State Committee Members - an at large candidate for convention delegate asks for your vote

And no, I'm not that candidate :)

Much like Man Eegee, I'm experiencing a bit of a writer's block this week (or maybe I just don't have much to say :) ), so this post and my next post will essentially just be "copy and paste" posts.

For this first one, one of the candidates for an Obama district level delegate slot at this summer's national convention, Dritan Zela, is also a candidate for an at-large delegate slot has written a letter to state committee members in support of his candidacy at the April 26 meeting of the State Committee. I'm publishing it here with his permission. As I'm not a member of the State Committee, this is done as a courtesy, not an endorsement.

From Dr. Dritan Zela -

Dear State Committee Member,

I am an ASU Mathematics doctoral graduate who never was involved in politics until 2003. I did not grow up as a free man but lived under one of the world’s most repressive communist regimes and, for much of my early life, just going to college or speaking freely my mind was beyond my ability to conceive. I have seen and made the American dream come true - going, in my short life, from the most extreme sufferings and discrimination of a dictatorship to overthrowing it, from making burgers to receiving a Ph.D. in Mathematics with applications to Neuroscience, to being a professor at prestigious universities and community colleges, to working for the Department of Justice, to winning in Supreme Court a civil rights class-action lawsuit against the State of Arizona to protect the indigent healthcare, to being the 2006 employee of the year of Maricopa Community Colleges as well as of Scottsdale Community College, to winning the world prestigious Fulbright Scholar award, to making a very singular, unique impact on an American Presidential campaign, that of Wesley Clark and John Kerry, and later supporting Barack Obama’s historical campaign, and to being elected a 2004 DNC delegate.

From being the co-founder and leader of the Arizona for Clark grassroots organization, to being featured in local, national and international media on Clark, Kerry and education issues and to being the main organizer and national speaker in many rallies for Clark, Kerry or Kosova, from filing on behalf of Gen. Clark his candidacy paperwork with the Secretary of State to helping deliver the immigrant vote to Clark and Kerry, to doing house parties, phone calls, mailing/emailing and making aware the ethnic communities and democratic clubs I represent or am connected with about Sen. Obama helping deliver their vote for him, my contribution to the democratic process has been very singular. Over the years, I worked as a student leader to help overthrow one of the most repressive communist regimes, compiled petitions, organized phone banks, had thousands of people sign petitions to successfully lobby U.S. Congress, current and former U.S. Presidents and iconic figures like Mohammed Ali by influencing them successfully to support intervention for stopping the genocide and ethnic cleansing and help stabilize the Balkans; developed advocacy strategies in support of immigrant, civil rights, ethnic, minority and against genocide causes as well as for presidential campaigns. I have founded, led and advised many cultural, student and Democratic organizations and advocacy groups including SCC Democratic club, Arizona Asian-American democratic association, etc. and have worked closely with Blue Mondays organization and Arizona college democrats. I have made singular impacts on several occasions for just causes like the healthcare in Arizona where, almost single handedly, I forced the state in Supreme Court to change the laws to provide healthcare for the Arizona most vulnerable. As part of my Fulbright Scholar grant in Europe, I became the lead attorney representing Albania and its soccer champion team in a historical international trial against Union of European Football Associations.

Being I am an Albanian-American, I thought it would be of interest to hear from someone whose people experienced the genocide first hand in Kosova and which the Clinton Administration put a stop to it. We would be living in a very different world today if the Bush administration had followed the lessons of its democratic predecessor in Kosova and the visionary ideas of Barack Obama in regard to policies on Iraq and Iran. Multilateralism, collaboration and understanding of people, postwar planning, commitment to the use of force only as a last resort - these are the ingredients of a lasting success, the ingredients of winning, not just the combat operation, but winning the hearts and minds of people and the stability and peace, the toughest battle of all and it were those kind of policies of Democrats that helped Kosova recently win independence. People of Iraq and of the world deserve the same kind of leadership that the Albanian people in Kosova received; the American people,
the American troops deserve the same level of support, visionary ideas and type of inspiring and inclusive experience and Barack Obama and this Democratic Party can deliver those kinds of results, because they already have. Though Obama is the epitome of immigrant’s dream come true, immigrants are still very under-represented group in US and I would like you to consider that as well when you vote.

