Harry Mitchell Update

From an email from the Mitchell campaign -

While I make it home to Arizona and meet with folks nearly every weekend, I recently spent two full weeks in the district during Congress’ April recess. It was great to be home, but I kept a busy schedule and spent a lot of time hearing the concerns of many, including small business leaders, parents, teachers and students across the district.

OUR NEW “GREEN” ECONOMY

With over 300 days of sunshine, one resource that Arizona has plenty of is "energy". As you know, since arriving in Congress, I've been a strong advocate for investing in solar and renewable energy. During the break, I held several events which highlighted using Arizona's abundant resource and toured businesses that are investing in renewable energy and creating new, green jobs right here at home.

During our green-collar jobs tour, I visited three local businesses to see the jobs that have been created, and will be created, aided by the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the stimulus bill. According to The Arizona Republic, the energy provisions of the stimulus bill have the potential to create at least 500,000 jobs!

Additionally, what has become an annual event, my office held its third Sustainability Town Hall: Green Jobs Today for a Strong Economy Tomorrow to discuss how investments in green jobs today can help to strengthen Arizona’s economy.

I heard from energy experts, local leaders, representatives from utility companies, economists, and producers of solar energy to get a better understanding of how current laws and energy policies are affecting Arizona. They provided me with valuable insight as to what steps we can take as we position ourselves as leaders in the solar and renewable energy industry.

As Congress begins the energy debate, I’m glad Arizonans want to take these important steps forward, but we still have a lot of work to do.

DRAWING ATTENTION TO LOCAL CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS

As you know, for the past two years I’ve introduced a bill in the House to block the automatic pay raise given to members of Congress. Despite my efforts to block the pay raise, in 2007 and 2008, Congress raised its own pay. Last year, I donated my pay raise to 10 local charities, and this year I did it again and added an additional five local charities to the list.

With mounting economic hardship, our local charitable organizations are feeling the pinch and I believe they need our help now more than ever so they can continue to provide vital services to those in need. The charities I selected to donate my pay raise serve many different purposes that I deeply care about. The new five charities include:

• Paz de Cristo is an organization that directly provides daily meal service, food boxes, and other assistance to people in need. During the break, I toured Paz de Cristo and saw firsthand the excellent work being done to provide these important services.

• The Sojourner Center operates the nation’s largest domestic violence shelter, providing shelter and support to thousands of individuals affected by domestic violence.

• Arizona Women’s Education and Employment, Inc. offers a full range of evidence-based training and support services to women, men and their families. AWEE helps to develop our workforce and help folks move from welfare to the workplace.

• St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance is the world’s first food bank. They make a big impact here at home by serving 13 of Arizona’s 15 counties and help to improve the quality of life for Arizonans in need.

• Friends of Tempe Center for the Arts promote the artistic activities of the Tempe Center for the Arts. As a longtime supporter of Tempe Center for the Arts I’ve always been impressed with the many ways that they enrich people's lives.

The East Valley Tribune recently wrote an editorial saying that "giving away pay raises is a form of public service." The editorial also highlighted Chandler Unified School District Superintendent, Camille Casteel, who decided to give her pay increase back to a district-related foundation. I applaud her efforts.

And in my case, I believe the real reward will be the ability to draw attention to these local charitable organizations and their tangible contributions to our community.

MEETINGS ACROSS THE DISTRICT

I spent a great deal of time meeting with folks about the issues they’re concerned about and some of the struggles they’re facing.

Especially timely, I had the opportunity to meet with many parents, teachers and students who are being especially hard hit by this economy with cuts to family and school budgets. I visited four valley schools: Cochise Elementary in Scottsdale, Monte Vista Elementary and Akimel A-al Middle School in Ahwatukee, and had lunch on the lawn at Cerritos Elementary School, also in Ahwatukee.

Additionally, I hosted my annual Congressional Arts Competition in Tempe. Over 56 submissions were received by talented high school artists across the district. I continued to be impressed by the talent of Arizona’s students. The winner of the competition hails from Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale.

Rounding out the district work period, I met with East Valley law enforcement officials, spoke with retired military officers in Scottsdale, served as Grand Marshall for the Ahwatukee Easter Parade hosted by Kiwanis Club, and in the spirit of bipartisanship, I appeared with Rep. Jeff Flake at our third Annual Stateman's Breakfast in Chandler.

