Tony Nelssen, Scottsdale City Councilman, passes away

From a press release on the City of Scottsdale's website -

Councilman Tony Nelssen passes away

The City of Scottsdale is deeply saddened by the passing of Councilman Tony Nelssen on Wednesday, May 26, and extends its sincere condolences and deepest sympathy to the Nelssen family. “This is a great loss for Scottsdale,” said Mayor Jim Lane. “Tony Nelssen was a passionate and dedicated citizen who was truly devoted to improving our community. He was a great colleague and friend, and he will be missed greatly.”

Councilman Nelssen began his service on the Scottsdale City Council in June 2006. He was active in civic affairs for more than two decades prior, serving on a variety of city commissions and advisory groups, as well as neighborhood and civic associations.

In 1996 he founded The Great Sonoran, a group advocating innovative, site specific and climate sensitive architecture suited to the Sonoran Desert. Scottsdale derived much of its sensitive design guidelines from those developed by The Great Sonoran.
He was a member of the Scottsdale Planning Commission for two and one half years, and the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission for six years. On the state level, Councilman Nelssen was a member of the Arizona State Heritage Fund Public Advisory Committee.

Tony Nelssen was a strong equestrian advocate who was named Horse Hero of the year in 2002 in the Town of Cave Creek. Nelssen also taught computer graphics and digital photography at Paradise Valley Community College, and had taught courses at Arizona State University, Phoenix College and Scottsdale Community College.

He is survived by his wife Marg, son Ian and daughter Hannah.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Scottsdale Police Department’s Mounted Unit in Councilman Nelssen’s name. Donations may be made payable to the Scottsdale Police Department Mounted Unit and mailed to police headquarters at 8401 E. Indian School Road, Scottsdale, AZ, 85251.

I barely knew Councilman Nelssen, having met him only once or twice. While we were almost never in agreement politically, no one who met him could ever question his deep love for Scottsdale.

My condolences go out to Tony Nelssen's family and many friends.

Arizona Republic news coverage here; memorials from AZRep columnist Laurie Roberts here and AZRep editorial writer Cindy Hernandez here.

Signature deadline tomorrow in AZ

As nominating petition season draws to a close, most campaigns have submitted their sigs already or have made plans to do so tomorrow before the close of business. A few, such as University Lakes JP John Ore, have announced their retirement.

Note: Ore gained some notoriety late last year after he was outed as the judge who signed a batch of search warrants for Joe Arpaio as part of Arpaio's jihad against other county officials.

Normally, the Maricopa County Recorder's Office and the Arizona Secretary of State update their websites to indicate which candidates have submitted their petitions at the end of the business day, but they haven't done so as of this writing (the SOS' page is here; the link to Maricopa County's is here).

Through yesterday however, there weren't any serious surprises - there are seven R candidates with submitted petitions in CD1, five Rs in CD3, six Rs for LD8 State Rep, five Ds for LD27 State Rep, five Ds for LD28 State Rep, and all still counting. Given the rancor that has suffused politics at all levels in recent months, the number of people interested is somewhat surprising, but then, the number of people who want to change things isn't.

A bigger surprise is the number of independent candidates running so far - Harley Meyer in CD7, Ted Downing and Dave Ewoldt for LD28 State Senate (2?!?) and Gene Chewning for LD27 State Rep.

There must be something in Tucson's water. :)

OK...I've taken so long writing this post, the SOS' office has updated its website.

Turns out I was wrong a few weeks ago when I predicted that none of the late entries into the race for the D nomination for U.S. Senate would make it on to the ballot - both Cathy Eden and John Dougherty submitted their sigs today. In addition, there are now 8 Rs running in CD1; 8 Rs in CD3; 5 Rs in CD5; 4 Rs in CD7; 3 (count 'em, 3!) Libertarians running for Governor; 6 Rs for LD7 State Rep.; 5 Rs for LD22 State Rep.; 6 Ds for LD27 State Rep.

I'll do a more complete post once things are finalized. And once Maricopa County updates its website.

Later....

That didn't take long: R candidate "decertified" by Clean Elections

A Republican candidate for the Arizona Legislature from LD7 has run afoul of Clean Elections and his name is *not* David Burnell Smith.

