March4Schools Today at the State Capitol!

Just a reminder -

March4Schools

March 4

4 p.m.

Arizona Capitol

1700 West Washington

Somewhere near 10,000 people are expected to attend today to tell the legislature and the Governor who, coincidentally, chose the same time to address a joint session of the lege on the state's fiscal crisis (that's sarcasm folks - she and her handlers are trying to steal the thunder from the state's educators), so the best plan for getting here would be to car pool or take public transit.


And whether you travel here alone or in a group, arrive early - parking will be at a premium and some roads in the vicinity of the Capitol may be closed.

The rally will take place on the House lawn, immediately to the east of the House building, and will extend across the street into Wesley Bolin Plaza.


Students lining up to ask questions at a press conference of the Senate Democratic Caucus this morning...

















More later...

Harry Mitchell grills VA over shredded records - "A breach of trust"

On Tuesday, the House Veterans Affairs Committee's Subcommittees on Investigation and Oversight and Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a joint meeting looking into the shredding of VA claims forms and tampering with records at certain VA offices.

(Meeting info here, with opening statements and written testimonies and a link to a recording of the meeting's webcast; Rep. Mitchell's opening statement here.)

From an Army Times report on the meeting -

A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.

VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.

{snip}

"It is impossible not to be shocked by the numbers from Detroit," said Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel. "Shredding documents or burying them in the bottom drawer is a breach of trust. Whether that breach of trust comes as a consequence of inadequate training or negligent or deliberate behavior, Congress must not and will not tolerate it."

In his questions, Mitchell focused on what the VA's then-management knew of the problem (as evidenced by the amnesties) and if the root cause of the problem was due to mistraining of claims processors or due to a flaw in the organizational culture of the VA at the time. (Approximately 01:25:00 into the meeting

Nobody, least of all Congressman Mitchell, said the words "Bush Administration" but since the incident occurred in 2007...

Anyway, the meeting video is available on the committee's webpage. While the meeting is a little over 2 hours long, it is worth watching.

...Well, worth watching if you are looking for yet another reason to be ticked off at what the Bushies did to America and to America's servicemen and women for eight years.

Background on the issue can be found in an Army Times article here and from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) here.

AZ Legislature Waging Open Warfare On Poor Children...

...and the opening salvo in the latest skirmish will be fired at tomorrow's meeting of the House Health and Human Services Committee...

This is a little late in the day, but an email from the Children's Action Alliance was forwarded to me, and it's worthy of some attention.

From the email -

On Wednesday, March 4, 2009, the House Health and Human Services Committee is meeting at 8am and their agenda includes significant bills that need your action. (You are getting this message because you live in the district of a committee member.)

PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!

The email then urged recipients to contact their legislators on the committee to urge them to vote against HB2203, a measure that would cut off TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) benefits to children whose guardians fall out of compliance with CPS requirements (paperwork, immunizations, etc.) and to vote for HB2622 (subject to a strike-everything amendment on the same subject), a measure that would "would require the parent of a child taken into CPS custody to inform CPS and the court within 30 days of relatives who might have an interest in caring for the child. "

Both are sponsored by the likes of wingers like Nancy Barto and Ray Barnes. The difference is that the harsh HB2203 is sponsored *only* by wingers where the sensible HB2622 has Democrat Tom Chabin as the original sponsor.

Anyway, the committee members include Reps. Ed Ableser (D-LD17), Frank Antenori (R-LD30), Nancy Barto (R-LD7), Tom Boone (R-LD4), David Bradley (D-LD28), Steve Court (R-LD18), Doris Goodale (R-LD3), Phil Lopes (D-LD27), and Rick Murphy (R-LD9).

If you live in one of those districts, contact your legislator and urge them to vote against HB2203 as it punishes children for the actions/inactions of adults and to vote for HB2622 because it increases the likelihood that children in home situations that call for CPS's removal of the children from the situation will end up in a stable home.

It might be too late to talk to them at the office tonight, but emails and voicemails will be read or listened to in the a.m. before the meeting.

Later...

Arpaio and Thomas: Still not playing well with others

Edit on 3/3 below to update...

I have to wonder how bad these two were in their schoolyards when they were kids, because now that they are (allegedly) mature adults, they still engage in wantonly selfish and anti-social behavior.

From AZCentral.com -

Arpaio, Thomas seek to stop board from raiding funds

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Monday asked a Superior Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order to keep the county Board of Supervisors from raiding special funds set aside for law enforcement.

