If Arpaio knows about anything, this is it

From AZCentral.com -

Today the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, refugees, border security and international law and the subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties are scheduled to hold a hearing on "the public-safety and civil-rights implications of state and local enforcement of federal immigration laws."

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has a shorter description for what's going on in Washington.

"It's all a publicity stunt," he told me Wednesday. "A witch hunt."

As he is Maricopa County's resident expert on the subject of witch hunts as publicity stunts, he should know of what he speaks.

You have *got* to be kidding...

OK, I can understand the Reps' joy at one of their own avoiding prison, but that joy seems to be clouding their judgement.


Now the Alaska Republican Party wants to use the fact that the Obama Department of Justice dropped charges against former Senator Ted Stevens to rationalize overturning the results of a legitimately conducted and counted election.


From AP -

The state GOP party says the only reason Begich won is because a few thousand Alaskans thought that Stevens was guilty of seven felonies. Stevens was charged with failing to disclose gifts and home renovations.

Ummm..."a few thousand"???


In 2002, Stevens won reelection with 78.17% of the vote.

In 2008, Stevens lost with 46.52% of the vote.

That's a change of 31.62%.

There were 147,814 votes cast in the 2008 Alaska senatorial race. That makes for a difference of 46,739 votes.


Not just "a few thousand."


And just to reiterate - the DOJ's dropping of the charges doesn't mean that Stevens isn't corrupt, just that the prosecutors of his case stepped over the line of propriety.

...On the other hand, the outpouring of sympathy for the "innocent" (OK, not-so-innocent) Stevens isn't confined to the desolate tundra of Alaska - the Beltway insiders and member of the chattering class is falling over themselves in their rush to proclaim the "innocence" of one of their own. (TPMMuckraker, and thanks to Tedski for the heads-up)

New candidate in LD8

The candidate is a Republican, but since I've had all day to either sleep or be awake and bored and/or miserable, it's worth a post.

According the AZ Secretary of State's website, one Eric Ulis has filed to run for the Republican nomination for LD8 State Representative (filer ID 201000082). He's formed a committee as a non-Clean Elections candidate.

Ulis was the chair of an anti-anti-smoking referendum that failed to make the 2006 ballot (I-17-2006). He's also the founder of something called Continental Poker Championship LLC.

...I'm guessing that he is not a huge fan of anti-online gambling Senator and fellow Republican Jon Kyl.

The highlight of my internet search for info on Mr. Ulis was his Facebook page in which he proclaims that his favorite musical artist is George Michael.

...Probably something that he will play down during his campaign. Especially with Mr. Michaels' penchant for getting arrested in public restrooms...something that the Reps have had their own problems with, and probably don't want to be reminded of. :)

Tedski, Gila Courier (and here), Espresso Pundit, and the Phoenix New Times all have posts up about other 2010 candidates.

Would it be immodest to point out that I was there first?? Well, except for EP's Symington and Gila Courier's McCain primary challenge rumors. :)

BTW - If the Symington rumor is true, that would be manna from heaven for Democrats.


Later...

Feds drop charges against former Senator Ted Stevens

While the right-wing blogosphere is crowing about this, I'd like to point out that while the charges were dropped, it was because of prosecutorial misconduct, *not* because Stevens was exonerated.

And I'd like to point out that it was misconduct by Bush-era prosecutors.

Now I have no doubt that Stevens is dirty, but *everybody*, even people that are thoroughly corrupt, deserve a fair trial. It's a basic tenet of our system of laws that everyone, from the lowest street-level drug dealers to the highest-flying politicians and corporate executives, gets a fair shot in court when they face criminal charges (whether or not those politicians and corporate executives face trial as often as they should is a discussion best left for another day).

The upshot of this is that Attorney General Eric Holder's move today signals a return to the rule of law, something that has been missing from the U.S. for eight years.

And that is bigger news than the dropping of one set of charges.

My turn to be under the weather...

