A busy couple of days

A mish-mash of stuff, some immigration-related, some not.

...Congressman Harry Mitchell is having an active week, what with the Senate approving his bill to block this year's automatic pay raise for Congress and the VA ducking and running from a Mitchell-chaired hearing that had been scheduled to look into the VA's lackluster efforts to address the epidemic of suicides and attempted suicides among veterans of the U.S.'s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Mitchell press release on the matter here).

Can't wait until one of the Rs running against Rep. Mitchell tries to label reining in Congress' pay and protecting America's veterans as being "too liberal."

...In signs that Arizona isn't the only place with whackadoodle nativists (we do seem to have the highest concentration of them, though) -

- A GOP candidate for Congress wants to implant microchips into undocumented immigrants (I'm OK with this...as soon as we find a way to implant souls into extreme GOPers)

- A GOP congressman from California, Duncan Hunter (the younger), wants to deport natural-born American citizens if they were born to undocumented immigrants...because their souls aren't American enough. (I'll concede the Congressman's evident expertise on that subject of souls that aren't "American enough")

- However, there is a least one ray of sanity breaking through the cloud of bigotry that has seemed to sweep over Arizona - Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County has called the newly-enacted law "stupid" and "racist." (Probably too much to hope for, but if he moves to Maricopa County and challenges our would-be tin horn despot, I'll campaign and vote for him.)

...In a potentially scary development, and one that I hope I'm misreading and overreacting to, a co-worker of mine of Latino descent recently visited an office at an East Valley hospital and was asked for ID.

Not a big deal, except that this co-worker has been going to this office for years (literally) and was well-known to the staff there.

Even worse, this person was the only Latino in a full waiting room, and was the *only* one there asked for papers.

I've got an email out to the hospital in question. I'm hoping that this is a case of misreading the situation. As such, I'm not going to name the hospital until I see a pattern of bad behavior.

I'll update if I get a response, or if the behavior is shown to be part of a pattern.

BTW, because some nativist is going to ask: the co-worker is a third-generation Arizonan and has lived their entire life here. Not that it really matters to the nativists who are totally gaga over Arizona's "breathing while brown" law.

...It turns out that the Rs raging bigotry could cost Arizona some national influence. Not in a "Arizona will spend a decade as the nation's punch line" sort of way, but in a "they've intimidated Latinos into not responding to the Census, so Arizona won't be properly represented in Congress" sort of way.

There's more to be snarky about, but I have to head to bed.

Later...

Arizona's version of the corporate bailout bill dead...for now

From Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, via East Valley Tribune (my link) -

Senate Republicans drove the final nail Monday into a House-passed package of tax cuts for business.

Several members of the GOP caucus said they could not go along with a package to sharply cut corporate income taxes, phase out the state property tax and give other breaks to businesses. The plan, as approved earlier this year by the House, eventually would have slashed state revenues by $950 million a year.

The package had been trimmed into something that would have cost the state $600 million per year in lost revenue.

Of course, even in that "compromise", the priorities of House Speaker Kirk Adams and the rest of the Rs in the lege were made clear - they eliminated a cut to the state's personal income tax rate while leaving the corporate cuts intact.

Apparently, enough members of the R caucus realized that a year in which they eliminated KidsCare, closed state parks, and caused the layoffs of thousands of teachers may not be the best year in which to give a massive gift to corporations.

Especially a week after the approved the police state bill and put the state and themselves under a national and worldwide microscope.

Something tells me that the Rs really wanted to approve the corporate gifts, but didn't want to be seen doing so.

AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has coverage here.

Jon Stewart nails it...Arizona is the meth lab of democracy

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, one of the great thinkers of his day, observed that state legislatures are the "laboratories of democracy." (New State Ice Company v. Liebmann, 1932, FindLaw cite here)

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, one of the great wiseasses of his day, observed that "Arizona is the meth lab of democracy." (4/26/2010, video on this posting at Talking Points Memo)


Justice Brandeis offered another quote, one that the nativists should keep in mind when they take their shoes off and start pounding on the table and start screaming about "respect for the law!" (source BrainyQuote.com) -

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.

