs and concerns of Arizonans (even if that ticks off a few of the loud and proud screamers in the electorate) than on "triangulating" positions that are calculated to completely alienate the smallest number of voters (but leave a vague bad taste in the mouths of *all* voters).

Pandering to the fringe Rs even though you will never get their votes may not cost you the votes of the Democratic base (it's not like they'll vote for Jeff Flake), but it will cost you something almost as valuable - their energy. A successful candidate doesn't just need votes, but also needs feet on the ground.

What those professional consultants won't tell you, in fact are afraid to tell you because they are worried about their next paying gig, is that most successful campaigns are more about the energy of the volunteers than they are about perfectly crafted and completely meaningless positions on issues.

Remember that.

Jack Harper wants the taxpayers to give Russell Pearce a quarter-milliion dollar going away gift

2011-11-09T20:09:00.001-07:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -
State Rep. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) is God's gift to writers. And I don't mean that in a good way...

The outlook for the post-Pearce era in Arizona politics is slowly coming into focus, and over the near term at least, it looks a lot like it did when Pearce was in the Senate. In other words, the Republicans are looking to siphon a lot of taxpayer money into their pockets, and not to benefit the people of Arizona.

From the East Valley Tribune, written by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services -

Arizona voters may not be quite done with Russell Pearce.

Questions of Pearce’s political future aside, a little-known provision of the Arizona Constitution requires the Legislature to act to reimburse any recalled public official his or her “reasonable special election campaign expenses."

State Rep. Jack Harper has jumped all over this idea. From his Twitter feed -

Now, while vague, there *is* a section of the Arizona Constitution that seems relevant.

From Article 8, Part 1, Section 6 -

The general election laws shall apply to recall elections in so far as applicable. Laws necessary to facilitate the operation of the provisions of this article shall be enacted, including provision for payment by the public treasury of the reasonable special election campaign expenses of such officer.

As the article linked above notes, this has never happened before, so no one, not even Ken Bennett, the Arizona Secretary of State, knows exactly what "reasonable" means in this context.

In addition, no one is quite sure who would be reimbursed. Pearce spent what will end up being more than $250K, but it was all other people's money. Harper's push on Pearce's behalf could end up directing taxpayer money into the coffers of Freeport McMoran, Pinnacle West, and other corporations whose PACs funded Pearce's failed campaign.

However, Harper, Pearce, and all concerned seem to be ignoring the other part of this clause in the AZ Constitution, the part about general election law applying to recall elections.

Under Arizona law, if someone spends money on a political activity (such as an election campaign), it has to be reported, in this case both as an expense and a personal contribution.

From Pearce's Pre-Recall Election Report, filed with the AZSOS, covering the period ending October 19, 2011 -

Pearce has documented no direct contributions or loans to his campaign, and none of the "in-kind" expenses totalled above were from Pearce himself.

In other words, either Pearce hasn't directly incurred any personal expenses related to the recall or he has failed to report campaign contributions and expenses.

In other words2, there's nothing to reimburse and there's no record to indicate that there is. And the "magical" appearance of any such records as evidence of reimbursable expenses will also constitute evidence of violations of campaign finance laws.

Probably not something that someone who is likely to run for some office somewhere next year wants hanging over his head...

Historic night in Arizona...

2011-11-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

For the first time in Arizona history, a sitting state legislator, the President of the Senate no less, has been removed from office mid-term by the voters.

Congratulations to Randy Parraz and all of the volunteers at Citizens for a Better Arizona for making this possible, and to Jerry Lewis...*Senator* Jerry Lewis...and his team for turning that possibility into a reality.

Elections night open thread

2011-11-08T19:47:00.010-07:00

...The Maricopa County Recorder's election results web page can be found here, but don't expect any returns to be posted before 8 p.m.

...Lewis on TV declaring victory in LD18! Whoooo hooooo! Hard to believe, but civility has a chance, even in Arizona...

...Gullett concedes! Stanton wins! Congratulations to the new mayor of Phoenix!

...16 of 16 precincts reporting, Lewis has 10816 votes, Pearce has 9188!

...Fourth posting of LD18 results show Lewis up by more than 1400 votes (14 of 16 precincts reporting)

...Third posting of LD18 results show Lewis up by more than 1300 votes (11 of 16 precincts reporting)

...Second posting of results show that Lewis is maintaining his lead, 10 of 16 precincts counted..

- First returns in LD18 (mostly early ballots) show Jerry Lewis leading incumbent Russell Pearce by more than 1000 votes, 53% to 47%.

- In the City of Phoenix elections, early returns show Greg Stanton up solidly over lobbyist Wes Gullett in the race for mayor, and show Thelda Williams and Daniel Valenzuela ahead of tea party types in their races for city council seats...

...Grain of salt time: exit polling has Lewis ahead. The source is Examiner.com, so make it a BIG grain of salt...

....It looks like Ohio's Issue 2, the Republican move to take away collective bargaining rights from public sector workers is going down in flames...

...Pre-election polling seems to be holding true, as Mississippi's anti-choice/birth control/women in general proposed amendment also seems to be going down to defeat, though not by as wide a margin as Issue 2 in OH...

Brief update on redistricting mess...

2011-11-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Steve at the Arizona Eagletarian has a far more comprehensive rundown here, but I like brevity, so here is mine...

Regarding the court filings seeking to stay and overturn the removal of Colleen Mathis, the independent chair of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) by Governor Jan Brewer and the Republicans caucus in the state senate, the pertinent dates/deadlines (from an email press release) -

Monday, 11/7 at 5 pm – Responses due for Motion to Stay Removal and Motion to Intervene

Tuesday, 11/8 at Noon – Reply to responses for Motion to Stay Removal and Motion to Intervene

Tuesday, 11/8 in the afternoon – Court will consider Motion to Stay Removal (no hearing) and a decision expected in Motion to Stay Removal.

Friday, 11/11 at 5 pm – Responses to petition for special action and any amicus briefs due

Monday, 11/14 at 5 pm – Reply to responses to petition for special action and amicus briefs

Thursday, 11/17 at 2 pm – Potential Oral Arguments on merits of petition for special action (25 mins per side.)

So to sum up, the state supreme court will (probably) decide tomorrow to grant or deny a stay of the removal, and will (probably) decide by the end of next week whether or not to overturn the removal in its entirety.

- Steve at the Arizona Eagletarian has linked to a couple of the court filings uploaded as Google docs, but let me summarize: Lisa Hauser, writing for the governor: "We can do what we want, when we want, to who we want, and our victims (the AIRC and the voters) can't say squat about it."

The response from Mathis and Linda McNulty and Jose Herrera, the Democratic members of the AIRC: "Wanna bet?"

- The Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments has reopened applications for the position of independent chair of the AIRC. The deadline for submitting applications is next Tuesday, November 15, at 5 p.m.

General info for applicants is here.

The application is here (note to applicants: while one of the Republican members of the AIRC lied on his application concerning tax liens, among other things, you shouldn't expect to get away with it if you do. Of course, even if you don't lie, the Rs will say you did...unless you're actually an R plant. Then they'll get on their knees in the middle of Washington Street and kiss your butt, even if you've committed violent crimes. See Bundgaard, Scott.).
Stay tuned...

Pearce camp digging deep into bag of dirty tricks as recall election draws near

2011-11-06T21:40:00.002-07:00

On Tuesday, voters in Mesa's LD18 will decide the political fate of State Sen. Russell Pearce, and in the light of recent polls that show him in a dead heat with or even behind his challenger, Jerry Lewis, Pearce and his followers are getting desperate.

After running a sham candidate, Olivia Cortes, in an attempt to siphon votes from Lewis, only to see her withdraw from the race, they are now running a robocall targeted at Latino voters.

Note: The animation is not part of the robocall, just the audio.