The supervisors were given one-time legislative authority to lift restrictions on special-revenue funds to make required payments to help balance the state budget. County budget officials believe they can tap $27 million from 26 such funds - including $11 million to $15 million in criminal-justice related accounts.

Let's see -

Schools are closing, state parks are being closed, teachers and other educators are being laid off, cities, counties, and the state are "furloughing" or completely cutting loose employees, human services in Arizona are being all but ended, but the Boris and Natasha of Arizona politics (and no, I'm not making a comment as to which one is most analogous to which cartoon character :) ) are still insisting that they should be exempted from any sort of budget-tightening.

Guess things like trips to Honduras and funnelling money to former employers are more important than balancing the state's and the county's budgets.

Anyway, the suit will be heard by Judge Andrew Klein on Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court. It names the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, the supes individually, the County, and Governor Jan Brewer as defendants.

The most interesting part of this, and it nearly generated a post of its own, is the name of the attorney representing Arpaio and Thomas in the lawsuit.

The court info linked above lists that attorney as "Kerry Martin."

Which happens to be the name of the wife of one of Thomas and Arpaio's main saddle partners, State Treasurer Dean Martin.

Which almost set me off on a riff on the incestuous nature of AZ politics, but since I don't ever remember hearing that Kerry Martin was an attorney, I thought I'd look a little deeper.

Apparently, my instinct for verification was a good one.

Turns out there is an attorney named Kerry Martin in the Phoenix office of the firm of Ogletree Deakins who specializes in employment law.

Now, I don't know for certain that he is the Kerry Martin who is repping the two would-be backwater despots that *are* our County Attorney and Sheriff (it's actually a rather common name), but it seems likely.

Would have been more fun if it was Dean Martin's wife. :)

Update: A phone call to Attorney Martin cleared this up - he *is* the attorney representing Thomas and Arpaio, and he is *not* the Kerry Martin who is married to State Treasurer Dean Martin. :)

End update...

Wednesday will be a busy day, what with the March4Schools rally for education at the State Capitol and the Governor addressing a joint session of the lege, so I won't be able to attend the hearing, but it will be worth checking the news for the outcome.

Later!

They're not even trying to be professional 2 - updated

Since I'll be attending Wednesday's rally for education at the State Capitol (details here), I decided to make a day of it.

Combing through the committee agendas for the meetings scheduled that day (House committees here; Senate committees here) while trying to plan out the most effective use of my time, I came across this item on one of the agendas -

HCR2034 repeal business personal property tax

Now, the fact that they are considering this bill is not a surprise. It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that when faced with AZ's massive budget deficit brought on by plummeting revenues, the Republicans' first instinct is to cut revenue further (actually, it's basically their *only* fiscal instinct).

What was surprising was the committee to which the measure has been assigned.

Not Ways and Means, which has jurisdiction over tax-related issues.

Not Commerce, which has jurisdiction over business-related issues.

Not even Appropriations, which would at least be affected by the measure if it was passed by the lege and the voters (less money to appropriate).

Nope. The Speaker of the House Kirk Adams saw fit to assign the measure to...

Military Affairs and Public Safety.

Say what????

Military Affairs????

That's a bit too much of a stretch for credibility, even for an organization that's as independent (of reality) as the Arizona Legislature.


Anyway, the other Wednesday committee meetings include:

House Appropriations, meeting at 2 p.m. in House Hearing Room (HHR) 1. Meeting highlights will include state agency budget hearing for the Secretary of State, Office of Tourism, Arizona Department of Agriculture, Arizona State Lottery Commission, Government Information Technology Agency, Arizona Department of Revenue, and Arizona Department of Transportation.

House Commerce, meeting at 9 a.m. in HHR5. Meeting highlights include consideration of D17 Rep. Ed Ableser's HB2247, relating to home sales and disclosure of water supply.

House Health and Human Services, meeting at 8 a.m. in HHR4. Highlights of the very long agenda include a striker to HCR2014 to turn it into the Health Care Freedom Act. State Rep. Nancy Barto, the striker's author, describes her proposal thusly in her blog -

The referendum, if passed at the ballot box, will protect the rights of Arizonans to purchase private health care in the event the state or federal government mandates universal-style health care on its citizens. Wording will be similar to that voters very narrowly defeated last November (Prop. 101) but will address some concerns that were raised regarding current AHCCCS users.

