Public Hearing on KidsCare enrollment cap

On Tuesday, December 29, AHCCCS will be holding a public hearing on the enrollment cap that Governor Brewer has ordered for KidsCare.

From the public notice for the hearing:

KidsCare Program Enrollment Cap

Due to Arizona’s fiscal crisis, AHCCCS can no longer ensure the availability of adequate funding to support further growth in the KidsCare program. As a result, AHCCCS will implement an enrollment cap for the KidsCare program effective January 1, 2010.

AHCCCS will be holding a public hearing regarding the KidsCare Enrollment Cap, where written and oral comments can be submitted. Below is information on the location and time of the public hearing:

AHCCCS Administration
701 E. Jefferson, Gold Room
Phoenix, Arizona
December 29, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.

Other locations that will be set up for participation via teleconference are:

ALTCS: Arizona Long-term Care System
1010 N. Finance Center Drive, Suite 201
Tucson, AZ 85710

DAHL /Office of Special Investigations
2721 N. 4th street, Suite 23
Flagstaff, AZ 86004

The public information sheet is here; AHCCCS' letter on this topic to the Governor and leadership in the legislature is here.

Not exactly a Christmas-y post, but whatthehell - lumps of coal are a part of Christmas lore as much as tinsel and trees and such.

And lumps of coal are exactly what Brewer, Burns, and Adams deserve this year...

Twas The Night Before Christmas...

The bustling metropolis of Tusayan, Arizona, flooded with last-minute shoppers and holiday revelers...or not. :)

Clement Clark Moore's classic story is available here, courtesy the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune (TX).

Stupid Human Tricks

Not of the David Letterman variety, of the "guns and booze" variety...

I was going to write about the appointment (document courtesy AZCentral.com) of retired AZ Chief Justice Ruth McGregor as "special master" to oversee the myriad court cases involving various Maricopa County officials, which all seem to have Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio as the complainants or complainees (aka whiners or whinees), but I'm trying to avoid hardcore political posting for the next few days.

So I'm left with this -

Also from AZCentral.com -

Gilbert man shows off gun, shoots finger

A Gilbert man proved once again early Wednesday morning that guns and alcohol don't mix.

Ryan Maes, 33, told police that he and a friend had been drinking and playing video games about 2 a.m. when he accidentally shot himself in the finger with a .40 caliber pistol.

To the 59 legislators (54 of them Republicans) who voted for the "guns in bars" bill during the last session, and the governor (also an R) who signed it:

Guns and booze don't mix.

Never did and never will, no matter how much the backslappers at last summer's NRA convention told you otherwise.

And they probably did it after a couple of cocktails.

Happy Holidays to all...

Posting will be light to intermittent until after New Year's, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all members of the Random Musings reader community a joyous and safe holiday season.

It's been a long, eventful, and often acrimonious year, and next year is shaping up to be more of the same. We can take a moment (OK, a couple of weeks) to step back, catch our breaths, and appreciate the good things that have happened this year. (Not gonna list those, because this post isn't about starting an argument. There will be plenty of time for that later. :) )

So whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, winter solstice, 359th Day of the Year, or nothing at all, may you enjoy the season.

See you soon...

Pic courtesy ehow.com

Jan Brewer: "I surrender"

Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer held an "emergency" meeting of her cabinet on Monday.

There, her agency heads and the press were treated to this presentation on the state's budget crisis (summary: we're hosed).

Her address to those gathered before her is here.

She announced a number of unilateral moves to address the budget shortfall.

From the address -

Therefore, at my personal direction, the following steps will be taken immediately:

ONE: I am ordering my budget office to work with each of you to develop additional contingency plans in anticipation of additional agency reductions and to adjust spending allotments accordingly.

TWO: I am also ordering agencies to transfer monies out of all eligible special line items to ensure that they have sufficient funds to cover mandatory expenditures.

THREE: I am asking the Department of Education and the Board of Regents to notify school districts and universities to prepare for additional payment deferrals later in the year, beyond those already budgeted.

FOURTH, I am ordering the Arizona Department of Corrections to return to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) -- as soon as possible -- all non-violent criminal aliens as is allowed under existing law.

{snip}

FIVE: I am restating my Arizonans-only directives to state agencies to ensure that public benefits are only provided to those who are legally in this country and reside in this state.

{snip]

SIX: I am asking ALL directors with discretionary programs to provide me with a list of non-mandatory programs that can be capped due to a lack of funding.