The call, with an actor using a Hispanic accent and trying to sound like a Democrat, is trying to suppress the anti-Pearce vote by announcing that Pearce and Lewis are Republicans (true) and that Democrats can effectively protest the lack of a Democratic candidate on the ballot by writing in another name, any other name (not true - under AZ law, such votes are meaningless unless the write-in candidate has previously registered with the AZ Secretary of State).

Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times has complete coverage here.

The political committee behind the robocalls is Safeguard Arizona's Future, SOS info here. It is chaired by Ronald Ludders, a tea party type and an employee of the Arizona Corporation Commission (according to his Facebook page). So far this cycle, they've reported almost no activity and only $327 cash on hand. My guess is that the robocalls cost more than that, so there should be some activity reported in the next filing.

Regardless of how Tuesday's election turns out, expect the dirty tricks to continue next year - Ludders formed a new committee just last week, Arizona Project. Given his tea party and ACC connections, one can guess where he will find money to spend/launder for R candidates.

Because while some pundits have declared that Pearce's political career is on the line Tuesday, I believe that he is arrogant enough that if he loses, he will A) fight to overturn the election results in court, and B) will not take the hint and go away. No matter what, he will be running for some office next year.

Still, better that he does that as a challenger than as an incumbent.

The Lewis campaign and Citizens for a Better Arizona have big GOTV efforts planned; contact either to volunteer to help out.

Redistricting-related meeting on Monday

2011-11-06T09:34:00.001-07:00

At 1 p.m Monday., the Arizona Commission on Appellate Court Appointments will hold an emergency meeting to discuss how they will nominate three Independents to be considered as replacements for Colleen Mathis, who was ousted as chair of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission this past week.

Note to anyone who plans to attend the meeting: it will be held in the Arizona State Courts Building at 1501 W. Washington in Phoenix (directly east of the state capitol, with Wesley Bolin Plaza in between) and will chaired by Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch. If she is running true to form, that means the meeting will start a 1 p.m. sharp, not "around 1", not "within a few minutes of 1", and not "1-ish", so plan accordingly.

Like most meetings of public bodies in Arizona (but unlike the closed meeting of the Republican caucus of the Senate last week where they wrangled votes for their kangaroo court of Mathis), public comments can be submitted to the Commission, whether in person, via snail mail, or via email.

Since I have to work Monday, I submitted a comment via email (jnc@courts.az.gov) -

Chief Justice Berch and Commissioners,

Regarding the discussion of a nominating process to fill a vacancy on the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC):

Ideally, you would wait until any and all court petitions pertaining to the removal of AIRC chair Colleen Mathis have been adjudicated before starting the nomination process to fill any vacancy (if that is the end result of the court actions), but redistricting is a time sensitive matter and it is only prudent to make appropriate preparations.

With that time sensitivity in mind, the simplest and perhaps fairest process would be to contact the original finalists for the Independent member slot, perhaps in the order of the number of votes they received during the original process, and ask each if they are still interested in serving as chair of the AIRC.

Those original nominees have been through the full vetting and nomination process. If any or all of the original nominees are still interested, it would greatly reduce any delay in the redistricting process.

In addition, even an abbreviated search process for new applicants runs the risk of opening up more opportunities for the sort of mischief that has been evident over the last few months, culminating in last week's removal of Mathis.

Having said all that, I wish upon you the best of good luck - the Arizona Supreme Court may yet make any preparations moot.

I also wish upon you the deepest patience - the Court may make your preparations absolutely necessary, at which point this commission will become the focus of the same extraordinary political pressures that have been directed at the AIRC.

Thank you for your consideration and service.

Regards,

Craig McDermott

Scottsdale

Representing myself

P.S. - My first instinct in writing this was to recommend that you send the Governor and State Senate a letter that says simply "Be careful what you wish for..." and then forward a list of three names for the Independent member of the AIRC - "Paul Bender", "Paul Bender", and "Paul Bender". After careful consideration, I opted for a more tactful approach. Especially since I don't know if Professor Bender is still even interested in the rather thankless job of Chair of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

...Not the most eloquent thing ever written, but I really did have to rein it in, as indicated in the "P.S.", which in and of itself reined in. I actually wanted to suggest that the members of the Appellate Court Appointments Commission go to the roof of the Courts Building, walk over to the side closest to the Capitol, turn around, and moon the Governor and Senate.

I also wanted to include this pic -

Arizona has its own Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland-style) - Governor Jan Brewer. Pic courtesy Lauren Kuby

However, since I wanted my comment to be taken seriously... :))

Email spammers follow current events. Who knew?

2011-11-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

Like most people, my email inbox receives at least a few dozen purely "spam" emails every day (to be fair, I probably receive a few more than average because my email address is on the sidebar of the blog). Most of the time, I completely ignore them.

On those few occasions when I do take note of them, it's because of discordant, almost mutually exclusive, subjects of the subject headings of emails in close proximity to each other, like when there are messages promising to help me enlarge my breasts right after the ones hawking pills to help with penis enlargement. Or when messages advertising Christian dating services are next to ones offering to help me find Mormon singles in my area while still others tout access to Jewish singles.

When looking at the subjects in my inbox, I wonder briefly who is more confused, the person(s) sending out the messages or the person(s) they work on.

After a quick chuckle, I delete them without reading the actual message.

On rare days however, one spam message come through that I just *have* to read...and today was one of those days.

From my email inbox, with the subject line "Greeting from Libyian Mamman Gaddafi Son's school friend." (copied and pasted - any typos or spelling or grammatical errors are the original writer's) -

Good day,

I am personal assistant to Mr. Seif al-Islam Gaddafi Son to Ex-President Mr.Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.

Because of the recent resolution by The International community for immediateseizure of the assets of the late president Mr. Muammar Gaddafi both in cashand properties around the world and Mr. Seif Al Islam Al Gaddafi been thechairman of Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF) beenin a hideout have asked me to urgently look for an international investmentpartner to assist with moving and investment of $6.9 Million US Dollars whichis in cash and is stashed in a secure Finance house some where to be disclosedto you there after you shown interest.

This cash can be moved directly to you in your country on a good arrangementand once you receive it you will help us to safe guard it or invest the moneyin a lucrative business based on the instruction. Please note that this is avery confidential transaction and should not be mentioned to a third party. Wewill be willing to give you 20% of the total cash for your help in thistransaction. If you accept the offer we want things to be donesoonest because of time due to the instability in Libya at the moment. Pleaseif you agree to help, you should not worry about your safety as we havelogistics in place to move the cash to you, but will want to have your interestfirst and devotion to abide with us and maintain confidentiality over the wholetransaction for security reasons. No risk attached, the transaction will bebacked up with legal documents.

If this interest you, kindly send me the following details:

1. Your full name

2. Your telephone and mobile number

3. Your age

4. Your sex

5. Your occupations

6. Your full contact address including city, state and country

Awaiting your urgent response.

May God bless you as you assist my family?

Yours faithfully,

Mr.Ibrahim Abdulaziz..Reply to this email : [DELETED]

Yes, it's the Nigerian scam updated into a Libyan scam.

Anybody want to make a bet on how long it is before Jan Brewer, Russell Pearce, and the rest of the gang are the stars of their own spam?

Dearest Friend,

I am the cousin of the neighbor of the cleaning lady of the lawyer for the cellmate of Mr. Ex-Senate President Russell K. Pearce. Because of the recent incarceration of Mr. Pearce and Ms. deposed Governor Jan Brewer, I have been contracted to move the treasury of Arizona, Mr. Pearce's priceless collection of toupees and many years of Fiesta Bowl swag, and a warehouse full of remainder copies of Ms. Brewer's book "Scorpions For Breakfast" to a safe location, . We need the help of a few ~~trusting~~ trustworthy ~~saps~~ people for this move. If you send us your money, your self respect, and your soul, we'll only take your money and self respect.

...You can write the rest.