I believe my title and job description are one in the same - "Representative" - thus it is incredibly important to hear concerns across the district. As always, I appreciate your feedback and ongoing support.

Harry

Note: On Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., there will be a foreclosure prevention workshop sponsored by Congressman Mitchell at the Granite Reef Senior Center in Scottsdale. For information on setting up a session with a HUD-certified counselor, contact Congressman Mitchell's office at 480-946-2411 or the Arizona Foreclosure Helpline at 877-448-1211.

Legislative Republicans - "Ooopsie."

From AZCentral.com -

A new element of Republican legislative leaders' developing proposal to help balance the state budget appeared in limbo Tuesday, with the House's budget-writer saying the idea needs more study because it's not clear it would work.

The $2.7 billion budget-balancing proposal released late Monday would get $210 million of its savings and other changes by indirectly tapping money that cities collect from impact fees paid on development, including construction of new homes.

"We don't know if this is viable at all," said Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills. "We're not going to present this as an option in the budget at this point."

Let me translate for everybody - "We're not sure it's legal, we are sure that we don't have the votes to pass the budget with the municipal fund swipe, and we're *really* sure that we just pissed off every municipal official in the state. Many of whom whose help we'll need to get re-elected next year."

David Safier at Blog for Arizona offers his take here.

Later!

Another specially called executive session? It must be Wednesday in Maricopa County.

Yawn.

Just announced (and stop me if you've heard this practically every week this year), the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have called a special executive session meeting for 10 a.m. on Wednesday.


Just guessing here, but it's probably about one of the many lawsuits pending against the supes.

I remember when Wednesday only meant that it was "Prince Spaghetti Day." (You've got to be of a certain age and from New England to understand the reference).

Face of America Bike Ride media coverage

Last weekend's Face of America Bike Ride was a resounding success. A number of media outlets covered the Ride, both before and after the event.

Some of the stories:

WTTG, Fox5 from Washington, D.C. here.

Frederick News-Post coverage here.

Gettysburg (PA) Times coverage here.

An "after action report" from blogger Chuck at "From My Position" here.

Coverage from blogger April at "Mail Call! Supporting The Troops" here.

Coverage from blogger LDR at "Soldiers' Angels - Wounded Warrior Support" here, coverage that includes YouTube links.

Coverage from blogger Jeff Nalls at Bikeworks Racing here.

Some great pics from poster The-Rock on the ExtremeSkins.com message board here.

My sister Cori would like to express her appreciation to the vets, the other riders, the organizers and all of the volunteers and supporters of the ride.

Later!

Specter leaves GOP

In breaking news from The Hill -

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is leaving the Republican Party and will run in the Democratic primary in 2010.

Senate Republicans are holding an emergency meeting to discuss the matter.

Specter's statement is available at politicalspa.com here.

This move, while it is sure to provoke much breast-beating and hair-rending from the GOPers (especially the wingnut variety in the blogosphere), it won't actually change much.

With the change in party affiliations, Specter goes from being one of the most centrist Republicans to being one of the most centrist Democrats.

Later...

3rd reminder - You are invited to the political, social, and culinary event of the year...

CHILI FOR CHANGE COOK-OFF

With Special Guests:

Congressman Harry Mitchell and Attorney General Terry Goddard

*Who will make the best chili?*

State Senator Meg Burton Cahill?

State Representative Ed Ableser?

State Representative David Schapira?

Or a mysterious vegetarian with a killer carnivore recipe?

*Enter your own chili in the contest!*

Saturday, May 2nd, 4-7pm

At the home of David and Kathy Schwarz in Scottsdale (need directions? Contact LD17 chair Lauren Kuby - email below)

Winner announced at 5:30!

*Ticket Prices:*

$25

$15 for YDs

$10 for Kids

For Tickets: email laurenkuby[at]gmail.com; or buy online at http://www.d17dems.org/donate.asp

Proceeds to benefit the Maricopa County Democratic Party and LD17 Democrats

...OK, so it's the "event of the year" if you are a Democrat and like chili... :)

Fun and games - a day at the lege

Went to the lege today for a few hours, and I have to say - more people should.

In addition to the value of "citizen involvement in the political process" (Yawwwn) and the like, it's easily the best unscripted floor show in the state. No popcorn allowed, but that's a small price to pay...

Among the stuff that I learned...