While many of these programs are important, and their freeze will be heartbreaking and difficult for many Arizona families, the Legislature simply has not committed enough funding for their continuation and we must divert resources to the programs that ARE mandated.

Starting today, I am implementing a wait list for KidsCare, the children’s health insurance program at AHCCCS. There will be a hard cap on childcare assistance wait lists at DES.

{snip}

SEVEN: In order to sustain the most critical services, I am asking all citizens receiving state services to contribute more toward their benefits. Effective immediately, agencies are to implement means testing and sliding fee schedules to ensure the neediest among us receive the most help.

EIGHT, I am taking immediate steps to enhance the management of our state’s cash flow. On your desks you will find instructions to change the processing of state warrants.

{snip}

NINE: I am establishing a Privatization Commission to expand the use of private sector services in state government. This commission will be charged with developing best practices, identifying areas of state government appropriate for privatization and developing plans for the implementation of privatization solutions. Privatization done properly will help the state reduce operational costs, improve service delivery and quality, and lead to innovation.

And FINALLY: In the first week of the New Year, I will be convening the legislative leadership of both parties. I will not be asking for theories, or for a vote count of what might or might not work politically. I will ask for honest, comprehensive and TIMELY solutions to the current budget deficit.

Now, while most of the MSM attention is going to the part about deporting imprisoned undocumented immigrants, that's already done under existing law.

What really should get the attention of most folks are her plans for capping enrollment for KidsCare and other safety net programs, screwing with state aid to all schools and privatizing government.

Let's sum up here: she's dealing with the legislature's failure to balance the budget because some of the most extreme members of her own already extreme caucus felt that the budget proposals before the lege weren't draconian enough. They embarrassed her and their own leaders by scuttling anything resembling a proposal that didn't dismantle the state's social safety net, public education system, and Arizona government itself.

So what does she propose?

Giving the nuttiest of the nuts *exactly* what they wanted all along.

Why do I think that the last of her ideas, the one about talking to legislative leadership "of both parties" isn't going to work, especially since the nuts have just learned that their political bullying tactics have worked?


BTW - Brewer makes a show of asking for "honest, comprehensive and TIMELY solutions to the current budget deficit."

Funny, but just such things were offered to her months ago by the Democrats in the lege - http://www.strongerarizona.com/.

She and her Republican associates in the lege haven't been interested in real solutions before this, and there's no evidence that they are really interested now.


Coverage from the AZ Capitol Times here; Howard Fischer of Capitol Media has coverage here, courtesy the East Valley Tribune; Arizona Republic coverage here; Phoenix New Times coverage here.

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies (except where noted), and subject to change without notice...

This will be a quick post, mostly because almost everybody is on a holiday schedule this week. Meaning that almost nothing will be happening.

...Having said that, let's start off with the highest profile exception to that statement, the U.S. Senate. They'll be in session most of the week, considering health care reform (LA Times). Expectations are that a final vote will be taken by Christmas, meaning that the bill won't go to conference committee until after the new year as the House is adjourned for the holidays. (Actually, there's a session planned for Wednesday, but that seems to be a pro forma session. I'll update if that changes.) The Senate's committee schedule is here; there's only one committee scheduled to meet this week - Judiciary on Thursday.

...Back here in AZ, the Arizona Corporation Commission has a Securities and Utilities meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Agenda here. The ACC's full hearing schedule is here. It's a light one.

...The Arizona Board of Regents isn't meeting this week. However, they are looking for a President of the Board.

...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week, but their Council Calendar is here. There's one item on it this week - a holiday open house on Tuesday at 9 a.m.

...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week, but the Community Meeting Notice is here. Summary: there's nothing scheduled this week. You might think that there is a holiday or something coming up. :)

...Everybody else isn't going to meet this week: Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona State Legislature.


Have a happy and safe Christmas everybody, even Republicans...and a certain Libertarian commenter! :))

Et tu, Steve?

During Saturday's debate in the House on the latest round of budget cuts, things got a little heated, with Democrats and Republicans criticizing each for various things. Mostly the Republicans were trying pin the blame for the state's finances on the Democrats, the group that has been totally shut out of almost all discussions at the lege this year, while the Democrats were having none of it.

Most of it was stuff that we have heard before, with just a little more rancor than usual (apparently, the idea of having to work on the Saturday before Christmas on matters that should have been dealt with by the end of June put the legislators in a less than "seasonally cheery" mood. What a shock. :) )

Time permitting, I'll cover some of those gems in a later post after the lege has posted the video of today's session.