:)

AIRC hearing in Scottsdale

2011-11-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening, well over 200 people gathered at the Granite Reef Senior Citizen Center in Scottsdale for one of the hearings held by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).

The room was so crowded that building staff had to put out dozens of extra chairs and there were still people stand around the sides of the room and outside where they still listen to the goings-on.

A couple of us made jokes that the Rs in the legislature weren't going to have time to completely shut down the meeting because the fire department would beat them to it.

However, the mayor of Scottsdale, Jim Lane, was in the audience, so the Scottsdale Fire Department was nowhere around.

Lane testifying

Steve at Arizona Eagletarian has a full write-up here, but I have a few observations about the meeting, the R talking points (and the early part of the hearing was an R propaganda-fest) -

- Commissioner Rick Stertz, the commissioner present at the hearing (and Russell Pearce's appointee), gave preference to elected officials, letting them speak first. Apparently, that has been the practice all along, even before the lege moved to usurp the "independence" in the independent redistricting process.

However, the average citizen had only two minutes to speak, where the electeds spoke for as long as they wanted to.

Apparently in Arizona, not only do alleged public servants not understand the concept of *public" service, they don't even acknowledge (or maybe simply don't understand) the concepts of basic courtesy, as in "hit the high points, submit the rest in writing, and get out of the way - a lot of other people have the right to be heard too".

- Republican State Rep. John Kavanagh was one of the electeds who testified at the hearing. In the interests of brevity, I won't rehash all of it (it was itself a rehash of the report generated by the GOPers kangaroo court...errr..."Joint Committee On Redistricting"), but suffice to say if Kavanagh or any of his associates choose to stand up and repeat that BS in court, they should bring a good defense attorney with them (hint: not Lisa Hauser; her involvement with this mess may cause her to need a defense attorney, but it doesn't make her one).

And they should bring a good toothbrush with them, in case the good defense attorney just isn't good enough and the judge is one that takes a dim view of perjury. Ya just don't know where that prison-issued toothbrush has been...

- Other than the generic R talking points excoriating the AIRC for failing to kiss R butt, there was a pattern to specific suggestions that the Rs made to the AIRC.

They want Fountain Hills to be placed in the same district(s) as Scottsdale. They consider Scottsdale and Fountain Hills to be an unbreakable "community of interest". One woman testified that placing the two areas in separate districts was unacceptable because while she lives in Fountain Hills, she likes to shop in Scottsdale.

I only *wish* I was making that part up, but alas, my imagination just isn't that creative.

Anyway, the mentality exhibited seemed to be less that district boundaries are lines on a map and more that they walls across streets.

Not the truth, but the truth and intellectual honesty was in short supply during the early part of the meeting.

One thing I'd say to the woman who conflated shopping and district lines if I could - the merchants of north Scottsdale don't care about what district (or state, or country) their customers are from, so long as they leave a lot of money here when they visit.

The other consistent map-specific talking point was that the AIRC should change the lines to include south Scottsdale in the same districts as north Scottsdale.

I haven't heard such professions of solidarity with south Scottsdale from the denizens of north Scottsdale since...

...the last round of redistricting.

The rest of the time, north Scottsdale has as much regard for south Scottsdale as it does for Tempe, Mesa, or a pile of dog poop on the sidewalk.

And after the maps are finalized, and regardless of how the lines turn out, their attitude will return to the normal not-so-benign contempt (gee, can ya tell I live in south Scottsdale? :) ).

Note: Scottsdale City Councilman Bob Littlefield was there and while he is from north Scottsdale, he is an exception to that observation. Actually, among Scottsdale's "power elite", he is *the* exception.

- As mentioned earlier, most of the early part of the meeting was Republicans tag-teaming to shovel the same pile of BS.

However, later in the evening, the speakers tended toward being Independents or Democrats, all of whom supported the independence of the AIRC and competitive districts.

Many of them spoke eloquently and passionately, many spoke bluntly and passionately.

However, the best line of the night went to Doris Freeman -

"You think you are living in a Republican state? You don't. You live in a banana republic."

Freeman testifying

While the video of the meeting isn't up yet, when it is it will be available here, and it's worth a view...if you need to elevate your blood pressure.

Some pics from the meeting -

The crowd

Kavanagh ~~lying~~ "testifying"

Steve Muratore of the Arizona Eagletarian (seated) and Kavanagh. Check out the skeptical look from Muratore.

Commission Rick Stertz (seated center), AIRC Republican counsel Joe Kanefield (right) and a representative from Strategic Telemetry whose name I can't spell (left)

Independent Eric Kurland testifying

Jan and her clan waging open war on democracy in Arizona...

2011-11-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

Started this post last night, but was far too outraged to write sensibly. Still pissed off, but am now back to my usual snarky self... :)

Arizona's Republican Governor, Jan Brewer, and her accomplices in the Republican caucus of the state senate have dropped all pretense of respect for the will of the voters.

After spending the days leading up to Tuesday's special session wrangling enough votes to pull this off (strangely, doing so behind closed doors, something they accused the chair of the AIRC doing so they could rationalize removing her from the AIRC), Brewer called the legislature into a special session to remove Independent Colleen Mathis from the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).

Shortly thereafter, the Senate Republicans held a political necktie party and voted to remove Mathis from the AIRC.

Needless to say (but I'm still going to say it :) ), this is going to end up in court, starting with the Arizona Supreme Court, but probably moving to the federal judiciary before long.

Interestingly, and I'm not sure how it will affect deliberations, but with the Chief Justice's recusal from the case (because of her part in screening the applicants for the AIRC), that leaves Vice-Chief Justice David Hurwitz to preside over the case. The interesting part is that Hurwitz has been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Barack Obama.

That leaves Hurwitz open to pressure from Arizona's US Senators, Jon Kyl and John McCain, who can block his nomination from even reaching the floor of the Senate if the Arizona Supreme Court doesn't rule the way that they prefer.

And the Republican members of Arizona's Congressional delegation are among those who are most upset by the independence of the redistricting commission and put a lot of pressure on Brewer to do something to intimidate the AIRC.
Many Democrats and Independents (and even a few Republicans, the ones who realize how Tuesday contemptible act by Jan and her clan could come back to bite them in the ass next year at the polls, or next week in Russell Pearce's case, are outraged.

From State Sen. David Schapira (D-Tempe), the Senate Democratic leader, via Bloomberg (written by Amanda Crawford) -

“There is no basis for this removal other than pure partisan politics,” said Senate Minority Leader David Schapira of Tempe. There were no findings of fact proving misconduct, Schapira and other Democrats said.

From Andrei Cherny, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party (same source as above) -

“Governor Brewer’s power grab is a clear abuse of the powers of her office,” Andrei Cherny, chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, said in a statement.

From Sara Presler, mayor of Flagstaff, via the Arizona Daily Sun -

"This is nuts. The governor went to New York to sell her book and the state is 'Home Alone.'"

Just as predictably, the Republicans are gloating.

From the Facebook page of Sen. Ron Gould (R-The Confederacy Will Rise Again!) (Check out Rep. Doris Goodale's comments) -

Rep. Jack Harper is, of course, being his usual self. From his Twitter feed (I don't even need to add the snark here; there is nothing that I can write that can top the ridiculousness that is our Jack) -

Possibly the most interesting comment came from Sen. Al Melvin. It isn't related directly to the AIRC or the Republicans' scheme to blow up the process because there are too many competitive districts, but since it highlights their hypocrisy AND it was posted during or near the time of the Senate's floor vote -

The fun/frustrating part was watching KAET's Horizon tonight with Schapira and Sen. Steve Pierce. Pierce kept talking about the testimony before the Republican ~~kangaroo court~~ Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting. Pierce said that the testimony formed the foundation of the reasons that the Rs used to rationalize removing Mathis.

What Pierce didn't say, in fact couldn't say, is that their "indictment" of Mathis, as spurious as it is, was based on *sworn* testimony, the same way as real indictments in real courts.