Today is mostly going to consist of cold medicine, soup, juice, and sleep.

Depending on how I feel later, blogging may be a possibility (Congressional Republicans have come out with their "budget", aka - more tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and spending cuts for anything that doesn't involve invading other countries to take their oil.)

April Fool's Day is definitely the appropriate day for the Reps to trot out a budget proposal that is more of the same garbage that helped put the country in the economic mess that it's in.

But that will be later, if at all...time for a nap.

Later...

Why my city is hosed...

"Eat Drink Be Pretty"????

Somebody who has a penchant for thoroughness might want to add cracks about "Botox" or "NIMBY" or "Destroy Neighborhoods", but that would be unnecessary piling on after the whistle has blown the play dead.

That one slogan covers all that Scottsdale really stands for.

Conspicuous consumption and vapid shallowness.

This is not to be taken as a criticism of the Scottsdale Culinary Festival itself - it's a lot of fun and I recommend attending if you can (April 18 and 19). Just don't expect much intellectual stimulation.

Oh, and fortunately for the Culinary Festival, the Tempe Music Festival is taking place two weeks earlier (this weekend!).

In the event there had been a conflict in the schedule, well, college towns are a lot more interesting (something about the higher number of triple-digit IQs).

:)

The Best Reason To See A Sean Penn Film

Bill O'Reilly of Faux News won't.

From The Hollywood Reporter via Yahoo! -

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: ARE THERE ACTORS WHOSE POLITICAL OPINIONS DISTURB YOU SO MUCH YOU WON'T SEE THEIR MOVIES?

O'Reilly: Just Sean Penn

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: SOMEONE WILL READ THAT AND ACCUSE YOU OF ENCOURAGING A NEW BLACKLIST ERA.

O'Reilly: Not at all. He's a great actor, and if you hire him, you'll get a good performance. I'm just not going to give a guy who gives aid and comfort to people like (Iran president Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and Saddam Hussein, when he was alive, my 10 bucks. That's my right as an American.

This is pretty petty, even for O'Reilly. Even as liberal as I am, I've never not watched a Charlton Heston movie because he was the president of the NRA or not watched a Law and Order rerun because Fred Thompson is in it. More importantly, I don't know anyone who has.

Yes, Sean Penn is annoyingly smug, but he's also undeniably talented. As with Bono of U2 (somebody who is also annoyingly smug), I'm a fan because of what they can do on screen or in the studio, not because of their politics.

(Full disclosure - I didn't go out of my way to watch Heston's films, but mostly because he had done almost nothing noteworthy after The Planet Of The Apes. And most of Thompson's work was as a secondary character. As such, his performances wouldn't have had an impact on my "see/don't see" decision anyway.)

More 2010 campaigns news

Among the new campaigns for 2010 that have registered with the Secretary of State's office are -

Cheryl Cage, Democrat, running for the LD26 State Senate seat currently occupied by Republican Al Melvin

Margaret Dugan, Republican, running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Janelle Wood, no party affiliation listed, running for Governor

Cage is a former candidate for the seat, and her entry into the race is far from unexpected. Tedski at Rum, Romanism, Rebellion is certain to have coverage of this race as the campaigns heat up.

Dugan is Tom Horne's Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction. Don't know much about her yet, but the entry into the race of an ADE insider is certain to complicate things for the likes of legislators like State Sen. John Huppenthal and State Rep. Rich Crandall who were eyeing the seat.

Janelle Wood is an almost total unknown. However, a "Janelle Wood" with the same email address as is listed with the SOS' office is also listed as an Arizona contact person for something called the "Independent American Party." The IAP seems to advocate transforming America into some kind of semi-libertarian Christian theocracy (see its platform page here.)

In short, they're trying to out-Republican the Republicans.

If Wood's candidacy is real and gains any traction at all, it could undermine the Republicans in their efforts to win the Governor's office outright.

Especially if their extremists succeed in their efforts to defeat Jan Brewer in the primary.