From the Arizona Capitol Times (subscription and login required) -

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission decertified a Senate candidate after finding that dozens of his $5 contribution forms had been allegedly forged. The commission voted at its May 20 meeting to decertify Robert Green and fine him $20,000.

The agenda for that meeting is here.

Now, this decertification doesn't kick Green off of the ballot, it just affects his campaign financing.

Of course, given that Green submitted his nominating petitions on March 8th, weeks before anyone else, my guess is that a few of the other candidates in the R primary are busy at work, checking to see if Green cut a few corners there, too. They'll verify if Green submitted enough valid sigs to be on the primary ballot (submitted: 570; required: 482; difference: 88).

I understand that the typical AZ Republican despises even the mere idea of Clean Elections, but if a candidate (D, R, or whatever) wants to take CE funding, he or she has to follow the rules associated with running a Clean campaign. Period.

JD Hayworth, channelling his inner John Belushi

I had resolved not to pay much attention to the brouhaha among the Republicans over the Senate seat. Whether their eventual nominee is John McCain or JD Hayworth, Rodney Glassman is a far better choice to represent Arizona in the United States Senate.

However, this one is too good to pass up.

:)

Last week, Hayworth spoke to a group of Republicans, and started expounding on history. Specifically, he claimed that the U.S. never declared war against Nazi Germany.





Now, perhaps I am being too hard on good ol' JD. He's hardly the first famous person to get WW2 history wrong.



When John Belushi spoke about Germany "bombing Pearl Harbor" and when JD spoke about the US never declaring war on Nazi Germany, neither one was citing facts.

The difference being that when Belushi spoke, was just acting. Hayworth actually believes what he spouted.

Of course, they do have one thing in common - whether we are talking about Belushi's classic bit in Animal House or Hayworth's pontifications, hearty laughter is the result.

The McCain campaign may be learning the same lesson that Harry Mitchell learned in 2006 when he defeated Hayworth - the best way to beat JD is to let him be himself.

BTW - to anyone who may be thinking that Hayworth was correct - after an address by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Congress declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, which was followed by Germany and Italy declaring war on the U.S., which was then followed by the U.S. declaring war on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941.

Arizona's STO/Tax Credit Law Headed To The Supreme Court

It might surprise some observers that Arizona's school tuition tax credit law made it to the Supreme Court before Arizona's police-state anti-immigrant law, but the STO law has been around for better than a decade while the immigration law has been on the books for less than a month.

From Education Week -

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to weigh the constitutionality of a 13-year-old Arizona program offering tax credits for donations made to organizations that provide scholarships for children to attend private schools.

A federal appeals court ruled last year that Arizona's tax credit program impermissibly advances religion in violation of the First Amendment's prohibition against any government establishment of religion. It found that the majority of those scholarships go to students attending religious schools, and that some of the "school tuition organizations," or STOs, restrict their scholarships to that purpose.

The STO law has been the subject of scrutiny in recent months, as two competing legislative committees held hearings on the law.

One, chaired by State Rep. David Schapira, heard testimony from people like NAU professor Larry Mohrweis on the almost total lack of transparency and oversight of STOs and their use of redirected tax revenues.

The other committee was an expensive rubber stamp created by House Speaker Kirk Adams for the purpose of expanding the law while shielding the STOs from serious oversight, including the largest STO in the state, which just happens to be run by a fellow Republican legislator (Steve Yarbrough).

Guess which committee's recommendations were embraced by the R majority in the lege?

But I digress... :)

The case will be heard during the next session of the Court.

SCOTUSBlog has coverage here, including links to petitions, briefs, and opinions in the case.

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.

These schedule posts have become intermittent, due in part to the lack of interesting tidbits to cover, as well as election year deadlines in Arizona (sigs are due Wednesday!) cutting into available blogging time. However, this week, there will be a *lot* of budget-related action and other interesting matters up for consideration, especially in D.C. and with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Stuff that is definitely post-worthy.

On to the important stuff...

On the federal level -

- The U.S. House will be handling a number of bills this week as they get ready for the holiday break next week. The highlight this week will be H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2011 (CRS summary here). There will be a massive amount of election-year posturing over this one, whether of the "fiscal responsibility" or the "I'm a patriot" variety. Still, it's only an authorization bill, not an appropriations bill, and they all will want to make the earliest possible flights out of town on Friday. The posturing will be loud, but efficient.