I know that for most of you being a free person, not being scared for your life, for speaking up your mind or getting an education are things that may be taken for granted but for me, who experienced first hand one of the most repressive communist regimes, and for my Albanian Kosovar people, who saw the unspeakable horrors of genocide, it is a matter of visceral understanding that hope is not a passing fad but a reality, that idealism and inspiration are necessary seeds for positive social change, that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are everyday as precious as the air we breathe and we cannot thank enough this country for helping me and millions of immigrants, who came here because of Statue of Liberty “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” motto, experience these basic rights all over again. All my life, I have fought for democracy, a society governed by the rule of law and not of men, a free market economy and multi-party elections, and those ideals have been defended by me and my family not just with words, time or money but sometimes with the price of internment, imprisonment or even life, not just recently, but all my life and with actions that have changed dictatorial regimes, changed state laws, and influenced national policies.

Whether our ancestors have been here for thousands of years or came here on the Mayflower or in slave ships, whether they landed on Ellis Island, JFK or LAX airports or swam over to Miami, if you believe in the declaration of independence and the constitution, if one accepts the values of freedom, equal rights and other core values this country stands for then you are an American. Being an immigrant, it is time that we all become proud of our president, it is time that someone revives the ideal of what makes this country so great and different from the rest of world, the ideal that this is the country of “What you know and not who you know or who your daddy knows”, the ideal of to “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”, the ideal that our founders proclaimed that we are all created equal in the eyes of God and this Democratic Party and Senator Obama can bring back to us those ideals and I believe I offer a very unique representation of those ideals that Barack Obama personifies in.

I humbly ask you to consider what I have to offer.

Dr. Dritán Zela
P.S. Below is my bio and some articles on me, just in case you may want to know more.

http://www.uact.com/academics/faculty_bios.aspxhttp://www.d8dems.org/nl/0502Newsletter.pdf
http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/1216srcampusbeat16fulbrightZ8.html
https://intranet.known-universe.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://intranet.known-universe.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/25376
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5518882/

ENDORSEMENTS

One of my colleagues, Professor William Maxwell who was educated at Harvard, the
first professor of thinking in US and who has been dean of schools of education in Fiji, Nigeria, Texas and California and who has lived and taught in more than fifty nations, in his endorsement said: “I feel that American prestige has suffered enormously among well informed persons around the world over the last few years. Dr. Dritan Zela, although an immigrant, embraces the American ideals more passionately than any other academic I have met in recent years. As an African American, I wish that the older Americans, native, white, black, hispanic and others, would defend intellectually the freedoms that made America unique and great as vigorously as Dritan does. Dritan brings to political discourse a first class intellect and a purified passion."

Amy B. Berg: former vice chair and co-founder of Scottsdale Community College Democratic Club, former Chair of College Democrats of Arizona

Dr. Nancy Buel: former State Committee Member, LD8 State Representative candidate, 2004 DNC Delegate

Martha Bruneau: LD4 Chair, Founder of the Blue Mondays, former State Committee Member, LD19 State Senate candidate, 2004 DNC Delegate

Virgel Cain: State Committee Member, LD7 Vice Chair, former LD7 Chair, LD7 State Representative candidate, 2004 DNC Delegate
Ken Clark: former State Representative, 2004 DNC Delegate, Steering Committee Member of John Kerry’s Arizona Campaign, Chair of Arizona Fair Districts/Fair Elections Project

Dr. Robert Murray Davis: Widely published Author, retired University of Oklahoma Professor and former President of the Western Literature Association

Marilyn Fox: State Committee Member, LD7 Chair, LD7 State Representative candidate

Dr. Bonnie A. Gray: Executive Director of Maricopa Community Colleges POWER Diversity Institute, Director of Maricopa Community Colleges Diversity Infusion Program, Professor of Psychology and former Department Chair at Scottsdale Community College

Dr. Paul N. Grocoff: Doctoral Graduate in architecture, university Faculty, President of Avant-Garde Lighting Design and Consulting

Sally Hart: Senior Policy & Litigation Attorney for Center for Medicare Advocacy

Mathew Jewett: State Committee Member, Vice Chair of LD15, 2004 DNC Delegate, Children's Action Alliance Research Associate

James Kimes: 2004 LD1 State Representative candidate, 2002 Gov. Napolitano’s co campaign Coordinator for Yavapai County

Jeffrey Tucker: LD20 Secretary

Jim Hogan: State Committee Member

Dr. William Maxwell: Harvard Doctoral Graduate, first US Professor of Thinking, prominent African-American, Professor and Dean in over fifty nations

Dr. Mark Crispin Miller: John Hopkins University Doctoral Graduate, Professor of media ecology at New York University, national well-renown Researcher of modern propaganda, history and tactics of advertising, American film, and media ownership, national well-renown featured Speaker