Like the rest of the Republican caucus in the lege, she has no use for the voice of the voters unless that voice is agreeing with her.

House Military Affairs and Public Safety, meeting at 9 a.m. in HHR3. Discussed above.

Senate Public Safety and Human Services, meeting at 9 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room (SHR) 3. Like all Senate committees other than Appropriations, they won't be considering any bills. Like the other committees, they will hold informational hearings on the aspects of the recently-passed federal stimulus package that fall under each committee's purview. PSHS will be discussing the impact on Food Stamps, Foster Care and Adoption, Elderly Nutritions, and Child Care Subsidies.

Senate Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform, meeting at 9 a.m. in SHR1. They'll be reviewing the stimulus' FMAP Increase. FMAP is the acronym for Federal Matching Assistance Percentages. FMAPs are "used in determining the amount of Federal matching funds for State expenditures for assistance payments for certain social services, and State medical and medical insurance expenditures." (US HHS website)

Senate Finance, meeting at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. They'll be discussing the stimulus package's the Federal Stimulus Package's Tax Relief Provisions including the "Making Work Pay" Tax Credit (Withholding Tax Reduction), Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit (Higher Education), First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, Alternative Minimum Tax "Patch", Renewable Energy Tax Credit, and Bonus Depreciation.

Senate Education Accountability and Reform, meeting at 1:30 in SHR1. Their agenda includes -

4. Presentation on Teacher Quality by Andrew Morrill, AEA
5. Presentation on Teacher Quality by Department of Education
6. Progress on Federal Stimulus Funding for Education

Looking at numbers 4 and 5 brings a question to mind -

Gee, ya think that the AEA will have a different opinion of teacher quality than Tom "I'm a career lawyer" Horne's Department of Ed?

Note: All of the above meetings and times are subject to change, and in fact they probably will be - perhaps taking a cue from President Obama's successful visit to Congress, Governor Brewer will be addressing a joint session of the lege about "Arizona's fiscal future." (KOLD)

Look for Gov. Brewer to push her scheme for a special election to balance the state's budget by raising the state's sales tax and doing away with protections on voter-mandated spending and revenues.

Looks like Wednesday will be an interesting day to visit the lege.

More on the rally and other goings-on at the lege later....

Update on 3/2 to add:

According to the House and Senate weekly schedules, Governor Brewer's address to the lege is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in the House chamber.

They're not even putting up a pretense of professional governance any more, are they?

Either the Reps don't have a clue as to how much they are crippling the state's ability to thrive in a modern society, or they've run the numbers and have figured out that they are screwed in next year's elections and have collectively decided to rampage through the tax code and social compact, wreaking as much havoc as they can before they are kicked to the electoral curb.

...Thus far, whether it's from the governor's office or from the back rooms of the lege, every idea hatched to help the state out of its fiscal mess is either short-sighted or places the burden squarely on the backs of the poor and working-class residents of Arizona.

The latest scheme from the governor - sell state assets and lease them back for continued use - would result in only a one-time benefit to the state's cash flow and a long-term degradation of the state's balance sheet (there was also talk of making the sale/lease-back into a sale/buy-back scheme, which just shifts the long-term pain back to the state's cash flow).

This is just an apt follow-up to her plan to hold a special election for raising the state's sales tax and to crack open the Voter Protection Act measures that protect certain programs and initiatives from legislative interference. Programs and initiatives that include Clean Elections, a raise in the minimum wage, statewide smoking restrictions, increased Medicaid eligibility, and education funding.

Of course, the lege is trying to out-irresponsible the governor. In addition to the attempts to further cut revenue with attacks on the state's equalization property tax (dedicated to education) and others, they're now floating a plan to "reform" the state's tax structure.

In this context, "reform" is short for a strike-everything amendment to a bill that would "slash the state's corporate and business taxes and jack up the state's sales tax." (Fact sheet on the strike-everything amendment here)

The striker was proposed for the purpose of bringing the issue up for discussion during February 23rd's meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee (meeting audio available here).

During the discussion, the Republican chair of the committee, Rep. Rick Murphy, made it clear that the only tax increase that he would support would be an increase to the ever-regressive sales tax, *and* that any increase should be matched with equal cuts to corporate and business tax rates.