Because it wasn't.

Go to the lege's video archive page and watch any (or all) of the meetings.

It was mostly an unsworn and unsubstantiated echo chamber (and the Rs bullied any members of the public who dared to go off script).

Also, contrast the Republican high-speed railroad that is aimed at Mathis (and also the Democratic members of the AIRC, but mostly at Mathis) with the painstaking regard for the "proprieties" in the ethics investigation of Republican Sen. Scott Bungaard over his violent assault on his then-girlfriend by the side of a Phoenix freeway..

With Mathis, they have is unsubstantiated allegations supported only by unsworn testimony, yet they scrambled to politically lynch her this week (perhaps worried that they'll be losing Senate President Russell Pearce's vote after next week's recall election?).

With Bundgaard, there are police reports, eye witness accounts, and even court decisions.

All sworn. All documented.

They can claim that they aren't motivated by partisanship, but their own behavior gives lie to their denials.

And it flies directly in the face of the voters' will, expressed when they created the independent redistricting process.

No anti-AIRC special session for now, but don't relax yet

2011-10-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

OK. The situation is a little fluid, so everything I'm about to write could change in a minute, but here goes -

As of right now, there probably won't be a special session of the legislature on Tuesday, and it is looking less likely that there will one at all.

As recently as Monday morning, the Arizona Capitol Tmes was reporting that Republican Governor Jan Brewer would call a special session for Tuesday to remove the members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission for not producing district maps that are lopsided enough in favor of the Republicans.

However, by Monday evening, the Cap Times had posted a story saying that there definitely will NOT be a special session Tuesday. (Subscription required for both stories)

On the other hand, Steve Muratore at The Arizona Eagletarian is reporting (from KPNX's Brahm Resnick) that GOP senators have been advised to be at the Capitol for a closed caucus meeting at 12:30 p.m.

In other words, keep an eye on this. It is very possible that the GOPers are planning to try a sneak attack to remove the Commissioners on no real notice (note: the legislature long ago exempted itself from open meeting requirements including a notice period for meetings) so that there isn't enough time for opposition to organize at the Capitol.

There may yet be a "Day of the Long Knives", wielded by the Governor and lege and targeting the AIRC.

Stay tuned...

The upcoming week - Special session (maybe), special meetings, and more

2011-10-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

...The biggest meeting of the week is only a rumor at this point, but it is a rather persistent one. There is a strong rumor going around that Republican Governor Jan Brewer is going to call a special session of the legislature to remove the Independent and Democratic members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC). One of the rumors going around was that the special session would be on Monday, but that seems to be off of the table. It may have been R posturing, or it may have been due to an inability to line up enough votes to do the deed on Monday (they need 20 of the 21 Rs in the Senate to be in attendance and on board to pull this off, if they go the special session route.

Details if/when they become available.

...In a perhaps related development, the AIRC has scheduled a business meeting for Monday at 6:20 p.m. at the Adams House in Phoenix (1100 W. Washington Street). The one action item on the agenda:

Legal advice, direction to counsel, discussion and possible action regarding actions relating to letter from Governor Brewer concerning Commission conduct. Commission may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public, for the purpose of obtaining legal advice and providing direction to counsel (A.R.S. §38-431.03 (A) (3) and (4)).

...The AIRC has a full slate of public hearings scheduled for the week - Phoenix on Tuesday, Cottonwood on Wednesday, Scottsdale on Thursday, Marana on Friday, and Casa Grande and Green Valley on Saturday.

However, stay tuned - if the Governor and her associates in the legislature go through with their craven scheme to ignore the will of the voters and blow up the independent redistricting process, that schedule of public hearings on the new lines for Congressional and legislative districts will change to a schedule of court appearances, dates and times TBA.

- Also on Monday, the Joint ~~Republican~~ "Legislative" Committee on ~~Messing With The~~ Redistricting ~~process and Commission~~ is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. in HHR4.

...In other areas of interest...

- The Arizona Corporation Commission's hearing schedule is here. In addition to the hearings, they are holding two special open meetings for Tuesday/Wednesday and Friday.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is meeting Monday and Wednesday.

- The Scottsdale City Council is meeting Tuesday, both in a special meeting for appointments to City boards and commissions and a regular meeting. One item of interest to political geeks: an item to remove John Washington from the City's Airport Advisory Commission. Recently, the Council has OK the building of well more than 1000 apartments near the Scottsdale Airport, something that Washington thinks is ill-advised and more importantly, a violation of some agreements with the FAA that the Scottsdale airport operates under. Washington has contacted the FAA directly, and because of that contact, Mayor Jim Lane has agendized a motion to remove Washington from the Commission. I can't say for certain how the vote will turn out, but whatever happens Tuesday, don't be shocked if Washington runs for Council or Mayor next year.

- The Tempe City Council is meeting Thursday.

Early notice: On Wednesday, December 7, the Community Involvement Group of the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. More details as the date gets closer.

"Republicans moralizing about deficits. That's like an arsonist moralizing about fire safety"

2011-10-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

Vice-President Joe Biden is a man known for his directness and bluntness, rare qualities in a place like D.C. Occasionally, that can result in an embarrassing moment, especially if there is an open mic within range.

OK, it's more often than "occasionally"... :)

However, every so often, Biden's directness is spot on and appropriate.

From the Orlando Sentinel, h/t to Taegen Goddard's Political Wire for spotting this (emphasis added) -

Vice President Joe Biden turned a dinner speech to Florida Democrats at Walt Disney World into a pep rally Friday night, blasting Republicans as obstructionists with whom he said the administration can no longer work.

{snip}

"That's what I find absolutely bizarre: Republicans moralizing about deficits. That's like an arsonist moralizing about fire safety," he said. "These guys have zero credibility."

Later...

AZ Republicans taking the "3 Bs"* approach to redistricting

2011-10-28T16:25:00.001-07:00

* = "Bluster, Bully, and Bullshit"

Arizona's Republicans, led by their officeholders, are crying "foul" over the independent redistricting process.

They've whined about all sorts of alleged misdeeds and wrongdoing on the part of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), but mostly they're upset over the fact that, unlike the last incarnation of the AIRC, this Commission is actually living up to the "Independent" part of their name.

They started their attacks with "bluster", ranging from busing scads of "grass roots" Republicans to AIRC hearings and meetings all over the state, many of whom read, with voices filled with self-righteous indignation, from a script of fabricated talking points (seriously, many of them walked up to the microphone script in hand and read the same text over and over) to press releases denouncing the AIRC as partisan and not in keeping with the wishes of Arizona's voters.

They then added "bully" to their repertoire, first with threats from people like Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, a scam artist of long renown, ginning up an "investigation" of the Commission to the current kangaroo court conducted by the members of the Republican majority in the legislature where people like Republican state senator Andy Biggs has bullied and ridiculed members of the public who don't drink the Kool-Aid and follow the script of "independent redistricting really bad, Republican officeholders really good" (check out the video archive here; as of this writing, there are archives of four of the meetings of the Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting. Each of them contains many examples of this behavior. Also, Steve at Arizona Eagletarian has reporting here and here).

Note: While I was writing this post, word came down that Horne has been disqualified from investigating the AIRC.

Also, Jan Brewer, Arizona's Republican governor is threatening to call a special session of the Arizona Senate in order to remove the commissioners for what she calls "gross misconduct" and I call "living up to the 'Independent' in 'Independent Redistricting Commission'."

As for the "bullshit" part of the "3 Bs", well, that's been an integral part of the game plan all along.

Whether it was the assertion that renowned Constitutional scholar Paul Bender was unqualified to even be nominated to the AIRC and suing to have him removed from the list of nominees, the claims that Colleen Mathis, selected as the independent chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission was actually a Democrat, the assertions that the AIRC has been too secretive in its operations and deliberations crafting the draft maps that have the Republicans so upset, or more, the Rs have been flinging bullshit against the AIRC's wall for months hoping that some of it sticks.