However, one utterance caught my ear and then my eye when Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services included it in his piece on Saturday's happenings at the lege.

From the article, courtesy VerdeNews.com -

Rep. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, said the Democrats voted against every spending reduction that came to the floor, not just this session but earlier this year.

"It may politically expedient to say, 'I voted against the cuts,' ' Yarbrough said. "But that is political gamesmanship, not statesmanship.'

This from one of the people most responsible for the state's mess, what with his devotion to his STO and protecting its ability to siphon revenue from the state into his pockets and his signing on to Grover Norquist's "no taxes" pledge.

Yarbrough, along with almost all of his Republican colleagues, haven't just voted against all attempts to address revenue (and not just taxes), including the "passing of the buck," a referral of a sale tax increase to the ballot, they've simply refused to even consider them.

How about we change his statement to -

"It may be politically expedient to say 'I voted against the taxes.' But that is political gamesmanship, not statesmanship."

Change a couple of words, and Yarbrough's statement is true, but truth was never a part of the special session agenda for Yarbrough and his friends. Gamesmanship was.

On the other hand, gamesmanship and ideological rigidity may be what passes for "statesmanship" in today's GOP.

Yarbrough is one of the leaders of the gang that has sacrificed fiscal sanity and legislative professionalism on the altar of "political gamesmanship."

If he wants to assess blame for the toxic atmosphere and culture of ineffectiveness at the Capitol, that is his prerogative.

He just needs to be looking in a mirror when he's pointing fingers.

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends

In this case, "the show" refers to the state's ongoing fiscal crisis and the refusal of the Governor and the Republican leadership to open their eyes to the reality of the depth of the state's problems.

Today, the House passed $193 million in budget cuts in a bill that the Governor is expected to sign. After that, they adjourned the Fifth Special Session of the lege so that they could all make it home for Christmas. (AZ Capitol Times coverage here.)

The next act in the show will take place on Monday morning at 9. That's the time that the Governor has set for an "emergency" meeting of her cabinet.

In an unusual move, the cabinet meeting will be open to the press (I'm pretty sure that does *not* include wiseass "intrepid" bloggers :) ).

Normal practice has been to hold cabinet meetings and then issue press releases/do coordinated interviews afterward. All this means is that Paul Senseman and the rest of the Governor's communications staff are hard at work today writing up a script for the meeting...instead of its aftermath.

I've got a couple of phone calls out about the special session and the Governor's set piece scheduled for Monday, but the people that I've reached don't have any info about the cabinet meeting or are out doing non-AZ government stuff, like spending time with their families and friends.

Sounds like some crazy priorities, but whaddya expect on a Saturday? :)

Later...

And the race is on...

...for the most coveted annual award in blogdom, the Random Musings Legislative Loon Award...

Perhaps the challenge of upstart Legislative Loon candidate Judy Burges has served to inspire previous winners Jack Harper and Russell Pearce, but they are getting an early start on their efforts to regain the title (last year's award went to the entire Republican caucus).

They've teamed up on a couple of pretty rancid pieces of "legislation."

One is SCR1006, a proposed amendment to the AZ Constitution to repeal the right of folks to sue to recover damages in the event of death or injury. This is the localized AZ expression of the GOP's obeisance to the insurance industry.

AKA the "their constituents aren't as important to them as are big business lobbying groups" act.

The other is SB1011, a bill to complete the "turning Arizona into an armed encampment" trifecta that they started last year. Last session they passed guns in cars and guns in bars. Next session, they will be trying for guns in schools. Specifically, SB1o11 would allow faculty members to carry concealed weapons on the campus of their university or community college.

If this one passes, students should duck if they show up to class late... as should Appropriations chairs who visit the campuses of the universities whose budgets they are gutting.

In normal years, this kind of nuttiness would barely rate a line, much less an entire post, but given the train wreck of a session this past session and the obvious lack of focus on the parts of Pearce and Harper and the other GOPers on addressing the state's worsening fiscal crisis in the coming session, the complete fiscal insolvency of Arizona looms ever more likely.

Legislative Republicans: Still more interested in partisanship than in professionalism

They are sure to gripe that their Democratic counterparts are the hyperpartisan ones, that they are engaging in dilatory tactics for no good reason (no, the Rs don't think that legislators and the public having time to read the bills before the lege is a good reason), but they "doth protest too much."

The proof is in the numbers.

From SB1001 of the Fifth Special Session -

General Fund cuts and fund sweeps from the Attorney General's office: $8,195,500.

