June Update from Congressman Harry Mitchell

From an email sent to his constituents from his campaign -

Dear [cpmaz],

I recently spent a full week traveling the district meeting with a variety of different folks and I had another busy weekend this past weekend. Today, I wanted to take a moment to give you an update on some of the things I have been working on.

FORECLOSURE PREVENTION AND SURVIVAL WORKSHOP

As you or friends you know may be painfully aware, Arizona has consistently ranked in the top three states in the country for foreclosures. Over the last year, home prices in Arizona have fallen over 30%, homeowners keep slipping into foreclosure and every foreclosed home devalues the property of the homes around it.

We have seen homeowners who have been unable to contact their lenders, homeowners that don’t have information they need or homeowners who fall victim to scams. I believe that helping folks stay in their homes during this economic downturn will strengthen our neighborhoods and stabilize housing prices, which benefits us all.

Since my last update, I had the opportunity to hold a Foreclosure Prevention and Survival Workshop in Scottsdale. Over 100 individuals participated and received one-on-one financial counseling and directions to resources, information and guidance that can help them make the best decisions to protect their homes and financial future.

PROTECTING CONSUMERS

I have heard disturbing stories from individuals across our community about how some credit card companies were arbitrarily hiking their credit card fees, interest rates and other unexplained penalties. While credit card companies offer a valuable service, I believe that consumers – especially during these tough economic times – deserve protection from unfair practices and predatory lending.

I am happy to report that late last month, the Congress passed and President Obama signed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. This new law will protect consumers by putting to an end to some of the most offensive practices like retroactive rate hikes. It will stop unscrupulous lenders from shutting down the payment window early so they can declare payments “late” and charge a fee.

In a short speech I delivered on the House floor, I stated that one wouldn’t think we’d have to pass a law to say that payments made on or by their due date should be documented as “on time”, but sadly, that is how bad things have gotten. For more information on the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights and to read The Arizona Republic article, click here. [note: dead link; the AZRep has already pulled the article from its website]

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR VETERANS

As you know, I had the honor of joining with Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia last year to introduce and ultimately pass the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The new GI Bill is now law and takes effect August 1, 2009.

This past weekend, I hosted a couple of workshops with an educational expert from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to make sure that veterans and their families have the information they need to apply for and utilize the benefit.

Saturday marked the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, and while hundreds of National Guardsmen and women were participating in a drill over the weekend, we had the opportunity to provide information to over 200 veterans and members of their families at the Arizona National Guard Headquarters and Mesa Community College.

For more information on the GI Bill and services to our veterans, you can read an article written by Chandler City Councilman Matt Orlando, published in the East Valley Tribune, by clicking here.

NPR’s “HEAR AND NOW” & REPUBLIC EDITORIAL

I was fortunate to have been given the chance to discuss the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights, healthcare reform and the Post-9/11 GI bill on 91.5 KJZZ, Arizona’s NPR station. In the segment, Sen. John McCain went first and my interview follows. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

I had the opportunity of participating in an Arizona Republic editorial in their Scottsdale edition highlighting the first few months of the new Congress and President Obama’s new administration. The editorial titled “Economic Crisis Needs Bipartisan Solutions” can be read by clicking here.

Later...

Brewer jumps on the PR train...

...but her train ride is less "whistle stop tour of the state" and more "spin around the kiddie park."

From AZCentral.com -

Legislative leaders on Monday rejected a request from Gov. Jan Brewer to send her the budget bills they passed last week, saying they need more time to work out their differences. The governor then decided to conduct her own review of the $8.2 billion, convening a daylong hearing that begins at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at the state Capitol.

She's inviting people to testify about the effects of the GOP budget plan on such areas as education, health and human services, local governments, transportation and public safety.

The meeting will be held in the second floor conference room of the Executive Tower, 1700 W. Washington. It will run until 2:30 p.m.

She's taking a page from the Democrats in the legislature, except that it looks like one of her handlers shredded that page and gave the pieces to a drunk chimpanzee to put back together.

To whit:

...where Brewer's "hearing" will be held in the bowels of the State Capitol's Executive Tower in downtown Phoenix, a short elevator ride away from her plush offices, the Democrats travelled to the far reaches of the state.

...where Brewer's "hearing" is invitation-only, the Democrats' hearings were open to all interested people.