Margaret Hogan: LD8 Chair, State Committee Member, former Dean

Kathleen O’Brien: State Committee Member, Administrator of Pediatric Surgeons of Phoenix

Ron Owen: former State Committee Member, former LD8 Chair, 2004 DNC Delegate

Mark Riddle: Arizona State Director of Wesley Clark 2004 Presidential Campaign, Partner in FRCR, a major political media firm

Rano Singh: 2006 Democratic Party State Treasurer Candidate, 2004 LD6 State Representative candidate, Commissioner of Governor Napolitano’s Citizen’s Finance Review Commission, Founder and Chair of Arizona Indo-Democrats, 2008 US SBA Minority Business Champion for Arizona

Slade Mead: former State Senator, 2006 Democratic Party State Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate, lawyer, professional sports consultant, former Vice-Chair of Appropriations, Government and Education Senate Committees, Maricopa Regional School District Board and Receiver Board member

Suzanne Steadman: former Director of International Study Programs at Arizona State University

HRH Agnes Umuligirwa: Princess and Heiress of Rwanda, NAACP Freedom Fund Award Recipient

2004 Arizona DraftClark Presidential Campaign Core Founders

Note to any other PLEO/At-Large candidates: If you have one, I'd be happy to post a similar letter for you. If interested, please let me know at cpmaz[at]yahoo.com.

Later!

Scottsdale TCE update: Arizona American Water fined by ADEQ

From the East Valley Tribune story, written by Ari Cohn -

State environmental officials Thursday slapped Arizona American Water Co. with $69,000 in fines for two recent incidents in which elevated levels of a suspected cancer-causing chemical entered the drinking water supply of 12,000 people in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

The Trib article went on to state that AZAmWater (AAWC) still faces penalties from the EPA and the Arizona Corporation Commission. A call to Vicki Rosen, the EPA's community involvement coordinator for the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund site (NIBW), sort of confirmed this.

When asked if there was anything in the consent agreement entered into by ADEQ and AAWC that blocked the imposition of penalties from other agencies, she indicated that she didn't believe so, but referred me to an EPA lawyer, with whom I left a message. She also indicated that while AAWC may or may not face EPA-imposed sanctions, the participating companies (the companies responsible for the contamination in the NIBW) that hired AAWC may themselves face sanctions.

My workweek starts soon, but I'll follow up with the EPA attorney early next week, and update if appropriate.


The ADEQ press release is here.

Arizona American Water's press release is here.

I'd link to the AZ Rep's article on this, but it's just a rehash of the above two press releases.

Later!

Candidate Update - Arizona Corporation Commission

Edit on 4/7 to correct a mistake in candidate Barry Wong's bio info - he did not run for Maricopa County Treasurer. My apologies to Mr. Wong for the error.

Over the last couple of days, Greg at Espresso Pundit and Tedski at Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion put up posts detailing the rumored entries of new candidates for the already-crowded race for the three open seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

In addition to the names mentioned by one or both of my esteemed blogging colleagues (Democrats Paul Newman and Sam George, neither of whom has a committee for the race listed on the AZ Secretary of State's website as yet), here are the known candidates -

Democrats:

Sandra Kennedy

Kara Kelty

George Arredondo

Notes - Arredondo is a former City Councilman in Coolidge, Kelty is a member of the Flagstaff City Council, Kennedy is a former state legislator (both House and Senate). Newman is a former legislator and current Cochise County Supervisor. George is a former candidate for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD). I wrote about this a year and a half ago, and what I said then still holds true - George's name makes for a profoundly lousy search term. Based on a comment from my original CAWCD post, he was an assistant Secretary of State (AZ) for a while.

All three Democrats with active committees (Kennedy, Kelty, and Arredondo) are running as Clean Elections Candidates. (Full list here)

Note to any Democratic candidates - if/when you put up a website, email a link to cpmaz[at]yahoo.com. I'll be happy to add the link to my list of candidate links.


Republicans:

Barry Wong

Bob Robson

Rick Fowlkes

Marian McClure

Bob Stump

Joseph Hobbs

John Allen

Keith Swapp

Notes - Swapp, Fowlkes, and Hobbs are running as one slate (website here); current state reps Stump, McClure, and Robson are running as another. Wong is a former state rep and a former appointed member of the ACC (last half of 2006). Allen is a former state rep from Scottsdale.

McClure, Stump, and Robson are running as traditional candidates; the other Republicans are running Clean.

