And the bloodletting deepens...

In a development that is sure to warm the hearts of Russell Pearce, John Kavanagh, and the rest of their cohorts on West Washington, ASU's President, Michael Crow, has announced some devastating responses to the budget cuts imposed by the Republicans in the state lege.

From the AZ Republic -

Arizona State University President Michael Crow today said the school will cap enrollment and close applications to next year's freshman class March 1, possibly ask for more tuition from next fall's students, close about four dozen academic programs and significantly scale back operations at its Polytechnic and West campuses, all in response to state budget reductions.

And that's just for 2009. Crow said that for 2010, it's possible that both the East and West campuses could be closed entirely.

A summary of some of the cuts that the state's universities have implemented (list courtesy Solutions Through Higher Education) -

ASU

Enrollment capped, freshman applications close March 1, five months early

More than 550 staff positions and 200 faculty associate positions eliminated

Ten- to 15-day furloughs for all employees Closing of approximately four dozen academic programs Reduction of administrative operations at Polytechnic and West campuses

A reduction in the number of nursing students the university can admit

NAU

100 positions cut

Suspension of the development of new health professions programs in occupational therapy and physicians assistant, two critical area needs for the state

Closing of the Center for High Altitude Training and Social Research Laboratory Furloughs in FY09-10

Budget reductions for all departments

UA

600 position cuts (through layoffs, attrition and permanent vacancy savings)

5-day furloughs for all local and state-funded employees in FY10

Further consolidation of colleges and mergers of 50 academic and administrative units

Severe curtailment of public outreach programs, including near-closure of public access to Flandrau Science Center, Arizona State Museum, and the UA Mineral Museum

Suspension of significant portions of the UA's extension and statewide outreach programs

On Thursday, there will be a meeting of the lege's Joint Appropriations Committee concerning the FY10 budget and the universities. that will feature testimony from the president's of the state's three universities. The meeting will take place at 2:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room 1.

If you can do so, plan to attend the hearing. The university presidents need a strong show of support from the AZ community in order to fend off the sort of legislative attacks that imperil the very existence of higher ed in Arizona.

Later...

That's one way to lessen the impact of education cuts on students...

...fewer students, that is...

I know that state Rep. Sam Crump (R-LD6) is currently the darling of the conservatives in the AZ blogosphere. They consider him to be a better Republican than most of his namby-pamby colleagues that are solely focused on destroying public education in Arizona, but one of them is going to have to write and tell me where in the national GOP platform their party supports the idea of allowing families to burn to a gruesome and painful death in their new homes to enhance developer profits.

Even the GOP isn't so crassly corrupt as to go that far...in writing, anyway.

So what's Crump's problem?


From the Arizona Republic -

House bill would prohibit home-sprinkler mandates

Calling it an issue of consumer choice, Rep. Sam Crump is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit municipalities from passing ordinances to require sprinklers in new, detached single-family homes.

"There's always people every year at every level of government that have good ideas of what they want people to do," Crump said. "We want to keep it in the consumer's realm of choices."

Crump, R-Anthem, also said he wants to avoid a patchwork of different rules in different communities.

Crump's HB2267 can be found here.

Perhaps Crump's goal is to minimize the impact of cuts to school funding by removing children from the school-age population before they grow into the school-age population.

OK, that's a little over the top.

More likely, it's just a thank you to his many campaign contributors from the real estate and development sectors. When the International Code Council adopted its "sprinklers in new homes" standard in September, the home builders screamed in opposition, citing a litany of faux problems (frozen pipes, leaky pipes, increased cost to home buyers, etc.). Those excuses have been refuted here, courtesy the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Crump and the Republican supporters of the bill claim that it just provides consumers with more choices - they'll still have the option of having sprinklers installed.

From the Arizona Guardian (cached, as the site is now subscription only) -

Other GOP lawmakers said it wasn't the job of government to protect everyone by heaping expensive regulations on home buyers.

"I don't think it's the government's job to protect people from cradle to grave," said Rep. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson.

With rationalizations like that one expect to see the following on the AZGOP's hit list, and soon -


Requirements for car safety belts

Restrictions on lead paint in childrens' toys

Hazardous waste disposal regulations


The damage that the Reps are looking to wreak upon Arizona in the name of their anti-people and pro-corporate profits ideology over the next couple of years is going to take at least a generation to repair. And it will take that little time only if we start cleaning up the mess in 2010 by throwing them out during the next election.