In the "unofficial speculation" department, blog Gila Courier has some interesting observations about the activities of former AZGOP chair John Munger; current GOP Congressman Jeff Flake and former State Senator Karen Johnson are also mentioned in the post.

A Flake candidacy would be a serious one; a Johnson candidacy less so.

Later...

House Democrats Release Common Sense Budget Proposal

On Monday, the Democratic caucus of the Arizona House released a budget proposal for Arizona that uses both fair spending cuts and common sense tax reforms to balance the budget while protecting education and jobs in the state.

The Democrats' proposed budget will (from the press release linked above) -

- Utilize $2.4 billion — the maximum — of the federal stimulus funding available to Arizona in 2010

- Clean up government waste by stopping tax giveaways to big corporations and closing corporate tax loopholes

- Implement smart, responsible cuts across state government, including in our own House of Representatives

- Restore necessary funding to education and middle-class families that makes our economy thrive

More details are available at StrongerArizona.com.

...There are many reasons to criticize the Reps' proposal that was leaked on Friday (and trust me, those criticisms are forthcoming :) ), but amid all of the carnage they want to blindly wreak upon the state's education system and public services are some nuggets of head-scratching, "say what?" utter stupidity.

Today, we highlight their proposal to save all of $211,000 by doing away with Arizona Commission on Indian Affairs.

The Commission is dedicated "to strengthening the relationship between Arizona's tribes and urban Indian communties and state government."

Now of course, anyone with any experience watching the Reps in action knows that they don't care about strengthening relationships with anyone who isn't rich, white, and Republican, so this move doesn't come as much of a surprise.

On the other hand, even the Reps have to respect the natural resources that Native American tribes control, even if they don't respect Native Americans as people.

And Native American tribes control 28% of Arizona's land.

Maintaining as many open lines of communications as possible with folks who control that much of the state and its natural resources would seem advisable, but apparently communication is not part of their plans. Given that their budget schemes since the beginning of the session have been hatched behind closed doors and shrouded in secrecy, this isn't shocking.


However, like the rest of the Reps' budget proposal, that doesn't seem to make much long-term sense.


From Monday's press conference -

"It is key to our economic recovery and stability that we invest in education so that our children are competitive in the global economy," said Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema. "House Democrats' traveled around the state listening to Arizonans' concerns about deep cuts to the state budget and we developed a comprehensive budget plan that will move Arizona forward to a brighter future."

Now to find 8 - 10 Republicans with triple-digit IQs and souls.

The week ahead...

Note: all info culled from online sources and subject to change without notice as events unfold. Check the appropriate organization's website for updates.

...In the U.S. House, the agenda looks to be a busy and somewhat contentious one.

- H.R. 1388, the "GIVE" Act, has passed the Senate with amendments. Those amendments are coming up for House approval. That will give the Three Amigos from AZ (Shadegg, Flake, and Franks), as well as the GOP caucus as a whole, another opportunity to vote against public service and volunteerism.

- Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick's (D-AZ1) H.R. 1513, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009, will be heard as a suspension bill (2/3 support required to pass).

- Rep. Jeff Flake is bringing forward his sixth privileged motion "raising a question of privileges of the House. " The text isn't available online, it is probably related his call for both FBI/DOJ and ethics investigations into the campaign contributions made by PMA, a lobbying firm, and their relation to earmarks.

- H.R. 985, the Free Flow of Information Act. This one came up last year and passed the House, but later died in the Senate.

As with last year's version, this bill creates a federal journalists' shield law.

Also as with last year's version, this bill specifically provides coverage for corporate media personnel and specifically excludes bloggers and other citizen journalists.

It'll pass, but it's still inadequate.

- H.Res. 279, "Providing for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the One Hundred Eleventh Congress." It provides over $300 million for House committee operations. Call this one the "Peacock Act" in honor of all the preening and posturing that will be associated with this one.