- At last Thursday's faith-based budget briefing with Valley Interfaith and members of the lege from both parties, Senator John Huppenthal (R-beats up elderly women) stormed out of the meeting because the panel members were asked if they would support a tax increase to help balance the state's budget while preserving basic services.

The MSM coverage of the event (linked to "stormed" above) was actually pretty mild, even tactful, even though it was an editorial criticizing Huppenthal for his behavior.

Huppenthal's story was the he objected to the time limit established by the forum organizers.

According to witnesses from the event, however, as he was exiting the event, he was arguing with the organizers and audience members that the question was unfair because he wasn't given advance notice.

The problem with that? The organizers sent copies of the questions to the invited panel members a week ahead of time, and even if the US Postal Service lost Huppenthal's copy, he had another copy on the table at the forum for over an hour before his blowup.

During the Senate's floor session (such as it was) on Monday, Huppenthal reiterated the story that he objected to the time limit and said that he "respectfully" left the meeting on Thursday.

My witness/source described Huppenthal's exit as "storming out" and even the sedate EV Tribune described it as "bolted." Either way, it doesn't sound too "respectful," does it?

Anyway, during his Senate floor speech, he criticized all-day kindergarten as ineffective, said that studies show that removal of children from abusive or dangerous by CPS hurts the kids so the state can save money spent on CPS by not removing as many children from abusive or dangerous situations and that government workers are paid too much because an unnamed study shows that government workers make more than private sector workers in equivalent positions.

Senator Huppenthal -

All day K ineffective? The U.S. Department of Education disagrees.

CPS? I don't know what study(s) you are citing, but since the kids' lives were already jacked up before CPS' involvement, perhaps that was the more significant factor in future issues (he mentioned teen pregnancy and involvement with the justice system). And leaving at-risk kids in dangerous situations in order to balance the state's budget is just soulless.

As for public v. private sector pay? I think the study he was citing is from the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute is a libertarian "think tank" less interested in actual research than in conducting studies that support big business. Think "Tobacco Institute" but for all big businesses, not just Big Tobacco.

There's a credibility gap there.

Anyway, Huppenthal's speech was pure party dogma. He wasn't the only member of the Rep caucus to take up floor time with a little ideological indoctrination.

- Sen. Sylvia Allen spoke about how wonderful mining companies are and how they are responsible members of the communities they are in.

- Sen. Pam Gorman made sure that everyone present understood that the Rep leadership of the Senate doesn't support a tax increase.

- Sen. Thayer Verschoor backed up Allen's adoration of corporations.

- Sen. Ron Gould said something about "over-regulation" and how a hole in the planet's ozone was discovered in the 1930s well before the now-banned Freon12 went into widespread production and use. Ergo, it couldn't contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer, no matter what some scientific studies might say. Background on Freon 12, with info on the impacts of it and other CFCs, here.

As you might have guessed, Gould operates a refrigeration business in his non-legislator life.

It wasn't an uncontested Republican walkover, however -

Sen. Leah Landrum-Taylor defended CPS and the necessity of its work with at-risk children.

Sen. Meg Burton-Cahill spoke on how her husband (long-time Tempe Councilman Dennis Cahill) spent his younger days working in an unregulated mine as a bricklayer. He now needs a respirator to get through the day and cannot go out to events and such unless they can get a respirator into whatever venue those events are in.

Sen. Albert Hale spoke about some of the bigoted attitudes and words (my words, not his) from the members of the Senate when they speak about Native Americans and some of the items that affect the NA community in AZ that flit across Senate agendas from time to time.

In short, it's an uphill battle, but the Senate Dems are stepping up.

Now if only we can do our part in 2010, and step up to consign some of the Reps to electoral history.

Note: Huppenthal's assault case related to the incident linked above is scheduled to go to trial on June 24 in the San Marcos Justice Court.

Note2: It seems that the man who would be in charge of educating AZ's children has something of an anger management problem.

...In other matters, Tuesday's meeting of Senate Appropriations has been cancelled (no budget this week) in favor of a meeting of Joint Appropriations at 2 p.m. in HHR1.

The subject of that meeting is "Discussion of Municipal Rebate to General Fund."

...Also on Tuesday will be a meeting of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee at 8 a.m. in HHR4.

While it doesn't seem likely that there will be a vote on the FY2010 budget this week, it does appear that things are starting to break loose in that area.