...where Brewer's "hearing" will be held in a small conference room, the Democrats' hearings were held in lecture halls, auditoriums, open parks, community centers, churches, and pretty much anywhere large groups of people could meet.

...where Brewer's "hearing" will be held during the middle of the business day, limiting the number of average folks who can stop by, the Democrats worked all day at the lege or their own jobs and then spent their evening hours listening to Arizonans who will be affected by the state's budget.

In short, Brewer's hearing is solely a PR move, meant to pressure her own caucus in the lege, not to listen to the folks who will be (and have already been) devastated by the state's budget debacle.

The sad part is that Brewer and her handlers could have planned this better - she's been to many parts of the state for various events. A little multi-tasking wouldn't have been difficult. This PR push should have started in February or March, not well into June.

Later...

Imagine if this decision had been handed down two weeks ago...

...wonder if it would have had an effect on the Mecum criminal speeding/reckless driving dismissal by Arrowhead JP John Keegan?

From the Washington Post -

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled for the first time that excessive campaign contributions to a judge create an unconstitutional threat to a fair trial, a decision that could have a nationwide impact on whether judges must recuse themselves in cases involving their political benefactors.

The case in question is Caperton v. Massey. West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin didn't recuse himself from a case involving Massey Coal, a company owned by someone who contributed $3 million to the judge's election campaign.

The judge, and the WV Supremes Court, overturned a $50 million judgement against the contributor's company.

That raised a few eyebrows (Really?? But why?? :) )

Now, the case above doesn't seem to apply directly to the Keegan/Mecum situation, as least it isn't as spectacularly lucrative for Keegan, but there are some similarities -

- Keegan is a partisanly elected public official who's married to Lisa Graham Keegan, a well-connected GOP official/candidate/operative;

- Mecum is Executive Director of the Arizona Republican Party;

- and just in his last campaign, Keegan accepted contributions from Paul Senseman (longtime Republican operative and current spokesman for Governor Jan Brewer) and Stan Barnes (President of Copperstate Consulting, a Republican lobbying firm).

Given the dynamics of the Mecum case, Keegan should have considered kicking the case up to a court overseen by a non-elected judge, if only to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

I'm not saying that Keegan showed favoritism to Mecum in this case, because Keegan is noted for, correctly or not, dismissing all similarly-issued photo citations.

Those dismissals may be incorrect (I'm not a legal scholar, so I can't even make a guess there), but he is consistent.

For all that, it still looks bad (you know, "appears to be improper"). Keegan should have recused himself from the case.

Especially in light of today's U.S. Supreme Court decision.

LD17 Legislators In The News...

With the legislative session heating up, LD17's legislators have been getting more notice in the MSM...

- State Senator Meg Burton Cahill has been getting notices for her solitary stand against the devastating Republican budget last week. It was a solitary stand because the Reps has indicated to the Dems that no vote would be taken that night, so they all went home.

From Tom Spratt, editor of the Tempe Republic -

Sometime after midnight Thursday morning, Sen. Meg Burton Cahill, D-Tempe, found herself alone among Republicans as a vote neared on the 2009-2010 state budget.

Soon, she became engaged in a one-woman battle to restore money for food banks, senior food programs, domestic violence services, the developmentally disabled, poor children and the mentally ill, among others.

She offered 10 budget amendments that she believed captured the essence of what other Democrats would have wanted had they been on the Senate floor. All the changes were defeated. Before sunrise, Burton Cahill cast the Senate's only "no'' vote on the budget.

More AZCentral.com coverage here.


- State Representative Ed Ableser will be participating in a roundtable discussion on The American Clean Energy And Security Act (H.R. 2454) making its way through Congress. Some of the expected benefits of the bill if it is enacted into law would be to stimulate the creation of clean energy jobs and the reduction of pollution. The discussion is scheduled to take place at the Burton Barr Library on Central at noon.

It's not the "best" media coverage ("Ed Ableser, state representative from Tempe (who?)"), but hey, it's still media coverage, right? :)


- State Representative David Schapira had an op-ed piece published by the AZ Republic on May 17 defending the need for a strong higher education system in Arizona.

From the piece -

Our state has a deficit, but we can't balance it on the backs of students, especially when other options are available (See common-sense options at www.StrongerArizona.com). Providing access to quality and affordable higher education must be a priority.

Later...

