Is Jan Brewer setting up a run for President?

Let's see -

- Alabama's then-Governor (and staunch segregationist) George Wallace objected to the federal Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s.

- Arizona Governor (and staunch nativist) Jan Brewer has objected to the inclusion of SB1070 and Arizona in the Universal Periodic Review report submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

- George Wallace ran for President in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976.

- Jan Brewer should have some free time on her hands after Terry Goddard wins the election in November, so....?


Yeah, I know this is a bit of a cheap shot (more of a spleen vent than an actual post), but with Brewer's whole-hearted embrace of the nativist wing of the AZGOP, spewing of frightening rhetoric (beheadings, anyone?), and enthusiastic obliviousness to the threat presented by three murderers with ties to white supremacists who escaped from a private prison in Kingman, she's become an embarrassment to the state.

Enough already.

Elect Terry Goddard, if only to keep Arizona off of The Daily Show.


Note: I love watching The Daily Show.  I don't love watching Arizona on The Daily Show.

Brewer campaigning on wishful thinking. Now she's insisting that Arizona's economy is healthy.

From the Arizona Republic -

Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Terry Goddard, fresh off primary-election victories this week, shared the podium at the annual League of Arizona Cities and Towns meeting Thursday, painting completely opposite pictures of the state's economy and direction.

Brewer, a Republican, and Goddard, a Democrat, are vying for election to the Governor's Office in November.

In her remarks, Brewer described Arizona as a state in the midst of a comeback and touted her economic-development efforts and her work to bring thousands of new jobs to the region.

Ummm...just a few numbers for everybody's perusal -

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Arizona's unemployment rate in January 2009 (when Brewer ascended to the governor's office): 8.0%
Arizona's unemployment rate in July 2010 (the month with the most current info available): 9.6%

Number of unemployed people in Arizona in January 2009 - 252,224
Number of unemployed people in Arizona in July 2010 - 305,941


From the US Courts website:

Number of Arizona bankruptcy filings for the quarter ending December 31, 2008 (the last period before Brewer became governor): 5,792

Number of Arizona bankruptcy filings for the quarter ending March 31, 2010 (the most recent period for which data is available): 9,652


From the website of Arizona Indicators, from the Morrison Institute for Public Policy:

Monthly taxable sales in January 2009 (when Brewer took office): $4.831 billion
Monthly taxable sales in April 2010 (most recent available data): $3.64 billion


From the website of the Arizona Legislature's Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC):

The State of Arizona's General Fund revenues in January 2009: $662.5 million
The State of Arizona's General Fund revenues in July 2010 (latest date available): $622.1 million, including $64.6 million from the sales tax increase enacted by the voters in May. (Revenue would have been $557.5 million if the voters of Arizona hadn't stemmed the bleeding.)


Home prices are still declining in Arizona, with no real indication of when the housing market is going to stabilize:

AZRepublic article, dated August 15, 2010, on the continuing decline in Phoenix home prices here; EV Tribune article on the lagging housing market in Arizona here; ABC15 piece here.


So let's summarize the economic performance of Jan Brewer so far -

Unemployment - UP

Bankruptcies - UP

Economic activity - DOWN

Home prices - DOWN

State finances: STILL PLUMMETING


Insisting that there is an economic recovery in Arizona isn't the same thing as there actually being an economic recovery in Arizona.

Her performance on economic issues is like her performance in debates with Terry Goddard -


Nonexistent.

AZ employment figures stagnant; Brewer silent.

On AZ's economic situation, as with the (formerly) escaped murderers, Brewer continues her silence, perhaps hoping the problem will go away before she has to demonstrate anything resembling real leadership...or even a simple awareness of the problems facing the average Arizona family.

From the Yuma Sun -

The troubled economy continues to take its toll on jobs in Yuma County, as seen in the area's 22.8 percent unemployment rate for July released Thursday by the Arizona Department of Commerce.



That compares to 22.6 percent in June and 20.6 percent in July 2009.


Arizona's unemployment rate remained flat at 9.6 percent for the third consecutive month, according to the Department of Commerce's monthly nonfarm seasonally adjusted unemployment report. Since February, the state's rate has fluctuated only a tenth of a percentage point.


Nationally, the rate remained 9.5 percent.

On her websites...

- The official Governor's website doesn't mention the news at all.

- Her campaign website doesn't mention the current news either.  In fact, in her list of issues that she considers most important to her campaign, "jobs" is eighth on the list behind things like restricting a woman's access to legal abortions, shrinking the size of government, reducing or eliminating regulations that corporations have to follow, and, of course, demonizing those "darn immigrants."

In fact, the only things lower on her list of priorities are fighting against healthcare reform and protecting education and public safety - like anyone who hasn't watched her in action for the last 18+ months hasn't already figured out that students, teachers, cops and firefighters are last on her priority list (but hey, they are first on her s#!t "do not like" list.)

In short, her list of "priorities" is a shout out to her corporate supporters and to the nativist/misogynist wings of the GOP.


Contrast this with Terry Goddard, the Democratic candidate for Governor.


Number one on his list of priorities is jobs.  Full plan here.   Press release on Goddard's economic recovery plan here.

Number two on the list is education.  Full plan here.


What else is on the list?

Issues that face and affect all Arizonans.


What isn't on the list?

Anything designed to troll for corporate campaign contributions or to appeal to the basest, most extreme factions of the political base.


Maybe the first step in doing a job, any job, well is to *want* to do the job well.

Only one of Arizona's candidates for Governor wants to do the job well, or even cares to do it well.

Vote for Terry Goddard in November.

Goddard challenges Brewer to series of debates...

...but Brewer says "Nope.  Only the one that I am legally obligated to attend."*

*That's not a real quote, but it's the real meaning of the press release that I'll quote later in this post...

Earlier today, Terry Goddard, Arizona's Attorney General and Democratic candidate for Governor, challenged unelected incumbent Jan Brewer to a series of debates. 