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing

...Guess the Republican Party's worshipful love of 'private property rights' is exceeded only by their hatred for brown people.

From the Arizona Daily Star (emphasis added) -

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff likes to argue that illegal traffic across the border "has caused severe and profound impacts to the environment."

Trash and litter don't begin to compare to the severe and profound impacts to the environment that could follow Chertoff's high-handed decision on Tuesday to waive 36 laws, ignore local expertise and concerns, shut down vital wildlife corridors and slam up border fencing.

{snip}

Republican Sen. Jon Kyl...told Fox News Tuesday that Chertoff was just doing his job.

"We gave him the authority for the waivers," Kyl said. "We've given him the money. And we've said, get about the job (of finishing the fence)."

Last year, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7) introduced H.R. 2593, the Borderlands Conservation Security Act. The bill has been languishing in various committees since its introduction; maybe Chertoff's open contempt for the laws and people of the United States will inspire a couple of committee chairs to get off their asses.

Rep. Grijalva's press release on Chertoff's waivers of law here.

The Department of Homeland Security's press release here.


...Congratulations go out to Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5) on the House unanimously passing his H.R. 4847, the United States Fire Administration Reauthorization Act of 2008.

The bill authorizes nearly $300 million in appropriations over a four year period for many things, including training for improved fighting of fires such as those from terrorism, natural disasters, and wildfires (Arizona has been known to have one or two of those, hasn't it?? ).

Mitchell's press release on the matter here.

CQPolitics' story on the vote here.


...Guess that now that people aren't blindly buying into the 'fear' component of their "fear and smear" campaign to retain control of the White House (and to perhap regain control of Congress), the Republicans have decided to minimize the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

From AP via Yahoo! News -

A conservative Republican congressman says he supports helping victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but did not offer an apology for remarks he made while questioning the need for federal compensation.

During a joint hearing on Tuesday by two House Judiciary subcommittees considering legislation to extend benefits, [Rep. Darrell] Issa [R-CA] described the Sept. 11 attacks as "a fire that had no dirty bomb in it" and added: "It had no chemical munitions in it. It simply was an aircraft, residue of two aircraft and residue of the material used to build this building."

He questioned "why the firefighters who went there and everyone in the city of New York needs to come to the federal government for the dollars versus, quite frankly, this being primarily a state consideration."

"Primarily a state consideration"???

So, in the highly unlikely event that Osama bin Laden is ever captured, does that statement mean that Congressman Issa believes the District Attorney for New York County has first dibs on him (for roughly 3000 counts of murder in Manhattan)??


...From the "Doesn't get along well with others" Department:

It's not enough for the Bush-led Department of Justice to ignore Congress, now it's ignoring the courts, too.

From the L.A. Times -

New federal sentencing guidelines designed to end the racially tinged disparity between prison sentences for powder and crack cocaine dealers went into effect a month ago, and so far more than 3,000 inmates have had their prison terms reduced.

Dozens have been released, including at least 15 in California, but many others who should have been released have not. Attorneys involved in the process blame bureaucratic delays as well as opposition from the Justice Department.

The problem isn't only with the Justice Department, either.

Also from the Times' story -

In Dallas, one judge has refused to allow federal defenders to represent crack offenders in his court, saying they have no right to counsel at this stage of the proceedings. That has left hundreds of inmates having to file jailhouse petitions to gain their freedom.

I suppose some of the crack offenders left hanging (so to speak) by the foot-dragging of the DOJ and the courts *could* appeal directly to George Bush for relief, but looking at the list of his most recent pardons, they shouldn't expect much help in from that direction.

Of the 15 pardons listed, 1 was for marijuana, one for cocaine, one for heroin, and one for distribution of an unnamed controlled substance that pre-dates crack; the others were non-narcotics-related offenses.

No crack offenders to be found.


Later!

Sunday Morning Crappie Award (early edition)

Yes, I know that it's 4 days early, but short of George W. Bush resigning from office, giving his fortune to Amnesty International and volunteering to spend the rest of his life with Habitat for Humanity working to rebuild the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast, it isn't likely that anyone is going to flip-flop as much as Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) did this week.

From AZCentral.com -

Lawmakers want to be free from voter restraints

Staring down a deficit abyss of about $3 billion for this year and next, Arizona lawmakers complain that their efforts to cut spending and balance the budget are stymied by voters.

