And the race is on...

We have a year until the primaries start, and almost 21 months to the 2008 general election, but the candidate debates....errr..."forums" are starting already.

Nevada seems to be getting the jump on everybody in this regard (thank to Desert Beacon for the heads-up on this):

The Nevada State Democratic Party has the announcement of a forum hosted by AFSCME in Carson City on February 21. The forum will be held at the Carson City Community Center; most tickets are reserved by the union; if I can find a webcast of the event, I'll link to it here. C-SPAN should have it, too.

Other NV events, from Google Calendar:

What: AFSCME Candidate Forum in Nevada (D)

When: Wed Feb 21, 2007

Where: Carson City, Nevada

Description: First, the SC Dems thought they had the first-in-the-campaign debate on 4/26.

Then CNN and the NH state parties announced back-to-back debates on Friday for 4/4 and 4/5. Now, NV Dems have chimed in by not just announcing a "first" candidate debate or forum, but they've released an entire 5-event schedule.

-- 2/21: AFSCME will be hosting a candidate forum (as opposed to a debate) in Carson City. Is this early to expect both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? The rest of the Dem field won't miss it, right? This probably won't be televised nationally beyond C-SPAN though if both Clinton and Obama attend, some cable net may change its mind.

-- 3/24: SEIU/Center for American Progress health care forum at UNLV.

-- mid-8/07: apparently piggy-backing off the end of the IA State Fair, NV Dems will sanction their first official "debate" in Reno.

-- 11/2: a one-year out debate sanctioned AND sponsored by the state party.

-- 1/15/08: the NV Dems are sanctioning a debate for the day after the IA caucuses.

Fairly shrewd move as it likely guarantees that all the Dem candidates will fly directly from Des Moines to Vegas, rather than Des Moines.

A Nevada Appeal (MSM newspaper in Carson City) article on this is here.

And don't forget that ASU is already trying to be one of the hosts of a presidential general election debate next fall.


With all of the scurrying between the states to have the "earliest" primaries, and now forums/debates, it seems that by the 2016 presidential election cycle at the latest, the primaries will be held held on January 21, 2013.

As in the day after the winner of the 2012 election is inaugurated.

Still, for those of us Dems who haven't decided which candidate to support during the primary, these early forums, even if they're not held in AZ, will be helpful.

Later!

Mitchell joins 5 more bills as a co-sponsor...

Note: much of this post was originally posted at Progressive Wave's AZ-05; the press release info was added for the post here.

...and criticizes the President's budget proposal.

The bills are:

HRes 97, Providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability;
H R 365, ...remediation of closed methamphetamine production laboratories;
H R 720, Water Quality Financing Act of 2007;
H R 800, Employee Free Choice Act;
H R 811, would amend the Help America Vote Act by requiring a paper ballot trail.

In other news, Congressman Mitchell spoke out about the President's budget proposal, and its effect on student financial aid (he was speaking to the State Press, the newspaper at Arizona State U).

From the article:

Pell Grants - federal need-based grants that don't have to be repaid - currently have a maximum award amount of $4,050. That number would increase to $4,600 in 2008.

{snip}

But the increase will cut other areas of financial aid, said Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-AZ.

"He's just taking it from one pot and putting it into another," Mitchell said of the president. "If you look at overall student aid, he's cutting it."

The budget would phase out federal involvement in low-interest Perkins Loans over five years. The budget would also cut funding to the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program - another need-based grant program.

{snip}

But losing the other programs and gaining the Pell Grant increase would be an overall loss for students, Mitchell said.

"You've got to look at the total picture," Mitchell said.

"On the one hand ... yeah it sounds good, but at the same time, he's eliminating another grant program and over five years he wants to eliminate a low interest loan program."

Note: HR 365 (Meth lab cleanup) passed the House today by a 426 - 2 vote. Harry Mitchell voted in the affirmative, with AZ6's own Jeff Flake casting one of the two "nay" votes.