From his letter to the Brewer campaign  (with minor adjustments to the format for readability here) -

The people of Arizona deserve the opportunity to see for themselves which candidate has the vision and experience to lead Arizona back to prosperity.

I propose the following topics and host communities. Of course, I will work with your schedule to maximize this important opportunity for Arizona:

Balancing Arizona’s Budget - Tucson

Public Safety and Protecting Arizona - Kingman

Immigration and Securing Arizona’s Border - Sierra Vista

Jobs for Arizona - Yuma

Creating a World Class System for Education in AZ - Phoenix

Tourism, Energy, the Environment and Reviving Rural AZ - Flagstaff

Her response, from a emailed press release -

"Terry Goddard is Obama's Arizona apostle.

"Governor Brewer will participate in the televised debate sponsored by the Clean Elections Commission on September 1st. The scheduling of any possible future debates will be revisited after that time. In the meantime, we anticipate that Mr. Goddard will use his campaign funds to try to redefine 30-year record of failure. We look forward to seeing his TV commercials in the weeks to come."

Yeah, I'm biased, but one of the things that struck me is that the Brewer campaign doesn't understand the difference between "challenging" (which is what Goddard did , respectfully [read the linked letter]) and "insulting" (the Brewer response.)

I didn't actually expect her to go for six debates, especially the one in Kingman, location of the privately-operated prison that housed the recently-escaped murderers, but to be so openly contemptuous of her adversary and the people of Arizona?  I most definitely did not expect that.

Oh, and in case someone thinks that Brewer was being nice when she deigned to agree to the Clean Elections forum (full schedule here), you should remember that she *has* to appear at that one.  It's a requirement for those candidates who accept Clean Elections funding.

Short Attention Span Musing

Just a few quick hits for a Saturday...

...Just how crazy/bad does a Republican have to be for Russell Pearce not to endorse him?  I don't know, but apparently Jack Harper does.

...Ben Quayle, one of the gaggle of R candidates jockeying for a shot at replacing Congresman John Shadegg in CD3, received a lot of press coverage this week.  And contrary to the popular saw, not all publicity is good publicity.

First, he denied, then admitted, to writing for a "racy" website, TheDirty.com (at the time, it was called "TheDirtyScottsdale.com").

Then he gained notoriety for airing what has to be the most content-free TV spot of the election cycle wherein he labelled Barack Obama as the "worst President in history."  At no point did he ever talk about CD3 or its needs...or why he would be the best one to serve those needs.

Of course, considering that he recently sent out a "awww, isn't he a great family man?!?" mailer showing him with his kids...only he doesn't have kids, this weeks screwups should have been expected.  Still, with his family name recognition and the vast amount of money from out-of-state contributors that he has access to, he may still pull of winning the R nomination in CD3.

No matter which of the many Rs running in CD3, Democrat Jon Hulburd stands firmly in their way.

...The Parraz campaign is touting some poll numbers in the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.  Their numbers show them behind Rodney Glassman by 3 percentage points, which is within the margin of error.  Those numbers are consistent with other polls, so that is not news.  What is interesting is the data that Latino voters are going for Parraz by a 6 or 7 to 1 margin.  And that Latino turnout is up.

Now, campaigns only release internal polling numbers when they show (or can be spun to show) their candidates' strength, so take the release with a grain of salt.

However, if it is true, especially the part about Latino turnout increasing, it shows a possible path out of the electoral woods for AZ Democrats. 

The Republicans' whole-hearted embrace of the nativist ideals of Russell Pearce and Jan Brewer to gain support in primary races could come to backfire on them in November.

Here's hoping....

...Finally, while the last of the three escapees from one of Arizona's privately-operated prisons is still on the loose (maybe in Montana, though by now he and his cousin/fiancee/drug mule for a white supremacist gang could be anywhere) and Terry Goddard, Arizona's Attorney General and a candidate for governor, has called for reviewing and revamping prison security in AZ, Governor Jan Brewer has been out picnicking "campaigning", with nary a word about private prisons, her administration's ties to private prison operators, or even hearings to look into the failure of the private prisons to protect the public from murderers.

Just another Saturday roundup in the desert...

Arizona's Prison Escapees Highlighting Brewer's Failures As A Leader

Tracy Province, John McCluskey, the violent escapees from one of Arizona's privately-run prisons, and their accomplice, and Casslyn Welch, are doing their part to prove the theory that the private sector can always do things better than the public sector can.*

*OK, not really.  More the opposite.

Aside from their escape, from a facility intended for prisoners convicted of DUI violations, and jaunt across Arizona, their escape is a testament to family values, evidence of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation efforts in AZ's private prisons, a travelogue of western U.S. tourism, and a primer in international cooperation.

AKA - Three prisoners convicted of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and more, escaped, carjacked someone to gain possession of a vehicle for their move across the state, got some assistance from family (resulting in the arrest of one of their mothers), possibly killed an Oklahoma couple visiting New Mexico, are possibly hiding out in Yellowstone National Park and planning to take their escape/crime spree to one of the U.S.'s greatest allies, Canada.

A statement from Terry Goddard, Arizona's Attorney General and a candidate for Governor:

These dangerous inmates should have never been at a facility intended for DUI offenders. Now they are suspected of killing an elderly couple in New Mexico. I fervently hope they are caught soon, before they commit any more crimes. I urge Governor Brewer to take a long, hard look at her corrections priorities. Recent reports show that some of her closest advisers are paid advocates for private prisons. This kind of personal interest must never trump public safety.


Upon learning about the escape, Charles Ryan, director of the Department of Corrections and a Brewer appointee, was quick to blame staff for the disaster. Instead of blaming staff, the Brewer administration should carefully examine their management and prisoner classification failures that allowed for these dangerous prisoners to be in a lower-security prison. Even faced with a difficult budget, public safety must never be jeopardized.

From 2005-2009, the Corrections budget increased about $77 million each year. Under Brewer's watch, however, the Corrections budget instead was cut almost $68 million, leaving the agency $145 million dollars behind where it should be.