GF cuts and fund sweeps from the House, Senate, and the other constitutional offices (Governor, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Ed, Secretary of State, and Mine Inspector): $2,153,000.

In other words, the Democrat-occupied AG's office is taking a hit that is more than 3.8 times larger than the other constitutional officers and the House and Senate.

Even when adding in cuts to two agencies under control of the lege, the Auditor General and Joint Legislative Budget Committee ($1.34 million and $200K, respectively), that ratio stays above 2.2X.


Bottom line - the Governor and the Republican leadership in the lege still don't take this stuff seriously.

Jan Brewer could be a placekicker for the Buffalo Bills

...because she has the "wide right" part of the job down pat already...

I was going to title this post "Does A Special Session Make A Noise In The Woods If It Doesn't Do Anything?" but that was too long and snarky, and God knows I could never be accused of "snarkiness."

:-)

Anyway, it's looking more and more like tomorrow's 5th Special Session of the Arizona Legislature (in 2009 alone!) has already fizzled.

Mary Jo Pitzl at the Arizona Republic's Political Insider is reporting that they don't have the votes, even with some Dems crossing over, to pass anything through the House.

Mary Reinhart of The Arizona Guardian (subscription required) confirms this, but writes that the session is going forward anyway. Of course, as Tedski at Rum, Romanism, Rebellion advises, Brewer's call for a special session can't be rescinded, so they have to meet, pray, pledge, collect their per diems, and go home for the holidays. Maybe take some time to work on a few bills for next session, drop off campaign paperwork at the SOS' office, or just generally schmooze with people they last saw so many months weeks days ago.

Anyway, if any changes happen, I'll write about them tomorrow after work...or you can just read about it at Tedski's site. :)

Have a good night!

Health care reform: It's not time to get out the tar and feathers...yet

Desert Beacon in Nevada puts it far better than I can here...but that's not going to stop me from trying anyway. :)

Most of the recent developments regarding health care reform in the Senate have been disheartening to those of us who support substantive reform.

Between Joe Lieberman behaving as if he is relevant, the death of a single-payer plan, and the way that the Senate plan has morphed from a plan to "reform" health care to a plan to "enhance" insurance industry profits, it's easy to be discouraged.

Don't be, not yet anyway.

This whole mess still has to go to conference committee to be merged with the bill that passed the House.

What is more important than the Senate bill is the final bill, the one that reaches the President's desk.

Many people in the center and on the left may not understand that, but you can be sure that the Republicans understand it all too well. They are less interested in seeing that a "bad" bill passes the Senate than in seeing *no* bill pass the Senate.

They know that it is easier to fix the shortcomings in a bad program than to start one from scratch (witness the months-long kerfluffle over health care reform).

Now is the time for all of us to contact our representatives in Congress again (I know a couple of office staffers who aren't going to be happy about that line :)) ) and let them know that the only acceptable reform is real reform, not an insurance industry wish list. Let them know that their constituents need them to stand strong in supporting substantive reform.

We've given up on single-payer (with all due respect to Senator Sanders, his amendment was never going to pass even if he hadn't withdrawn it). but a non-mandatory public option is a must, and it's a reasonable compromise.

Well, "reasonable" to most anyone who doesn't work for the insurance industry, like Jon Kyl, John McCain, and Joe Lieberman (ok, so it's Lieberman''s wife who works for the industry. He works for her.)

We can get that in conference, but first, we have to *get* to a conference committee.

For that, we need the Senate to pass *something.*


Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (CD8) can be contacted via this online form.

Congressman Raul Grijalva (CD7) can be contacted here.

Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (CD1) can be reached here.

Congressman Harry Mitchell (CD5) has a contact form here.

Congressman Ed Pastor (CD4) can be reached via this generic House contact form.

I'm not bothering to list the contact info for any of the Arizona Republicans in the House or Senate. They've all made it clear that they are opposed to any form of health care reform, or at least any that isn't structured to increase insurance company profits and reduce choice for average Americans. If you want to contact them, then use a search engine to find their official websites and work from there.

New Republican challengers in CD5

They seem to be crawling out from every rock these days, begging the question -

Is it Congressman Harry Mitchell who they think is vulnerable, or repeat (soon to be perennial) candidate David Schweikert?

Even though Schweikert never stopped campaigning after his loss last year, hoping to scare off any GOP challengers for the nomination, the carpetbaggers and newbies are lining up around the block to face off against him (and at least one former foe is rumored to be eyeing a return match).