AZGOP trying to use the backdoor to impose $1 billion more in cuts to education

The Republicans in the lege, not content with the havoc that they have already wreaked upon Arizona, have designed their budget proposals in a way that could cost the state over $2 billion in federal stimulus money, money that they are counting on to bring the budget into balance.

From AZCentral.com -

Arizona lawmakers and other state officials are debating whether a Republican budget plan approved by the Legislature would jeopardize over $2 billion of federal stimulus funding that Arizona is counting on to keep current and future budgets in the black.

At issue is whether state budget provisions violate conditions set by the federal stimulus law for allotments of approximately $1.7 billion of additional Medicaid dollars for care for poor people and of $1 billion of "stabilization" money intended to prop up state spending on education and other services.

The problems stem from the GOP budget's illegal sweep of auxilliary funds from the universities and its failure to meet "maintenance of effort" standards with education funding.

Rep, Kyrsten Sinema put it mildly with this quote -

“I’m not sure how much more education in Arizona can take from Republican lawmakers,” said Assistant Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema. “On top of all their cuts to education, their budget will lose $1 billion in education stimulus money for Arizona schoolchildren.”

She seems to assume that the Republicans aren't fully aware of the impact of their budget.

I say that not only are they aware, they're gleeful over the harm that they are doing to Arizona's future.

David Safier at Blog for Arizona has more here.

Later...

Live Blogging Senate Judiciary

4:16 - SB1243 (defensive display) up next, but I'm out of here. They're going to be here for a while. Later!

4:13 - Striker passes on a voice vote. Amended bill passes on a party-line vote. (4-3)

4:10 - Committee considering a Pearce amendment to the main striker to give AZ sheriff's posse members and AZ POST certified officers blanket rights to carry firearms.

4:06 - Cheuvront questions the light penalty (Class 3 misdemeanor) for bringing a gun into a restaurant that doesn't allow them. Also questioning the placing of the onus for keeping them out on to the restaurant owner.

4:00 - Pearce says the bill is "too watered down." Raved about Randy Graf.

3:58 - Pearce wants strict liability - for anyone who restricts people from possessing a firearm.

3:45 - Burton Cahill grilling the NRA guy on how easy it is to get a CCW permit in AZ and how the other states that have a law similar to this proposal make it difficult to obtain a CCW.

3:42 - Lobbyist from the restaurant association weighs in as "neutral." Cheuvront questions this as he is a member of the organization and has yet to meet another member who is in favor of the bill.

3:34 - Lobbyist from AZ Licensed Beverage Association is testifying against the bill.

3:29 - Lost internet connection for a moment. Now NRA lobbyist is testifying in favor of the bill.

During the technical issues, Gray asked Harper which amendments he supported. Harper looked to Paton to find out. Everybody laughed.

3:25 - Harper giving a history of the bill (aka - "guns in bars"), lamenting the veto of the previous Democratic governor. Thanks the NRA for its support and work on behalf of the bill.

3:21 - A striker to SB1113 from Jack Harper to compel restaurant owners to allow handguns on the premises unless the business owner has previously posted signs prohibiting them.

3:16 - Bill passes 4-3 on a party line vote.

3:10 - Miranda states his belief that the bill destroys even the illusion that there is a rehabilitative element to the corrections system.

3:07 - Burton-Cahill expresses hesitation about the effects of the bill's "natural life" sentence for "three strikes" offenders.

2:57 - Pearce wants to execute more under-21 offenders.

2:54 - Huppenthal wants data on the recidivism rate of elderly murderers who had been convicted of murder in their 20s. Wants lots more executions.

He wants to supervise the education of Arizona's children. God help AZ students; God help us all.

2:49 - Kathleen Mayer of the Pima County Attorney's Office is speaking in opposition. Her office opposes the bill for "pragmatic" reasons because it restricts their ability to negotiate plea agreements and to prosecute cases.

2:46 - The younger brother of a murder victim is testifying in support of the bill. Russell Pearce supports the bill because plea agreements exist in the event of weak cases.

I'm not making this up.

2:37 - Next up - SB1112, changing the sentence of "life imprisonment" to "natural life." Aka - life without parole.

2:36 - Bill passes 6-1.

2:33 - Burton-Cahill thinks that municipal and county elections *should* be non-partisan, but doesn't think that this bill will accomplish that in fact. Also questions the near universal support from developers and industry. Votes no.