These violent offenders were not an exception in the privately run Kingman facility. Recent reports indicate that 117 inmates at that facility are serving life sentences, with either first or second degree murder charges.

Last year, Brewer signed into law HB 2010, which privatized most of our correctional system and signed SB 1028, which permitted private vendors to operate one or more of Arizona's state prisons. SB 1028 was to include a 50-year contract and an up-front payment of $100 million. Brewer signed the bill, despite a letter from Corrections Director Ryan pleading with her not to. In the letter he wrote, "Undoubtedly, a private company would pay its employees significantly lower wages and provide them lesser training to realize cost savings. This would lead to higher staff turnover, low morale and place public safety at risk."

Yet Brewer still signed it. The Brewer administration has consistently promoted private over public prisons, in spite of the public safety risk. The escape of these two violent offenders makes it clear how dangerous this policy has been. Governor Brewer's priorities are wrong for Arizona.

One of the intriguing aspects of this mess has been the absence of statements from the "law and order" wing of the AZGOP.

One can't help but think that if the escapees had Hispanic names, the likes of Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio, Andrew Thomas, and the rest, would be raising a deafening uproar over the threat to decent "Amurricans" from those dastardly brown people.

The only thing that has been deafening has been the silence pouring forth from the pro-SB1070/anti-Mexican crowd.

But it must be OK, because Jan Brewer's closest advisers were/are/will be again? lobbyists for private prison firms.

Apparently, crime is bad, especially if brown people are involved.  And just as apparently, profiting from crime is good, especially if politically-connected Republicans are involved.

Terry Goddard Reveals K-12 Plan

From Goddard's campaign website -

Attorney General Terry Goddard today presented the K-12 education plan he will implement as Arizona's next Governor. The comprehensive plan, "Making Arizona Schools Work," is a road map for moving Arizona schools from the bottom ten to the top ten nationally in the next ten years.


Making Arizona Schools Work calls for:

* Revamping the state's out-of-date school financing system and ending tax giveaways that rob education funding.

* An end to the rigid, scripted, micromanaged approach to education that is currently in use in too many state schools.

* Early education including full-day kindergarten at every neighborhood school statewide.

* Accountability for educators and administrators.

* Rational academic standards that don't dumb-down test scores but instead prepare students for post-secondary education (including trade school, community college or university study) and high-paying jobs that will drive Arizona's economic engine.


{snip}

[Goddard said] "There is no question we have poked way too many holes in the bucket of money we should be spending on education, and we will plug those holes. That's step one, but it is not a magic pill. We need to quit messing around in the margins, stop the decades-long argument about classroom procedures and take action to apply the techniques and programs we already know work, and work well."


Goddard added, "For example, we know all-day kindergarten and early education works. We know post-secondary training not only works, it's essential to helping our kids find well-paying jobs. An agreed-upon set of academic standards works. Empowering school districts, school boards, teachers and especially parents to use the best local approaches for their own schools works."

Stabilize funding for schools?  No legislative micromanaging of public education into ineffectiveness?

My God!  Terry Goddard wants to move Arizona's education system into the latter half of the 20th Century!

Seriously, expect Jan Brewer, Russell Pearce, and the rest of the Arizona Chapter of the Flat Earth Society to complain that Goddard's plan is too "radical." 

Also known as too "responsible" or "professional."

Jan Brewer wants to tweak

...and no matter what one might think after watching the Capitol for the year-and-a-half that she's been ensconced on the 9th floor, it's not the "tweaking" of the crystal meth-induced hallucinatory variety*.

We think not, anyway.

From the AZ Rep's Political Insider -

With Judge Susan Bolton's injunction Wednesday against several key sections of Senate Bill 1070, some legal experts are predicting the law's most controversial provisions will never go into effect.


Appearing on "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" Thursday night, Gov. Jan Brewer said she had been in contact with legislative leaders Thursday to discuss making changes to the bill...

{snip}

"And there is a possibility that we might have to do a little tweaking. And I have been in contact today with the president of the Senate, President (Bob) Burns, and the speaker of the House, Speaker Kirk Adams, to get together and determine just exactly what it is maybe we might be able to do to tweak the bill to give them a little bit more satisfaction so that it would weigh more favorably on behalf of the state of Arizona."

Terry Goddard has spent his time in office fighting for Arizona and Arizonans, whether working to undermine smuggling cartels' finances or by protecting Luke Air Force Base and the jobs associated with it.  (Successfully, I might add.)

Jan Brewer has spent her time in office fighting for bigotry and nativists, whether working her way into the good graces of nativists by demonizing immigrants or by protecting the interests of private prisons and their lobbyists populating her senior staff.

And that will be Arizona's choice come November -

Goddard's lifetime of professionalism and public service, or Brewer's grandstanding and abuse of office.


* = Though I must say that after nearly four years of watching and writing about the likes of Pearce, Gould, Harper, et. al. in action, mandatory drug testing for Arizona's elected officials might be in order.

Just sayin'...

Stopping drug smuggling cartels: Terry Goddard's testimony before Congress

Goddard's work combatting the cartels by going after their money isn't sexy (hey, anything that involves accountants tends to be pretty boring :) ), and it certainly isn't the policy of "brown skin - kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out "deport all people with brown skin" favored by Jan Brewer, Russell Pearce, Paul Babeu and the rest of the nativist wing of the GOP but good public policy and effective governance usually isn't sexy.

AZRep coverage of the efforts of the Attorney General's office here; Voice of America coverage of Goddard's testimony to Congress here.

Breaking news: Federal Government Sues AZ Over SB1070

....OK, OK, that is hardly breaking news - everybody expected a lawsuit was coming as soon as Jan Brewer signed Russell Pearce's anti-immigrant measure into law in late April.

How about this for a title?

Breaking News - Republicans Freak Out Over Federal Lawsuit To Block SB1070

...OK, OK, that's hardly surprising either.  They freak out whenever somebody calls them out on their garbage.

Anyway, on to the main part of the post.