Education Rally At The State Capitol Saturday

Courtesy the Arizona School Boards Association -

Arizona needs YOU now!
Statehood Day
RALLY
FOR EDUCATION
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009
11 a.m.—1 p.m.
Arizona State Capitol
Governor’s Tower Parking Lot, 1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix

Ample parking is available in the Governor’s Tower lot, located at 19th Ave. between Jefferson
and Adams and in the parking garage behind the state offices just north of the Capitol.
Organized with the support of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, Arizona School
Administrators and Arizona School Boards Association.
Bring VALENTINES for GOVERNOR BREWER and your
LEGISLATORS and put them in the giant Valentines Box!
Be sure to include positive messages
about K-12 education on them!!!
Bring your STORIES about what public education means to you!
Bring your CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN!
Bring your FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS and COWORKERS!
Bring SIGNS—Let’s make sure our elected officials know
supporting K-12 EDUCATION IS A TOP PRIORITY for Arizona!

I like the "Valentines" touch myself. :))

And the first one out of the gate is...Tim Willis???

Jan Brewer, Jeff Flake, and the other Republicans rumored to be interested in running for governor next year can just hang it up now - the race for the Republican nomination for governor next year is all over but for the actual, you know, voting.

During a visit to the Secretary of State's website, I came across the committee info for the only currently organized committee for a gubernortorial run in 2010.

Meet Samuel Timothy Willis, running as Tim Willis.

Having never heard of him, I performed some intensive research* into his background.

* = Googled him. :)


Details from his campaign website -

He lives in Wickenburg and is the pastor of a church in Congress, Arizona. (Interesting note - Congress, AZ is also the home of recently convicted and defeated Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, formerly of Alaska.)

His wife, Barbara, is the President of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, based in AZ. (CPC is an anti-choice organization fronting as a medical clinic. Donna at Democratic Diva has a post on the organization here. NARAL has info here.)

He thinks that the state budget is spent "frivolously" and that state government is "bloated" and that state employees should miss a few paychecks. In addition, he thinks that the governor (Jan Brewer), state treasurer (Dean Martin) and the head of the Department of Administration (William Bell) are "out of control spendthrifts." HUH?!?

He believes that the state's budget should be balanced by cutting programs that are "important to liberals."

He thinks that state government agency heads have cut services to taxpayers in order to continue supporting undocumented immigrants. This is better than anything I could make up if I was creating a candidate in a satire.

He's a big fan of tinkle-down economics (the farther down you are in the economic food chain, the more tinkle lands on you), as he thinks that wealthy people getting dressed up for a party and hiring servants for that party is a good way to stimulate the economy.

He worked for a distributing company before becoming a pastor in the 1980s. Since then, all of his listed experience is related to that line of work.


To sum up:

He has no political experience, nor does he have experience in overseeing a large organization (his website claims that the congregation of his church numbers fewer than 100 members).

He's a hardcore social winger who blames "liberals" for all that ails AZ. He makes Len Munsil look like a bleeding heart.

He has absolultely no clue about how fiscally lean AZ government was even *before* the current budget crisis.

In short, he's the wet dream of the "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" branch of the Republican Party, and he *will* win the support of the Randy Pullen-led AZGOP.


...OK, OK - even a dyed-in-the-wool liberal like me doesn't actually believe Willis will get the Rep nomination next year.

However, having fringe Rep candidates already crawling out of the woodwork can only help the Democrats regain the 9th floor of the Capitol, and help AZ get back on the path to fiscal and political sanity.

It's even likely that this blog post will be the high point in his campaign's public profile.

Of course, if his candidacy *does* gain a foothold, every Dem in the state who's ever aspired to the governor's office will be lining up to run against him.


Yup, it's going to be a fun year and two-thirds. :))

Later!

Russell Pearce - an honest man? Who'da thunk it?

For all of the criticisms leveled at State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance), nobody can claim that Pearce is sneaky or even subtle.

Unless someone thinks that the ideological equivalent of a lynch mob is 'subtle.'