- H.R. 1664, "To amend the executive compensation provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards." Sounds good, until you read the fine print - the Secretary of the Treasury decides what is "unreasonable and excessive." It'll pass the House but face serious hurdles in the Senate.

- And in what is sure to be the most contentious of all, the House will be considering the "Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY 2010." Whatever final form the bill takes after a Rules Committee hearing on Wednesday, the Republicans and most of the Blue Dog Dems (including AZ5's Harry Mitchell) will probably oppose the measure.


...Back here in the AZ Legislature, it will be a mostly quiet week on the committee front, as only the House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet. On the Senate side, a few committees will meet, but only to consider executive appointments and to hear about the parts of the federal stimulus package that fall into their bailiwicks.

The House COW (Committee Of the Whole) calendars (here and here) offer up a couple of interesting nuggets.

HB2352 exempts Class II Injection Wells from the Aquifer Protection Permit requirement. From the "fact sheet" for the bill -

"Injection wells discharge liquid byproducts in deep, underground porous rock. Class II wells inject fluids associated with oil and natural gas production. The majority of the liquid that is released is a salt water (brine) solution. In order to prevent contamination, class II wells inject brine deep underground."

An APP permit is required when "one owns or operates a facility that releases pollutants directly into an aquifer, onto the land surface, or in between an aquifer and the land. Currently, injection wells are considered a polluting facility, along with ten other facility types."

In committee, every Republican supported increasing contamination in our drinking water, and every Dem opposed it.

Expect the same trend in the COW session.

Another interesting bill could be HB2101, a measure to require that counties with a population of greater than 175,000 residents have five member boards of supervisors. The current threshold is 200,000. As it turns out, it only affects Pinal County, which under the current law would be converting to a five-member board in 2012 anyway. The county supervisors association opposed it, too, because of the increased costs to the county during a time when all budgets are tight. There are also some questions about whether or not the USDOJ would approve any new districts (that darn Voting Rights Act! :) ).

Again, in committee, all Dems opposed it and all Reps favored it.

Again, expect the same in COW.

The highlight of the week in the AZ lege, though, could be the Democrats' unveiling of their budget proposal on Monday at 10:30 a.m. That one is sure to set up some cross-chatter/smack-talk between the two caucuses. Once the Reps "official" release theirs (which looks to be so harsh that they may have trouble getting it past some of the more vulnerable members of their caucus), the mutual criticism society will start in earnest.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will be meeting twice this week.

At Monday's "Informal" meeting (10:00 a.m., Supervisors' Auditorium, 205 W. Jefferson in Phoenix), the highlights include more budget balancing moves and an executive session, possibly to discuss the latest source of antagonism between them and the Maricopa County Attorney.

The agenda for Wednesday's meeting (9 a.m., Supervisors' Auditorium) is more mundane, yet still highlights the ongoing feud between the supes and the County Attorney and Sheriff.

One item (#16) covers the executive compensation package for Wade Swanson, the newly-hired director of the County's General Litigation Department. You know, the civil litigation duties taken away from Andrew Thomas.

AZRep coverage of the issue here.


...Anyway, those look to be some of the highlights of the upcoming week, though stuff could crop up out of the blue, like when Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's anti-immigrant jihad is making Maricopa County look like Selma, Alabama in the 1950s.

Whooo hooo! I've hit the big time!!

Tedski's arch-pain-in-the-assneck, Roy Warden, has started spamming me (here and here)!!

I feel so...so...so...privileged. Really.

Well, we expected the Republican budget proposal would be ugly...

The GOP leadership in the state lege has been behind closed doors busily ginning up an FY10 budget. A summary of a draft version is floating around.