2:28 - Cheuvront questions why City of Tucson isn't here. Votes aye. Huppenthal says this has nothing to do with partisan politics and voted aye.

2:25 - Stan Abrams, says he's a Democrat and a Tucson businessman, supporting the bill.

2:23 - Rossi, a Tucson real estate guy, is supporting the bill.

2:21 - Paton calls on yet another bib business supporter of his bill.

2:16 - Chair of Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce also supports the bill. Sen. Burton-Cahill brought up the point that calling elections "non-partisan" in theory won't make them non-partisan in fact. The Chair guy agreed, but he still thinks that the ballot designation should be removed from the ballot.

2:10 - First up - SB1123. Ron Shuman (sp?) of some Southern AZ Leadership Council is supporting the bill for "Tucson's future." A lobbyist from a Tucson manufacturer also supports the bill. Not a shock that supporters of Paton's bill are first up.

2:07 - meeting gavelled into order. In addition to the previously listed members, Chuck Gray is present.

2:04 - Paton announced that while the floor session has adjourned, senators move slowly. Some are here already - committee members Huppenthal, Miranda, Waring, and Cheuvront. Harper is in the crowd.

1:44 (continued) - while Paton, the chair of the committee was announcing that the committee was running late, he also announced the order of the bills on the agenda. First up: SB1123, the scheme to get Republicans elected in Tucson mandate non-partisan municipal elections in Tucson.

1:44 - meeting was scheduled to start at 1:30, but today is the one year anniversary of the passing of Sen. Jake Flake (R-LD5). They're running late. They are introducing his entire family in the gallery of the Senate.

Turns out that there are lots of Flakes in Arizona.

As near as I can tell, they're all Republicans, too.

:))

The coming week -- everybody but the lege edition

Edit on 6/8 to add link to Franks' resolution...

Yesterday's schedule post was for the lege alone; today's is for everybody else.

And while there is some interesting and important stuff going on, this one should still be shorter than the yesterday's post.


...In the U.S. House, the agenda is pretty full. While there are some "show" measures -memorials and congratulations and such,- there are also a number of "working" measures in the pipeline this week.

* H.R. 1709, the STEM Education Coordination Act of 2009 (Note: "STEM" is an acronym for "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics")

* H.R. 885, the Improved Financial and Commodity Markets Oversight and Accountability Act

* H.R. 466, the Wounded Veteran Job Security Act

* H.R. 1741, the Witness Security and Protection Grant Program Act of 2009

* The conference report on H.R. 2346, the Supplemental Appropriations Act. $$$ = arguments

* H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. Again, $$$ = arguments. If that wasn't enough, since this will indicate/guide the country's foreign relations priorities for the near future, expect the Reps to nitpick this one...loudly.

* H.R. 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2009 (aka "PEACE Act"). Given the nature of our relationship with Pakistan, expect hesitation and even outright opposition to this one from both sides of the aisle.

Still, even the money bills may not generate as much controversy as one of the memorial bills.

The House will be considering Rep. Louise Slaughter's H.Res. 505, "Condemning the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot to death at his church on May 31, 2009." While the Republicans could just give this one a pass, I expect at least a few of them to use this measure as a way to blame the victim.

AZ's Trent Franks (R-CD2) will be introducing a resolution (H. Res. 515) condemning "the murder of Army Private William Long and the wounding of Army Private Quinton Ezeagwula, who were shot outside the Army Navy Career Center in Little Rock, Arkansas on June 1, 2009." Privates Long and Ezeagwula were shot by another domestic terrorist the day after Dr. Tiller was assassinated; my guess is that Franks is trying to use this bill to deflect attention from Tiller's murder.

My only disappointment with this one (H.Res. 505) is that the only Arizona Representative who has seen fit to add his/her name to the list of cosponsors is Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1).

They should ALL be on record as condemning politically-motivated violence.


...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission has a busy week planned, including a Securities and Utilities open meeting on Thursday.


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting planned for Wednesday at 10 a.m. The agenda is a short one (thus far), with just two items on it - the first having to do with filing a notice of claim against the City of El Mirage and the second having to do with approval of the County Assessor representing the MCBOS regarding the matter of some property tax claim errors in the Buckeye Valley Fire District.