Health care for the poor. Spending on schools. Money for clean elections and land conservation. Early-education and health programs for kids, funded by tobacco taxes. Major state programs and big bucks - all off-limits because they are protected by voter-approved initiatives.

{snip}

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, says this means that a huge chunk of budget growth, about $600 million a year, is on "auto-pilot," which makes it difficult for the Legislature to balance the budget during hard economic times. Why shouldn't voter-approved programs share the cuts?

"In bad times, tough decisions have to be made," said Pearce, who sponsored the measure, House Concurrent Resolution 2044.

{snip}

Pearce complains that what voters have protected are "the giveaway programs, the socialist programs," referring to programs like AHCCCS and First Things First.

OK, let's be clear here - Pearce wants the authority to override voters' wishes because he thinks that they (aka - us!) haven't voted wisely.

This from the same guy who has sponsored over 30 proposed referendums so that the legislature can get the worst of their worst schemes past the Governor's veto pen.

Oh, and those 30 measures aren't exactly a new trick for the old nativist dog Pearce - he sponsored or cosponsored 17 such proposals during the 2007 session of the lege, 23 during 2006, and 17 during 2005.

A goodly number of the HCRs and SCRs that he sponsored for referral to the ballot were of the "let's screw with brown people" variety, which leads to the conclusion that he only respects voters' opinions (and votes) when they coincide with his own.

Reining in those dastardly brown Mexicans immigrants? Gooood voters...

Reining in saintly nativist American legislators? Baaaadd voters...

For this spectacularly shameless flip-flop of the "reverse one and a half somersaults with three and a half twists" variety, Rep. Russell Pearce reels in this week's Sunday Morning Crappie Award.

BTW - Pearce is running for state senate this year. Judah Nativio is running against him, and can use your help and your vote.

Thank you, Elizabeth Edwards

It's about time that Democrats with some stature started taking on McCain...

From The Washington Post's The Trail -

Elizabeth Edwards Issues a Challenge to McCain on Health Care

Since her husband suspended his run for the Democratic nomination three months ago, Elizabeth Edwards has remained largely out of the public sphere. A fierce proponent of her husband's run for office and once a regular on the campaign stump -- despite her ongoing battle with cancer -- Edwards stepped back into the fray last weekend with an attack on Sen. John McCain's health-care plan.

Under the presumptive Republican nominee's health-care plan, Edwards told reporters, she would not be covered, an accusation that McCain's aides deny.

Mrs. Edwards' blog entry at ThinkProgress here. Her blog entry contains links to both McCain's health care platform and an LA Times article chronicling this ongoing discussion.

The best part of the article was a McCain adviser's criticism of Mrs. Edwards' criticisms - he said "that they revealed she did not understand the comprehensive nature of the senator's proposal." (from the LA Times article)

Ummm, Elizabeth Edwards has degrees in English and Law. Not only that, but she has been fighting and living with cancer for almost four years.

If there is anyone who is almost uniquely qualified to comprehensively understand the "nature" of a political candidate's health care proposals, Elizabeth Edwards is that person.

McCainiacs - you can't win this one. Better to just walk away from this fight - even taking her on makes you look like heels.

Later!

Credit where it's due: Phil Gordon

Phil Gordon, mayor of Phoenix, has been on the receiving end of harsh criticism from grassroots Democrats, and much of that criticism is deserved (endorsing Jim Weiers and Andrew Thomas?!? That was not only a betrayal of Democrats, that was a betrayal of all residents of Phoenix).

However, on Friday he gave a speech at the annual Cesar Chavez Luncheon that deserves a little respect from everyone, not just Democrats. In his forceful speech, he called out Sheriff Joe Arpaio on his bigotry against Mexicans and people of Mexican descent and on his disregard of his duties - quietly ignoring arrest warrants for violent criminals in favor of standing in front of TV cameras and witch-hunting brown people with broken taillights.

It was easily the best speech of Gordon's career; while he isn't an electric speaker by any means, Gordon's delivery was exactly what is needed in today's nativist environment - it was clear, eloquent, and timely.

More importantly, the speech was a much-needed and honest discussion of the real price of Arpaio's self-serving pandering to the nativist crowd.

Gordon may have earned the ire of Democrats and others in the past, and I fully expect him to do the same in the future. Right now though, he has earned a little respect.

The video of the speech is here; the text of the speech is here.

To the AZ blogosphere -

...Stepping onto the soapbox here...

I don't normally counter-post here (in this context, 'counter-post' means to post something that directly criticizes another blogger's posts). I might disagree with something that has been written, but that's what comments sections are for.