The Reps are attacking pretty near everything that they hate -

KidsCare Children's and Parents' programs

Adding copayments to AHCCCS

Massive lump sum salary reductions to state employees

Cut child care subsidies

Suspend Lottery payments to homeless programs

Implement drug testing for TANF recipients

Eliminate full day kindergarten and early kindergarten

Suspend operations of the Governor's Office of Equal Opportunity

Suspend general fund appropriations to Arizona Commission on Indian Affairs

Reduce state share of Justice of the Peace salaries

Rollback the FY08 state university financial aid and WICHE increases

Eliminate Math/Science funding (I think that refers to the Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness program, but I'm not sure)

More university rollbacks relating to the Water Institute, medical, science and other specific programs

Major fund transfers from the AG's office and other agencies


...There's more, but I'll let folks with more time and patience cover this in more detail.

One other thing?

While the cuts that they are proposing to the agencies and organizations that serve Arizonans are specific, deep, and painful (as pretty much everybody expected), the cuts that they are proposing for legislative operations and the agencies and organizations that serve the lege are unknown.

Literally.

Those are all up to the discretion of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate.

Looks like this year's budget is going to be an exercise in "do as we say, not as we do."

Expect more details to hit the AZ blogosphere tomorrow and this weekend; the rumor is that this will be officially unveiled on Monday.

Stay tuned...

P.S. - if a reader wants a copy of the summary that came in today, email me or let me know in a comment and I'll send it to you.

New Republican Candidate For Governor Now Available

Should have covered this on Monday, but other things came up...

From the blog of former D-Backs (and now "former Red Sox") pitcher Curt Schilling -

"Turn out the lights, the party’s over"

I used to wait with bated breath for Don Meredith to start singing that on "Monday Night Football."

Normally, it was sweet music if the Steelers were playing. If I could get him to sing it again, I would. This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world's best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.

Now that Schilling is leaving baseball behind him, expect him to move into politics.

He's been popular in Republican circles for a while (of course, all that takes is a conservative viewpoint, a loud mouth, and deep pockets). There was talk about him running for U.S. Senate against John Kerry last year (which didn't happen last year, but if Ted Kennedy retires due to his medical issues, expect Schilling's name to crop up again) and he campaigned for John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign.

With his ties to AZ (and the fact that MA is bluer than the North Atlantic), his political ambitions could take him back to the desert.

Of course, regardless of his Rep bonafides, gaining a nomination here in AZ will be tough. The Reps seem to be turning on Jan Brewer, signalling what could be a crowded and bloody primary for the governor's spot on the ballot. The seat, while not technically "open," it won't have an elected incumbent in it, so pretty much every Rep who's kissed a baby or worked the LD circuit is eyeing the seat.

They won't roll over for a newbie outsider, deep-pocketed or not.

...Now this post is either incisive speculation on possible 2010 candidates, or it's a cheap ploy to boost readership by mentioning someone famous.

You decide which it is. :))

Other 2010 candidate news -

- Somebody named Roy Miller has filed as a "$500 Exemption" candidate for Governor, no party affiliation listed. A "$500" committee for Governor would be more accurately called a "tilting at windmills" committee.

- State Sen. John Huppenthal has semi-confirmed the rumors of his future plans by forming an "exploratory" committee for Superintendent of Public Instruction. (SOS filer ID: 201000065 )

- John McCain's CountryFirst PAC has formed an AZ version of same (SOS filer ID: 201000066)

Maricopa Community College District Governing Board visiting Bizarro World

Edit on 3/27 to make a correction (thanks to Katie for the heads-up in her comment)...

My ongoing (and self-appointed) quest to focus some attention on some of the lower profile but still important elected offices and boards in Maricopa County took me to the March 24, 2009 meeting of the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD).

In the big news of the meeting, the Board voted down a proposal to raise tuition (by $5/credit hour in-county and $27/credit hour out-of-county/state) by a 1 - 4 margin.

The bizarro part of this was the fact that while the board ended up opposing the tuition hike, students who spoke at the meeting actually spoke in *favor* of the hike (their support was reluctant, but it was support nonetheless). They understood the maxim "you get what you pay for."

Generally, students opposed tuition increases while governing boards absolutely love them (ask any ASU/UA/NAU what they think of the Board of Regents' record on tuition hikes at those institutions.)