Even if one ignores the fact that sales taxes (sometimes known as consumption taxes) is perhaps the most regressive tax in use (a fact that the Reps usually ignore, gleefully), the sales tax is a notoriously unreliable source of revenue, and the over-reliance on it has contributed greatly to AZ's budget crisis.

It wouldn't be surprising if Brewer finds that the lege's price for signing off on a special election to raise the sales tax is Brewer's signature on a bill to cut business taxes.

If that is the situation, while there's no guarantee that any special election questions will pass, no matter what happens the state will be worse off.

That is *not* what any of them -Brewer or the lege - were hired for.

Actually, on review of the opening paragraph, there is a third option -

They know how much damage they are causing, are proud of it, and believe that their rampage is the ticket to remain in office.

That's truly scary.

Later...

David Safier's take on recent developments is available at Blog for Arizona here.

Join The Weekend Protest Against Arpaio

From a press release from the Arizona Advocacy Network -

Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine calls on fans to join him in marching against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s human and civil rights violations

Will lead Noche Cultural/Open Mic on Fri. 2/27, March in Phoenix, AZ on Sat. 2/28

PHOENIX, AZ --Zack de la Rocha of the internationally renowned rock band Rage Against the Machine has gigs in Phoenix this Friday and Saturday. But instead of standing on a stage he will be marching with people from all over the country who are asking the federal government to revoke Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g) agreement and stop the raids of workplaces and immigrant neighborhoods. The 287(g) agreements allow local law enforcement to arrest people if they are suspected of being in the U.S. without proper documents.

"To witness what is happening in Arizona and remain neutral is to be implicated in human rights violations that are occurring right here on US soil against migrants. History will not be kind to Joe Arpaio,” de la Rocha said, “He will be remembered with other infamous sheriffs like Bull Connor who subjugated and terrorized communities for shortsighted political gain. I hope everyone will join me in protesting Sheriff Joe."

"Recently the nation witnessed the ritual humiliation of migrants in a spectacle evocative of some of the most horrific episodes of human history," explains Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "People across the country are outraged at the shameful violations of human rights perpetrated by the Maricopa County Sheriffs and they are being moved to action."

In the last month Sheriff Joe Arpaio intensified his on-going escalation of attacks against Latinos by segregating the county jail and parading undocumented migrants shackled in a chain-gang into "tent city." He erected and surrounded the tent with an electric fence in a grotesque display of human degradation.

The march is being organized by the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, Puente, Somos America/We Are America Coalition of Arizona, Arizona Advocacy Network and others at the request of groups all over the country that want to publicly denounce Sheriff Arpaio’s actions.

To get marchers pumped up, de la Rocha will be headlining a Noche Cultural / open mic at Tonatierra, 802 N. 7th Street in Phoenix from 8pm to Midnight on Friday
2/27. For more information go to this Facebook page, or contact us at StopTheRaids@azadvocacy.org.

WHAT:- Noche Cultural / Open Mic with Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, Fri. 2/27 8pm to Midnight at 802 N. 7th St.-

March with Zach from Steele Indian School Park at 9am on Sat. 2/28.

So how's that whole "lowering taxes creates jobs" thing working out?

On Monday evening, over 300 people met at ASU to speak to members of the Democratic caucus of the lege about the devastation caused by the Republican cuts to human services and education in Arizona. Cuts brought on by plummeting state revenue.

Coincidentally, earlier in the day, the House Ways and Means Committee considered further reducing revenue by passing HB2073, a proposal to repeal the state's equalization property tax, a source of revenue devoted to funding education. The committee passed the measure on a 5 - 3 party-line vote, with Reps voting to further cut revenue while the state is in a massive fiscal hole (Republican mantra - "There's no hole you can't make bigger").

Most of the big names in the Big Business Lobbyists - Arizona Chapter showed up to make certain their apologists on the committee (Reps. Andy Biggs, Debbie Lesko, Rick Murphy, Michelle Reagan, Steve Yarbrough) toed the party (and company!) line.

From the AZ Republic article linked above -

Joining the chamber in supporting House Bill 2073 were Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the Arizona Manufacturers Council. Representatives from the Arizona Tax Research Association and Americans for Tax Reform also supported the bill.

I listened to the recording of the meeting (available here; due to technical difficulties, no video is available). One of the most vocal supporters of HB2073 was Kevin McCarthy of the Arizona Tax Research Association. He (and Biggs, Yarbrough, and Murphy, his parrots on the committee) stressed that lowering taxes would create jobs.