From a press release about HR 365:

"We all know how harmful meth labs are to the security of a neighborhood, but health hazards remain a legitimate threat to our children even after a lab has been shut down," said Mitchell. "This legislation is an important step forward to fighting the harmful effects of meth labs."

{snip}

Mitchell said that federal, state and local governments have a responsibility to work together to fight meth, and praised the efforts of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard to crack down on meth labs.

"We have strong leaders in Arizona working on this issue, and I know that with the new Congress, we can work together on removing harmful meth labs from our neighborhoods," said Mitchell.

And from a press release about HR 720 (Clean Water funds):

The legislation, H.R. 720, would replace the current, outdated allocation formula which is based on 1970 Census data, and as a result, has cost Arizona millions of dollars.

Arizona ranks 10th in the nation in wastewater infrastructure need, 20th in population, but under the current formula, is ranked 38th in SRF funds. Calculated on a per capita basis, Arizona ranks last, or 53rd, in the nation - behind even the U.S. territories - in SRF funds received.

"Arizona 's population has more than tripled since 1970 and its time for federal funding to reflect that," said Mitchell. "We're the fastest growing state in the nation, and we have serious needs. We deserve our fair share, and with the Senate's help, I hope we'll finally get it."

SRFs help construct publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities.

A link to information about recent cuts in federal funding to AZ for clean water efforts is here.

Later!

Jim Weiers disenfranchises nearly 2 million Arizonans

Fact to remember: in terms of controlling the agenda of the Arizona House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House, the Jim Weiers mentioned in the title of this post, is God. And he gleefully uses that power to push around the Democrats in the legislature.

Actually, there is one difference between God and Jim Weiers - God occasionally listens to prayers.

Anyway, in my previous post, I covered Rep. Ed Ableser's eye-opener about bills that have not been heard in a House committee by the end of next week are dead this session.

He then announced a startling figure -

Of over 830 bills, memorials, and resolutions introduced in the Arizona House of Representatives this session, 279 were sponsored by Democrats.

5 of those bills have been heard in committee. (The numbers may change a little by the end of next week, but probably not by much.)

That's 1.7% of the bills introduced by Democrats even have a chance of coming to a vote before the whole House.

In Arizona's 30 legislative districts, 11 of them have an all-Democrat delegation in the legislature (both state reps and the state senator).

Based on 2000 census figures, 1,801,450 people live in those districts. There are 4 districts with split delegations, but I'm not counting those as part of this.


That's better than 35% of the population of Arizona (5,130,632).


There are many reasons why the Republican Party is in decline both nationally and in Arizona; the utter contempt for the voters illustrated by this is only one of them.

BTW - one of those aforementioned split districts, LD10, is Weiers' own. Apparently, he didn't get the hint when Jackie Thrasher kicked his long-time running mate Doug Quelland to the electoral curb in November.

We need to help her finish the job in 2008; she won't just be helping her district, she'll be helping more than 1/3 of the state.

Good night!

Tonight's LD17 Meeting...

It was a fairly quiet meeting (we actually finished on time. Whooo hoooo!) tonight at the Escalante Center in Tempe.

Mark Manoil, chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, spoke to the assembled group for a few minutes.

He covered about how the 2008 coordinated campaign has already started, with the focus on registering voters, finding and training PCs, and recruiting candidates. He also noted that the state party (AZDP) is going to be very aggressive in its voter registration efforts, too.

He also discussed some of the goals of the county party as we enter the 2008 election cycle (yes, it *has* already started. {groan} :) ) One of the general goals is to raise the county party's visibility; since Maricopa County is the home of the state capital, and hence, also the headquarters of the state party, it can be very easy for MCDP's profile to be overshadowed by the state party's. The county party is also looking at the very successful regional organizing efforts of the GEMDEMS to try and export their success to other areas of the county.

He was well-received by the audience, and, in a move that is unusual for guest speakers at just about *any* meeting that I've ever been to, he stayed and listened through most of the meeting.