- Eric Wnuck, a "resident" of Arizona and owner of a small, out-of-state, business (OK, it seems to be one not-so-small business with offices in a number of states) is appealing to the teabaggers in the district. Never held elected office.

- Jim Ward, a professional investor and video game guy has settled in the district to run for Congress. Not a total carpetbagger he - his wife is from PV. Never held elected office.

- Chris Salvino, a doctor at Banner Good Samaritan specializing in trauma and weight loss surgery, has filed paperwork to run. His campaign treasurer is one Kelly Lawler. That name should be familiar to CD5-watchers - Lawler was the treasurer for the ethically-challenged JD Hayworth. Never held elected office.

- Jeffrey W. Smith of Gilbert has also filed for CD5. That's a particularly lousy name for an internet search, but there is a "Jeffrey W. Smith" who started a landscape maintenance company in Queen Creek last year. I am *not* sure that is him, however. What is clear is that his campaign address in Gilbert is well outside of the district (not that that ever stopped Virginian Rick Renzi from running up in CD1). I can't find any record that he has ever held elected office, but with a name like that... :)

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that he's not this "Jeff Smith."

- And then, lurking in the tall grass (that's a metaphor, there's not much grass, tall or otherwise, in CD5), is fellow perennial candidate Susan Bitter Smith. She was the strongest challenger to Schweikert in 2008 and is rumored to be looking at jumping into this cycle's race.

At the beginning of the year, it was an open secret that Schweikert was considered to be the "presumed" GOP nominee in CD5 by GOP insiders.

Apparently, those "insiders" forgot to let the "outsiders" (and at least one other "insider") in on the secret.

McCain, Hayworth camps taking swipes at each other

Posted without much comment, mostly because the sight of Republicans tearing strips off of each other is highly entertaining on its own merits. :)

From AZCentral.com -

A former Arizona attorney general filed a federal complaint Tuesday seeking to stop KFYI radio-talk show host J.D. Hayworth from using his microphone to promote a potential primary race against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The complaint filed by Grant Woods with the Federal Election Commission claims Hayworth, a former Republican congressman, cannot use his radio show to further his latest political aspirations. Woods estimates Clear Channel Communications, which broadcasts Hayworth's program, is effectively providing air time to Hayworth that would cost $540,000 each week to rebut in radio ads.

{snip, to include my favorite line in the article, emphasis mine}

"He's [McCain's] more distraught about the Cardinals' (loss Monday night) than a potential Hayworth candidacy," Woods said.

*SMACK* goes the McCain campaign. :)

Rep. Judy Burges (R-LD4) making an early run for the Legislative Loon Award

It's early (since the 2010 session hasn't actually started yet), but Rep. Judy Burges is making a spirited declaration of her candidacy for the 2010 Legislative Loon Award.

Let's see...

She's a primary sponsor of...

...HB2001, creating a voluntary tax fund for taxpayers who feel that they didn't pay enough. Call this one the "F--- you Arizona" Act.

...HB2005, creating a special license plate for the Arizona Masonic Fraternity, with 68% of the revenue from the fees for that plate going to the Masons. Call this the "43 Special Plates Isn't Enough" Act.

...HB2015, expanding the definition of justifiable use of deadly force to allow deadly force to be used in situations where only the mere display of a weapon ("defensive display of a firearm") had been justified. Call this one the "Violent Paranoiac's Free Pass" Act.

...HB2016, allowing convicted felons with concealed weapons permits from other states to possess and carry firearms in AZ if their rights have been restored in that other state. Not sure what to call this mess.

...HB2017, specifying that firearms instructors working in K-12 schools be certified by either the Arizona game and fish department or the NRA. Changes current language that only specifies "a national association of firearms owners." Call this one the "NRA Employment Act."

...HCR2001, a concurrent resolution asserting the state's sovereignty over the federal government under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Call this one the "Go Away Feds, We Don't Need Your Civil Rights Act, Environment Regulations, Worker Safety Laws, Or Product Safety Laws. Just Leave Lots Of Money Before You Go" Resolution.

Yes, Rep. Burges is making a serious play for the Award, but if she is going to be a real contender, she needs to expand her activities to all areas of legislation. She needs some nativist proposals, some anti-balanced budget stuff, maybe some anti-choice proposals, and, of course, massive tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations.

Her emphasis on appeasing the gun lobby is admirable (in a "well, it helps identify the wingnuts" sort of way), but she needs to embrace the all around lunacy exhibited by her Senate colleague from LD4, Jack Harper, if she wants a real chance to take the LLA home this coming year.

Later...