{start tired cliche}

In fact, they shamelessly harped on that talking point many times, clinging to it as a drowning man clings to a life preserver.

{end tired cliche} :))

Anyway, their repeated pounding on that point made me wonder.

The equalization tax that they want to permanently repeal has been suspended for three years. Surely there's going to be some evidence by now of a direct correlation between "no equalization tax for education" and "increased employment."

Right?

A quick search of the website of federal Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an answer to that question. (Arizona summary page here.)

In December of 2006, immediately prior to the suspension of the equalization tax, there were
2,888,648 people employed in Arizona;

In December of 2008, that number had risen to 2,945,861, an increase of 57,213.

That proves McCarthy's point, and the point of every Rep in the lege, right?

Not so much.

What that simple comparison doesn't show is that over the same period, the employable workforce also increased, by 159,806. In other words 64% of new workers haven't found jobs, and that statistic bears out in the changes in the state's unemployment rate.

In December 2006, the unemployment rate in AZ was 3.9%; in December 2008, it was 6.9%.

Let's be clear - since the equalization tax was suspended, Arizona's unemployment rate has increased 77%.

Another figure that illustrates just how bad the economy has gotten since the suspension of the equalization tax is the increase in Mass Layoff Events (50+ people laid off from one employer) -

In December 2006, there were 4 MLEs in AZ; by December 2008, that number had risen to 13.

Additionally, last month, there were 24 Mass Layoffs in Arizona.

And there will be still more in February (I know this because my company just had one at the beginning of the month, and is almost certain to have another by the end of spring. If not sooner.)

I know that regular commenter Thane or perhaps somebody from ATRA will point out that I provided no evidence directly linking the suspension of the equalization tax and the increase in the state's unemployment rate.

To that I will respond "Perhaps not, but neither have you provided a evidence of a direct link between defunding public education and increased job opportunities."

Later...

Arpaio's mantra - "It's everybody else's fault"

A prisoner escapes from Superior Court while in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, so naturally, Joe Arpaio doesn't objectively assess the incident, he just blames the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

From an AZ Republic story regarding the Court's efforts to examine what happened and to prevent future escapes (emphasis mine) -

The Maricopa County Superior Court has hired an outside consulting firm to investigate last week's escape of a convicted child rapist while he was on trial, court officials said.

Adrian Cruz was convicted in 2005 of sexually assaulting his girlfriend's 9-year-old daughter in his ice-cream truck. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 35 years. But he was back in court on trial for two unrelated rapes.

On Feb. 17, he slipped out of handcuffs during a lunchtime break and evaded the Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies who were supposed to be guarding him. His escape was captured by surveillance cameras as he walked unchallenged out of the downtown Phoenix court complex.

{snip}

"I smell some politics involved in this," Arpaio said of the consultants. "If they're not happy with the service, maybe they can hold the Board of Supervisors in contempt for not giving us the money for hiring the necessary deputies."

Arpaio has had run-ins with the courts in the past, at times refusing to transport prisoners to their court appearances (he was slapped down quickly for that one, since that's a basic part of any sheriff's job), so it isn't surprising that the court felt it was appropriate to seek an objective analysis of what went wrong last week to ensure the safety of the public and court personnel in the future.

It's unfortunate in this time of budget crises at all levels of government that Arpaio and his lack of professionalism is causing the expenditure of more scarce resources.

And despite claims that he needs more deputies for court security, Arpaio has the option of transferring some from his anti-immigrant putsch squads.

Of course, that'll never happen - he doesn't get enough of a media coverage fix for mundane things like doing his job right.

Education Rally At The State Capitol - March 4

Next Wednesday, March 4, there will be a massive rally in support of education at the State Capitol.



From the website of the Arizona Education Association -

March4Schools - Sign up today!

On March 4, thousands of parents, teachers, education support professionals, and taxpayers will converge on the Capitol to demonstrate Arizona's broad and deep support for our public schools.

This rally at the Capitol will be the largest mobilization of education supporters in our state's history. AEA Education Day at the Capitol participants will be joined by thousands sharing their stories about the impact of budget cuts on education.

March4Schools

March 4

4 p.m.

Arizona Capitol

1700 West Washington

Here's the response, DSW...

...and for the record, you served up a BP fastball...

I normally don't counter-post, but since DSW at Sonoran Alliance has misrepresented what I said in an earlier post, a counter-post is an appropriate response.