Earlier this week, The Arizona Guardian ran a budget-related story in which Pearce gave the quote of the year (and it's only February!) -

"If you want to get rid of something, you tax it. If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it," he said. The budget cuts made last week will not cause any "real layoffs," he said.

In that quote, he was discussing the job-creating merits of his laissez-faire approach to business regulations and taxes (aka - "none"), but he could have just as easily been discussing his approach to dealing with public education in Arizona.

Some of the bills he has sponsored or co-sponsored through the years...

SB1331 (47th/2nd) - Would have mandated that public school districts create alternative coursework for students who deem regular coursework "offensive."

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

HB2487 (47th/2nd) - Would have created a special commission to study private postsecondary education capacity in Arizona, and the expansion of that capacity.

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

HB2253 (47th/2nd) - There's a tax credit allowed for taxpayer contributions to public schools. This bill allowed donations to be used for fine arts instruction, but included a provision that the monies donated could not be used to pay the teachers, staff, or administrators needed to actually run such classes.

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

SB1108 (Amendment) (48th/2nd) - Would have banned diversity education in AZ's public schools, K-12 and higher ed. Only pro-American and pro-Western civilization teachings allowed. AZRepublic news story here.

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

SB1214 (48th/2nd) - Concealed weapons in schools. Allowing them. Ugh.

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

SCR1008 (49th/1st) - Would mandate that public school districts spend 65% of their budgets on classroom expenditures. No flexibility at all.

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

HB2248 (47th/2nd) - Would have barred schools from requiring that teachers know a language other than English, unless their job was to specifically teach a foreign language. School systems like that in Nogales that have a student population that is over 98% Hispanic - stuck with English-only teachers to communicate with students and their families.

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

HB2583 (47th/2nd) - An unfunded mandate to compel public schools to place an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in every classroom. Specifically exempted private, parochial, and home schools. (My personal favorite. :)) )

..."If you want to increase something, then deregulate and untax it..."

...And that's a less than comprehensive list that only goes back a few years, and doesn't include his many "anti-brown skinned students" measures, which are more about his nativist tendencies than about causing havoc in AZ's schools (though he isn't complaining about the 'havoc' aspects of his proposals.)


So if Pearce thinks that the best way to "increase" something (and education certainly is 'something,' isn't it?) is to "deregulate" it, and he is so supportive of education (or so he claims), why does he keep trying to add regulations, rules, and costs for public education?

Don't bother answering, because that's a rhetorical question. Between the history of his attempts to interfere with or undermine public education illustrated above, his hatchet job on public ed this year while funnelling anti-immigrant funding to fellow nativist Joe Arpaio, or his annual attempts to significantly defund public ed with a permanent repeal of the state's equalization property tax, his intent has always been clear -


End public education in Arizona.


Give him a few more years of a Republican majority in the state legislature and a Rep in the governor's office, and higher ed in AZ will consist of the University of Phoenix (a privately-owned business degree mill) and the fly-by-night "schools" of cosmetology and massage therapy that fill Arizona's strip malls.

Enough already. If the voters in Mesa wanted to elected Pearce to the Mesa City Council, that would be fine. It's their city and they can keep running it into the ground if they want. However, they keep foisting off Pearce and his destructive ideology on the rest of the state.

That should be a call to arms for the rest of the state. Perhaps we can't defeat Pearce in his own district (though that would be nice...VERY nice), but we can take control of the lege and the governor's office and effectively marginalize Pearce and his ilk.

And to ensure Arizona's future, we must do so, and do so in 2010 when all of the legislative offices, as well as most of the statewide offices, are on the ballot.

Contact the Arizona Democratic Party, the Maricopa County Democratic Party, the LD18 Democrats, or your local Democratic organization (lists here and here) and volunteer your time or financial support.


David Safier at Blog of Arizona has continuing coverage of the attacks by AZ's Republicans on education, and Randall Amster at The Huffington Post has a great summary of the situation here in AZ here.

Later....

Eckerstrom out as chair of the AZ Democratic Party

In an email sent this evening to AZ Dem state committee members, Paul Eckerstrom announced that he is stepping down as chair, two weeks after his election.

He cited family and work obligations in Tucson and the difficulty of performing his duties in Phoenix. Harriet Young, 1st Vice Chair, will serve as the interim chair until a new Chair is elected at the next meeting of the state committee.