So far, their efforts have only left the Rs with stinky hands, but that hasn't made them less determined to undermine the AIRC and the will of the voters, who created the AIRC specifically to remove elected officials from the redistricting process.

A few facts:

The AIRC has held dozens of public meetings and hearings and accepted *hundreds* of hours of public input on the maps and the factors that should be considered when laying out the new legislative and Congressional districts.

Colleen Mathis *is* an Independent. The issue of her husband's support for a Democratic candidate in one election ignores the fact that her husband has also supported Republican candidates, attending a Bush inauguration ball with her.

Professor Paul Bender, a true Independent (more liberal than the Rs or Ds) is so qualified that the members of Commission on Appellate Court Appointments, most of whom are accomplished in their fields, enthusiastically supported his nomination when screening the applicants for the AIRC (except for Doug Cole, Chuck Coughlin's plant on the commission, Cole was like Mikey of Life Cereal fame - he hates everything...that doesn't result in increased power and profits for him, Coughlin, and their clients at HighGround).

Another thing area that has sparked Republican complaints is that the draft maps have resulted in incumbents such as Congressmen David Schweikert and Ben Quayle facing off in a primary.

What they don't mention in their complaints is that both Schweikert and Quayle have freely chosen to run in a district that they don't live in (Schweikert lives in draft CD4, Quayle in draft CD9, but both would rather run in north Scottsdale, which is in draft CD6). Something that is allowed under the US Constitution, but it is rather cynical for them to make that choice and then complain about the unfairness of the AIRC.

Note: The draft CD9 is competitive, leaning slightly R, while both the draft CD4 and draft CD6 are overwhelmingly R. Draft CD4 has a strong rural component though, and Schweikert is most definitely not an "honorary judge of cow milking contests at 4-H fairs" kind of guy.

As for the whining that the AIRC has sacrificed "communities of interest" to bolster "competitiveness" -

The AIRC's competitiveness analysis of the draft maps are here (legislative) and here (Congressional).

Based on the voter registration numbers, only one of the 30 legislative districts is truly competitive and maybe four others have a realistic chance of breaking that way. Otherwise, 18 LDs will be solidly R and seven will be solidly D. Even if all five of the competitive and quasi-competitive districts go Democratic (possible, but not likely), that would result in 18-12 and 36-24 splits (favoring the Rs) in the AZ Senate and House respectively. Not exactly leading to a positive change in AZ there.

Also based on the registration numbers, the Congressional districts wouldn't be much better. Two of the nine Congressional districts would be competitive, while four would be solidly R and three would be solidly D (one of the D districts would be poachable by the Rs, but it would be an uphill battle).

Based on the numbers, about the only real "community of interest" whose interests have been sacrificed is the community called "Arizona", which stands to gain the most from having districts competitive enough to force candidates and officeholders to actually represent their constituents, not just their friends at country club cocktail parties and tea party "Kool-Aid" drinking sessions.

Of course, the draft maps *do*protect the "community of interest" that least needs protection -

Republican officeholders.

And that fact won't change no matter how much they whine about things in an attempt to intimidate the AIRC into making the maps even less competitive than they are already.

The second round of hearings is winding down, but there is still time to add your voice in support of an increased number of truly competitive districts.

The AIRC will travel to places like Yuma, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Marana, Casa Grande and Cottonwood in the next week. Make plans to be at one or more (if possible) hearings. If that isn't feasible, the AIRC accepts public input via phone, email, or through their website.

...In a related matter, some pics from the AIRC hearing held in Mesa on Wednesday evening (note - the overall turnout was light, but out of two dozen speakers, only one or two came out against competitive districts):

Commissioner Scott Freeman, the commissioner in attendance Wednesday

Korinne Kubena Belock of Strategic Telemetry giving a overview of the redistricting process

Tempe Democratic activist Lauren Kuby speaking in support of competitive districts

State Rep. Lynne Pancrazi, advocating for keeping Yuma and La Paz counties together, and out of a Maricopa County-dominated LD

Jay Schlum, mayor of Fountain Hills, testifying in favor of changing the maps to put FH together with other northeast valley communities like Rio Verde. Other local elected officials there, from places like Queen Creek, Apache Junction, Gilbert, Chandler, and more similarly spoke on behalf of issue relevent to their particular communities.

AIRC hearing in Mesa Wednesday evening

2011-10-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's fairly short notice, because it wasn't on the original list of the second round of hearings announced by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), but on Wednesday (tomorrow as I write this, "today" as many of you read it), the AIRC will hold a meeting to solicit public input on their draft maps for the next decade's Congressional and legislative districts.

Details:

Time - 6 p.m.

Place - Mesa Convention Center, Palo Verde I Building B Main Campus, 263 North Center St., Mesa, AZ 85201

If you are travelling to Mesa from the west, the easiest route is Loop 202 east to Country Club/SR87, turn right/south on Country Club to University. Turn left/east on University, travelling to Center St. Turn right/south on Center, travelling approximately 1/10 of a mile to #263.

Less easy (but not difficult) is US60 east to Country Club, turn left/north on Country Club. Travel to Broadway, turning right/east on Broadway. Travel east to Center, turning left/north on Center. Travel to #263 (approximately .9 miles).

Or you can just use the GPS system in your car or on your phone. :)

However you get there though, it's worth a couple of hours of your time.

Interesting phone call for a Sunday evening...

2011-10-23T21:48:00.001-07:00

The district lines haven't even been finalized yet, but I received my first polling call of the election season.

Six potential candidates were mentioned, but only three were the focus of the call.

Mentioned only:

Harry Mitchell, the former teacher, mayor, city council member, state senator and current husband, father, grandfather, icon and mentor (geez, is it too obvious that I really wish Harry would reconsider his decision not to run next year? :) )

Neil Giuliano, the former Republican mayor of Tempe and current Democrat

David Schapira, the current state senator from LD17 and Senate Democratic leader

Focused on:

Kyrsten Sinema, current LD15 state senator and author (and many other things). Easily the most liberal member of this field

Andrei Cherny, current chair of the Arizona Democratic Party and former staffer in the Clinton White House

Jon Hulburd, a lawyer, businessman, and 2010 candidate for Congress in the current CD3. Easily the most conservative member of this field

The call was pretty standard with questions about if I thought the country/state/my area was headed in the right direction, rating the importance of certain issues in next year's election and general impressions some potential candidates (the six named above), voting habits, and so on.

Then the call moved into thoughts on potential matchups between specific candidates.

The potential matchups named were Sinema-Hulburd, Hulburd-Cherny, Harry-Cherny (I think. My notes went kind of fuzzy here. Turns out I have trouble taking good notes while keeping one eye on the baseball game, posting my status on Facebook, holding my cell phone to one ear and typing one-handed. Who knew? LOL), and Sinema-Cherny-Hulburd.

Then it moved into a sorta-push poll/testing possible negative messages section, reciting a list of negative statements about Sinema and Hulburd and asking me if the statements impacted my opinions of the pair.

Obviously, I can't state definitively who put the poll in the field, but given that the surveyor focused on three candidates, and only tested negative messages about two of them...well, I'm an Occam's Razor kind of guy (not necessarily a perfect approach in assessing political developments, but it'll do this far out from the election)...

What I can state definitively to the folks behind this poll, and to anyone else considering entering the race is that my support and vote won't go to the candidate with the strongest progressive bonafides or who runs as the most Republican-lite or has the most polished professional resume.

The candidate who I think will work hardest for the district and the state will get my support and vote. I certainly had my disagreements with some of Harry Mitchell's votes and positions on individual issues, but his votes and positions were what he thought was right for the best interests of his constituents.

He may have chosen to forego another campaign, but I expect no less from any candidate that wants my support.