The AZ Senate Democrats have a blog post up with a link to a draft of the current Rep budget proposal. I haven't had time to read the entire proposal, but apparently the Republicans are proposing to use deep cuts in programs and sweeping the funds generated by municipal impact fees to pay for things like roads and other infrastructure in new developments (hence the need for a JLBC meeting early Tuesday) to balance the budget. They're also going after any school district funds with remaining balances.

In short, the Reps' way of "not raising taxes" is to siphon money from entities like cities and school districts that *can* raise taxes, and then sit back and let those entities take the heat for raising taxes to help meet their own obligations.

Obligations that they cannot meet without raising taxes because the lege swiped the money.

...One other thing that I learned it that the Capitol Museum Store has some cool stuff in it, and was probably the highlight of the trip.

Later...

I scored 289 out of 400

A score, according to the test, that indicates that I am "very progressive."

The quiz is available at The Center for American Progress. (Thanks for 4&20 Blackbirds out of Montana for the heads up)

BTW- Compared to most of the commenters at 4&20, I'm slacking on my progressivism - most of them scored well over 300.

Kavanagh and the AZGOP serve one up

Today, the Arizona Guardian has an article by Dennis Welch and Patti Epler on the GOP's plan to balance the budget, a plan that includes a scheme to dramatically raise the out-of-pocket costs that the state's poorest students have to pay to attend a state university.

Because, of course, fairness is a basic tenet of Republican ideology. and during a budget crisis, it's only "fair" to increase the burden on the poor while giving tax breaks to large corporations.

State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Scottsdale), from the article -

"It's the principal [sic] of it," he said. "It's unfair. Why should these students get to go to school for free just because their families are poor?"

Further down in the article Kavanagh provides examples of who he considers to be worthy of the state's largess -

Under the GOP proposal, students with merit-based or athletic scholarships would not be asked to pay a minimum tuition. Veterans also would not be asked to meet a minimum tuition level.

Kavanagh said lawmakers recognize the value of athletics to the universities and their ability to raise money from alumni.

"Do you really want to see the ASU basketball team go to the bottom and lose all that revenue?" Kavanagh said.

As an aside, I know of a couple of UA alums who would answer his question with a resounding "YES!!" but let's get back to politics. We can save that discussion for another day.

As to his first point (a free education), let us now peruse Article 11, Section 6 of the Arizona Constitution (emphasis mine) -

"The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible."

The question shouldn't be "why should poor students get a scholarship?"

It should be "why don't more students? After all, the requirement *is* part of the state's constitution."

And to point out a "minor" bit of hypocrisy on Kavanagh's part -

His legislative bio lists his education as coming from New York University (BA), St. John's University (MA), and Rutgers University (PhD).

Yes, those are all fine academic institutions.

Yes, Kavanagh should be commended for earning degrees from those fine academic institutions.

Oh, and yes, those fine academic institutions all offer need-based financial aid to students. and to more than just those who are jocks and veterans.

Tedski at R-Cubed has his take here. He succinctly keyed on the same passages that I found so "special".

Donna at Democratic Diva has her take here. She's even more succinct than Tedski. Snarkier, too. Tedski must be slipping. :))

Later!

*Now* spring has finally sprung...

The Red Sox and Yankees have finally played, signifying the real start of the baseball season.

It was all that anyone could ask from three baseball games -

- A Friday night extra inning thriller with one homer to send the game into extra innings and a walk-off HR to end it;

- A Saturday afternoon Fenway slugfest where the starting pitcher's were the teams' aces (sorry Yankees fans - despite his paycheck, CC Sabathia isn't the ace. Yet.)

- And a nationally televised Sunday night series capper that was all manufactured runs (including a straight steal of home!! By a Red Sox player!!!) and gutty pitching by a bunch of rookies (or near-rookies) and an old pro well past his "ace" days. In other words, the complete opposite of the first two games.

About the only thing this series didn't have was a bench-clearing brawl, but it's still early in the season and Alex "Lightning A-Rod" Rodriguez should be back, if not by the time the next time the two teams meet next week then possibly by the time the teams meet in June.

People can talk about ASU/U of A, Cubs/Cardinals, UNC/Duke or any of a dozen of the more storied college FB rivalries, but none of those rivalries holds a candle to the history, passion, or sheer magic when the Red Sox and Yankees play.

Three down, 15 to go. :)

Back to politics tomorrow...