Of course, that won't happen in Arizona (making the law respectable) until we get some respectable lawmakers in Arizona.

Find a candidate, volunteer to help their campaign, and remember to vote in November.

Schapira first to file signatures in LD17

Press release time (via email) -

Schapira First to File in District 17

TEMPE - David Schapira has filed enough petition signatures with the Secretary of State’s office to qualify as a candidate for the State Senate race in District 17. He is the first candidate in District 17 of either party in either the House or Senate races to qualify. Schapira, a Clean Elections participating candidate, also filed more than the requisite number of $5 qualifying contributions in order to run under Arizona’s Clean Elections system.

An Arizona native, Schapira has drawn on his experience as a teacher and small business owner to serve Tempe and south Scottsdale for two terms in the State House of Representatives. He has received commendation as one of six “Lawmakers Who Made a Difference” and one of five “Emerging Leaders Worth Watching” by the Arizona Republic. He aims to bring his effective, pragmatic approach as a leader to the State Senate.

“I am honored by the way that petitions and contributions poured in from people all over Tempe and south Scottsdale. The people of our state are hungry for a change in leadership now more than ever, and I intend to be a part of that change,”
said Schapira. “For years, the leadership at the capitol has proven that they care more about practicing destructive, exclusive partisan politics and pursuing extremist ideological goals than they do about working on behalf of the people of Arizona. We have to break the status quo before it breaks our state completely.”

In addition to the recognition David has received from the Arizona Republic, he has been named a top legislator by the Arizona Student Association, American Cancer Society, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Arizona Technology Council. David has worked tirelessly at the capitol to make improving Arizona’s public education system a priority. He considers investment in K-12 and university education essential to reviving the state’s stagnant economy.

“Education must come first, and in this economy and job market, it’s even more critical to our advancement as a state. The best way to bring stable, well-paying jobs to Arizona is by offering employers a highly educated workforce. The best way to develop a robust, homegrown economic foundation is through our public universities’ research initiatives.”

David and his wife Rosemary reside in Tempe, and are expecting the birth of their first child this summer.

Learn more at DavidforAZ.com.

Congrats David!

Kyl and McCain abandon average Arizonas for Wall St. bigwigs

Yeah, they served this one up like a BP fastball during baseball's homerun derby so it doesn't seem fair to hit it out of the park.



Too bad.



Earlier today, the U.S. Senate failed to invoke cloture (limit debate) on financial reform. The bill is something that Wall St. interests have been working diligently with the Republicans in the Senate to beat back. (AP coverage, via Yahoo! News, here)

Today, all of the Senate's Republicans, including Arizona's Jon Kyl and John McCain, and one Democratic defector (Ben Nelson of Nebraska) teamed up to put Wall Street's interests before that of Main Street's.

This is nothing new from the McKyl brothers, but it is still a little disappointing and more than a little surprising. In this year where the only people held in lower esteem than long-time elected officials (you know, like Senators McCain and Kyl) are Wall Street executives, this should have been an easy call for our Jon and John.

OK, it probably *was* an easy call for them - both have well-documented histories of placing the interests of deep-pocketed donors above the interests of the people they were sent to D.C. to represent.

"Hola officer!"

Much of the furor surrounding the enactment of SB1070, Russell Pearce's anti-immigrant police state bill, including my own, has stemmed from a worry that the language of the bill will allow/compel law enforcement officers to ethnically profile Arizona's Hispanic residents and visitors ("Where are your papers!").

Language has been put in the bill that purports to bar such profiling, but the rest of the measure was written is such a way (i.e. - saying that LEOs can stop people and question their immigration status based on "reasonable suspicion", without explicitly defining that term) as to render the language barring profiling utterly meaningless.