...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will be meeting on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. for a Truth-in-Taxation hearing (2% hike proposed) and a special meeting to approve the district's FY2010 budget. Or maybe this one. The first version of the budget assumes approval of the 2% hike; the second version assumes disapproval.

Expect disapproval; the majority of the board is made up of Republican Kool-Aid drinkers who are only interested in undermining education in AZ, not supporting it.


...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be holding Stakeholder Working Group Meetings on Friday and next Monday at the Mountain Preserve Reception Center, 1431 East Dunlap Ave. in Phoenix.


...The Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission are not scheduled to meet this week.


...The Tempe City Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The agenda looks pretty routine thus far, but somebody with a better knowledge of Tempe issues should take a look at the agenda; they might spot something I missed.

Of course, the Special Budget Meeting that's scheduled to follow the regular meeting will probably be less mundane - it's for final approval of the city's FY2009-2010 property tax rate.


...The Scottsdale City Council is holding a special meeting on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The agenda includes a Non-Major Amendment to the Downtown Character Area Plan, a Planned Unit Development Text Amendment, and a series of Text Amendments to R1-7 Zoning. R1-7 zoning is the City's primary residential zoning ordinance.

This sort of stuff would be boring almost anywhere else, but it brings out the long knives in a city like Scottsdale.

Later...

The coming week - legislative edition

The norm for this series of posts is to list political schedules in descending order of level of government (federal, state, county, local). However, since Bob Burns, the President of the AZ Senate decided to open the floodgates after five months of blockading bills, the lege will rate its own separate post.

And even at that, it's going to be a long one.

AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has a briefer post on this topic here.

As usual, all info gathered from the relevant political body's website, and subject to change without notice. And in the case of the AZ lege, expect such changes every week until the end of the session.

...First the easy part, the AZ House of Representatives.

- House Rules is meeting on Monday at 1 p.m. in HHR4; the highlight there is HCR2014, Nancy Barto's (R-Shadegg's doppelganger) move to protect Big Healthcare's and Big Insurance's profit margins.

- House Health and Human Services is meeting on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in HHR4.

- The House also has a caucus calendar posted for Monday, and a COW calendar posted for Tuesday. Both look pretty non-controversial, except for caucus consideration of the aforementioned HCR2014.


...Now on to the AZ Senate.

- First the good news - the Senate hasn't posted any floor, COW, or caucus schedules yet.

Of course, that is bad news for folks who are trying to plan out a visit to the lege and would like to know what to expect.

- Now the bad news - after weeks of a sparsely-populated committee schedule, they're all meeting this week. And most of them have long agendas.

- Monday at 1:30 p.m., Senate Judiciary is meeting in SHR1. Highlights (a term to be used loosely throughout this post :) ) include SB1123, Sen. Jonathan Paton's plan to force the City of Tucson to make their municipal elections non-partisan (I guess he objects to the idea of Democrats winning seats on the city council there) and SB1243, Sen. Russell Pearce's scheme to legalize showing off firearms in an intimidating manner (aka "defensive display").

- Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., Senate Natural Resources will meet in SHR109. Highlights here include SB1147 , Russell Pearce's move to bar state agencies from from regulating fuel economy or greenhouse gas emissions without explicit legislative approval; and Sen. Sylvia Allen's SB1259 and SB1260, moves to protect mine operators from the costs of mine reclamation (aka - repairing the damage that their mining operation caused to the land it was on).

- Tuesday at 1:30 p.m, Senate Commerce will meet in SHR1. Short agenda thus far.

- Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., Senate Appropriations will meet in SHR109. This one is packed with all sorts of ugly, and some of it even has to do with appropriating money. Most of the agenda doesn't though - this is just a friendly forum for some really bad legislation.

* A strike-everything amendment to SB1023. This amendment would allow insurers to claim up to a total of $10 million in tax credits for money given to STOs (What? You thought those went away with the end of the special session to ensure Steve Yarbrough's financial security?) and removes the sunset date (June 30, 2011) for the STO tax credits.

* A striker to SB1024 (text not available as of this writing) relating to "tax credits; withholding tax reduction."

* A striker to SB1038. The amendment related to revenue sharing with Native American tribes. I'm not sure about the net effect of this amendment (since I'm not familiar with the status quo), but since Russell Pearce's name is on a measure that impacts a racial or ethnic minority, I assume it's a screwjob.