Especially since DSW himself (or herself; it's an anonymous blog) chose to go the counter-post (both to me and to David Safier at Blog for Arizona) route instead of simply commenting on my original post.

The post in question criticized Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert) for rationalizing his anti-education funding vote by saying that ' "Education does not create jobs," he [Biggs] said. "Entrepreneurs and businesses create jobs." '

My response was thus - "Apparently he believes that entrepeneurs and businessmen don't need educations, nor do they need a workforce knowledgeable enough to adequately staff their businesses."

DSW's response to my criticism?

"Maybe this is a good time to chime in and remind our liberal bloggers that there are many highly educated Ph.D’s employed by our fine university system who could only find jobs within the university system. They have created no jobs. Simply put, having an excellent education does not guarantee you a job."

On a couple of points he is correct - having an excellent education does not guarantee one a job, nor, generally speaking, do teachers create jobs.

They just give people the tools (knowledge, ability to think critically and learn more) to create jobs or to fill those jobs adequately. In other words, they give people the tools they need to succeed in our society.

And a commenter (John) on DSW's post does bring up the success of college dropout Bill Gates and uses it as a bulwark to the argument that education isn't necessary for success.

That commenter might have had a point, except for a few things - Gates is highly intelligent, had access to oodles of investment capital via family connections (hat tip to commenter Ron on DSW's post for reminding everyone of that fact) and Gates had access to highly educated people to write Microsoft's software and do its accounting and legal work, and so forth.

Now, I'm not disparaging John's point completely - people without much formal education *can* succeed greatly if they have enough drive and intelligence (Gates is a case in point) and people with a lot of formal education and not much active intelligence can fail spectacularly (to whit: George W. Bush of the two Ivy League degrees and the lowest Presidential job approval ratings ever. To be fair to the Ivy League schools though, legacy admissions and "gentlemen's Cs don't motivate people to learn, especially when the Friends of Dad and Granddad are around to smooth the way.)

BTW - DSW should update his post - Tedski at R-Cubed is on the Biggs quote, too. :)

Republican Schmuck Alert

And no, I'm not talking about the former GOP candidate for the AZ House. :)

This is the first in an irregular series of posts, one that I expect will have unfortunately frequent entries.

Today, there are two candidates for schmuck-hood.

First up, the ever-loony Rep. Andy Biggs of Gilbert (thanks go out to David Safier at Blog for Arizona for spotting this one). From the AZ Daily Star -

"Education does not create jobs," he [Biggs] said. "Entrepreneurs and businesses create jobs."

Biggs added that it wouldn't matter whether Arizona has the best-educated work force in the country if higher taxes drive companies out of business.

Apparently he believes that entrepeneurs and businessmen don't need educations, nor do they need a workforce knowledgeable enough to adequately staff their businesses. I expect Biggs to be a regular honoree here.

Also up for consideration is State Superintendant of Public Instruction Tom Horne.

From the Yuma Sun story about the House Education Committee's vote to kill Rep. David Schapira's bill to raise the minimum age for dropping out of school to 18 -

Horne even poked some fun at Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, who is sponsoring the legislation.

"I think there should be a bill that says no one can propose it unless they spend a year teaching kids who don't want to be there,'' he said.

Prior to his current gig, Horne, the chief educator in the state, was a lawyer. (Note: he's already formed a committee to "explore" running for AZ Attorney General next year.)

Prior to *his* current gig, Schapira, a member of the House Ed Committee, was a teacher.

When it comes to matters of teaching and education, that difference creates a credibility gap that only a full-blown schmuck would dive into, and dive into head first, at that.


Sad to say, but there will be more entries in this series sooner or later.

And probably sooner than later.

Last night's budget forum at ASU

For nearly three emotionally-wracked hours on Monday evening, 14 members of the Democratic caucus of the state legislature listened to Arizonans tell of the devastation to their lives caused by the draconian budget cuts imposed on the state's education and human services structure.

Hosts Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill and Reps. David Schapira and Ed Ableser (all representing LD17, the home of ASU) were joined by colleagues from all over the state - Sen. Jorge Luis Garcia and Representatives Rae Waters, Kyrsten Sinema, David Lujan, Pat Fleming, Lynne Pancrazi, Daniel Patterson, Matt Heinz, Chad Campbell, Tom Chabin, and Christopher Deschene, who all graciously took the time out of their lives to visit Tempe.