More details as they become available (best bet for inside info: Tedski at R-Cubed).

Interesting timing there...

There's already a widely-supported move in the state lege to ban photo radar-based traffic tickets on Arizona's highways (HB2106). Given that the measure has support from legislators from across the political spectrum (progressive Democrat Ed Ableser and conservative hero-du-jour Republican Sam Crump are two of the primary sponsors of the bill), it stands a good chance of passing.

So how what are the Justice Courts in Coconino County going to do?

Spit on the basic principle of American jurisprudence - Innocent Until Proven Guilty.

From the AZ Daily Sun -

Drivers busted by photo-enforcement cameras posted along state highways in Coconino County will soon be charged an extra $20 when challenging or ignoring the speeding tickets they receive. The Coconino County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in January to allow the Coconino County Justice Courts to charge $20 extra for photo speeding tickets, to cover the costs of processing them.

The Arizona Legislature enacted laws last year establishing a statewide photo enforcement system that sends ticket revenues to the state, including to an election fund, but lawmakers allocated no money to county court administrators do the related administrative work to process the citations, said Joy Dillehay, deputy court administrator for Coconino County Justice Courts.

Leaving aside the tactical considerations/stupidity for the moment (why do something this certain to tick off the constituents of the legislators considering the repeal), what about the *Constitutional* considerations???

It strikes me, and judging from the comments on the linked article, it strikes many other people too, that this policy amounts to nothing more than the courts saying "it doesn't matter to us if you are innocent or guilty or if the ticket is justified or not, once the citation is issued, you *will* be punished. And if you exercise your rights to contest the charges against you, you will be punished more."

I am not entirely unsympathetic to the plight of the county justice courts - they were screwed over by the lege in its quest to rake in revenue. It was wrong to increase the costs to county courts (increase tickets to process) while not ensuring a revenue stream to cover those costs. If the state want increased revenue, they should bear the costs of it, not foist those costs off on to the already fiscally ailing counties.

However, responding by shredding the Constitution and centuries of legal principle is worse.


Far worse.


Of course, the tactics here suck, too. The timing of this announcement couldn't have been much worse as this will only serve to inflame voters at a time when the lege is considering HB2106, increasing the likelihood that photo radar will be banned...reducing the revenue stream from those tickets to the counties...Oh wait...that revenue stream doesn't exist...hmmmm.

Let's do some math here...Increased workload without increased revenue + upset voters + emboldened legislators - banned photo radar (and with it, the increased workload)...hmmm...

On the timing issue, never mind.


It's borderline brilliant.


:))

Later!

My letter to the editor - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Since the Rep never publishes my letters anyway, here is the letter I just submitted regarding the economic stimulus package winding its way through Congress.

The letter -

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good

Many of the opponents of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are finding obscure provisions that they find objectionable to use as an excuse to object to the entire economic stimulus package.

To be sure, the package isn't perfect, and there are facets of it that I don't like. However, taken as a whole, it is a very good bill.

- It will create thousands of jobs in "green" energy production, including in the Arizona-friendly field of solar energy.

- The package's education funding will stave off the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers (at least in schools not controlled by the Arizona Legislature).

- It creates jobs in building, improving, and maintaining our transportation, energy, and water delivery infrastructure.

Congress shouldn't let the naysayers nitpick them into doing nothing while searching for the perfect course of action, because doing nothing to address America's cratering economy is surely the worst course of action.

Better to implement an imperfect first step than to be intimidated into immobility.

[cpmaz]

While I truly do think that the package is far from a perfect solution, it is better than no solution at all.

Later!

Guest writer - Letter to the editor

Jerry Gettinger, a PC in LD8 and a friend, submitted this letter to the editor to the AZ Republic and has graciously allowed me to publish it here.

His letter, concerning the shortsighted approach to the state's budget crisis taken by the legislature -

It might be different if our educational system was highly prized as an example of what educating our young should be, but sadly, the money spent per student and the result is such that the drastic cuts in funding that our esteemed lawmakers have foisted upon us just pours salt in the open wound that has come to be known as funding.

Shame on you.