Next up, Joaquin Rios, president of the ASU Young Dems, gave a brief update on their activities. Their highlight is the fact that very soon (within a week or so) they'll be hiring a Executive Director.

A *paid* ED.

Yup, they're moving into the big-time.

Much of the his and the group's other activities revolve around organizing, especially at ASU's other campuses and the local community colleges.

In the legislative update portion of the agenda, Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill sent her regrets, but was unable to attend tonight's meeting due to her ankle surgery last week.

Rep. Ed Ableser talked about the eye-opening fact that came to his attention this week: If a bill at the legislature isn't heard in committee by the end of next week, it's dead for the session.

Between the two of them, Ed and Rep. David Shapira have had all of 1 bill heard so far.

[More on this subject in a later post.]

He talked about how his signing on as a sponsor of Rep. Kyrsten Sinema's HCR2011 bill outlawing civilian patrol groups (i.e. - The Minutemen) has brought him to the attention of the Aryan Nation and other white supremacist groups. He's even received some threatening emails, though not as many as Rep. Sinema.

He's also having a good week for ticking off other people - he annoyed Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman by amending a bill that he (Hallman) supported. Apparently Hallman didn't like having a sunset clause added.

Hallman's a Republican. Let him be ticked off.

Rep. David Schapira talked about how his HB2206 (Teacher Shortage Student Loan Program) passed the Higher Ed committee and is now assigned to the Appropriations committee where committee chair Russell Pearce has said he will allow the bill to be heard.

David also talked about the great feeling that he had as a cancer survivor to be part of Cancer Awareness Day at the capitol. He also said it was wonderful to have 50 or 60 other cancer survivors walking the chambers of the lege supporting his HB2086, a bill that would require that cancer screenings be covered by medical insurance.

Other highlights from the meeting included announcements of a number of upcoming events in the area:

...The Arizona Advocacy Network is hosting a forum titled "Creating a Just Immigration Policy" on Thursday, February 15 at Grace Lutheran Church on 3rd St. in Phoenix.

...Charlie King and Karen Brandow are performing at the University Presbyterian Church on East Alameda in Tempe on Friday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m. The show is to benefit the Arizona Community Media Foundation. Tickets are $15 in advance ($18 at the door) and are available at Changing Hands Bookstore (Rural and McClintock in Tempe) or through the AZCMF.

...On Monday, February 19, the Nucleus Club is hosting a lunch buffet with speakers Dan Saban, former (and perhaps future?) candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff and former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, Mike Gravel. The event is at the Phoenix Country Club, with the buffet starting at 11:30 and the program starting at noon. Contact the Nucleus Club at 480-460-3817 for more information.

...Next LD17 Dems meeting: Tuesday, March 6 at the Pyle Center in Tempe. Info exchange at 6:30 p.m, meeting at 7.

Later!

Modern "Wars" - a comparison

Bush's "escalation" plan to deal with the abysmal failure of his war in Iraq (aka - the "What we're doing isn't working, so let's do more of it!" plan) brings to mind another government "War" initiative that hasn't worked in the past, isn't working now, and probably never will work -

The War on Drugs.

Both were based on misleading or false information:

Iraq - non-existent weapons of mass destruction;

Drugs - anybody seen "Reefer Madness" lately? These days it works better as a satire, but people treated its "demon" characterizations as gospel truth then and now.

Both have claimed innocent victims:

Iraq - Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands. The total is unclear because the U.S. military doesn't "do body counts."

Drugs - Untold numbers, both in victims of the violence associated with the business of narcotics trafficking under the conditions created by our laws and of the paramilitary tactics used by law enforcement personnel.

Both have greatly benefited the *bad* people that the war is supposed to be against:

Iraq: Bush's war has led directly to increased recruitment of jihadists/"terrorists" in Iraq and to the reduction of international respect for the U.S. Oh, and there is that escalating civil war in Iraq.

Minor detail, that.