As such, there is a "trust" gap that has developed between the law enforcement and the non-nativist communities.

Anyone who isn't a hardcore R nativist is worried that they could be stopped at any moment by a LEO and if they aren't carrying proof of citizenship/legal entry into the US, they will be arrested.

While there are certain to be a few Arizona LEOs who abuse the new law (like those who work for Joe Arpaio, Paul Babeu, or in Chandler, for starters), most of Arizona's law enforcement officers are honest, hardworking men and women who are dedicated to serving and protecting the community.

To let them know that we appreciate what they do for us, and that we won't hold the actions of a few bad apples against all of them, when you encounter a police officer, greet them with a warm and hearty


¡Hola Officer!


This idea was inspired by something that I read on Facebook earlier today. I tried to track down the originator to give full credit, but was unable to find it again. My thanks to the originator, and apologies for not finding the original reference.

Arizona Republicans - consistently inconsistent

Just a quick hit...

It's been fun (of the "partisan political geek" variety, anyway) watching the Republicans in CD5 campaign against Rep. Harry Mitchell for being "too partisan" (voting with his fellow Democrats too often) while they have been railing against their own Sen. John McCain for not being Republican enough.

The entertaining problem with that: their accusations contradict each other.

- In the 110th Congress (the last completed session of Congress), Republican John McCain voted with his party 88.2% of the time (source: Washington Post).

- In the same 110th Congress, Harry Mitchell voted with his fellow Democrats only 80.7% of the time (same source)

BTW - "consistently inconsistent" is a euphemism for "consistently hypocritical." Just in case you didn't pick up on that. :)

Speculation on SB1070 and its impact on professional baseball in AZ

Well that didn't take long...

Because of the huge presence of professional baseball in Arizona and Arizona's economy - the Diamondbacks and Spring Training (which most people are aware of), as well as the Arizona Fall League, Arizona Rookie League, Arizona Instructional League (less a league than a post-season version of spring training) and next year's All Star Game, I gave the MLB Commissioner's Office a call at 12:11 p.m. AZ time.

I wanted to ask them about any impact of the new anti-immigrant law here ("Hand Over Your Papers!") on MLB's plans in AZ.

After being referred to the voicemail of someone with their PR organization, I left a message identifying myself, my blog, and my question. No one has gotten back to me yet (it's only been 120 minutes at this writing, so that isn't a criticism), but within 4 minutes, by 12:15 p.m. AZ time, this blog had received a hit from, you guessed it, Major League Baseball.

The info -

Search Engine Phrase random musings
Search Engine Name Google
Search Engine Host www.google.com
Host Name
IP Address 64.95.235.19
Country United States
Region New York
City New York
ISP Major League Baseball

Anyway, while it may be too soon for MLB to have formulated a position on the new law, they probably will have to, and do so very soon.

While the impact of the law on the Diamondbacks and Spring Training may be significant (look for screaming the first time someone from MCSO stops Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera on the street outside of Chase Field and demands to see his papers), there isn't much that can be done over the short term, at least until MLB can figure out how to break leases and agreements. (Look for them to do so when they realize how onerous and oppressive this new law is)

The Arizona Fall League and the Arizona Instructional League shouldn't see much of a short-term impact either - Latin players who are good enough for the AFL tend to be in demand for their countries' winter leagues, and those leagues have first dibs on players from their leagues, and there are enough MLB-sponsored baseball academies in Latin America to handle instructional duties. In addition, they don't have a significant economic or cultural presence in AZ. If MLB moves those operations, only hardcore fans will notice.

The Arizona Rookie League could be a disaster in the making for MLB. It is a league for young, frequently first-year, players. A significant portion (guessstimate: slightly >50%) are 17 and 18-year old Latin players journeying out of their home countries for the first time. Many speak little or no English, and the ones that do, do so with an accent.