You are not representative of our citizens, but only of a few who are self-serving. After over 20 years of Republican majority in the statehouse we have a school system that is last in the U.S., an infrastructure that is woefully lacking and a social safety net that ignores the needs of our young and less fortunate.

Shame.

When the young graduates of our underfunded colleges find that they are at a disadvantage in the job market because of their lack of quality education, it will be too late to fix.

Parents take notice! Your children had money taken from their education while sheriff Joe got his back!

That says it all when talking about priorities.

Jerry Gettinger
Scottsdale

He's a lot more succinct than I am...politer, too. :)

More later...

So remind me again -

Why was bailing out bankers to open up credit markets was good (even though it hasn't worked!) and helping out auto workers so they can keep working and support their families bad?

Note: the links to 'good' and 'bad' are from the website of AZ Senator Jon Kyl. He makes it so easy sometimes...

From AP -

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, is planning a series of corporate junkets to Las Vegas casinos this month.

Wells Fargo, once among the nation's top writers of subprime mortgages, has booked 12 nights at the Wynn Las Vegas and its sister hotel, the Encore Las Vegas beginning Friday, said Wynn spokeswoman Michelle Loosbrock.

The economy is so bad that hundreds of people stood in line (some overnight) for a shot at one of 35 openings in the Miami (FL) Fire Department, and these clowns are turning around and taking taxpayer money on a Vegas spree??

What happens is Vegas sure as hell isn't going to stay there...

The Goldwater Institute Proves That The Cuts To Education Are Devastating Arizona

The Goldwater Institute released an article yesterday declaring that the vast majority of Arizonans didn't protest and don't oppose the cuts to education, yet their own article served to highlight the drastic impact a lack of education can have on people.

The headline of the article (emphasis mine) -

99.999999999999 percent of Arizonans choose not to protest spending cuts

Ummm...the federal government (the USDA, to be specific) estimated AZ's 2007 population at 6,338,755.

Some basic math -

If, as the Goldwater Institute claims, 99.999999999999% of Arizonans didn't protest the cuts to education, that would mean that 0.000000000001% of Arizonans *did* protest them.

Based on their mathematical calculations, that would mean that out of over 6 million Arizonans, all of 0.000006338755 people showed up to protest the cuts at the legislature last week.

As the pictures of that rally show, significantly more than six millionths of a person were there.

I suggest that the authors of the article, Matthew Ladner and Byron Schlomach, look into registering for MAT082 at any Maricopa County community college (MAT082 - "Basic Arithmetic - Primary emphasis placed on fundamental operations with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, integers, and rational numbers; proportions, and percentages. Other topics include representations of data, geometric figures, and measurement. Prerequisites: None. ")

That is, if the education cuts that they've championed haven't necessitated cancellation of that class.

Note: at the end of the article, the authors state that the article itself "celebrates the long history of satire in American politics". If that is the case, then they do satire as well as they do math.

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing - Legislative Edition

...Geez, I guess this means that State Sen. Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) doesn't think that the readers of this blog are worthy of his 'copy and paste' skills.

And on behalf of my readers, I thank Sen. Pearce for that attitude. :)

Zelph at AZNetRoots found this post from BallotAccess.org about AZ's SB1158, a bill to compel presidential candidates will have to prove both their citizenship and their residency in the U.S. of 14 years before their names can be placed on the ballot. It's clearly directed at President Barack Obama (who was elected in spite of the debunked claims that his birth certificate is a forgery) though it could also serve to attack fellow Republican John McCain, who also twigged the Reps' lunatic fringe radar because he was born on a military base in Panama...and he isn't a fellow loon.

Now I wouldn't normally try to "steal the thunder" from Zelph's post (he's earned some for spotting this) but one of the comments on BallotAccess.org's post deserves comment itself -

It's a 3000+ word copy and paste special from Russell Pearce himself.

I call it a "copy and paste special" because of that 3000+ word comment, over 2600 of the words were copied and pasted articles from the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant group masquerading as a neutral, "non-partisan" think tanks. (SourceWatch profile here)

You know, in spite of all the times that I have written so glowingly, Sen. Pearce has never taken the time to grace this blog with his brand of lazy but verbose nativist b.s.


...In more Pearce news, he has filed SB1170, a.k.a. the "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" Act.