I know, that attitude may be a little naively idealistic, perhaps surprisingly so for someone as cynical as me, but that's the way it is.

Let the infighting begin...

Edit on 10/24 to add:

Last night I received a phone call from someone who is in a position to know about these things (aka - someone who is more of a campaign insider than me), and they informed me that Occam's Razor is a little dull. They informed me that the campaign that I hinted may have been behind the poll in fact wasn't, and that it was one of the other two candidates.

Since paying for polls is generally listed as a campaign expense (though it is an expense that is frequently is not listed directly but is buried in "consulting fees"), I did a little research on the FEC's website and found that only one of the three, Jon Hulburd, has an active campaign committee. In fact, that candidate's committee just filed a Statement of Organization on September 9, 2011.

FWIW, while this news doesn't raise or lower my opinion of any of the candidates, it is research I should have done before posting. I promise to do a better job in future coverage.

End edit...

A little politics, a little wine: Just another Thursday night in Scottsdale

2011-10-22T11:52:00.050-07:00

Thursday evening, Zocalo Public Square, along with ASU, put on a panel about how Arizona has moved to the forefront of America's political discussion.

The panel was led by Marc Lacey, Phoenix bureau chief for the New York Times, and included Jennifer Steen, a political science professor at ASU, Art Hamilton, a long-time figure on the Arizona political scene (including more than a quarter-century in the Arizona House of Representatives), and Tom Zoellner, an author, former journalist, and fifth-generation Arizonan.

(left to right - Lacey, Steen, Hamilton, and Zoellner)

The event took place at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA).

Zocalo Public Square has its report on the event here, and some brief offerings on the topic from a group of observers of the Arizona scene here.

ZPS's write-up is decent (if a little too "cheerleader" for my taste), but it did leave out a few important things...like my impressions. :)

Lacey

...Lacey and the panelists, as expected, knew their stuff, but they made a couple of factual errors, the most glaring of which was Lacey's statement that the US Supreme Court has overturned Arizona's Clean Elections system. If fact, as bad as their decision was, they only set aside the matching provisions section of the law.

However, the few errors were very minor. My biggest quibble with the session was that it was so short.

While the discussion was nearly 90 minutes long, the topic can barely be skimmed in that time. They tried, but most of the more in-depth talk was during the after-event wine social. I didn't stay for more than a few minutes of that, so I can't really write about that part of the evening. Maybe if it had involved beer... :)

The topics covered in the main discussion included the immigration debate, the state's gun culture, the decline of civility in in politics and other civic matters, electoral demographics and more.

Of course, my guess is that both the organizers of the event and the panelists understand that an in-depth analysis was impossible to achieve at such a short event, but also realize that the discussion needs to start somewhere.

Hamilton

...Hamilton delivered the best observations, and the best one-liners, of the evening, illustrating both his long experience with Arizona's politics and his quick wit.

- "The ultimate affront was when a friend of mine, the just-past speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, told me he was glad we were in the news because it made him feel better about Mississippi." (from Zocalo's report on the event; I noted the quote, but my notes sucked :) )

- SB1070 was an "E-ticket ride" to a full term as governor for Jan Brewer

- "If you think the cost of education is high, consider the cost of ignorance."

- When Lacey asked Hamilton to "psychanalyze" the legislature and other leaders of Arizona's politics, Hamilton responded with "I would suggest 'psycho' without the 'analyzing.' "

- One subject area where Hamilton was far more tactful than most other observers (including this one) would be was on the topic of the influence of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, on public policy proposals in Arizona. He said that ALEC may have a conservative bent, but it is a legitimate organization.

I would have said that ALEC exists mostly to put corporate interests with deep pockets together with legislators with shallow morals.

Steen

...Steen, the ASU professor, brought an outsider's perspective (formerly on the faculties of Boston College and Yale) and has some experience in partisan activity (former PC, delegate to a national convention and member of the Electoral College). However, it was easy to see her academic background - while she made some dead-on observations, she loves statistics and wants to see some hard numbers of the effect of SB1070 on the number of Hispanic residents in Arizona.

Zoellner

...Zoellner, an author and former journalist, has worked for Gabrielle Giffords and is a fifth-generation Arizonan.

- I don't know Zoellner, but he won my respect early on when he mentioned (and gave credit to) Jon Talton's term about the Arizona economy, the "Real Estate Industrial Complex."

- He noted that in 2010 when he returned to help with the Giffords campaign, he almost didn't recognize his hometown (Tucson) because the political environment there and statewide has become so toxic and "nasty."

- He also noted that much of the contentiousness/increase in nativism in AZ may be due to the generational shift of the state's demographics. A majority of the state's older (>65 years old) is white/Anglo, while a majority of its younger (<18) residents are Latino/other ethnic or racial group), and the older folks are *not* happy about that reality.

Overall, while it wasn't an occasion where most experienced observers of Arizona politics would learn something new or gain some heretofore unknown insight, it was nice to just sit and talk about politics without the shouting of tea party/Republican types. It was a serious discussion for serious people with a serious interest in public policy, and more of this is needed.

There were a few members of the audience that I knew - Steve Muratore of The Arizona Eagletarian was there, asking the question about ALEC that brought forth the tactful response from Art Hamilton. I'd have taken a picture of him asking the question, but it would have been a pic of the back of his head.

Probably not a pic that would add to the story. :))

Also at the discussion was Jerry Gettinger, a friend and occasional contributor to this blog.

Jerry asking a question

The audience. Note the TV cameras. The event was recorded for a November broadcast on C-SPAN.

Later...

Republican-led legislature going after Independent Redistricting Commission

2011-10-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

...Once again, "the law is the law" types in the legislature show their true colors - the "law is the law" - except for them.

At least the members of this committee haven't assaulted a woman by the side of the freeway or aimed a pistol at a reporter.

Yet.

From the Arizona Republic, written by Mary Jo Pitzl -

Legislative leaders want to take a good, hard look at the draft redistricting maps. They've scheduled a Friday meeting for the newly formed Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting.

The committee will be chaired by Rep. Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, and Senate Majority Leader Steve Pierce, R-Prescott. Six others also will serve on the panel. No meeting time has been set.

AZBlueMeanie at Blog For Arizona has a post here, with a few more details from an article in the Arizona Capitol Times.

The meeting notice isn't posted on the lege's website as yet.

On November 7, 2000, the voters passed an amendment to the Arizona Constitution removing the legislature's ability to create its own districts and instead creating an *independent* redistricting commission.

Since November 8, 2000, the members of the legislature have been working to undermine the will of the voters and the independence of the redistricting commission. This is just the latest gambit in a long line of schemes.

They were successful in subverting the process and the commission a decade ago. One of the ways to stop them this time around is to keep the bright glare of sunshine on them. As soon as I know the time of the meeting, I'll post it here.

Arpaio Testifies At Thomas' Ethics Hearing

2011-10-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio likes to portray himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff" or something similarly grandiose and self-serving.

However, when he testified before the panel investigating former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, he portrayed himself as something else.

I'm just trying to figure who or what he was playing.

From the Arizona Republic, written by JJ Hensley -

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio does not recall many of the details related to the investigations that have threatened the careers of former County Attorney Andrew Thomas and one of his top prosecutors.

{snip}

"I don't recall" was Arpaio's most common answer when attorneys pressed him for details.

Upon reading the srory and watching the video (embedded in the Republic story), I had to sit back and figure out what role Arpaio was playing on Tuesday.

Was it -

Ronald Reagan? The former president may have been best known for evading questions about his involvement in the Iran/Contra scandal with "I don't recall". However, while Reagan's politics were almost as abominable as Arpaio's (in a different way, however), I can say one positive thing about the man -

He could deliver a punch line.