In others words, prime targets for dedicated Hispanic hunting squads MCSO sweeps.

Given the inroads that MLB has made into Latin American countries in recent decades (>30% of MLB players are Latin, and the number is still growing), how well will pics of their native sons languishing in one of Arpaio's cells or restraint chairs play there?

Of course, given the low visibility of the League and its players in AZ, and the open bigotry of too many of Arizona's "leaders", there won't be much of a furor in AZ, and if anything, the Pearces and Brewers of AZ will be happy at the idea of imprisoning Dominican (and Venezuelan and Mexican and so on) teenagers and will view international criticism as a source of pride.

That league, the Rookie League, starts play in late June and continues into August, well after the law is expected to go into effect (90 days after the lege adjourns for the year).

In other words, but the end of the summer, potentially a significant percentage* of the next generation of MLB players could find themselves in jail or detained by police to be grilled over their immigration status, all for daring to be born on the wrong side of a line on a map.

That leaves MLB's big club, if they choose to use it.


Next year's All Star Game, planned for Chase Field in Phoenix on July 12. 2o11.


The direct impact of the game and related activities on Phoenix's economy is expected to be in excess of $60 million, with millions more in less-direct economic impacts.

By doing this (enacting an anti-immigrant police state law) more than a year out, the nativists in the lege have created a window of opportunity for MLB to move the game if it so chooses, though it will have to be soon to allow the new site time to adequately prepare (Southern CA might be a good choice - great facilities, experience with big events, and, if MLB wants to send a message, a large Latino population).

Now we wait who MLB wants to keep happy - a few thousand nativists in Arizona, or the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of its players and fans worldwide who don't think that Latinos, whether or not they are baseball players, should be oppressed because of their ethnicity.


*Note - There are 6 North American-based leagues that are primarily made up of first year pros - Arizona, Gulf Coast, Appalachian, Pioneer, Northwest and New York-Penn (Northwest and NY Penn tend to have college age players, the others tend to be younger). There are also MLB-sponsored summer leagues in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, but those players tend to be 17 or younger and solely from those two c0untries. Usually, players who graduate from the Venezuelan and Dominican summer leagues move into the Arizona or Gulf Coast leagues for a season to acclimate to the United States before moving into a full-season minor league.

Why don't I think this will lessen the calls for an economic boycott of Arizona?

Should've covered this last week, but I was busy at the time the news broke (as were most of us). However, the SPLC picked it up and refreshed my memory...

From the Arizona Daily Star -

Tired of watching smugglers and other illegal border crossers walk past, the Cochise County Militia is planning to form a paramilitary squad with permission to confront them.

Bill Davis, who founded the group in 2001, said in an email to supporters Monday that the militia would be forming a "private military company."

" We will be forming a PMC - (Private Military Company) - completely legal!!! - We can be considered paramilitary, but not vigilantes, mercenaries, etc."

Probably not a coincidence that Cochise County is where Russell Pearce wants to appropriate state money to fund a "volunteer security force" to hunt immigrants (HB2162, up for final approval in the Senate today).

Anyway, calls for organizing an economic boycott of Arizona may not be necessary - between the newly-enacted laws turning AZ into a police state ("Gimme your papers!"), into a place where maniacs can carry concealed weapons without a permit, background check, or even basic safety training, and the above, the formation of paramilitary hate groups operating under the imprimatur of state approval, most potential visitors will consider AZ an unsafe place for their companies, families, and selves, and they'll reach that understanding on their own.

The Coming Week - Everybody Else Edition

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

In DC...

...The House's agenda is here. It looks fairly quiet thus far, though H.R. 2499 (Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009) and H.R. 5013 (Implementing Management for Performance and Related Reforms to Obtain Value in Every Acquisition Act of 2010, aka IMPROVE Act) may generate some controversy.

It looks like that after the healthcare reform dust-up earlier this year, the leadership; in the House is going to take it easy on the really controversial stuff.