Also on the agenda: Consideration of a Senate amendment to H.R. 4213, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (most current CRS summary here); H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act (CRS summary here - it's designed to limit corporate control of election campaigns); and further consideration of H.R. 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (previously blocked by the House GOP when the measure came to the House floor under "suspension of the rules," requiring a 2/3 majority to pass, it's coming back in a way that will require only a simple majority to pass).

- The U.S. Senate will be doing, you know, "Senate" stuff this week. That includes a committee schedule with hearings on the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, impacts of consolidation on the airline industry, and more (lots of executive branch nominations). There will also be floor consideration of H.R. 4899, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010.

...Back here in Arizona -

- The Arizona Corporation Commission will be holding a public comment session in Prescott Valley on Tuesday. The subject will be

Public Comment in the Matter of the Application of the Commission’s, Docket No. E-00000J-10-0044, inquiry and potential rulemaking regarding line extension policies of electric utilities, including but not limited to, alternative rate designs related to apportionment and rate recovery of cost of construction and installation of electric utility line extensions, the use of free footage and/or dollar allowances in line extension tariffs, the treatment of proceeds associated with line extensions as contributions in aid of construction (CIAC) and/or revenue, and the ability for third-party vendors to contract to install line extensions for electric utilities.

The ACC will be holding a regular "Utilities" meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, agenda here.
The Commission's regular hearing schedule is here.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a busy and "colorful" week on tap.

-- Monday's Informal meeting is dedicated to budget matters, including the tentative adoption of next year's budget.

-- Later on Monday, the Supes will be holding a Special meeting dedicated to a financial review of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. This one could include a contempt hearing over Sheriff Joe Arpaio's refusal to turn over financial records for the review. There is some question about the procedures for the contempt hearing, so the hearing schedule may yet be changed or be cancelled entirely. More AZ Republic coverage here. This one could be the most interesting event of the week, or it could fizzle completely.

- - On Wednesday, the Supes have a Formal meeting scheduled. The agenda is a long one.

- The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will be holding an executive session on Monday (relating to legal matters and contracts - the agenda items are rather vague, intentionally so, I think) and a regular meeting on Wednesday (highlight: budget-related stuff). MIHS' Legislative summary will also be on the agenda. Like most of us, their primary focus is on the state's budget situation.

- The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, agenda here. It looks pretty mundane thus far, though there is an item to change the length of the terms of the Board President and Secretary from one to two years. After the regular meeting will be an executive session regarding employment of the Chancellor of the District, Rufus Glasper. There have been issues of contention between the Chancellor and certain board members, so this particular exec session could be one that most MCCCD observers wish was a public session. Look for public fallout from this meeting to reach an agenda in June.

- The City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale aren't scheduled to hold regular meetings this week, though Tempe will hold a special meeting on Friday to accept the results from last week's election. Tempe's Council Calendar is here; Scottsdale's Community Meetings Notice is here.

Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project

Later...

Dark Clouds, Silver Linings, and Lessons

The results of Tuesday's elections across the country offer a silver lining of hope in what has long been considered to be a dark year for Democrats. And nowhere is that silver lining brighter than in Arizona.

To whit:

- Dark cloud: Libertarian (dressed in Republican clothing) Rand Paul wins the R nomination for Senate in Kentucky.

- Silver lining: He's already imploding, coming out against the Civil Rights Act...before backing off (sort of). Guess he was against the Act before he was for it.

- Silver lining2 - Paul received 206,960 votes in the R primary; Daniel Mongiardo, the 2nd place Democrat in the D primary, received 225,159. There are almost 600K more Ds than Rs in Kentucky. They are Ds of a conservative bent (hence the two Rs currently representing KY in the U.S. Senate) but they won't put up with the public embarrassment that Paul is threatening to become.

- Lesson: The most "whatever" candidate in a party's primary may not be that party's *best* candidate. Not making a prediction here (yet), but despite the Tea Party's glee over Paul's nomination, winning the nomination isn't the same as winning the office. This race is far from over. The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in KY, Jack Conway, is in a solid position entering the general election campaign.


- (Not so) Dark cloud: Democrat Mark Critz won the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District. The win keeps the Ds' perfect record in head-to-head special elections held since the 2008 election intact and allows them to retain the seat held by the late Jack Murtha for the better part of four decades.