* SB1444, Cap'n Senator Al Melvin's plan to for the legislature to confiscate all "non-custodial" federal monies sent to AZ (such as block grants) so that the lege may allocate the monies as it sees fit.

* SCR1006, Russell Pearce's attempt to impose stringent, TABOR-like limits on state government by limiting state appropriations to 6.4% of total personal income in the state

* SCR1009, Pearce's scheme to break the Voter Protection Act to allow the Republicans in the lege to "reallocate" funds that would otherwise be dedicated to healthcare, children, and education. A very bad proposal.

* SCR1031, Pearce's (by way of Ward Connerly) anti-affirmative action amendment to the state constitution.

*SCR1038, Sen. Ron Gould's "F-U" to the federal government. Actually, he refers to it as "assertion of sovereignty" under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Whew! That's a lot, enough for any three weeks in the Senate, but we aren't even halfway through the committees.

- Wednesday, Senate Veterans and Military Affairs will meet at in SHR2. The highlight here looks to be a striker to SCR1004 (text not available as yet). The name attached to it (Harper) and the title of it are what leads me to believe that this one will be particularly bad - "American Sovereignty Restoration Act."

- Wednesday, Senate Public Safety and Human Services will be meeting at 8:30 a.m. in SHR3. Highlights here include SB1138, Sen. Linda Gray's definition of and penalties for the already-illegal-under-federal-law partial-birth abortions; and strikers to SB1206 (relating to abortion) and SB1448 (relating to "healthcare distinctive; guardian decisions"). The language of the strikers isn't yet available, so that last may be harmless, but this week, that isn't a safe assumption.

- Wednesday, Senate Healthcare will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR1. As expected from a committee chaired by Sen. Carolyn Allen, this agenda is filled with measures that actually help Arizonans.

- Wednesday, Senate Finance will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR3. Highlights here include SB1324, Senator Barbara Leff's proposal to reduce the corporate income tax rate by almost 35%; SB1325, Leff's and Barto's proposal to let private insurers issue health coverage policies that don't offer certain heretofore mandatory coverages. This one should have been titled "Health insurers: enhanced profit margins."

- Wednesday, Senate Education will meet at 1:30 p.m. in SHR1. 9 out of the 12 items on the current agenda have Sen. John Huppenthal's name attached to them. These include strikers to SB1196 (Education Omnibus) and SB1375 (student information; written request) for which language isn't available yet, and SB1386, making it easier for charter schools to renew their charters, and for longer periods of time. The highlight, though, is Huppenthal's SB1393, a bill to compel public schools to accomodate students' private religious views in assignments, grading, and expression of those views, even in a hateful manner, in school.

- Thursday, Senate Retirement and Rural Development will meet at 9 a.m. in SHR3. Short agenda thus far.

- Thursday, Senate Government Institutions will be meeting at 9:30 a.m. in SHR1. Highlights here include Sen. Jack Harper's SB1109, a move to make it easier for political candidates and committees to strike voters from the rolls of registered by letting them submit names of voters they think are dead to the Secretary of State's website and SB1171, Russell Pearce's ban on new state agency regulations.


...There's some interesting stuff going on at other bodies/agencies this week, but those matters can wait for tomorrow.

Later...

Dear Republican Activists And Primary Voters:

Hi. Your snarky (but oh-so-friendly and helpful) neighborhood liberal blogger and Democratic activist here. I don't normally write for you folks, but this one is for you.

Some of you have signed nominating petitions for one John Huppenthal for next year's race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Under normal circumstances, a voter can sign the petitions of only one candidate per office. As such, normally you wouldn't be allowed to sign nominating petitions for Margaret Dugan, Mary Lou Taylor, or Gary Nine, the declared candidates for the Republican nomination next year. (State Rep. Rich Crandall is rumored to be interested in the race as well, but has not formally announced his candidacy.)

Under the laws of Arizona and the rules from the Arizona Secretary of State, a candidate must form a committee (file paperwork with the state formally declaring the candidate's interest in a particular office).

From the Secretary of State's candidate handbook (page 29 of the .pdf) (emphasis mine) -

4. Statement of Organization OR $500 Threshold Exemption Statement.
A Statement of Organization registering the candidate’s campaign committee OR a $500 Threshold Exemption Statement must be filed before making any expenditures, accepting any contributions, distributing any campaign literature or circulating any petitions. If the candidate has an exploratory committee open at the time of filing, then the candidate, chairman and treasurer must file an amended Statement of Organization to change the committee to a candidate’s campaign committee.