Drugs - Much as the Prohibition of alcohol sparked the growth of the Mob in the 1920s and 1930s, our country's narcotics laws have given today's drug cartels the vastly profitable core business that fuel their economic engine.

Both are strongly supported by corporate America:

Iraq - Not only is the government buying equipment and supplies for the war effort, it has also outsourced many functions that were previously performed by the military/DOD. Halliburton is just one of the corporations reaping billion$ from the deaths of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. And that's the just from official activities; it doesn't even count the many cases of outright contractor fraud.

Drugs - Big Pharma's efforts (and those of other industries) to keep hemp banned are well-documented. There's no profit in hemp-based products or medicinal marijuana for large corporations (too easily cultivated for personal use); however, the ban increases the amounts that can be charged for "legal" drugs, aka the drugs that benefit Big Pharma more than they benefit patients.

And, worst of all, with both there's no end in sight:

Iraq - Even super-conservative Republican congressman Ron Paul of Texas admits that the war is a failure and was wrong from the beginning, but still Bush and the White House want to send more troops to their deaths and give more public money to corporations to conduct the war.

And even if open U.S. involvement in Iraq ends, Iran is next on Bush's dancecard.

Drugs - Even former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged this fact. The staunchly conservative National Review, normally an abject apologist for the most insane right-wing programs, admits the War on Drugs is a failure, yet the White House and other government organs slog on with their escalating war on the American people.

And even as the latest drug "scare" wanes, inevitably, a new one looms on the horizon.

Lastly, even the responses of Arizona's senators to critics of the War in Iraq and the War on Drugs are similar:

Iraq - Kyl says that dissent "emboldens" the enemy; McCain calls critics "intellectually dishonest" and says they "insult" the military.

Drugs - When Arizona voters passed Prop 200 in 1996, a proposition that decriminalized possession and use of marijuana for medical reasons, he said that we (AZ voters) were "hoodwinked."

They may think that we are insultingly dishonest intellectual traitors who aid the enemy (whoever this week's "enemy" may be) with our questions and criticisms, but they may be on to something with the "hoodwinked" part.

We keep electing them, don't we?

If we want to end these endless, crippling, soul-shredding wars, we need to change who we send to D.C., state capitals, and even to county and municipal governments. The change started this past fall, but we need to continue the movement until our government (at all levels!) is more responsive to the will of the people.

Or will at least admit when they've made a mistake, learn from the mistake, and then correct it.

Later!

LD17 Legislators in the news...

Pretty quiet week in terms of MSM coverage of the LD17 legislators, with Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill and Rep. Ed Ableser not getting any love from the AZ Rep, EV Trib, et. al.

Rep. David Schapira did get a couple of mentions, though:

...The Tucson Citizen and ASU State Press/Web Devil carried the same article on the passage of his HB2206, the Teacher Shortage Student Loan Program bill.

From the article -

"I was a high school teacher, and to look at the classroom next to me that was empty and had a sub every day ... is to know that there's definitely a shortage in Arizona," Schapira said. "To me (introducing the bill) seemed like sort of a common-sense thing to do."

The article was written by Brian Indrellunas for the Cronkite News Service.

...Schapira was mentioned in an East Valley Tribune article highlighting the discussion at the lege about increasing the use of private prisons.

From the article -

To deal with the crowded conditions, Arizona has been sending prisoners to other states at a premium, which Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, said hurts taxpayers. The cost per day to house an inmate jumps from $53 to as much as $70 if the inmate is sent to another state.

...If you see Sen. Burton-Cahill, wish her a speedy recovery from the recent work on her ankle.

It's hard to kick tail at the Capitol on a bum foot. :)

...Reminder: Progressive Lobby Day at the Legislature is tomorrow, Tuesday February 6th.

Later!

Short attention span musing

A couple of newly-instituted awards this week...

...Winning award for "Scariest Elected Official of the Week" is our own Maricopa County DA, Andrew "Kill 'em quick and let God sort out the mistakes" Thomas.