That bill sets out some specific rules for parties in a justice court action who wish to seek a change of venue because they feel they cannot receive a fair trial in a particular court. Under current law (ARS 22-303), the defendant just has to file an affadavit to the effect that he cannot receive a fair trial in order to move the trial. Under Pearce's bill, a defendant would also need the affadavits of "two other credible persons of the county that they have good reason to believe, and do believe, that the party cannot have a fair and impartial trial before the justice..."

This could also be called the "Lester Pearce is sick of getting noticed for cause" bill.

"Noticed for cause" is court-speak for the change of venue motion, and Russell Pearce's brother Lester is known as one of the most "noticed" JPs in the system.

He tends to be rather umm... "set in his views" (hey, what else would you expect from a Pearce? :)) ), so much so that there is a possibly apocryphal story going around about him. And apocryphal or not, the story goes a long way to illustrate Lester Pearce's tendencies.

Apparently a while back, another judge (called a 'pro tem') was substituting for Lester Pearce on his bench in the North Mesa precinct. After a trial where the defendant was acquitted by the pro tem, the clerk who was working in the court turned to the pro tem turned to the substitute and advised him that they didn't know how to record that because they had never needed the code for acquittal before.

As I said, the story could be apocryphal (I mean not even a Pearce could convict every defendant without exception, right?? Right???????), but it totally jibes with what I've heard about his court.

Stay tuned...

...Jon Kyl is operating like he is not up for reelection next year, which, of course, he isn't.

From ABS-CBN News (Philippines) -

World War II veteran Celestino Almeda will turn 92 in June. He relies on a small scooter to move around. He has been living in a daughter’s house, but now that she’s about to marry, he and a grandson are hunting for a new home.

He insists on paying his way and is counting on the $15,000 lump sum payment to Filipino World War II veterans – that is, if US Congress votes to give it to him and about 16,000 of his aging comrades.

{snip}

In another Fox Channel program, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, a critic of the stimulus bill, claimed "there are so many things you can make fun of in this bill."

"Let me just mention one, millions of dollars to World War II Filipino veterans in the Philippines. Now, that may be a good thing to spend money on, but not in a stimulus bill. It doesn’t stimulate anything," he said.

But Almeda pointed out the lump sum payment will not add a single cent to the $800 billion stimulus bill.

"They thought this money to be given to Filipino veterans is an allotment from the stimulus bill package. It is not. The intention of Senator Inouye is just to use the stimulus bill as a vehicle so the $198 million approved in the 110th Congress and known as the Filipino Veterans Compensation Fund would be released to us," he added.

Yup, Jon - go ahead and pick on poor, elderly veterans.

Because while *you* may not be on the ballot next year, plenty of other Rep senators will be.


Later!

Letter from Harry Mitchell regarding H.R. 1

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a letter to Congressman Harry Mitchell about the economic stimulus package that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week and will be voted on in the Senate this week.

Today, I received a reply -

Dear Mr. [cpmaz]:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, H.R. 1. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me on this important issue.

I strongly believe that something must be done to bolster the flagging economy. We are not only struggling with a recession, but also an alarming rise in home foreclosures and unemployment. As of December 2008, the unemployment rate in Arizona was up to 6.9 percent - up from 4.2 percent in December of 2007. Making matters worse, Arizona, like many other states, is facing a serious budget deficit.

I believe that we need an economic recovery package that contains both fast-acting tax cuts as well as timely, targeted investments that will create jobs and help spur much-needed economic growth.

I am not happy with everything in the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, H.R. 1, but I believe it is a good start, and that we must allow the legislative process to continue. The risk of inaction at this time is simply too great.

The American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, H.R. 1, contains $275 billion in tax cuts, which would provide approximately 95 percent of taxpayers with relief. H.R. 1 also makes important timely, targeted investments in transportation and infrastructure.

If enacted, states like Arizona would receive funding for planned highway, bridge, transit, and other infrastructure projects that are ready to go. Nationwide, these investments in transportation infrastructure would stimulate the economy in the short-term by creating approximately 1.5 million jobs and would help keep the economy growing in the long run by providing infrastructure that encourages commerce.

As we've seen in Arizona, the right kind of transportation investments can generate economic benefits far beyond that associated with construction. For example, the initial investments we have made at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport are already sustaining 4,500 jobs and, according to a recent study by Arizona State University, generating an economic impact of nearly $500 million.