The respective positions taken at the MCCCD meeting were weird, to say the least.

The board members who opposed the tuition increases gave some vague reasons about public opposition before voting against the proposal.

I admit, I was a little befuddled by the turn of events - the opponents of the proposal were the three Republican board members (normally anti-student) and one of the Democrats (Randolph Lumm) while the supporters were the students and another (I think) Democrat on the Board, Dr. Donald Campbell.

A more likely reason behind the apparent switch became clear later in the meeting.

The Board saw the proposed budget for FY2010. (Tonight was information only; consideration and probable final passage will take place in early June.)

One that has revenue from the tuition hike built in.

One that has 2% cuts in most operating costs built in, mostly because of a likely large cut in state aid to community colleges.

One that will now need to be changed, with greater cuts implemented, because of the reduction to projected revenues.

This move definitely fits in with the Republican theme of killing public education by cutting it to the point of ineffectiveness, then using that very ineffectiveness (that they caused!!) as an excuse to start funnelling public money to private businesses.

Other notes from the meeting -

...During the public comment portion of the agenda, Carmen Cornejo rose to speak in support of the student who was harassed by Board member Jerry Walker during a trip to D.C. in February. She also spoke in support of the DREAM Act, and then demanded Walker's resignation.

Walker later responded with an indignant "HOW DARE YOU!" before the Board's President, Colleen Clark, interceded to get the meeting back on track (Cutting Walker off before he could say something really bad).

...Debra Pearson (nee Brimhall) is evidence that one neither needs to be intelligent nor well-informed to hold elected office (as if the Presidency of George W. Bush didn't prove that already).
When she wasn't mispronouncing the names of the various college presidents or asking them outright "So...who are you?", she was asking questions that were so jaw-droppingly vague yet overwrought, they made the assembled crowd (mostly intelligent and educated professionals) sit up and go "Huh???"

...There was no sign of the previous meeting's move to censor campus newspapers. However, it can still come up at a later meeting, and I expect that it will.

More later...

Edit on 3/25 to add an apology to readers -

When I woke up this morning, I took a look at what I had written and realized that it was loaded with typos and writing that was simply lousy. I've corrected the typos and patched up the weak spots without noting each one as is my normal practice. There were just too many.

I apologize to readers of the earlier version of this post, and promise to try harder to avoid writing when I'm exhausted.

End edit...

Was it a hearing on warrant service, or a platform to spew nativist blatherings?

On Monday, the AZ Senate's Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the service of felony warrants. The hearing was called in response to a Goldwater Institute report that criticized Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office for its failure to address the growing number of unserved felony warrants in Maricopa County. (40K and counting)

Note: my comments, snark and all, will be in italics.

The first presenter was Paul Chagolla, former spokesman and current deputy chief of MCSO. While he is no longer the official PR guy for Arpaio, it was obvious from the start that he still retains his skills at spinning and twisting facts.

Chagolla started right off by declaring that "there is not a warrant crisis" in Maricopa County. He repeatedly stressed the idea that it isn't his agency's responsibility to serve other agencies' warrants.

Is Chagolla deputy chief of the "It's not our fault" division of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office?

He cited some statistics that seemed to show that while the County's population has been growing, the number of unserved warrants has stayed basically the same, concluding that "if it's a crisis, then it's a 10-year crisis."

Conveniently breezing right past the fact that Arpaio has been in office since 1993, which is...let me do the math here...16 years. I know Arizonans pride themselves on being independent and all, but 16 is greater than 10, even here. In other words, Chagolla tried to evade responsibility for the warrant backlog by saying that Arpaio and MCSO have been letting the problem fester for at least a decade.

Another point that Chagolla emphasized was that of the outstanding warrants, nearly 50% are for "failure to appear" or "contempt of court" (aka - other words that frequently mean 'failure to appear).

Ignoring the underlying crimes that the fugitives "failed to appear" in court over.