And Arpaio doesn't have a funny bone in his body.

pic courtesy IMDB

Alberto Gonzales? The former US Attorney General is famous for his use of "I don't recall" to protect himself (and others) from an investigation into the firing of US attorneys who refused to trump up cases against prominent Democrats and other critics of his former bosses, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove.

Hmmm...probably not. Even though Gonzales was a fan of torture and an enemy of civil rights, I can't see Arpaio ever acting like someone named "Gonzales."

pic courtesy OnePennySheet.com

So, if Arpaio wasn't doing his best Reagan imitation and he wasn't doing a Gonzales imitation either, who could it be?

Hmmmm...........I've got it!

pic courtesy KickingTheCanDownTheRoad.com

Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann could be showing off their physical flexibility by Wednesday...

2011-10-17T20:27:00.001-07:00

...because they could go from kissing Joe Arpaio's butt Monday to kicking themselves Wednesday...

Republican Presidential candidates Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain spent time in Arizona Monday, kissing up to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other local nativist bigwigs in separate smoochfests.

On Tuesday, Arpaio is scheduled to testify before the ethics hearing looking into the conduct of Arpaio's long-time ally, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

Given the not-insignificant possibility of perjury or Arpaio invoking his right against self-incrimination, the people who spent Monday trying to get closer to Arpaio than the other R candidates could ending spending Wednesday trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and him.

Since after February (maybe sooner!) neither one is likely to have much to do, Bachmann and Cain should plan to put out a new workout DVD - "Kissin' and Kickin'!"

Cain and Bachmann could lead their followers in an elegantly simple five-step routine -

1. Bend over and pucker up.
2. Stand up quickly and administer a palmsmack to their foreheads.
3. Jump up, whirl in the air, kicking their own butts in mid-whirl (and mid-air).
4. Upon landing, run a full speed away from the spot where they puckered up. One possible variation: if there is a full moon out, howl at it while running.
5. Repeat until exhausted or the soft-spoken folks in white coats come to take them away, ha haaa!

The NRA, Fast and Furious, and Wide Receiver: What a difference a few years makes

2011-10-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

By now, most people have heard of the "Fast and Furious" scandal, stemming from an operation conducted out of the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). During that sting, a number of guns were allowed to "walk" across the border to Mexico in order to allow BATFE to track an organization of "straw" gun buyers.

The operation became a scandal when some of the guns started turning up at Mexican crime scenes, and even were involved in the killing of a Border Patrol agent in southern Arizona.

The operation has come in for criticisms from many quarters and is the subject of Congressional investigations.

While some of the criticisms are certainly justified, the loudest critics seem to have selective memories.

Just a few years ago, during the previous presidential administration, another very similar BATFE effort called Operation Wide Receiver did much the same thing - allowed weapons to cross the border with Mexico, ostensibly to use the weapons to track criminal organizations there.

It failed, not as spectacularly as Fast and Furious, but it still failed miserably.

At the time in 2006, it pretty much escaped notice. Certainly, many of the critics of Fast and Furious now ignored Wide Receiver then.

The NRA is a good example of this.

They started criticizing BATFE and the Department of Justice over this in February, following up in February again, February (yet again!), March, March (again), April, May, June, June (again), June (yet again!), July, July (again), July (yet again!), July (one more time for good measure), August, and September.

That list is just the NRA's press releases that directly reference the operation. It doesn't include the anti-Mexico/Central America propaganda spouted by the NRA's communications shop. They spent the spring trying to deflect attention from the inconvenient fact that most of the crime guns in Mexico come from the United States.

In addition to the press releases, Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president and the primary voice and face of the NRA has been ranting into any microphone that somebody puts in front of him ("Biggest cover up since Watergate" is my personal favorite).

By comparison, the NRA's press releases on Operation Wide Receiver -

[crickets chirping]

Now, I'm not accusing the NRA of engaging in anything illegal here. However, if they ever want to regain some credibility in civil society, they need to become more than a partisan press release generator/marketing agency for gun manufacturers and retailers.

Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution has a more in-depth column on Fast and Furious here.

This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters' mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.

Campaign committees update...

2011-10-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

...and some sad news in the "he's not running" department..

First up, the sad news - Harry Mitchell, the long-time Tempe (and Arizona) icon announced that he will NOT seek election to Congress next year.

From his Facebook page -

"While having the confidence, energy and strong support for a successful campaign in a new Tempe-centered district, I’ve decided against pursuing it. While my life in public service has taught me that positive change – no matter how difficult – is possible, I’d rather spend my energy here at home than be steeped in the partisan infighting, gridlock and subsequent dysfunction that has overtaken Washington. I, like many others, simply do not have the patience for that anymore."

While the selfish part of me hopes that he reconsiders his decision, the part of me that is in awe of his more than four decades of public service (teacher, councilman, mayor, state senator, U.S. Congressman) only says -

THANK YOU HARRY!

I respect his decision, but fervently wish it was otherwise.

There will be more (lots more!) written about this at a later time. Right now, on to the rest of the post.

Note: Where a legislative or Congressional district is specified, that number is likely to change once the redistricting process is complete.

In U.S. Congress campaign news, Tucson lawyer Christopher Scileppi has formed a committee to run for CD7 as a GOPer.

Seriously, where the FEC's form asks for partisan affiliation, he entered "GOP".

...Warren Petersen of Gilbert has formed a committee for a run at the Republican nomination for Arizona House of Representatives in LD22. I think he's a real estate agent (his name doesn't make for the best search terms).

...Chris Schaffner of north Scottsdale has formed a committee for a run at Scottsdale City Council. The forms on Scottsdale's election website aren't linkable, but he lists his occupation as "account manager" at Milliken.

...In Tempe, Derek Deutsch and Joseph Pospicil Jr. (exploratory) have formed $500 Threshold exemption committees for runs at Tempe City Council. Deutsch ran as a Libertarian for the Kyrene Justice of the Peace job last year (he never made it on to the ballot). Couldn't find out much about Pospicil, though I *think* he's a Libertarian, too, but I'm not absolutely sure about it.

Later...

Light posting for the next few days...

2011-10-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that there aren't 48 hours in a day (meaning that I've had a busy schedule for the last few days and will be busy tomorrow night), posting will be light to nonexistent until Friday night or maybe even Saturday. :((

Until then, here's a little light reading -

...The Republicans in AZ's Congressional delegation are looking to use the Grand Canyon, one of the country's national treasures (and Arizona's crown jewel) to help mining companies socialize costs and risks while privatizing profits and benefits by opening up the Grand Canyon area to uranium mining. The Cronkite News Service has the story here.

...The New York Times published an editorial exposing the Republicans myth of "voter fraud." Definitely worth a read.

...Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times lends some insight into the shenanigans of some of Russell Pearce's supporters/paid consultants here.

...In non-political news, Theo Epstein, GM of the Boston Red Sox, is taking a position with the Chicago Cubs. He worked miracles in Boston (first World Series championship in 86 years!!!) but if he can right the ship at Wrigley, he should be named Secretary of the Treasury.

It's getting to the point where only a miracle worker of the first class will be able to fix the mess that is the American economy.

Later...

Stalking state laws: the NRA and its lobbyists work slowly but inexorably

2011-10-08T17:43:00.002-07:00

The NRA is proving that when it comes to lobbying state legislatures, persistence is almost as important as money, as is the patience to take small bites. (Not that lots of money hurts. :) )

Perhaps it's the old saw about repeating a lie often enough that it becomes fact (Goebbels?) or maybe it's just familiarity breeding...familiarity, but persistence and patience have worked very well indeed for them.

When they try to grab a big bunch of policy ground in one chunk, that is when they experience most of their setbacks, as happened in Arizona this year where a governor who is a strong supporter of the NRA vetoed a "firearms omnibus" bill that contained all sorts of NRA wish-list items (like allowing guns in schools).

Many of its recent legislative successes, such as the raft of "guns in bars" bills that have passed state legislatures in recent years, are rooted in efforts that began years ago.