While there were folks from all parts of society there, the developmentally disabled community was particularly well-, and heart-breakingly, represented.

ASU Web Devil coverage here; AZ Republic coverage here. In addition, Rep. Patterson's blog entry covering the event is here.

I'll have more later after I get the pics of the event uploaded, but Patterson's blog post touches on something I want to mention now.

On Thursday, there will be a rally at the State Capitol from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. to support saving services for Arizona's Children with Disabilities.

Everyone is urged to attend to make your voice heard.

More later...

Edit to add (info courtesy Rep. Steve Farley's latest Farley Report):

Next Thursday, March 5, there will be a similar forum at U of A in Tucson.

Time: 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Location: U of A Student Union, South Ballroom, 1330 E. University Blvd., Tucson

State Rep. David Schapira: column on education and the state budget

State Representative David Schapira (D-LD17) wrote a column that was published by the Arizona Republic in Saturday's edition of the community news section in Tempe. There's no link available - I couldn't find it on their website. It was there though - I read it.)

Fortunately, however, he sent it out as part of an email reminder of tonight's budget hearing at ASU (6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., Ventana Room (#241), Memorial Union).

From the email -

Last week, in a Tempe Republic column, Editor Tom Spratt wrote that legislators owe it to constituents to share budget updates.

I couldn't agree more.

Legislative leaders have broken their promise to be open and transparent, and they have not addressed the impact of deep budget cuts to the people they will affect.

The fact is that the legislators who voted to pass the 2009 budget had not publicly discussed the impact of their decision with constituents, K-12 students, parents and teachers or with the universities.

They didn't even discuss it with legislative Democrats or rank-and-file Republicans before it was up for votes on the House and Senate floors.

Spratt wrote that legislators could do more - travel around their districts, meet with constituents, hold forums, answer questions and explain exactly what people should expect as a result of the cuts for this fiscal year and the proposals for the next fiscal year, which starts in July.

Legislative Democrats have hosted six public budget hearings in the last two months to discuss the impact of the deep budget cuts and to hear concerns of citizens in the community about the impact of the budget.

We've held these hearings in Casa Grande, Phoenix, Yuma, Tucson, Prescott and Flagstaff. Our seventh in this series will be on Monday at Arizona State University in Tempe, followed by hearings in Sierra Vista and at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

We hope to continue to hear from constituents and community members about how these cuts will impact their lives and the concerns they have about the 2010 budget.

I share the concern of many Arizonans with regard to the deep cuts to education for this fiscal year and those that are being proposed starting in July.

I have worked hard in recent weeks to get the word out about the education cuts. I meticulously detailed the proposed cuts in public Education Committee meetings and budget forums in Flagstaff, Tucson and Phoenix, and I will do so again at the public budget hearing on Feb. 23 in Tempe. At each forum, I went into great detail in publicly questioning school administrators and university presidents as to the impact of the proposed cuts on their schools.

In addition to participating in public meetings, I appeared on Channel 8's "Horizon," submitted an commentary regarding the budget to The Republic and responded to many reporter inquiries on the proposed education cuts, speaking extensively about potential impacts.

I also have made all of this information available on my website and in email updates to constituents who sign up there.

I fought hard for education on the House floor in the middle of the night, doing my best to convince my Republican colleagues that thousands of jobs will be lost and we would lose major parts of ASU, our community's economic engine. I also pleaded with them to consider the impact on student learning in our state.

I have worked hard to protect education in District 17 and in Arizona, and I always will.

I encourage all constituents to attend our public budget hearing on Monday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at ASU's Memorial Union in Ventana Room 241. We will present detailed information on the budget and seek public comment.

Also, please take a moment to sign up on my website, www.DavidSchapira.com, to receive future budget updates and information.

State Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, represents District 17.

See you at tonight's hearing!

2009 Legislative Loon Award

It's been tough finding a "winner" of this year's Legislative Loon Award. The problem hasn't been a dearth of candidates, because the rightward lurch of the GOP caucus in the lege has created a surfeit of them. (And so ends this blog's Thesaurus sentence of the year :) )

As in previous years, the likes of State Sens. Russell Pearce and Jack Harper were frontrunners for this award, as was Representative John Kavanagh. In addition to their nativist enthusiasms, Pearce and Kavanagh are the chairs of their respective chambers' Appropriations Committees, and have the influence to further the more radical parts of their ideology. Harper is, well, *Harper,* the man who never met a bill or utterance too outlandish or ignorant for him to put his name to it.