From the Arizona Republic -

The Obama administration filed suit today against Arizona's landmark immigration law, alleging it was unconstitutional and a U.S. District Court judge should keep it from going into effect July 29.

The suit, filed in Phoenix, claims Arizona's new law "will conflict and undermine the federal government's careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives," and divert resources from the "dangerous aliens who the federal government targets as its top enforcement priority."

{snip}


Gov. Jan Brewer, who is named as a defendant along with the state, called the lawsuit "a terribly bad decision.

"It is wrong that our own federal government is suing the people of Arizona for helping to enforce federal immigration law. As a direct result of failed and inconsistent federal enforcement, Arizona is under attack from violent Mexican drug and immigrant smuggling cartels," Brewer said in a written statement. "Now, Arizona is under attack in federal court from President Obama and his Department of Justice.

Other reactions:

Congressman Harry Mitchell, from a press release -

"I am extremely disappointed that the Obama Administration has decided to file a lawsuit against Arizona to try to overturn our state's new immigration enforcement law, SB 1070. This is the wrong direction to go. I urged President Obama and his administration against doing so because I strongly believe their time, efforts and resources should be focused on securing our border and fixing our broken immigration system. Arizona needs Washington to take action, but a lawsuit is definitely not the kind of action we need.

Attorney General Terry Goddard, from a campaign press release -

"What we need are solutions, not lawsuits. Until we get real solutions, more states will turn to band-aid remedies to address this very important issue," said Attorney General Terry Goddard. "It is disappointing to see the federal government choosing to intervene in a state statute instead of working with Arizona to create sustainable solutions to the illegal immigration issue that our state and country so desperately need."

State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) calls the lawsuit an "insult" to Arizonans.

U.S. Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, from a McCain press release -

“The Obama Administration has not done everything it can do to protect the people of Arizona from the violence and crime illegal immigration brings to our state. Until it does, the federal government should not be suing Arizona on the grounds that immigration enforcement is solely a federal responsibility.”

My take:

The law is bad, the lawsuit is necessary, and any sort of immigration policy that doesn't address the underlying cause of immigration from Mexico to the U.S, the economics, whether it's Russell Pearce's version of "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" or some kind of "comprehensive reform" is doomed to fail.

And all of the blathering about "insults" and "attacks" and "secure the border first" won't change that.

BTW - The best quote about this wasn't actually said about this mess. 

In 2007, the late, great Molly Ivin wrote "Conservatives have been mad at the Supreme Court since it decided to desegregate the schools in 1954 and seen fit to blame the federal bench for everything that has happened since then that they don't like."

Look for Brewer, Pearce, and the other nativists suffer from fits of apoplexy if/when a federal judge blocks their police-state law.


The text of the legal filing can be found here, courtesy AZCentral.com

Jan Brewer's new motto: "Damn the facts, full distort ahead!"

Of course, her disregard of the facts could torpedo her run at a full term as governor...

EJ Montini of the Arizona Republic published an interesting column in Thursday's paper about Jan Brewer's tendency to spout bigoted but baseless (my term, not his) stereotypes and fabricated statistics (also my term - he used "exaggerated") when discussing immigration.

The example he cited involved her saying, during a debate between the R candidates for governor that the majority of undocumented immigrants were engaged in narcotics trafficking and extortion and that they are responsible for a massive crime wave in Arizona.

As this Think Progress piece from writer Andrea Nill points out, during a period in Arizona's history that has seen an increase in undocumented immigration, there has been an actual decrease in crime in AZ.

Oops, Jan.

This falsehood was pointed out by dark horse R Matthew Jette, but to no avail.

Jan stuck by her misfiring mouth, and continued to spout the same stuff.

In Montini's piece, he began by predicting that Brewer will win the November election because of SB1070.

I'm not so sure (I know, it's not exactly shocking that a Goddard supporter would disagree with Montini's point. :) ).

While the bill was fronted in AZ by nativist demagogue Russell Pearce, she has made it hers, and by doing so, has locked up the support of a significant part of Arizona's electorate, the nativists.

*That* has all but guaranteed her the R nomination, especially since the other contenders are falling fast (Dean Martin has almost no money and won't be getting any any time soon, Buz Mills can't even get the endorsement of the NRA, and he sits on the Board of Directors of it) or never were a factor in the first place (Jette would be a legit dark horse in most other states; in AZ, however, his reasoned yet honest approach will net him less than 5% of the primary vote - Rs will consider his calling out the numbers and stereotypes spouted on the immigration issue as the equivalent of shouting "the emperor has no clothes!" and will close their ears).

However, for SB1070 to guarantee Brewer's win in November's general election, the lege should have passed it and she should have signed it in early October.

Not late April.

As it is, people will have had the time to actually understand the effect of SB1070 on *everybody*, not just those "durn Mexicans."

By the time early ballots go out in October, the law may have (and should be) blocked by a federal court because of its unconstitution overreaching.

At which point, Terry Goddard's approach of going after the cartels and hitting them where it hurts - in the wallet - a less showy but far more effective - and legal! - tactic will look good to the vast array of independent voters in Arizona.

Especially when Brewer's side of the issue is marked by neo-Nazis going on Mexican hunts armed anti-immigrant "patrols" in the desert.

Later...

Jan Brewer: Channelling her inner Marie Antoinette

Who knew that Brewer was such a Francophile?

On the other hand, perhaps Brewer isn't a Francophile and was just looking for the historical figure who was most openly disdainful of her society's most impoverished members.

If that is the case, then the Governor has made the perfect choice for her political inspiration.

From AZCentral.com -

That was then, this is now . . . Gov. Jan Brewer held a news conference Thursday to complain about the plans for federal health-care reform. That gave reporters a chance to ask about the budget she signed that day, which among other things removed health care from an estimated 310,000 adults and nearly 40,000 children.

Asked what those hundreds of thousands of people should do when they get sick, Brewer said this: "If they need health care, they'll be able to go to health clinics and present themselves at emergency rooms."