So far, Huppenthal has only formed an "exploratory" committee - filer ID 201000065, formed and last amended on March 16, 2009. As such, any signatures he has collected to date are invalid.

While there is some discussion going around about whether or not Huppenthal's signature collecting activities mean that he is now an active candidate under Arizona's "resign-to-run" laws and must now resign his seat in the legislature, this much is clear -

Whether or not he actually has to resign from office immediately, he will have to redo his petitions completely. All he's accomplished so far is to put together a list of folks to hit up for donations...once he gets around to forming an actual candidate campaign committee.

So take heart, loyal Republicans. If this dust-up, or perhaps the court hearing for his assault case later this month, causes you to feel a little "buyer's remorse," you have the option of rebuffing Huppenthal when he comes calling again and signing the nominating petitions for another candidate whose deportment and professionalism is more to your liking.

Just trying to help,

Craig at Random Musings


:)

Burns says they should have a special session? To do their only real job?

What have they been doing since the start of the session then?

Does this mean that they're going admit they've been defrauding the taxpayers since January and return the paychecks and per diems that they've been cashing for the last five months?

...OK, probably not.

From AZCentral.com's Political Insider (emphasis mine) -

Senate President Bob Burns, fresh off a budget victory, says if he had his druthers, the Legislature should not send its no-tax-hike budget to Gov. Brewer until they can all sit down and talk.

{snip}

Burns said if all parties were amenable to a budget talk, he would hold back on the
bills, avoiding a likely veto. And if agreement were reached, the bills could be reworked in a special session yet this month, he said.

And to keep everyone from getting rambunctious during the secret negotiations over the budget, Burns assigned over 230 Senate bills to committees.

That'll keep the Democrats, the public, and even his own rank-and-file members out of leadership's hair while they finish vivisecting state government, public services, and education.

I'll do a more complete post on the various committee agendas late Saturday or Sunday, but one gem has already bubbled up - Wednesday's meeting of Senate Public Safety and Human Services is scheduled to have consideration of a striker to SB1206 related to abortion. No text available online as yet, but it's a safe bet that the striker, and the next couple of weeks, will be ugly.

Later...

It never ends in Maricopa County...

First, the County settles one Arpaio-related lawsuit.

From AZCentral.com -

Maricopa County will pay $500,000 to the family of an inmate slain last year by another inmate while in custody at Fourth Avenue Jail.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Wednesday to settle the case; Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was absent.

But just when you think that maybe the litigation load dropped on the County's shoulders by Arpaio is receding, news of yet another lawsuit breaks.

Also from AZCentral.com -

Former Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools Sandra Dowling filed suit Wednesday in Superior Court against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Board of Supervisors because of a 2006 SWAT team invasion of her home and a subsequent criminal prosecution that ended in a single misdemeanor conviction.

In the lawsuit - filed by attorney Michael Manning, a frequent Arpaio antagonist - Dowling alleges negligence, malicious prosecution, abuse of process and several constitutional violations.

In light of all of these lawsuits, one might expect that an agency head that tries to maintain even a pretense of professionalism might focus on training standards to ensure that the events that resulted in one death and two lawsuits don't occur again.

In such a case, one would be disappointed.

Not when that agency head would rather focus on harassing his perceived enemies, even expending some of the County's scarce resources on vague and futile fishing expeditions against the County's court system. Apparently, some of the judges there have offended the agency head's sensibilities by criticizing him for failing to see that prisoners in his custody are brought to court in a timely manner.

Look for the supes to continue holding executive sessions on a weekly basis for the duration of Arpaio's term in office, and for years afterward.

Budget games ramping up...

...And "games" may be the key word here...

As reported by AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona and elsewhere, the Republicans in the lege have begun the public pas de deux with the Governor over the state's budget (and both sides are hoping that they don't have to ask the legislative Democrats for a spin around the dance floor).

The House Rules Committee met this morning to rubberstamp the House Republicans' budget proposal, and Senate Rules is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. to do the same for the Senate Reps' proposal.