Upcoming this week...

As usual, all info gather from the websites of the relevent political bodies and subject to change without notice...

Kind of a full week, so an early start is called for.

Plus the game between the Yankees and the Red Sox is on ESPN tomorrow night. :))


...Congress is in session, and is expected to have a loud week.

Over in the House, while the agenda is populated with the usual post office namings, college sports championship congratulations, and memorials, there are three items scheduled for consideration that could create a furor.

- H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. AZ Dems Gabrielle Giffords, Harry Mitchell, Raul Grijalva, and Ed Pastor are among the cosponsors of the bill. The House Rules Committee will consider the bill and proposed amendments to it on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

While the Republicans will want to look like they support law enforcement, they will make every effort to hamstring this bill. They "hate" hate crimes legislation.

It'll pass, but with some Reps 'tut-tutting' over it.

- H.R. 627, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009. AZ Dems Grijalva and Giffords are cosponsors. House Rules at will hear the bill on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The Christian Science Monitor has a summary here; CRS summary here.

This one *will* have some serious Rep opposition because of its restrictions on credit card issuers and other lenders.

- However, any angst over H.R. 627 will pale in comparison to that associated with consideration of the conference report for S. C0n. Res. 13, "Setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2010..."

Again, it'll pass, but with major posturing from the party of no, who probably haven't gotten the message from their loss in NY-20.

Should be a good week for watching C-SPAN, especially on Wednesday and Thursday.

...In the AZ lege, the House COW calendar for Tuesday is posted already. The most controversial seems to be HB2136, a bill to expand the membership of the State Fire Safety Committee by adding a petroleum retailer/distributor to the board. It passed the House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee on February 11 by a party line 5 - 3 vote (Reps supporting, Dems opposing).

- In committee activity, House Rules is meeting on Monday at 1:00 p.m. in HHR4. Over in the Senate, Senate Appropriations is scheduled to meet on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in SHR9. As with last week's agenda, they *may* consider some budget-related bills. Or, as with last week, they may not.

Only two other Senate committees are scheduled to meet; they are hearing presentations or considering executive appointments.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission will be meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Hearing schedule here.

...The Arizona Board of Regents will be meeting in the U of A Student Union on Thursday and Friday. The agenda includes a number of items to impose a $1K+ surcharge on students at the state's universities. In a bit of less-than-perfect timing, the Board will also be considering an item to extend the contract and boost the pay of U 0f A' s head football coach, Mike Stoops. If approved, his regular pay will go from $685K to $1 million/year starting this year, escalating to $1.4 million by 2013.

The item write up stresses that "Stoops’ salary will be paid entirely from revenue generated by the Athletic Department" and no taxpayer monies will be used, but it still doesn't look good to hold up the universities' students at the beginning of the meeting doling out a generous pay raise a short time later.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has no meetings scheduled at this point, but as we saw last week, that is subject to change due to one or more of the many lawsuits that the supes are involved in.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health has a special board meeting that is focused on its budget (capital budget here).

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Governing Board Room, 2nd Floor, 2411 West 14th Street, Tempe.

The agenda for the meeting seems to be pretty mundane (to my untrained eyes, anyway), but given the past behavior of some board members (i.e. - Jerry Walker's intimidation of a student while visiting the U.S. Capitol) and the ongoing budget process, this one could be interesting.

...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 9:30 a.m., but no agenda has been posted online as yet.

Edit on 4/26 -

Hat tip to commenter Zelph for reminding me (and all of us) that the CCEC will be considering the case of current Rep. Doug Quelland. He's been alleged to have committed some serious campaign finance violations. If found guilty of the violations alleged, he could lose his office.

End edit...

...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. A regular meeting with a short agenda follows an executive session to interview candidates for the vacant City Auditor's position (Brian R. Biggin, Alan G. Nixon, and Sharron E. Walker).

...On Wednesday, there will be two "Discover Papago Park" workshops; one at the Phoenix Zoo (10:00 a.m. - noon) and the other at Supai Middle School, 6720 E. Continental, Scottsdale (6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.)

Later...

Murphy wins NY-20

...and the Reps lose an opportunity to gain a seat. In an overwhelmingly Republican district.

From CNN -

It took nearly a month, but Democrat Scott Murphy has won the battle for New York's 20th Congressional District.

Republican James Tedisco conceded Friday and called Murphy to offer congratulations. The race was too close to call after the March 31 election.