Not everyone agrees with that sentiment, of course. We were reminded of some stern words we heard back in January from a top Arizona official:

"We must decrease visits to high-cost settings like emergency rooms - and encourage those receiving state services to take personal responsibility for their own health."

The occasion for those remarks? The 2010 State of the State Address. The speaker, of course, was Gov. Jan Brewer.

Note: Her State of the State address can be found here. The relevent quote is on page 13 of the .pdf, approximately halfway down the page.

Now, the health insurance reform act that was signed into law this week could go a long way toward ameliorating some of the effects (and here) of Brewer's and the legislative Republicans' jihad against Arizona's social infrastructure. However, that measure won't go into complete effect until 2014; until then, Brewer will continue railing against health care for all (like she already has, here, here, here, and here).

The Brewer campaign's new slogan -

"Let them eat cake."

It's a classic, isn't it?


P.S. - the scary part is that as bad for Arizona that Brewer is and has been, she may be the least bad among the R pretenders/contenders for their nomination.

We need Terry Goddard.

Terry Goddard challenges Jan Brewer on taxes

In a letter to Brewer, Goddard challenged Brewer to pledge that any revenues raised via an increase to the state's sale tax won't be given to deep-pocketed corporations in the form of targeted tax cuts.

The letter, from an email from the Goddard campaign -

March 17, 2010

Dear Governor Brewer:

I have been giving careful consideration to your proposal to temporarily increase the State sales tax in response to Arizona’s fiscal crisis. That crisis, which has significantly worsened in the last year, threatens our schools, our health and security, and our quality of life. It has been exacerbated by your and the Legislature’s continued failure to produce a balanced budget despite Arizona’s constitutional requirement for one that was due nearly nine months ago.

Your proposed sales tax increase offers a temporary and incomplete solution. In addition to the fact that it raises only about one-third of the revenue needed to cover the projected deficit, your plan suffers from the significant flaw that it imposes new tax burdens on consumers – including Arizona’s struggling middle class – whose collective buying power will be crucial to pulling us out of our current slump. It does so without even considering the possibility of more equitable and long-term solutions, such as closing the many tax loopholes that favor the rich and big corporations. Under your plan, for example, a family that must buy a car for work or school faces higher taxes, while someone buying a membership in an elite country club pays no sales tax whatsoever.

Most troubling to me, however, is the fact that voters are being asked to pass this tax increase without knowing the status of other tax proposals still being considered by the legislature, including a plan to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate taxes. Middle-income Arizonans simply should not be asked to finance through temporary higher sales taxes a permanent non-targeted cut in corporate taxes. Such a result is not only grossly unfair to working Arizonans, but would stymie our economic recovery and leave Arizona with a deeper, long-term budget hole.

To my knowledge, you have never publicly stated where you stand on the corporate tax breaks being considered by the legislature, but I sincerely hope that you recognize the folly of funding any such tax breaks through a sales tax on middle-income Arizonans – particularly on the heels of devastating cuts to our schools, health care and public safety. Arizonans like my wife and me cannot support your proposed sales tax increase if you intend to follow it with across-the-board corporate tax cuts. I call upon you to pledge your veto to any non-targeted corporate tax giveaways that would appreciably offset the short-term revenue gains from Prop. 100. Arizonans deserve meaningful assurances from you that the increased revenues from your tax increase will truly benefit our schools, public health, and public safety.

Sincerely,

Terry Goddard

Go to Goddard's website to learn about Terry, his vision for Arizona, and to volunteer to help him.

IOKIYAR as an editorial standard

On Saturday, both the Arizona Democratic Party and the Arizona Republican Party held meetings of their respective state committees in Phoenix. As such gatherings are wont to be, both were exercises in energizing party activists as well as allowing candidates to "meet and greet" activists and to recruit supporters for their campaigns.

Very rarely does one see substantive policy initiatives trotted out in these conditions. That's just not their raison d'etre.

Apparently, however, the editors at the Arizona Capitol Times, a publication almost exclusively devoted to covering politics in Arizona, are unfamiliar with this dynamic.

After the Democratic meeting, they published an article with the following lede (subscription login required) -

Terry Goddard didn’t produce any solutions for the problems facing the state, but he had a lot of harsh words for Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican legislative leaders.

On the other hand, while criticizing Terry Goddard, the current Attorney General, for not announcing ways to fix the budget mess in Arizona while at a non-policy event, they had no such criticism for the Republicans who also didn't promulgate any new policies at their party meeting, instead focusing on campaigns against one of their own and blaming "Sinema Democrats" for the budget mess that the Republicans in legislature have enthusiastically crafted, with the complicity of their governor.

I've got no problem with criticisms of Democratic candidates when such criticisms are deserved.

And yes, Terry Goddard will eventually have to present a plan for addressing Arizona's needs.

However, Saturday afternoon wasn't "eventually" and holding Democrats to higher standards than they hold Republicans to doesn't exactly enhance the credibility of AZ Capitol Times, something they should consider in this time of plummeting newspaper circulations.


BTW - So will somebody tell me how having "It's OK If You're A Republican" as an editorial standard is evidence of that nearly-mythical "liberal bias" in the media? Or even evidence of professional journalism in the media?

Anybody?

The coming week, legislative edition

As with last week, the calendar of the AZ legislature is so full that it merits its own post.

Note: This post doesn't even come close to being a comprehensive listing of all of the bad (and not-so-bad) bills that the lege will consider this week. If you have a specific area of interest, I strongly recommend determining which committee covers that area, and perusing that committee's agenda.


There's all sorts of noise over the budget - a deal is imminent, they're not even close, the Governor is making plans to shut down the state, a budget is going to the Governor this week, etc.

We'll know that the budget is done when it is done.

Of course, it won't actually be done at that point - anything produced by this legislature is likely to end up in court anyway, so even after the governor signs a budget, we're going to have to wait until a few judges have their say.

Until then, however, both chambers of the lege have shifted into overdrive, trying to cram five months of legislative work into three weeks.