H.R. 1 would also provide tax incentives for renewable and alternative energy. This investment would immediately create more than half a million green jobs dedicated to moving our country toward energy independence.

Like transportation, we have seen the benefits of these types of investments in Arizona, as well. With the help of solar tax credits, Abengoa Solar and Arizona Public Service are developing the world's largest solar energy plant outside of Gila Bend. The Solana solar generating station will create an estimated 1,500 jobs and provide clean, emission-free energy for 70,000 homes. Solana is expected to ultimately spur $1 billion in local economic development.

Additionally, H.R. 1 would assist states like Arizona which are facing severe budget cuts by investing in education, health care, and unemployment benefits.

H.R. 1 would significantly increase the number of jobs in Arizona and around the country. According to Mark Zandi, a leading independent economist, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would create a minimum of four million jobs by 2010. This would include approximately 125,000 jobs in Arizona, which would decrease the unemployment rate by 2.3 percent by 2010.

To ensure that funding approved in H.R. 1 is spent effectively and appropriately, the legislation would establish a Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board tasked with the oversight of the implementation of the legislation. Additionally, H.R. 1 would establish a new web site, www.recovery.gov, where all funding information including grant competitions and allocation of formula grants would be made available to the public.

I offered two amendments to try to improve H.R. 1, and I am disappointed that they were blocked from reaching the House floor for debate and a vote. The first amendment would have stopped Congress from taking a pay raise. At a time like this, when so many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, I believe it is unconscionable for Congress to raise its own pay. The second amendment would have made recent tax cuts to capital gains and estate taxes permanent. If Congress does not act, these cuts will expire next year. At a time when we need to encourage growth and investment, I believe it is wrong for us to let these taxes increase.

Despite these shortcomings, I voted for and the House passed H.R. 1 on January 28 by a vote of 244 to188. This legislation is now pending before the Senate, where I hope it will be further refined.Please be assured that I will continue to work in a bipartisan manner to help Congress enact an effective stimulus package that our nation urgently needs.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write to me about this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if you have additional comments or concerns.

If you would like to receive email updates about how I am working on behalf of Arizona's 5th Congressional District, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter at http://www.mitchell.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Harry E. Mitchell
Member of Congress

HEM/PS

Later!

It must be nice for the lege's Republicans to have priorities...

...even if those priorities don't include the best interests of the people of Arizona...


Much has been written about the package of bills that the AZ lege passed and Jan Brewer, the newly-minted governor, signed into law to address the state's budget deficit.

I'll leave the observations to other writers, both wiser and more eloquent, on how damaging to Arizona's long term vitality that the attacks on healthcare, education, and infrastructure will be.

I'd say that the meat cleaver-wielding Republicans were indiscriminately attacking programs, but they knew *exactly* what they were going to decimate once Janet Napolitano left the Governor's office and ascended to her new job in D.C.

The drool was just flowing out of the Rep caucus rooms in the House and Senate buildings...

I will, however, cover some interesting details in the bills that were just signed by Jan Brewer. Here are a couple -

...In HB2001, the main budget cutting bill, there was an amendment added by the House Appropriations Committee led by Fountain Hills Republican John Kavanagh. In that amendment, $1.6 million of a $10 million dollar appropriation for GIITEM (Gang & Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission ) was earmarked to "the sheriff's office of a county with a population of more than two million persons for human smuggling and immigration enforcement."

If that's not clear to some of you, that provision is earmarked specifically for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio - Maricopa County is the only county in Arizona with more than 2 million residents. Hell, it's the only one with more than half that number.

Almost a month ago, Arpaio's fellow traveller on the nativist path, State Sen. Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) promised to deliver money for Arpaio's anti-immigrant jihad in spite of the state's budget crisis.

And with the enthusiastic assistance of Pearce's good friend Kavanagh, Arpaio got his money while students all over the state face drastic cuts to their educations.

For the record, K-12 education and the state's universities took a nearly $300 million hit so that the likes of nativists Arpaio, Kavanagh, and Pearce can continue their witch hunts.

...HB2004 includes a provision that recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) take and pass a drug test before receiving any funds.