Here in Arizona, the first "guns in bars" bill (that I can find, anyway) first appeared in 2003.

Then in 2004.

And in 2005.

And, after a couple of years to catch their breath, in 2008.

And again in 2009.

Finally, later in 2009, the measure was passed and signed into law.

Of course, that doesn't compare to efforts to weaken local control of firearms. In many states, the ability of local municipalities to pass gun control measures to bolster public safety has been curtailed or even eliminated.

Those efforts have been relentless, starting in the mid-1990s.

Despite the fact that municipal governments are the "retail" level of government and know best what works for their cities.

Here in Arizona, the legislature passed or considered measures affecting local firearms control in...

...1999. The measure was vetoed, but would have barred political subdivisions (aka - counties and municipalities) from enacting ordinances affecting or participating in lawsuits against firearms manufacturers

...2000. Decreased the ability of political subdivisions from enacting ordinances affecting firearms. Enacted into law.

...2001. Failed in the Arizona House, but would have completely removed the ability of political subdivisions to enact or enforce *any* rule or ordinance relating to firearms.

...2002. In a switch, the NRA lobbied against a bill. They killed a measure that would have required the establishment of a task force of local, county, state and federal agencies to trace crime guns.

...2003. Barred local regulation of gun sales in their jurisdiction. Enacted into law.

...2006. Barred political subdivisions and state agencies from enacting ordinances and rules relating to the storage of firearms. Enacted into law.

...2007. Barred a political subdivision from prohibiting a peace officer from carrying a firearm, except under very specific conditions. Enacted into law.

...2009. Barred employers, both public and private, from enacting or enforcing policies prohibiting their employees from storing weapons in the cars. Known as the "guns in cars" bill. Enacted into law.

...2010. Further diminished the ability of municipalities to enact any ordinances or rules relating to firearms. Enacted into law.

...2011. Barred political subdivisions from restricting hunting within city limits. Enacted into law.

That pattern of diminution of local control was also evident in the firearms omnibus bill mentioned earlier. It featured a clause barring universities and other schools from adopting and/or enforcing policies restricting the possession of weapons on their campuses.

The NRA, through its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), regularly rallies its members to swamp state legislators with phone calls and emails in support of (or opposition to) legislative proposals.

They also aren't shy about directly lobbying legislators.

From the Arizona Legislature's events calendar -

And that wasn't an isolated day - the NRA, its proxies (like the Arizona Citizens Defense League above), or both, lobby the legislature on a nearly daily basis.

Above, Dave Kopp of the Arizona Citizen Defense League, testifies February 14, 2011 before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of a "guns in schools" bill. A short while later, a lobbyist directly employed by the NRA spoke in favor of the same bill.

Kopp is so friendly with the people running the Senate that when he walks into the Senate building, its almost like he entering his own office.

Seriously. I've seen it many times.

He walks behind the reception counter, puts his briefcase on top the counter, and starts going through papers and agendas and other things back there like he owns the place.

And given how successful the NRA and its proxies have been at the Arizona Legislature and in many legislatures across the country, maybe they do.

Schedule For The Second Round Of Redistricting Hearings Announced

2011-10-08T15:05:00.002-07:00

In addition to its business meetings, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) holds two series of public hearings all over the state.

During the first round of hearings, they solicited public input on what the AIRC should consider when drawing up maps.

Now, they've completed a draft map of Congressional districts and will have a draft map for legislative districts by the end of the weekend.

During the second round of public hearings, they'll accept feedback on those draft maps, and suggestions for changes to the maps. Most of the suggestions won't be turned into changes to the maps (if only because many will be contradictory), but some will.

The schedule of hearings (start time 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted), All are subject to change, so check 48 hours beforehand before making travel plans:

Tuesday, October 11 -

Phoenix College
Auditorium
1202 W. Thomas Road
Phoenix, AZ 85044

Wednesday, October 12 -

Best Western Payson Inn
801 North Beeline Highway 87
Payson, AZ 85547

Thursday, October 13 -

Flagstaff City Hall
Council Chambers
211 West Aspen Avenue
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Friday, October 14 -

Navajo Nation Museum
Highway 264 and Loop Road
Window Rock, AZ 86515
Start time: 1 p.m. MDT/Noon MST

Saturday, October 15 -

Navajo Nation Museum
Highway 264 and Loop Road
Window Rock, AZ 86515
Start time: 9 a.m.

Saturday, October 15 -

Hon Dah Resort – Casino
Mt. Baldy Room
777 Hwy 260
Pinetop, AZ 85935
Start time: 3 p.m.

Monday, October 17 -

Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites
Junction Hwy 160
Tuba City, AZ 86045
Start time: 10 a.m. MDT/9 a.m. MST

Prescott Valley Public Library
Council Chambers/Auditorium
7401 E. Civic Circle
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
Start time: 6 p.m.

Tuesday, October 18 -

Chandler City Hall
Council Chambers
175 S. Arizona Avenue
Chandler, AZ 85244

Wednesday, October 19 -

Bullhead City Council Chambers
1255 Marina Boulevard
Bullhead City, AZ 86422

Thursday, October 20 -

Maryvale High School
Auditorium
3415 N. 59th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85033

Friday, October 21 -

Apache Gold Casino Resort
5 miles East of Globe on Highway 70
San Carlos, AZ 85550
Start time: 11 a.m.

City of Globe
Location TBA
Start time: 6 p.m.

Saturday, October 22 -

West View High School
10850 W. Garden Lakes Parkway
Avondale, AZ 85392
Start time: 1 p.m.

Monday, October 24 -

Tohono O’odham Utility Authority Conference Room
Hwy 86 Mile Post 112
Sells, AZ 85634
Start time 11 a.m.

University of Arizona
Student Union Memorial Center
North Ballroom
1303 E. University Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85721
Start time 6 p.m.

Tuesday, October 25 -

Buena Performing Arts Center (Buena High School)
5225 Buena School Boulevard
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635

Wednesday, October 26 -

Holiday Inn
777 N. Pinal Avenue
Casa Grande, AZ 85122

Thursday, October 27 -

Eastern Arizona College
615 N. Stadium Ave.
Thatcher, AZ 85552

Friday, October 28 -

Americana Hotel
639 N. Grand Avenue
Nogales, AZ 85621

Saturday, October 29 -

Yuma City Hall
City Council Chambers One City Plaza
Yuma, AZ 85364
Start time: 1 p.m.

Tuesday, November 1 -

South Mountain Community College
7050 South 24th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85402

Wednesday, November 2 -

City of Peoria
Location TBA

Thursday, November 3 -

Granite Reef Senior Center
1700 North Granite Reef Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85257

Friday, November 4 -

Town of Marana
Marana Municipal Complex
Auditorium
11555 W. Civic Center Drive
Marana, AZ 85653

Saturday, November 5 -

Town of Green Valley
Location TBA
Start time: 10 a.m.

AIRC meeting in Tempe this weekend: Be there or risk being in a "safe" district

2011-10-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

..."Safe" for the other side, that is...

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) has meetings scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday to work on a legislative districts draft map.

It's safe to bet that the Republicans and their tea party proxies will be out in force (though given that Sunday's meeting will be during prime football watching time, that force may be slightly smaller :) ), so a healthy presence of people who support both competitive districts and protecting communities of interest (no matter how much the Rs like to stamp their feet and whine otherwise, those are hardly mutually exclusive objectives).

Any folks who want to see Tempe basically stay in one LD (currently, it's mostly covered by LD17, with the far southern part in LD20) need to be there.

Both meetings will be at the Sheraton Phoenix Airport Hotel, 1600 S. 52nd Street, Tempe, AZ 85281 (NW corner of Broadway and 52nd St., near I-10).

Saturday's agenda is here: the meeting starts at 9:30 a.m.

Sunday's agenda is here; the meeting starts at 1 p.m.