...Over in the Senate, much of their week will be consumed by consideration of financial regulation overhaul (S. 3217). Call me cynical, but much of the contention on this one seems to be over deciding between faux reform (Senate Ds) and no reform (Senate Rs). The Senate's committee schedule is here.


Here in Arizona...

...The Arizona Corporation Commission is holding a utilities-related meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, agenda here. On Friday, they'll be holding a special open meeting in Globe to solicit public comment on line extension policies of electric utilities.

The ACC's hearing schedule is here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is meeting this week. Their "informal" meeting on Monday has been cancelled, however, Wednesday's "formal" meeting is still on tap.

...The Citizens Clean Election Commission is meeting on Thursday. No agenda posted as yet.

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday, with an executive session at 5:30 p.m. and the regular session at 6:30 p.m. Agenda here.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System is meeting on Wednesday. The executive session agenda is here; regular session agenda here.

...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week. Their calendar of events is here.

...The Scottsdale City Council has a regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday and a special meeting scheduled for noon on Friday to interview finalists for the City Manager's position. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

Not meeting this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project

The wheel of history coming around again...

The names change, both of the victims and the victimizers, but nothing else changes. What the nativists in the lege and on the 9th floor of the Executive Tower are doing is nothing new, they're just adding an Arizona twang to the litany of hate.

From Pastor Martin Niemoller, speaking on the rise of Nazi Germany:

"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu - suffering from latent Arpaioism

Paul Babeu, the Sheriff in Pinal County, has been making the rounds of various MSM outlets and events in support of the newly-enacted police state bill, SB1070.

He's been touting the measure as something that protects the people of Arizona.

He was the featured speaker at an Andrew Thomas press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, supporting Thomas' plan to take over all illegal immigration-related prosecutions if he is elected as Attorney General in November. Even better, he was a guest on a KPHO (Phoenix channel 5) newscast on Friday to support Jan Brewer's decision to sign SB1070 into law.

The video of his appearance is here; the money quote starts at around the :56 mark of the segment (referring to the current laws regarding the actions of law enforcement officials) -

"...we're given the authority to suspend people's Constitutional rights..."

Actually, he's not given such authority - people who are accused of a crime or even convicted of a crime still have rights.

The law enforcement officers involved may or may not like that fact, but it *is* the way it is.

However, more to the point of this post, after living for more than a decade and a half in Maricopa County with a sheriff that exhibits no respect for the Bill of Rights, or even basic human decency, I fear for the people of Pinal County.

They may be in for some of the abuses that we have been getting.

The Coming Week - Legislative Edition

As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona Legislature, except where noted, and subject to change without notice...

There are two reasons to believe that the 2nd Session of the 49th Arizona Legislature is in its final days -

1. The sooner they adjourn, the sooner the 90-day clock starts ticking for SB1070 to become the law of the land. (Brewer may have signed it on Friday, but it doesn't go into effect until 90 days after the lege adjourns sine die).

2. The agendas for the respective chambers' Rules committees are getting shorter, indicating that there will be fewer bills reaching the floor for a final vote.


On the House side...

- Rules will meet Monday in HHR4 upon adjournment/recess of the floor session or "upon announcement" (another indicator that the end is near: scheduling becomes very fluid). Highlights of the agenda: an amended SB1042 (restricting municipalities' abilities to levy building permit and related fees) and SB1443 (inhibiting photo enforcement by placing all kinds of restrictions on procedures post citation issuance).

- Final Read calendar for the floor is posted here. Final Read is for approval of House bills that have been approved by the Senate but with changes. If they changes are too much for the House to accept, they will go to a conference committee to iron out the differences.

- - Monday's conference committee schedule is here.

- Third Read (final approval) calendar is here. Highlights: HB2060 (moving money from the Public Conservation Account of the Land Conservation Fund to the state parks board, the Arizona Historical Society, and the Prescott Historical Society). Because of Voter Protection Act provisions, this will take a 3/4 vote to pass; and SB1309 (a Center for Arizona Theocracy-written measure regarding "parents rights" ).