Chagolla acknowledged that MCSO doesn't have *anyone* specifically assigned to serve felony warrants.

Apparently, it's the policy of MCSO to leave fugitives alone except in situations where they come to the attention of law enforcement for things like, you know, committing other crimes. Which they wouldn't have the opportunity to commit if....well, you know the rest.

Chagolla did suggest one way to address the glut of warrants - judges should simply remand more people who have been accused of crimes.

Yup, MCSO does so well in handling the prisoners that it now oversees that it can handle more.

Anyway, despite the unintentionally humorous nature of Chagolla's testimony, the highlight of the hearing on Monday was when State Sen. Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) took over.

Like Chagolla, he began his remarks by saying that the warrant backlog isn't the fault of the sheriff. Unlike Chagolla however, he didn't immediately attempt to slough off responsibility on to "all law enforcement officers".

Nope, all the hubbub over MCSO leaving rapists and murderers to roam free while devoting scarce resources to hunting down undocumented immigrants is because the media "has an agenda" and is conducting a "witch hunt."

He went on to blame immigrants for a whole host of Arizona's ailments -

Low wages, underfunded and overcrowded schools, sex crimes are all the fault of undocumented immigrants.

Obviously, right-to- (not) work laws, neanderthal legislators, and perverts have nothing to do with any of that.

He spent a lot of time discussing violent crimes by immigrants, while ignoring the same crimes if they were committed by those who are legally here in the country.

You know, the ones who have warrants out for them.

However, egalitarian that he is, Pearce reserved some of his contempt for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

At one point, someone suggested that the lege find funds to help out with warrant service. Pearce pronounced that the BOS could be "redirected" by the supes.

At another point, when Democratic Sen. Ken Cheuvront pointed out that the supes control their county's money, Pearce announced that the lege was in charge of, well, *everything.*

Which may explain the mess that the state is in.

Pearce spouted many statistics of questionable provenance and accuracy, but my favorite his assertion that one-third of the inmates in the federal prison system are illegal immigrants.

A quick check of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website gave lie to that particular dubious assertion.

According the BOP, 73.4% of all inmates are of U.S. citizenship, which means that 26.6% have a citizenship that is other than U.S.

Basic math - 26.6% is lower than 33.333% (which is 1/3 in decimal form).

Also, the same page shows that less than 11% of inmates in the federal system are there for immigration-related offenses.

On the other hand, he may have confused his basic bigotry against brown-skinned people with statistical fact - the BOP website does show that inmates with Hispanic ancestry make up 32% of the inmate population.

Maybe he believes that all Hispanic people are illegal immigrants - that 32% is close enough to the "1/3" that he cited to be confusing to a unthinking nativist like Pearce.

Note: I contacted the BOP's media relations office to seek clarification on the stats - as in "how many undocumented immigrants are in the system?" Not everyone who is in the country and is a non-U.S. citizen is undocumented. In addition, those inmates who are undocumented immigrants could be incarcerated for non-immigration related crimes.

The woman who answered the phone for the BOP didn't have anything to offer other than what is on the website.

Anyway, the stats that are available definitively refute Pearce's "33%."

I finally packed it in when the chair of the committee, Jonathan Paton, announced that the committee would adjourn at 5:00 p.m., and that the representatives of the other police agencies present would be invited back at a later date. He then allowed the rep from the Goldwater Institute, Clint Bolick, to give his testimony. (AZ Rep coverage here)

Bolick basically directly refuted Chagolla's early testimony that there was no warrant "crisis" in Maricopa County.

Paton promised to schedule the next hearing within a few weeks.

Why not sooner? It's not like the Senate is doing anything else anyway.

The video of the meeting should be posted here within a few days.

Other coverage of the meeting - An immigration blogger, Chapparal, watched the hearing via streaming video, and offers his/her take on the proceedings here. He offers a similar opinion of Pearce's activities.

Similar, but far more succinct. :)