Ummm, I must have missed the study that shows that the state's budget crisis is a result of bad decisions made by intoxicated poor people instead of rampaging ideologues drunk on power.

Maybe a provision mandating drug tests for legislators would be more effective.

Other budget reconciliation bills and summaries of their effects -

HB2002 (capital outlay) - the bill and its legislative summary
HB2003 (revenue) - the bill and its legislative summary
HB2005 (criminal justice) - the bill and its legislative summary
HB2006 (education) - the bill and its legislative summary

Anyway, this is just the beginning, as the bills passed and signed last week only impact the state's budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. The devastation to education, human services, and the state's employees will be worse in next year's budget with its projected deficit of $3 billion.

The scary part is that as bad as the state's revenue outlook appears, we can count on the Republicans to work to make it worse.

They've proposed at least six bills to decrease state revenue, including HB2361 (to raise the state's personal property tax exemption from $50k to $10 million), SCR1011 (TABOR, aka "the cripple government and government services permanently" Act), SB1007 and HB2073 (repeal of the state's equalization property tax, the revenue of which is reserved for education funding), SB1181 (repeal of the state's motor vehicle fuel tax, money reserved for the Arizona highway user revenue fund), and SB1324 (a move to cut corporate income tax rates by more than a third).

This is only the beginning; if the Republicans get their way, by the close of the 2010 election cycle Arizona government and public services will be limited to cops, courts, and corrections.


The AZ Rep's coverage of this year's budget patch is here; the Arizona Guardian's coverage is here.

David Safier at Blog for Arizona has been doing a great job of covering the budget crisis' impact on education; State Rep. Daniel Patterson offers his take on the budget patch here.

Another take:

Dave Wells, writing in the EV Trib, offers his view here.


My take:

In the interests of full disclosure, we should change AZ's state motto from "God Enriches" to "Republicans Impoverish".

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award

For the first time in the history of this distiguished award for spectacular political flip-floppery, the Crappie Award is going to bestowed rather reluctantly.

There were a couple of serious contenders for the award this week (for example, the House Republicans' faux show of bipartisanship with President Obama before abandoning bipartisanship, and the American people, when all of them voted against the Economic Stimulus plan), but there was one clear "winner" this week -


Congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia.


Gingrey is one of the most conservative members of Congress, usually ranking among the ten most conservative. Normally, he's among the group of Republicans that is most in the pockets of the "culture warrior" type of conservative bullies, those more interested in fanning the flames of ideological conflict and polarization, furthering an agenda that doesn't include constituents or people.

Earlier this week though, even the normally faithful Gingrey had had enough, He called out some of the limo-riding, microphone-wielding talk show ranters and ravers that pass as conservative intellectuals these days.

From Politico on January 27 -

Responding to President Obama’s recommendation to Republican congressional leaders last week that they not follow Limbaugh’s lead, the conservative talkmeister said on his show that Obama is “obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party."

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., did not take kindly to this assessment in an interview with Politico Tuesday.

“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said. “I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell."

Have no doubt - Gingrey was and is still *very* conservative. His positions haven't changed one iota, probably since Fred Flintstone lived in Bedrock. :)

However conservative he remains though, he did one of the things that even a dyed-in-the-wool liberal like has to respect anyone for - he stood up to the unrepentant bullies that are dividing the country.

While most, if not all, of his political positions were and are wrong, his stand actually generated a spark of hope that perhaps we can start having an honest public dialogue on issues in this country.

Of course, as is the norm for such intraparty dustups, not too long after his statement, Gingrey backed off of his criticisms.

In and of itself, that fact wouldn't warrant a Crappie Award.

However, the fact that his "backing off" was of a spectacularly groveling nature does.

Gingrey actually called in to Limbaugh's radio show to verbally genuflect and make amends for his temporary apostasy.

From Politico on January 28 -

“Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience. Everyday, millions and millions of Americans—myself included—turn on their radios and televisions to listen to what they have to say, and we are inspired by their words and by their determination,” Gingrey said.

He was so cravenly obsequious that *I* was embarrassed for him, and partisan hack that I am, I normally *revel* in any Republican's embarrassment.

And so for his incredibly spineless'flexible' twisting flip flop on bended knee, this week's John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award goes out to Congressman Phil Gingrey