Now, so far the Governor and the Reps in the lege seem to be in disagreement, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was all a lot of posturing - the Governor's budget proposal is harsh enough toward public education and public services to suit most of the Rep base in AZ, and it is just different enough from the legislative proposals to be sold to a disgusted-with-the-whole-thing public as a "compromise."

My primary reason for suspecting that the "conflict" between the governor and her ideological colleagues in the lege may be a put-up job?


Neither side's budget proposals contain cuts for either the Governor's office or for legislative operations.


Everybody else - teachers, students, poor and working class families, the Democrat-held Attorney General's office, government employees, and more - takes a major hit, but not "Our Gang."

Free prediction: There will be loud words exchanged, and possibly a vetoed budget, leading up to a last-minute (as in just before a government shutdown) compromise to "save the day" with all of them up on a stage somewhere patting each other on the back in front of some TV cameras.

Free prediction2: The script for next year may contain different lines of dialogue, but the basic plot will be the same.

Later...

Post 9/11 GI Bill Informational Workshops in Mesa and Phoenix

An email from CD5's Congressman Harry Mitchell -

Last week, we celebrated Memorial Day, a day honoring our servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. We can never fully repay, nor can we ever fully express our thanks for their sacrifice. When I arrived in Congress, I sought out a seat on the House Veterans Affairs’ Committee because I believe the best way to honor the sacrifices of our military personnel is to treat our veterans with the care and dignity that they deserve and have earned.

Last year, I had the honor of partnering with Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, to pass a new and much-improved GI Bill, known as the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. We promised our service members the opportunity of a higher education when they joined, and it's our responsibility to see that they get it when they become veterans. As a former teacher, I know how empowering and transformative a quality education can be. This new GI Bill is now law, and will extend educational benefits to members of the military who have served on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001, including – for the first time – activated reservists and National Guard Members. Career service members will also be able to transfer some or all of the new benefit to their spouses and children.

Still, many veterans may have questions, or may not be aware that they are eligible for the new GI Bill. Interested veterans and family members can join me, VA education experts and officials from local schools at:

Post 9/11 GI Bill Informational Workshop
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, June 6
Mesa Community College – Student Union
1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa.
Near the Clock Tower

For National Guard Members or veterans who are unable to attend the afternoon event, there will be an additional GI Bill workshop earlier the same day from 11:00 a.m. to noon at the Arizona National Guard Headquarters. Feel free to contact my office at 480-946-2411 for more details.

It is my hope and firm expectation that this new GI Bill will provide veterans with a greater chance of success while transitioning back into civilian life. After World War II, the original GI Bill empowered veterans to expand the American middle class and catapult our country into a period of unprecedented economic productivity.

I believe that the new Post-9/11 GI Bill will give those who have served in uniform an opportunity to spur a new period of solid growth and shared prosperity in our nation.

Sincerely,

Harry

A lengthier press release regarding Saturday's workshops and the new GI Bill is here.

The silence is deafening...

Remember when, less than two months ago, the former Governor of Arizona and current Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano came in for some rather vicious criticisms from Republicans and the right-wing echo chamber over the release of a study on the rise of right-wing extremism and the growing threat of right-wing-based domestic terrorism?

The wingers ignored the facts that the report in question was commissioned by the Bush administration while it was in office and that a similar report on left-wing extremism and possible domestic terrorism was done in January.

Even "responsible" and "professional" members of the GOP (i.e. - elected officials) called for her resignation.

AZ's Trent Franks called the report "disgraceful" and demanded an apology from Napolitano.

So, in light of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas by a member of extreme anti-government and anti-choice groups, the "responsible" Republicans must be reconsidering their previous outrage, right?

Look at all of the mainstream conservatives quickly jumping to condemn the violence and express their support of Secretary Napolitano -










...Yeah, I couldn't find any either.

Later...

Joining the parade, Jan Brewer releases her budget proposal

I don't have time to look through it all, but based on her transmittal letter to the lege, I can say this, unequivocally -

Yawn.

While there are more details (like, you know, actual numbers), her plan is essentially the five point plan that she promulgated in March.

Highlights (so to speak) of that plan - raise the sales tax on the average Arizonan, give blanket tax cuts for corporations, cut spending on services to Arizonans (and lay off employees), and open up voter-protected revenues and expenditures to legislative whim.

Anyway, you can find some details of the plan from the Governor's website here.

Later...