The reason for Thomas's victory is best illustrated by this interesting sequence -

On the AZ Rep website (and this may change by the time you go to the front page), is the headline "Faster death-penalty trials?" that links to an article about the county attorney's efforts to speed up the capital trial, appeals, and execution process. He's upset that there aren't enough qualified public defenders for all of the defendants that he wants to kill. He has called for the existing death-qualified defense attorneys to take on more cases.

Directly below that headline is one that states "Ajo Al's owner cleared of charges". It links to an article concerning a case where the county attorney brought criminal charges against a restaurant for health code violations. He held a big press conference and everything.

He ignored one little detail though; a detail that resulted in the dismissal.

The restaurant had already been sanctioned and corrected the code violations.

That darn double jeopardy thingie. How's a DA supposed to run an efficient railroad with that getting in the way?

...The "Dumbest Elected Official of the Week" award goes to Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco.

Seems he had an extramarital affair with the wife of a close friend; not a good thing for his political career, but hardly a certain end to it. Bill Clinton survived the hubbub surrounding his affair, and at least two people who are known to have cheated on their wives, at least in the past, are candidates for president in 2008 (Giuliani and Gingrich.)

The really dumb part? Not only was his girlfriend, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of a close friend; that close friend, Alex Tourk, is his campaign manager.

Make that "was" his campaign manager as Tourk resigned on January 31.

All of which should make for an interesting conversation when Mayor Newsom starts interviewing for a replacement campaign manager:

Interviewee: "So, Mr. Mayor, why is this position available?"

Newsom: "Well, there was some inappropriate boinking going on, and the situation had to be dealt with."

Interviewee: "Oh? Who was he boinking?"

Newsom: "Errr...ummm...."

As the Time Magazine article linked above points out, the biggest issue for Newsom may not be the affair itself, but the fact that he betrayed not only his own wife but his closest and most loyal confidant. Pretty dumb when you're asking people to place their trust in him and to cast their vote for him.

And that is what merits the "Dumbest..." award.

...In JD Hayworth news, he has earned the "Sloppiest (Un-) Elected Official" award of the week.

In his "Year-End" filing with the FEC, covering the period from November 28 thru December 31, 2006, he reported period contributions of $136.00, with cycle-to-date contributions of $15,592.17. The rest of the report had similarly low numbers for both the period and cycle-to-date.

In his "Post-General" report, covering through November 27, 2006, he reported cycle-to-date contributions of $2,932,181.67.

That's a decrease in cycle contributions of $2,916,589.50 in a 34-day period.

That's also either accounting fraud on an almost Enron-esque level, or the sloppy attention to detail of a profoundly disappointed losing candidate.

My guess, based on the fact that there were other glitches in the report (dates and such) and also on the expectation that he is going to run for office again is that this is simple sloppiness and will be corrected in an amended report.

It's still fun to point out, though. :)

Note: assuming that one detail from the form is accurate, Hayworth still has over $200,000 cash on hand. That's a nice amount of seed money if he decides to challenge Harry Mitchell in 2008, or try for John McCain's U.S. Senate seat in 2010.

Note2: The Mitchell campaign's year-end report lists cash-on-hand at just under $21,000.

Have a great weekend!

Molly Ivins 1944 - 2007

Damn. Damndamndamn.

Last week Art Buchwald's wit and voice were silenced; now the wry-est, wittiest, and simply the best observer of American politics has passed away.

Molly Ivins died today after a long fight against breast cancer.

Damn.

Link to the Houston Chronicle story here, though it's all over the MSMnet.

A tribute piece written by one of her editors, Anthony Zurcher, is here.

Her last published column was about Bush's planned surge in Iraq, and can be found here.

Damn.

There are a lot of good writers out there today, but none could make you laugh while getting you pissed off at the latest story of injustice/corruption/hypocrisy/stupidity involving our "leaders."

Damn.