- COW calendar (Committee of the Whole) is here.


Over on the Senate side, a Rules agenda hasn't been posted as yet. There are a few committees meeting to consider executive branch nominations.

- Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform will meet on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in SHR1 to consider appointments to the Arizona Medical Board and the Radiation Regulatory Hearing Board.

- Education Accountability and Reform will meet on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in SHR1 to consider appointments to the State Board for Charter Schools, the State Board of Education, and the School Facilities Board. One name that stood out upon cursory examination was that of Eileen Klein for the State Board of Education. Klein is Jan Brewer's Chief of Staff.

- Commerce and Economic Development will meet on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in SHR3 to consider appointments to the Greater Arizona Development Authority, Industrial Commission of Arizona, and Arizona Power Authority Commission.

- Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt will meet on Tuesday at 11 a.m. (or upon adjournment of the Senate Education committee) in SHR109 to consider appointments the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Examining Board.

- COW calendars for Monday are posted here and here. There are a number of lousy bills on both, but especially the 2nd one.

- Third Read for Monday is here. A number of bad bills on this one.

- The Caucus Calendar is here. In the absence of a Rules agenda, this one is a good indicator of the measures that may receive floor votes later in the week. It includes HB2250, the Republicans' corporate bailout bill (updated fiscal note here). Combined with the proposed sales tax hike (election day is May 18 for that one), this represents a massive redistribution of money from Arizona's poor and middle classes into the pockets of corporations.


In events news, other than the expected continuing rallies at the Capitol to oppose SB1070, a number of legislators (presumably, mostly Republicans) will be participating in something called "AZ legislators for wildlife shootout" at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility's Clay Target Center on Monday from 4 - 7 p.m.

No word if they will be painting sombreros on the targets beforehand.

Later...

Brewer signs anti-immigrant police state bill

Yes, I predicted exactly this a few days ago, but deep inside, I was hoping that I was being overly cynical

In a move that surprised virtually no one, today Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB1070, enacting the nation's harshest anti-immigrant law. In both her signing statement and an executive order on the matter, she says that the bill, now law, won't engender racial profiling.

Nobody believes that, though.

Some, the Russell Pearces and J.D. Hayworths of the world, have publicly agreed with Brewer, but with a wink and a nod - they want profiling - it's what the law is all about.

Anyway, there are scads of articles and op-eds on Friday's developments. Here are links to a few of them -

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon in the Washington Post (normally I think that Gordon is a tool, but to his credit, he gets this one right)

Huffington Post

E.J. Dionne

Arizona Senate Democrats

Oh hell, there's lots more and I have to go to bed. Just go to Google News to read about Arizona's insanity to your heart's content.

I'll write more after my work week is over. Until then, find out where your local Democratic legislative candidates (or statewide or Congressional candidates) are canvassing this weekend, and volunteer to help. From this very minute all the way through to November.

Anyone wanna start a pool?

Giddy from this week's passage of the anti-immigrant police state bill and today's passage of the birther bill, one of the loons in the lege - perhaps "old guard" loons such as Pearce, Gould, or Harper, or perhaps new guard hatchlings like Antenori, Seel, or Montenegro - will have the bright idea of swearing out a complaint against President Obama under the new anti-immigrant law.

God knows Arpaio would trip over himself trying to get to the airport to serve such a complaint the next time the President visits Arizona. Of course, he wouldn't be worried about tripping, as long as there were TV cameras around.

The pool could be people predicting the time that elapses from the moment the bills become law until a complaint is filed, and who will be out in front of it.

Whaddya think?

:)


Note - To all nativist-friendly law enforcement officers/officials/agencies: The above is a metaphor only, used to make a political point. No actual wagering will take place as a result of the above proposal.