Over in the Senate this week, so far only the floor schedule (specifically, a Third Read, aka Final Passage, calendar) for Monday is posted so far. Lowlights here include SB1113 (Guns in Bars), SB1175 (requires all government officials to enforce federal immigration laws and makes trespassing by an undocumented immigrant a crime), SB1280 (making harboring an undocumented immigrant a felony) and SB1444 (allowing the lege to seize and reappropriate non-custodial federal monies granted to entities in Arizona). This is *not* a complete list by any means; if you are interested, I recommend reading the entire calendar linked above.

In Senate Committee action...

...On Monday at 1:30 p.m., the Committee on Natural Resources is meeting in SHR109. The agenda includes a striker to SB1118 from Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-"mining companies are our friends") that would ease some construction-related pollution standards; SB1147, barring state agencies from adopting fuel economy or greenhouse gas emission standards; and a striker to SB1256 from Sylvia Allen that looks like it could be ok, though since it has to do with mining, I could be missing some of the nuances. They have placed some House bills on the agenda tentatively, pending processing (passage by the House, and Senate First Read, Second Read, and assignment to committee).

...Also on Monday at 1:30 p.m., the Judiciary Committee is meeting in SHR1. Gems on that agenda include State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's Sen. Jonathan Paton's striker to SB1069 that would outlaw ethnic education courses (wanna-be AG Horne is targeting some Mexican studies courses in Tucson with this. Apparently, he is trying to appeal to the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other nativists in his party.); SCR1025, a proposal by Paton and Sen. Steve Pierce to end Clean Elections' public financing of elections (aka the "return to wholesale corruption act."); and SCR1026, the Republican caucus' proposed anti-Employee Free Choice Act amendment to the AZ constitution.

...On Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. (or upon adjournment of the Joint Committee on Capital Review), the Government Institutions committee will meet in SHR1. That agenda has already been discussed.

...On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., the Commerce Committee will be meeting in SHR1. As would be expected from a committee chaired by everyone's favorite nativist winger Russell Pearce, this agenda is chock full of chunks of rancidness. The committee will be considering HB2103, a bill to exempt the State Treasurer from having to use the Attorney General's office for legal services. AKA the "Republican Dean Martin doesn't like Democrat Terry Goddard" bill; an anti-immigrant striker to SB1024 from Russell Pearce. Also, Pearce striker to SB1038 relating to revenue sharing with Native American tribes; and a slate of proposed amendments to the AZ constitution that have one thing in common - if enacted, they would have the effect of making Arizona a slightly worse place to live. They include SCR1006, a proposal to inflict some TABOR-like limits on AZ government, SCR1009, the lege's attempt to break the protections of the Voter Protection Act; and SCR1031, the anti-affirmative action measure championed by Ward Connerly.

...On Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., the Public Safety Committee will be meeting in SHR3. On the agenda: HB2610, the lege's plan to protect manufacturers of police equipment from product liability issues; and two measures from Cap'n Al Melvin that look almost (I can't believe I'm saying this :) ) responsible legislation. His SB1440 would ban smoking in a vehicle if there are minors in the vehicle and his SB1443 would ban texting or use of a cell phone (without a hands-free device) while driving.

...On Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., the Healthcare Committee will meet in SHR1. Carolyn Allen chairs this committee, so the agenda looks to be free of the little nuggets of rancidness that Pearce brings to his committee.

...On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m, the Veterans Committee will meet in SHR2. The highlight here is a Jack Harper amendment to SB1055 relating to the creation of a Homeland Security Force. No text available online as yet, but if this is anything like his previous proposals in this area, he is trying to create an anti-immigrant vigilante force and have it chartered (and armed!) by the state.

...On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the Finance Committee will meet in SHR3. This agenda includes a striker to SB1321, related to "job training tax suspension" (no text available as yet).

...On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the Education Committee will meet in SHR1. The ugly here includes SB1172, Pearce's proposal to compel school districts to monitor the immigration status of their students. There are a number of other bills on this agenda, but some of them are awfully technical and I don't understand the nuances of those bills.

...On Thursday at 8:00 a.m., the Government Committee will meet for the second time during the week, again in SHR1. The agenda includes Pearce's SB1173, another one of his anti-immigrant bills; Ron Gould's SB1348, making it a class one misdemeanor to knowingly give false information to a public official, commission, or board; and Steve Pierce's SB1269, making it more difficult for citizens of an area that is the subject of a proposed rezoning to object to that rezoning.

...On Thursday at 9:00 a.m., the Retirement Committee will be meeting in SHR3. Any committee meeting chaired by Ron Gould (R-Flies a Confederate flag on July 4) is certain to have some color, and this one is no exception. Among other items, they'll be considering Gould's SCM1003, a letter to the U.S. Congress begging them to let AZ out of the U.S. interstate highway system.


Over in the House, things look to be quieter. So far, anyway.

Monday's third reading calendar appears to be pretty mundane; the only item of interest thus far should be HB2369, to allow the lege to appropriate non-custodial federal funds.

Tuesday's COW calendar (and here) is similarly quiet so far. The only seriously controversial measure appears to be HB2099, which would force cities and towns to treat charter schools in the same way as public schools for zoning purposes.


Later...

3rd reminder - You are invited to the political, social, and culinary event of the year...

CHILI FOR CHANGE COOK-OFF

With Special Guests:

Congressman Harry Mitchell and Attorney General Terry Goddard

*Who will make the best chili?*

State Senator Meg Burton Cahill?

State Representative Ed Ableser?

State Representative David Schapira?

Or a mysterious vegetarian with a killer carnivore recipe?

*Enter your own chili in the contest!*

Saturday, May 2nd, 4-7pm

At the home of David and Kathy Schwarz in Scottsdale (need directions? Contact LD17 chair Lauren Kuby - email below)

Winner announced at 5:30!

*Ticket Prices:*

$25

$15 for YDs

$10 for Kids

For Tickets: email laurenkuby[at]gmail.com; or buy online at http://www.d17dems.org/donate.asp

Proceeds to benefit the Maricopa County Democratic Party and LD17 Democrats

...OK, so it's the "event of the year" if you are a Democrat and like chili... :)

2nd reminder - You are invited to the political, social, and culinary event of the year...