This whole enterprise (blogging) is supposed to be about the free exchange of information, ideas, opinions, and viewpoints.

However, occasionally someone steps over the bounds of propriety, even by the rather loose standards governing partisan discourse here in Arizona.


Republican blog/press release outlet Red State Arizona has an ad hominem smear piece on AZ Democratic Party spokeswoman Emily Bittner. In it, the author (screen name Squish) informs his/her readers that Ms. Bittner has a lien on her condo and spins that into criticisms of Democrats in general and Governor Napolitano in particular.

Squish ignores a few not-so-minor facts about liens; among them is the fact that almost everyone has had a lien on their property if that property was ever used as collateral for a loan (think mortgage or auto loan).

When I first started blogging, I came across the Maricopa County Recorder's website, which includes a section on property records (various types of deeds and the like). I explored it a little, and found a treasure trove of info about various public (and private) figures.

And it was almost totally useless.

Nearly all of the information contained in the records is just that of people living their lives and the transactions they conduct in order to live those lives.

Certainly, some of the info contained in it could be brewed into partisan "hack-job" attacks, but most such attacks wouldn't be honest, even if they were based on "facts."

Also, in addition to being dishonest, such tactics open up the wielders of those tactics to similar attacks.

For example, a Democratic blogger could write about the various financial issues of various members of the leadership of the AZ GOP (one federal tax lien from 1993, a physician's lien from 2006, a state tax lien from 2002...and 2003...and 2004, etc.)

All were minor (OK, the federal tax lien was in excess of $20K, but the others were under $1K) and have long since been resolved, but they could easily be used to tar the reputations, perhaps unfairly, of those people.

Simply put, however, no one really wants to go there. Besides being unfair and nasty (characteristics that may not discourage certain people from using the tactic), the "blowback" potential is so high as to ultimately make the tactic cost-prohibitive.

...Getting off the soapbox now...


Have a good weekend!

I pledge...

The AZ Rep has a *special* article on its website, a heartrending tale of woe, a heartfelt plea for help.

The article chronicles the plight of nativist former Congressman-turned-radio-talk-show-blowhard JD Hayworth, who still faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills stemming from his fight against a federal corruption investigation.

The AZ Rep article cites as a source an entry in Hayworth's personal blog (http://www.jdhayworth.com/blog/?p=33).

The blog entry puts forth Hayworth's argument that he was unjustly accused and smeared for political purposes, and that while he has been 'vindicated', he incurred large bills to defend himself. Now that he isn't an elected official receiving regular contributions, his campaign coffers are empty and can no longer be used to pay those legal bills.

He sort of glosses over the fact that it was campaign contributions, particularly those from imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his friends, that got him in trouble in the first place, but I digress... :)

Anyway, Hayworth's plea moved me, deeply.

I can't afford to give him money right now (he graciously advised/hinted to his supporters of the IRS's gift limits of $12,000 per person/$24,000 married couple), I can make this pledge.

Thanks to JD's eloquent cry for help, I hereby pledge that if he is eventually convicted and imprisoned, I will send him...

Letters.

Yup, I'll become his pen pal. (Rather thoughtful of me, isn't it? LOL)


All sarcasm aside, if he or any other reader wants to read about an investigation, conviction, and imprisonment that truly *was* politically motivated, read about the plight of Don Siegelman, former governor of Alabama.

If anything that has happened in the last 7+ years that will put Karl Rove behind bars, what he and the Bush-run Justice Department did to Gov. Siegelman will be it.

Later!

Locker Room Bulletin Board Material

In my previous post, I made the observation that we seem to have entered into a political version of pro football's silly season, a season marked by a significant quantity of meaningless media-produced fluff.

Another phenomenon of of the silly season is "locker room bulletin board material," a quote from a member of one team that the other team takes offense at and posts on its bulletin board as inspiration.

In the political arena, Randy Pullen, chair of the Arizona Republicans, provided a fine example on Thursday.

Courtesy PolitickerAZ.com -

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen said DNC Chairman Howard Dean was better off screaming wildly into microphones. “If Mr. Dean actually thinks either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton can defeat John McCain in his home state of Arizona, Mr. Dean isn’t just screaming, he’s dreaming.”

{snip}

"...this is possibly the dumbest thing to come out of the DNC since they first defended Senator Clinton’s accusations of a vast right wing conspiracy or tried to cast a favorable light on Senator Obama’s ability to skip vote after vote after vote..."