February 6, 2007 - Arizona Progressive Lobby Day

From AdvocatesAZ.org (aka - Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona):

ARIZONA PROGRESSIVE LOBBY DAY
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6,
2007

Join your fellow Progressives from around the state as we lobby together for the values we share: fairness, equality, opportunity, justice, a cleaner environment and a better life for ourselves and our families.

{snip}

Arizona State Capitol
1700 W Washington St in Phoenix

Come from 10am to 1:30pm for lobbying, lunch and legislative speakers or come from noon to 1:30pm for lunch and legislative speakers. You're welcome to stay after 1:30pm if you'd like to view a committee hearing or visit with your legislators - staff and volunteers will be on hand to guide you.

Free lunch and refreshments will be provided.For more information or to sign up as a participating organization or to RSVP,contact Michelle Steinberg at (602) 263-4226 or msteinberg@ppcna.org.

The event is sponsored by a large number of progressive groups.

If you can make it, GO. A strong turnout will bolster the progressives already in the lege, and will let the Republicans know that more are coming.

Later!

Here and there...

...I don't normally cover Massachusetts politics, but this rumor has some AZ ties...

The Boston Herald reported a rumor/draft movement about Red Sox pitcher (and former DBacks pitcher) Curt Schilling running against John Kerry in 2008 for a Senate seat. (Schilling is an ardent Republican.)

Schilling discounted the rumor, but did not rule it out entirely. He was also quoted in the article as saying that he would support either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama for President next year.

In what may be his first campaign move, Schilling announced that he is *not* retiring after the 2007 season as previously expected; instead, he will play at least through 2008.

Which is a "campaign move" because the only way he unseats Kerry in November 2008 is to lead the Red Sox to a World Series victory in October 2008.

And, after the victory parade, burying George Steinbrenner up to his neck in the warning track in front of the Green Monster would probably help his chances. A lot. :))

...In news that's a little closer to home, JD Hayworth is starting to come out of his seclusion from the public eye.

According to the Eastern Arizona Courier (they call it a "contributed article"; it reads like a press release), the former Congressman will be among those speaking a gathering of the Graham County Republicans on February 23 at Eastern Arizona College.

...In unsurprising Scottsdale news, the Scottsdale City Council tonight voted to reactivate the photo radar program along a stretch of Loop 101 in Scottsdale. The only real question was about the use of the revenue generated by the citations generated by the program. Councilman Bob Littlefield wanted to specifically target the revenue for public safety programs, but was told by the City Attorney that anything related to spending money had to be properly agendized and given a public hearing.

The motion to reactivate passed by a 5-1 margin (Councilman Tony Nelssen against; Councilman McCullagh absent-bereavement). Councilman Nelssen stated that he could not support the reactivation of the cameras unless the revenue was specifically targeted for public safety.

The program is scheduled to restart on February 22.

Councilman Littlefield also mentioned during the discussion that a state legislator will be introducing a bill to take any revenue generated from a state-run photo radar program and dedicate it to road construction. When asked about it after the meeting, he didn't have a name.

I can guess at least one of the names involved, though. :)

I'll keep an eye on any legislation proposed in this regard.

AZRep coverage of the meeting here.

Later!

Harry Mitchell selected as subcommittee chair

Tony at Wactivist.com mentioned this earlier, and it was confirmed by a press release:

U.S. Rep. Harry E. Mitchell today was named chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Mitchell's appointment was approved by the full House Veterans' Affairs Committee. He is one of only two freshman members who were named subcommittee chairs by the committee.

"This is an important role, and I'm truly humbled to have earned the confidence of my colleagues," said Mitchell. "We have a lot of work to do to make sure our veterans are treated with the respect they deserve, and I'm proud that I'll have a role in doing that."

This really *is* significant, and it illustrates the regard that his colleagues hold for Harry.

The Veterans Affairs Committee website is here;
The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee website is here.

Is Jon Kyl doing a remote job interview for the VP job

if Cheney leaves?