CHILI FOR CHANGE COOK-OFF

With Special Guests:

Congressman Harry Mitchell and Attorney General Terry Goddard

*Who will make the best chili?*

State Senator Meg Burton Cahill?

State Representative Ed Ableser?

State Representative David Schapira?

Or a mysterious vegetarian with a killer carnivore recipe?

*Enter your own chili in the contest!*

Saturday, May 2nd, 4-7pm

At the home of David and Kathy Schwarz in Scottsdale (need directions? Contact LD17 chair Lauren Kuby - email below)

Winner announced at 5:30!

*Ticket Prices:*

$25
$15 for YDs
$10 for Kids

For Tickets: email laurenkuby[at]gmail.com; or buy online at http://www.d17dems.org/donate.asp

Proceeds to benefit the Maricopa County Democratic Party and LD17 Democrats...

OK, so it's the "event of the year" if you are a Democrat and like chili... :)

You are invited to the political, social, and culinary event of the year...

CHILI FOR CHANGE COOK-OFF

With Special Guests:

Congressman Harry Mitchell and Attorney General Terry Goddard

*Who will make the best chili?*

State Senator Meg Burton Cahill?

State Representative Ed Ableser?

State Representative David Schapira?

Or a mysterious vegetarian with a killer carnivore recipe?

*Enter your own chili in the contest!*

Saturday, May 2nd, 4-7pm

At the home of David and Kathy Schwarz in Scottsdale (need directions? Contact LD17 chair Lauren Kuby - email below)

Winner announced at 5:30!

*Ticket Prices:*

$25
$15 for YDs
$10 for Kids

For Tickets: email laurenkuby[at]gmail.com; or buy online at http://www.d17dems.org/donate.asp

Proceeds to benefit the Maricopa County Democratic Party and LD17 Democrats.


...OK, so it's the "event of the year" if you are a Democrat and like chili... :)

The coming week...

...All info culled from online sources and subject to change without notice...

...It's easy to cover the expected goings-on in Congress this week - there aren't any. Congress is on its Easter/spring recess.

...In the AZ Legislature, things are still officially "quiet" as the Senate President's "no bills until the budget is done" edict is still in force. However, both the Dems and the Reps have put out proposals for the coming fiscal year (yes, both proposals are wildly divergent and of the "PR fodder" variety, but they are still proposals) so there are some expectations of an imminent thaw on that front. Probably not this week, though.

- In House COW action, the most contentious debate could be over HB2103, a bill to authorize the state treasurer to employ legal counsel other than the state attorney general. Call this the "Dean Martin doesn't like Terry Goddard" bill. The fun part of this is that while Martin is trying to bypass the state AG because the AG's office isn't knowledgeable in the financial area and to "save the general fund a few million dollars." (State Treasurer Dean Martin, at the February 20, 2009 House Government Committee meeting), Martin's saddle partners Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio are opposing the Maricopa County supes' move to freeze Thomas out of the County's civil litigation for similar reasons.

Ahhhh..the Golden Rule of Politics - It's Only Hypocrisy When Someone Else Does It.

Unmentioned at the hearing, probably because it hadn't been generated yet, was the lege's fiscal note. A note formulated based on input from the Treasurer's office itself.

The highest specific number listed for the impact was $36,100. That was for the cost of attorney services at the current level utilized (94 hours), charged at the highest estimated hourly fee; however, the note mentions a non-specific savings because the AG's office gets a 35% cut of any monies that are recovered because of their services.

The fiscal note also mentions that this bill would have an unspecified impact on some local governments who invest with the Treasurer's office. They would end up having to cover some of the costs of the Treasurer's outside attorneys in an era when local governments across the state are chopping services and employees.

- The committee side of the lege looks to be fairly quiet (for now, anyway :) ).

Over in the House, the Rules Committee will be meeting at 1 p.m. in HHR4. The agenda there is lengthy, but seems to be fairly uncontroversial at this point.

At 11 on Tuesday morning, there will be a joint meeting of the House Commerce and Health and Human Services committees in HHR 5 to hear a presentation on the " Impact of the Hidden Healthcare Tax on Business (Prepared for the Arizona Chamber Foundation - presented by Randy Haught of The Lewin Group)."

On the Senate side of the complex, the committees that meet will be meeting mostly to consider executive appointments. The most interesting (OK, the one with the most familiar names) of those could be at Tuesday's meeting of the Senate's Commerce and Economic Development Committee (1:30 p.m., SHR1). There, they will considering the appointments of former Corporation Commissioners William Mundell and Jeff Hatch-Miller as Registrar of Contractors and to the AZ State Lottery Commission, respectively.

...Arizona Corporation Commission - no meetings scheduled.

...Maricopa County Board of Supervisors - no meetings scheduled at this point, though with the constant legal wrangling between the supes and Andrew Thomas/Joe Arpaio, something could pop up on short notice.

...Governing board of the Maricopa County Community College District - no meetings scheduled.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health Systems - no meetings scheduled, but they'll be involved with a conference at the Phoenician through Wednesday.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project - On Thursday, there will be meetings of the Board's Public Policy Committee and of the Board itself in Casa Grande.

...Tuesday night, the Scottsdale City Council will hold a regular meeting followed by a joint meeting with the Budget Review Commission. At the joint meeting, the two groups will hear about the City Manager's plan to address budget issues. The plan includes elimination of 150 more positions (some through attrition, some through layoffs) and the elimination of retiree health coverage for future employees.

Other events -

- Thursday, 9 a.m. - Governor Jan Brewer will attend a "special summit" of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council to discuss budget issues.

Location: Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe


- Also on Thursday...