{snip}

"But if they could, they’d realize they have about as much hope of winning in Arizona in 2008 as a snowman does in Phoenix in August."

Thank you, Mr. Pullen.

I should note here that Mr. Pullen is correct on one thing - Sen. Obama *has* missed many votes since the start of the 110th Congress (January 2007) - 37%.

Of course what he doesn't mention is the fact that number pales in comparison to that of Mr. Pullen's hero, Sen. John McCain.


McCain has missed 56% of Senate votes over the same period.


Later...

Silly Season

Here we are, almost three weeks from the most recent presidential primaries and just over three weeks from the next one, and the MSM is completely and utterly bored.

They no longer have election day video to run or vote totals to analyze, so now they are down to make-work sorts of stories like speculations on possible tickets (Obama/Bloomberg? WTF?!?, McCain/Romney?, Paul/Gravel?, McCain/Rice?), speculations on whether one or another candidate should withdraw from the race (Hillary, latest Rasmussen Reports poll) or speculations on whether one gaffe or another from supporters has irretrievably injured a candidate (Obama/Wright, Clinton/Ferraro, McCain/Hagee, Clinton/Carville).

Note: to be fair, though, I've got to say that the comments by Ferraro and Hagee haven't had the legs that Rev. Wright's have; guess only white people are allowed to be loud-mouthed, bigoted loons.

And if they get tired of the aforementioned sorts of speculations, there is that old reliable - is the extended race for the Democratic nomination hurting the Democratic Party? (Variations on the theme from U.S. News and World Report, Voice of America, The Atlantic, ABC News, Boston Globe, etc.)

Then, of course, there are the filler pieces, like...

Chelsea Clinton getting a little testy when asked an inane question about Monica Lewinsky (like anything else was merited?); or...

...Whether an SNL skit provided incisive political commentary and insight (even SNL occasionally gets one right, doesn't it?)


The most analogous situation that I can think of is that two week period between the end of the NFL's conference playoffs and the Super Bowl, an annual occurrence renowned loads of inanity, smack-talk and fluff, but very little actual substance.

Alas, something tells me that we have three more weeks of the same.

Short Attention Span Musing

...In a brief Scottsdale update, on Tuesday night, the Scottsdale City Council will consider and probably approve the appointment of John Little as the interim City Manager during the search for a replacement for outgoing City Manager Jan Dolan. Mr. Little is a long-time City employee and is currently the head of the City's Downtown Group.

In an unexpected fit of municipal sanity, the tentative plan for the search's timeline calls for the final hiring decision to be made by the new Council after it is seated in January.

...In CD3 news, the latest poll of CD3 voters shows high "Anybody But Shadegg" numbers, with 39% of voters surveyed saying that they'd vote for Shadegg and 38% saying that they'd vote for someone else. The PolitickerAZ piece on the poll is here.

For an incumbent congressman untainted by indictment or misbegotten trips to public restrooms, anything less than a 50% approval rating is astoundingly bad news for Shadegg and heartening news for the Bob Lord campaign.

Something tells me that the Lord campaign appreciates this news even more than the previously announced endorsement by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. This news means that some of their hard work is paying off.


...Now on to our regularly scheduled snarkiness... :))

...On Wednesday, U.S. military leaders spoke to President Bush about the strains faced by servicemembers and their families as a result of the Iraq war. (AP via Yahoo! News) He was so concerned for the welfare of America's soldiers, sailors, marines, and their families that he went right out and gave a speech at a print shop in Virginia to pimp his taxpayer-funded bailout plan for the retail sector.

...The Bush Administration's never ending quest to outsource America's national security continues -

From the Washington Times -

The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies — including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage — raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found.

The Government Printing Office's decision to export the work has proved lucrative, allowing the agency to book more than $100 million in recent profits by charging the State Department more money for blank passports than it actually costs to make them...

...In another never-ending quest, the Bush Administration moved to protect industry's ability to pollute America as inexpensively as possible.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution -

Washington - The Bush administration has appealed a court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the federal Clean Air Act when it issued less-stringent requirements to reduce mercury releases from power plants. The Justice Department, on behalf of the EPA, asked that the full Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reconsider the ruling in a lawsuit brought by New Jersey and 16 other states. A three-judge appeals court panel in February struck down the EPA regulation, which allowed for a pollution trading system to reduce mercury emissions from power plants, instead of requiring each plant to install the best available mercury controls.

Ahhh...even though they're lame ducks, the Bushies are still dedicated to their work of ruining the country for generations to come. Gotta admire their conscientiousness.