In a normal year, there would be no more than one or two others in serious contention (Trish Groe will be missed...OK, not really.)

But this year, a huge percentage of their colleagues have given free rein to their inner whackjob, in ways that go beyond the usual "appeal to the wingers back home" bills that go nowhere, and were never meant to.

Before we even enter into a discussion of some of the horrific bills proposed this session, there's the "colorful" utterances of some of the legislators to consider -

- Rep. Frank Antenori, a resident of Tucson and elected to represent part of Tucson, expressed objections to newspapers designating him as "R-Tucson." Apparently, he has a problem with the "hippies" that run the city.

- Sen. Pam Gorman, from her blog, on the prospect of devastating budget cuts for education and the rest of the state's budget (emphasis mine) - "Essentially, we will get to sit around in small groups brainstorming on ways to cut government spending instead of the normal nauseating disputes about how to spend more. Yippee! Now, where’s my party hat? "

- Sen. Jack Harper, responding to a story that Arizona, the rate of people applying for food stamps is rising at twice the pace of the U.S. as a whole (from Seeing Red AZ) - "One of the reasons so many people are signing up for welfare is due to so many welfare offices being opened up by the state and making it easy:," followed by a listing of all DES offices in the state.

No acknowledgement that maybe the reason that more people are applying for food stamps and other assistance is that more people *need* the assistance.

- Rep. John Kavanagh, speaking gleefully on the effects of cuts to the state's universities - "Since our cuts are going to send ASU back to the Middle Ages, the question is how many monks will they need?"

And that's just skimming the surface.

Then we move on to the transparency of the budget process (and balancing the state's budget in the face of the current fiscal crisis), something that the wingers complained about on an annual basis, when the moderate Republicans in the lege worked out a budget with then-Governor Napolitano and were able to garner enough support for it on both sides of the aisle to pass it. So what do the wingers do now that they've ousted most of the moderates in the Republican caucus and have fellow traveller Jan Brewer in the Governor's office?

Determine which programs to cut, and how savagely, behind closed doors.

They've even made their blog, Capitol Ideas (http://azhousegop.blogspot.com/), available to "invited readers" (i.e. - "true believers" in their view, "fellow Kool-Aid drinkers" in mine) only.

And then there are the bills.

In addition to their now-annual moves to repeal the state's equalization property tax, a dedicated funding source for education (SB1107, among others) or moves to repeal other taxes (HCR2034, et. al.), they've got the bills with the usual nativist pablum (with Russell Pearce lending his name to at least 16 of them), the anti-choice screeds (such as HB2564), and, of course, the gun fetish bills (SB1270, HB2171, and others).

But wait, there's more -

- The myriad bills against the use of photo radar, the most colorful of which may be Rep. Andy Biggs' HB2124, which won't allow photo radar to be used to issue tickets for going less than 35 mph in a school zone or less than 85 mph on a freeway. (Thanks to blogger Mike McClellan at AZCentral.com for the heads-up on HB2124)

You know, I can understand the 85 mph requirement in the rural portions of the state, where the speed limit is 75 mph, but 35 mph in a school zone? If there is one area that calls for strict enforcement of speed limits it's school zones.

- Sen. Ron Gould's SB1359, which would allow cities and towns to "construct, operate and finance the construction of toll roads within the corporate limits of the city or town."

- Sen. John Huppenthal's SB1393, a measure written so broadly that it would turn the public school system into a religious school system.

- Rep. Warde Nichols' scheme to disband the Arizona Board of Regents, HCR2002.

- SB1123, a Republican move to make Tucson's municipal elections non-partisan, mostly because Democrats win in Tucson.

- SB1147, which would bar state agencies from adopting any rules or policies regarding greenhouse gases or fuel economy without the express direction of the lege. The same lege that is run by Republicans who think that scientific evidence regarding global warming and human impact on the environment is a fraud.

There are more, but the point is made - Pearce, Kavanagh, and Harper have a LOT of company this year down on West Washington.

As such, the winner of this year's Legislative Loon Award is...


The entire Republican caucus of the Arizona Legislature.


God help us all.


Note: to be fair, I should note that there are still a few members of the Rep caucus who take the idea of public service seriously, however, most of them have to keep silent or face a primary challenge from hardliners. And in today's AZ Republican Party, the reality is that few of them are safe from such a challenge.