Sustainability Town Hall with Congressman Harry Mitchell
2 to 3:30 p.m. (registration at 1:45 p.m.)
SkySong, 1475 N. Scottsdale Road (southeast corner at McDowell; enter off McDowell)
Topic: Green jobs today for a strong economy tomorrow.
RSVP: Adralyn, adralyn.wendel[at]mail.house.gov or (480) 946-2411.

Later...

Time for some 2010 speculations...

...especially since "Candie Dates" at Sonoran Alliance got the ball rolling with a post concerning possible candidates to replace Jan Brewer at the Secretary of State's office if she ascends to the governor's office (OK, OK - "when" :( ) and the AZ Rep has an article about how Janet Napolitano's expected move to D.C. would "shake up" the 2010 race for governor.

A couple of caveats -

1. Most of my focus will be on Democrats from Maricopa County because they're who I have the most familiarity with. There are certain to be candidates from Pima, Pinal, Coconino and other counties whose names I haven't heard.

2. This is all pure speculation on my part. None of the potential candidates mentioned has ever spoken to me about their future plans.

3. The underlying assumptions are that Janet Napolitano leaves and does not return to run against John McCain in two years (though a run against Jon Kyl in four years remains a possibility) and that, despite laying the groundwork for a reelection run, McCain chooses not to run again at age 74.

4. The goal of this post is to start a discussion, so if you have some legitimate speculations of your own, feel free to leave a comment (just keep it civil :) ).


On to the idle thoughts random musings... :))

State Mine Inspector - why on God's green earth is this still an elected office? Could someone explain this to me, please?


State Superintendent of Public Instruction -

Speculation elsewhere on possible Republican candidates has focused on State Sen. John Huppenthal and State Rep. Rich Crandall. Both are very conservative; Huppenthal despises public education with a burning passion and Crandall does not.

As for possible Democratic candidates, Slade Mead and Jason Williams, who both ran in 2006 may try again. However, Williams has remained more active in the education field and has a higher profile in that area. Other to consider include Jackie and John Thrasher. Both are career teachers, both lost elections this year and may want to try for different offices in 2010 - it's looking more and more like John is not destined to be the one who unseats Congressman Trent Franks in CD3 and Jackie could make Republicans Jim Weiers and Doug Quelland eat green crow by winning a statewide office after weaselling their way back into office in LD10.


State Treasurer - No clue here. At all.


Attorney General -

On the Republican side, I have no idea, though I expect their nominee to be some party apparatchik.

As for the Democratic possibilities, I don't have much more of a clue here, though Tim Nelson (former candidate for Maricopa County Attorney) is a possibility if he doesn't accompany Napolitano to D.C. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is a possibility here too, if he chooses to give Terry Goddard an unobstructed run at the Democratic gubernortorial nomination. Long shots to even consider a run, much less win one, are Don Bivens, chair of the AZ Democratic Party, and Mark Manoil, chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party. Both are practicing lawyers.


Secretary of State -

The Sonoran Alliance post linked above has a pretty good run down of possible Rep candidates for 2010 even though the focus was on possibilities for appointment to replace Brewer in the immediate future. One name that was mentioned over there was former Tempe state Rep. Laura Knaperek. They raved over her because she is so conservative, but I don't see it - she lost her last general election in 2006 against a couple of relatively new Democratic candidates for state lege, and she lost her last primary this year in CD5. Even good candidates can lose *one* election but she has lost three this decade. She may want to consider *not* running for office for a while.

Current Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes may consider a run here, too. While her non-political experience is in journalism, she has degrees in law and public administration. Since she is rumored to be interested in moving to the ninth floor (aka - the Governor's office), this office would be a logical steppingstone.

As for Democrats, Sandra Kennedy has been rumored to have interest in the job, though her recent victory in the AZ Corporation Commission race probably means she won't go for this in two years. There are a couple of termed out state legislators who may be interested, and perhaps some not-so-termed-out ones, if it doesn't look like the Dems will improve their representation in the lege in two years.


Governor -

The list is long and varied here. The Republican possibilities are discussed in the AZ Rep article, though Jan Brewer has to be considered the early favorite whether or not she ascends into the governorship within a few weeks. A dark horse here could be Congressman Jeff Flake, whose interest in the job has been the subject of rumors in the past. While the governor's job pays less than U.S. Rep, he wouldn't have to fly back and forth to D.C. every weekend and wouldn't have to sleep in his office to save money for his kids' college education.

On the Democratic side, current Attorney General Terry Goddard is considered the presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination with Phil Gordon the primary threat to that. Former AZ Dem chair and former candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Pederson is also mentioned frequently. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been the subject of rumors here, but she seems more likely to take a run at John McCain's Senate seat at this point.


Arizona Corporation Commission (2 seats) -

No clue as for the Republican possiblilities, and the only Democratic names that I can think of right off the top of my head are Sam George and Kara Kelty, both of whom were candidates this year.


U.S. Senate -

If McCain doesn't run again, the field is wide open on both sides of the aisle.

Republican possibilities include current Congressmen John Shadegg (CD3) and Jeff Flake (CD6), though there are sure to be other names floated (Mayes' name might fit here, too, but she passed on a run in CD1 this year. She may not be interested in federal office.)

Democratic possibilities include whichever of the Goddard/Gordon duo doesn't run for governor, Jim Pederson (again) and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (CD8). Giffords may be a possible candidate even if McCain runs again - many people in AZ believe that a strong female candidate would have the best chance of unseating the popular McCain.


U.S. Congress -

There is a frequent rumor that Congressman Ed Pastor (CD4) could face a primary challenge in two years from Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. If that actually happens, it would be an interesting, and probably heated, contest between two entrenched west Phoenix political machines.

As for the other CDs, I've got no idea, though any special-election winning replacement for rumored-to-becoming-U.S. Secretary of the Interior Raul Grijalva (CD7) is certain to face some strong challengers.


Other names that could fit into one of these potential races include Dennis Burke (former Napolitano chief of staff and rumored U.S. Attorney-to-be), state legislators David Lujan (D), Kyrsten Sinema (D), Chad Campbell (D) and Michelle Reagan (R) and outgoing Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross.



Later!