It *is* admirable, right???? :)

...Later!

Mike Gravel's delegates have a decision to make

Earlier today, former U.S. Senator and 2008 Democratic candidate for President Mike Gravel announced that he is joining the Libertarian Party.

From an email -

The fact is, the Democratic Party today is no longer the party of FDR. It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism -- all of which I find anathema to my views.

{snip}

I look forward to advancing my presidential candidacy within the Libertarian Party, which is considerably closer to my values, my foreign policy views and my domestic views.

Of course, the Libertarians do have some questions about those "domestic views".

From a Washington Post article -

"Andrew Davis, a spokesman for the Libertarian Party, said...while the party's membership agrees with his stances against the war in Iraq and the military draft, among other issues, it differs with his stances in favor of universal health care and higher spending on public education."

The title of this post is mildly sarcastic - as most readers know, Gravel doesn't *have* any delegates.

In essence, all he's done today is to go from being a marginal candidate in a major party to being a major candidate in a marginal party. And even there, he's a 'major' candidate in that party only until Ron Paul decides he's not getting enough attention as a Republican and rejoins the Libertarians.

Later!

Sheriff Joe - Genius At Misdirection. Who Knew?

Perhaps knowing that the EV Trib was planning to publish a damning story about him on Sunday, Joe Arpaio spent a good part of Good Friday leading hundreds of his deputies on a highly-publicized immigrant hunt in North Phoenix.

Most people just figured it was just "Joe being Joe," getting in a little fear-mongering and race-baiting for the cameras before celebrating the holiday.

Then Sunday rolled around, and the East Valley Tribune published an expose of one of Arpaio's financial shenanigans meant to reward his political loyalists in the MCSO, and to have the taxpayers pick up the tab.

From the story, written by Dennis Welch -

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is using a loophole in state retirement rules to keep his most loyal deputies on the payroll after they've retired and accepted lucrative pensions and bonuses.

In just the past year, Arpaio has rehired four top-level chiefs into civilian jobs. The four received retirement bonuses that paid them nearly $300,000 to more than $500,000 apiece.

The sheriff says the men were the most qualified for the jobs. But critics say Arpaio, who is running for re-election, is keeping on key people who have helped him in previous campaigns.

The article goes on to detail Arpaio's stunning abuse of a retirement program that allows his deputies to retire as sworn officers, receive their pensions, a large one-time cash payout, *and* come back as highly-paid civilian employees.

You've gotta admire Arpaio's consistency though - he pulled this same stunt years ago for his Chief Deputy (and Chief of Honduran Junketing) David Hendershott.

Guess he figured that if it worked the first time...

An EV Tribune table with the info on four of the biggest current 'double-dippers' is here.

To sum up what it all means:

Saban for Sheriff in 2008.

4000

Bush's War has reached a grim milestone - when four soldiers died in a roadside bombing Sunday night, the official American death toll there passed 4000. (CNN)

As far as America's historical war casualty totals go (WW1 - 116,000; WW2 - 405,000; Vietnam 58,000; source - fas.org), that 4000 doesn't seem like much, but it's a record for wars that we've started, and started under false pretenses.

Perhaps "4000" may not seem like much to the likes of George "What? Me Worry?" Bush and Dick "Americans think the war is a mistake? So?" Cheney, every single one of those more than 4000 deaths was absolutely devastating to the victims, their families, their friends, and their colleagues.

Of course, Bush and Cheney may feel they just have their eyes on the bigger picture -

In 2002, Halliburton's earnings before taxes number was a loss of $228 million;

In 2007, that number was a positive $3.4 billion. (source: Morningstar)


What's 4000 lives weighed against billions of dollars?


On a related note, I wasn't going to do a "Sunday Morning Crappie Award" post this week, but Arizona's junior U.S. Senator, Jon Kyl, has earned at least an honorary award for his blithely shameless support of the president and his policies while questioning Sen. Barack Obama's 'seriousness' and 'wisdom.'

Somebody should clue Kyl in - there hasn't been any wisdom in the White House since January 2001.

And for that blatant double standard - criticizing the qualifications of a Democratic candidate for president while ignoring the fact that the President he so ardently supports is perhaps the most unqualified man to ever sit in the Oval Office, and one that is unqualified for the very reasons that he cites in criticism of the Democratic candidate - Jon Kyl wins an honorary award of this week's Sunday Morning Crappie.*

* - the award is an honorary one because this isn't really a flip-flop by Kyl. He's been Bush's lapdog for years.