But as absentee and overseas ballots poured in over the past few weeks, Murphy's lead grew.

The seat had been held by conservative Democrat Kristen Gillibrand until she was appointed to serve out Hillary Clinton's term in the U.S. Senate when Clinton became Secretary of State for the Obama Administration.

The Reps have a registration advantage of almost 70K in the district, so this was seen as a likely pick up for them. Their candidate, Jim Tedisco, even had a double digit lead in polls taken a few weeks before the special election.

It was close, but they still lost the lead and the race.

Look for RNC chair Michael Steele to lose his job over this race.

Wednesday's budget forum in Scottsdale - Brewer lets a surrogate do most of the talking

On Wednesday, April 22, AZ Governor Jan Brewer and a clutch of East Valley mayors met at the Granite Reef Senior Center in Scottsdale to hold a forum on the state's budget crisis.

Because of my work schedule (aka - I need to get some sleep :) ), here are just a few of the high* points (* = I'm grading on a curve here) -

...While it was billed as a group meeting with the mayors, apparently they didn't get the message - only Scottsdale's mayor, Jim Lane, showed up. Mayors Vernon Parker (Paradise Valley), Scott Smith (Mesa) and Hugh Hallman (Tempe) didn't attend even though they were scheduled to appear with the governor.

...On the other hand even though the main attractions didn't show, this forum had a better secondary turnout than last week's legislative forum at the Scottsdale Library. In the audience were a number of GOP officials, including State Sen. Jim Waring, State Reps. Nancy Barto and Steve Court, newly-appointed lottery director Jeff Hatch-Miller, Fountain Hills Mayor Jay Schlum, and Scottsdale City Councilman Ron McCullagh.

...While the meeting was billed as "Public Invited" in announcements and it was held in a public building, it was made clear from the beginning that this was a partisan event. One of the first people Brewer thanked for putting together the meeting was Ray Devine, former chair of the LD17 Republicans.

...Even though they avoided speaking her name, Janet Napolitano's presence permeated the room. Mostly because whenever they needed a boogey monster/scapegoat, "the previous administration" took the blame.

...When Lane and Brewer weren't blaming "the previous administration" for the state's budget problems, they still made it clear that Brewer "inherited" the mess.

...In case the Governor's office reads this post: You seem to have forgotten her name, but the person you blame for all that ails Arizona is named Janet Napolitano.

The constant references to "the previous administration" were tiresome.

And classless.

...Brewer spent much of her brief time at the mic trying to establish her anti-tax, anti-government, pro-business bonafides. She was talking like someone who plans to run for a full term next year.

Note: AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has some tidbits concerning the race for the GOP nomination for Governor here. He thinks that Brewer has already decided to not run, and he may be correct. However, I think it is more likely that she is waiting to see how ugly the budget process and outcome gets this year before making her decision.

If she is able to make this work, she can run on that; if, however, the lege proves to be more interested in totally collapsing the state government than in doing their jobs, she can be the "good soldier" and just try to hold things together until the next Governor takes office and has to deal with it.

...While the lege and the Gov differ on whether or not a temporary tax hike to help close the budget gap is appropriate, they agree on one thing - they *really* want to do away with the Voter Protection Act.

One voter-protected initiative that she specifically cited was the $20 million in the Land Conservation Fund.

Opining that the fund is no longer necessary ("there is no urban sprawl") because home-building in AZ has slowed to a crawl, she called for emptying the fund.

Apparently, previously existing effects of urban sprawl cease to be damaging to AZ when she decides the money can be used elsewhere.

This "no sprawl" whopper* has been one of her main talking points for week, showing up at least as far back as her March speech to the lege.

*whopper = just ask anybody who falls asleep in a development in Chandler and wakes up in one in Surprise to tell the difference just by looking out a window. Sprawl exists.

...Lest you think that I'm just piling on here, they did make a few good points, though I'm not sure they understood the actual meaning of them.

- Tom Manos, a Brewer staffer, took over the guts of the presentation. He mentioned that while state revenues have been pinched since the start of the economic downturn, municipal revenues are more stable because property tax is a more significant component of their revenue streams.

- He also mentioned that cutting human services much more than they have been could be tough because during an economic downturn, more people need those services. And eligibility criteria and funding formulas are laid out in the state constitution.