From a speech he made yesterday on the Senate floor [with some comments from me :) ] (pages S1269, S1270 and S1271 of the Congressional Record):

On the President's "new" strategy in Iraq -

My position is clear. I think we ought to give the President's strategy a chance to work. We asked him to come up with a new strategy. He has done so, and it seems to me that it is our responsibility as a Senate to give that a chance to work or to provide an alternative--not an alternative to leave but an alternative to win. There are plenty of ways to leave. We can begin leaving now and have it done in a year. We can leave in 6 months. We can leave to the border but not beyond. There are a lot of different ideas about how to leave, but an alternative is not how to leave but how to win.

[Senator, it's not a "new" strategy; it's the same failed strategy with more body bags. Also, Senator, "alternative" means just that, not "different words that express the same idea that we have."]

On the anti-war resolutions that have begun popping up in Congress -

Resolutions that are nonbinding nevertheless have consequences. They can't change the policy that is already being effected, the strategy in Iraq, but what they can do is send very powerful messages. First, they can send a message to our enemies. It seems to me the last message we want to send to the enemy is that the Congress does not support the mission in Iraq. Obviously that emboldens the enemy.

{snip}

Most importantly, a resolution such as this sends a message to our troops. It is a very powerful message and a very negative one...We are sending you into a place where you could well die, but we don't support the cause for which you are dying.

[Silent acquiescence is un-American. And given that thousands of American soldiers have died in Bush's War to Aid Halliburton's Bottom Line, silent acquiescence may be treasonous.

Furthermore, given the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians that have died as a result of Bush's War, silent acquiescence may border on crime against humanity.]

In essence, Senator Kyl seems to be saying that the only way to honor the American servicemen and -women who have given their lives in this war is to send more to sacrifice their own lives.

That's crap.

In other JK news, he supported militarizing space in a speech given yesterday to the conservative think tank/lobbying group, the Heritage Foundation. (Aviation Week)


[I don't know whether to refer to him as the "White House's water carrier on the Hill" or the "White House's Kool-Aid drinker on the Hill," but he's definitely more Bush's representative than Arizona's.]


I was going to write a post about the Scottsdale City Council's agenda item to approve turning back on photo radar cameras on Loop 101 at tonight's meeting, with some coverage of the legislative discomfort with that idea, but this was more interesting. :)

Later!

LD17 Legislators in the news...

It was a quiet week in terms of news coverage for LD17 legislators, with Rep. David Schapira getting mentioned in Monday's EV Trib "Arizona Politics" column as the only coverage:

To deal with the crowded conditions, Arizona has been sending prisoners to other states at a premium, which Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, said hurts taxpayers. The cost per day to house an inmate jumps from $53 to as much as $70 if the inmate is sent to another state.

In other EV legislator coverage this week, LD8's Rep. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale) announced that she is preparing a bill concerning the use of photo radar on state freeways (courtesy EV Trib):

Rep. Michele Reagan, RScottsdale, said she is drafting a bill to prohibit any profit from a freeway enforcement program to be deposited into a city or a state General Fund, which has no spending restrictions. Reagan said her proposal would equally disperse the profits to the DPS equipment fund, the Criminal Justice Enhancement Fund and the state crime lab.

More on photo radar in my next post....

I know it's early, and I don't necessarily like it, but Hillary Clinton is the one to beat

While she isn't my favorite candidate of those who have announced thus far, I have to admit that Hillary Clinton will be tough to beat.

Not because of her name recognition; while she has plenty of it, simply being 'well-known' can hurt a candidate as much as it helps one.

Not because of her ability to raise money, though she seems to be the best at that.

Not even because of her intelligence, because while she is *very* smart, so are most of the other candidates.

Nope, it's because she's *Hillary*.

Yes, there are a lot of people who can't stand the idea of her candidacy, many of them Democrats. Kevin Spidel has a good example of that here.

And God knows, the Republicans get absolutely torqued over the thought of having to refer to her as "Madame President."