- On the other hand, lest you think that Manos (and Brewer) were all hearts and violins toward AZ's neediest citizens, they dropped strong hints that they would like to find a way to change the current AHCCCS eligibility threshold (100% of federal poverty level) back to the old level (40% of FPL.)

"Strong hints" = they kept referring to 100% FPL eligibility as a major budget drain.

Note: Ummm...for a family of four, the FPL is currently $22,050. That's crap for a single. For a family? Devastating.

40% of that is $8820.

So Manos and Brewer think that a family living on, say...$10,000 per year...doesn't need help?

...Still, Brewer, Lane, and Manos *were* the highlights of the meeting. One thing that struck me was the utter lack of knowledge of the state's budget and the laws and regulations surrounding it among the audience members. I'm not trying to be insulting here - I freely admit that I don't know as much about it as I should either. But at least I'm trying to learn.

Some of the utterances from the audience were breathtaking in their ignorance (and meanness!) -

- Daryl Jacobson-Barnes, a Rep PC from LD20 and former (and future?) candidate for Tempe City Council, wondered why the state couldn't just force any laid-off workers who are eligible for COBRA insurance coverage off of AHCCCS and on to COBRA.

Laid-off workers, people who have no income, have to pay for COBRA out-of-pocket.

Manos, a *lot* more tactfully than I would have, reminded Mrs. Jacobson-Barnes that AHCCCS eligibility is "hard-written" and doesn't take into account COBRA eligibility.

Just poverty.

- Another speaker (no name given. In fact, Jacobson-Barnes was pretty much the only one that I heard give her name before speaking) wanted to know why, since his house's value had fallen to the same level it was at in 2000, why couldn't the state just budget at year 2000 levels.

Manos advised him that most of the state's costs hadn't fallen to Y2K levels, and that the state has no discretion about paying those.

- Somebody else commented that since 42% of the state's general fund expenditures go to K-12 Education, and that since he pays some property taxes that go directly to a school district, he thinks that there is a scam going on ("Somebody's not paying their fair share").

- One audience member wanted to know why, since ASU had a windfall profit of $100 million and operates on $87 million, does the state pay anything to fund ASU.

Even Brewer's jaw dropped on that one.

Nobody was sure what kind of "windfall profit" ASU could generate, and $87 million?? That would barely cover the salaries of ASU President Michael Crow, his staff, and the football coach. (OK, that's a mild exaggeration. But only a "mild" one.)

...Both Brewer and Lane tried to stress that all options regarding the budget are open -

- Brewer said that "everything is on the table."

- Lane closed with "there isn't a sacred cow out there."

Funny, but neither of them mentioned reining in the lege and its propensity for tax gifts/cuts to the wealthy and to big business.

Why do I think that any plan to address the state's budget crisis that comes from the Governor's office will be more of the "business as usual" schemes that got us into this mess, with the emphasis on business?

Assuming the lege doesn't just completely shut down the government come July 1, a rather big assumption, expect the next budget to be built on tax cuts for business with the sale of state assets and severe cuts to education and state services to pay for those tax cuts.

Sometimes good things come to those who do good works

Yeah, I know that sounds vaguely Biblical or something, but in this case, it's accurate.

My sister Patti is in D.C. working behind the scenes on the Face Of America Bike Ride. One of the people associated with the organization knows an usher at the White House, and was able to arrange a private tour of The White House for her, her son, and two of his friends.

While they didn't meet President Obama, they did get to see parts of the White House that aren't on the normal tour, and were even able to sit on some of the furniture (yup, it's cheesy touristy, but still wayyyyyyy cool. :) )

And yes, I'm just a little envious. The only special thing I was able to do this week was to spend an hour and a half with the Governor and assorted, sordid, Republicans (more on that in my next post).

Here are some pics of the visit to the White House, with a couple of pics thrown in of memorials...

Walking up the main driveway...

This is where FDR had his fireside chats

The kitchen

Tribute to nurses in Vietnam

This is as close as she came to meeting the President :))

Rep. David Schapira (D-Tempe) on Horizon Tonight

This came across my email this afternoon, too.

Tonight at 7 on Channel 8 (KAET), Rep. David Schapira will appear on KAET's public affairs program, Horizon. He and Republican State Rep. Rich Crandall will be on discussing education funding in AZ, among other topics.

If you don't make it down to the forum at the Granite Reef Senior Center, this will be worth a view.

Later!