Much like Governor Napolitano, Hillary Clinton's greatest strength as a candidate is her ability to excite people, many of whom would otherwise be utterly uninterested and uninvolved, to get involved and do so early in the election cycle.

I saw a firsthand example of that this weekend.

The people that I work with know that I am politically active, though most of the time it doesn't come up. That changed this weekend when one the women that I work with asked me if I knew of any local volunteer opportunities with the Clinton campaign. Three or four others also chimed in when they heard the question. After I told her what I know, a stunning realization set in -

We're over a year away from the primaries and 21 months away from the general election, and people who have *never* volunteered for a campaign are already lining up.

For the rest of the Dem contenders, that's going to be tough to beat.

Hillary Clinton's website here; calendar of Valley events here.

In the interests of equal time...

Richardson for President website here;

Edwards for President website here;

Obama for President website here.

If any other candidate becomes viable (i.e. - if Biden or Dodd or any of the others gains some traction) I'll post links to their websites.

Later!

And the winner is....

Last week, I mentioned in a post that I was going to do a "loon report" post for the current legislature. My plan was to analyze bill sponsorships and co-sponsorships and determine who is the "looniest legislator" in this, the 48th session of the Arizona Legislature.

Turns out it was pretty easy - one name kept popping up on the worst of the worst bills.

It wasn't Sen. Ron Gould (R-Lake Havasu City, LD3); he has co-sponsored just a few bills, and the only bill he is a primary sponsor of is SB1347, the Teenage Driver Safety Act, an act that looks like it is sensible. Not something we're used to from an elected official who flies the Confederate flag at home in Lake Havasu City while objecting to people of Mexican descent waving the Mexican flag.

It wasn't even the always reliably nutty Rep. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa, LD18), though he made a good run at the title. His brand of lunacy seems to be singularly focused.

He REALLY hates immigrants. He's introduced at least a dozen bills targeted at undocumented immigrants and their children (HB2471).

He can claim his email to his supporters with a link to the National Alliance website was a mistake at the time, but my guess is that he's a whole-hearted fan of the group, even if he isn't openly a member.

While Rep. Pearce made it a race, the winner for his well-rounded brand of lunacy is, unsurprisingly, Sen. Jack Harper (R-Surprise, LD4).

I'd love to say that he's a typical reactionary Republican, but looking at some of his bills, that statement might be an insult to Republicans.

Try this comparison, call it a "tale of two bills" or something else equally laden with literary pretentions: :)

On one hand, we have HCR2016: a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would limit the number of initiatives questions submitted to the ballot by the state legislature to three per election.

On the other hand, we have SCR1001, a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would require that any measures submitted to the ballot must have been first considered by the state legislature within three years prior to the submittal.

HCR2016 restricts the legislature; SCR1001 restricts the citizenry.

The surprising-in-a-partisan-stereotype-way part?

HCR2016 is sponsored by Representatives Ableser, Kirkpatrick, Saradnik and Schapira, Democrats one and all.

SCR1001? Sponsored by Senators Harper and Huppenthal.

As in "staunchly conservative" Republicans Harper and Huppenthal.

Other bills from Harper that are surprisingly un-Republican and un-Democratic (both capital 'D' and small 'd' democratic):

SCR1009, a bill to give members of the lege a raise, and to make raises automatic on an annual basis, totally removing the voters from the approval mix.

SCR1015, a bill that would allow [edited and corrected thanks to a comment from grannuaile] legislative tinkering with an enacted initiative after a five year period. The bill also eliminates the current requirements of a 3/4 vote in the lege to change the act in question *and* the requirement that any legislature-originated change "furthers the purposes of the initiative or referendum."

Add in Sen. Harper's sponsorships of bills creating a vigilante force (SB1132 and SCR1006), limiting criminal appeal rights (SB1236), and the same anti-immigrant bills that Pearce supports, and we have the complete resume of the winner of this session's Legislative Loon Award.

Heartfelt congratulations go out to Senator Harper.

:))