- Silver lining: Critz may have shown the way to beat the Rs' standard campaign platform of running against D.C., Nancy Pelosi, and those durn "liberal" Democrats, and it's the most basic lesson in politics - all politics is local. The R in the race, Tim Burns, ran as a generic national Republican/Club for Growth candidate, campaigning against Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Critz stumped the western PA district and talked about jobs.

Critz won.

- Lesson: No matter if the pundits think that the trends in a given election cycle dramatically favor one party over another (as they think that 2010 favors Rs over Ds), any single race is usually won by the candidate who runs the better, more district-focused, campaign.


- Dark cloud: Republicans all over Arizona are grasping for the chance to go Congress.

- Silver lining: Their primaries have become cattle call, "I'm more conservative than thou" slugfests.

- - In the race for U.S. Senate, former radio gabber JD Hayworth is looking to unseat fellow Republican John McCain, pulling the heretofore not-exactly-liberal McCain into Hayworth's (and the Tea Party's) nativist, anti-government ideological territory.

All the while, Democrat Rodney Glassman is turning in his sigs, opening his Phoenix headquarters, and reaching out to *all* Arizona voters, not just the nativists.

- - In CD5, Republican perennial candidates Susan Bitter Smith and David Schweikert have been joined by electoral newcomers Jim Ward and Chris Salvino in their race to unseat Democratic incumbent and local icon Harry Mitchell. The Rs are running anti-immigrant/anti-Obama campaigns (Salvino's signs even start with "Stop Obama", not his name). Mitchell is working for his district, reining in Congressional pay, and protecting America's veterans.

-- In the CD3 battle royal to replace the soon-to-be retired John Shadegg, there are at least a dozen open committees on the Republican side (Moak, Waring, Winkler, and Quayle have already filed their signatures) and they're all running as the "real" conservative in the race. They've been whipsawing between toeing the nativist line and nuzzling the corporate teat.

All the while, Jon Hulburd, the only Democrat in the race already in general election mode, talking to voters in the district and honing his message, starting with his number one issue, jobs.

-- In CD8, at least three Republicans, including SB1070 and payday loan industry supporter Jonathan Paton, are duking it out for a chance to face incumbent Democrat Gabrielle Giffords (D-Tucson). Paton, the presumed R nominee, has been spending time in Phoenix, far from his district, holding a $1000 per person fundraiser at an Arizona Diamondbacks game; Giffords countered with an event held much closer to home - Hi Corbett Field in Tucson at a Tucson Toros game.

- Lesson: We'll see in November. I might be mistaken about where this is all leading, but the Ds are doing things right while their erstwhile R challengers are trying to stick political knives in each other's backs and making the rounds of the usual suspects, hoping to schmooze them into opening their wallets.

Later...

Federal court upholds Clean Elections matching funds

From a Howard Fischer story in the AZ Daily Star -

Arizona laws which give matching dollars to publicly financed candidates for office when their privately funded foes spend more are legal, a federal appeals court ruled today.

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by challengers - including the state treasurer and several legislators - that the provision of the voter-approved financing scheme violates their First Amendment rights. The challengers, all of whom ran with private donations, said it's wrong for the state to give more money to their political foes just because they have more cash.

Today's ruling overturns the conclusion of U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver who had voided the law.

The filers of the suit said that the matching funds provisions of Clean elections infringed on their free speech rights.

I say that the provision only infringes on their abilities to buy elections, something that is *not* protected under the U.S. Constitution.

For the first time in a long time, common sense won out in a matter related to Arizona. Enjoy the moment...

Prop 100 passing...

The results aren't finalized yet, but with 84% of the polling places reporting, support for the temporary 1% increase in the state's sales tax is outpacing opposition by nearly 300,000 votes.

Governor Jan Brewer has pledged that the revenue from the tax increase won't go toward tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, but there is still a persistent rumor that there will a special session for a new "jobs bill."

This isn't over, and won't be until the composition of the legislature is changed in November.

Len Copple, former Tempe City Councilman and community activist, passes away

Picture courtesy the website of the City of Tempe's website.





















From the City of Tempe press release -

Former Tempe City Councilmember Leonard (Len) Copple, 68, passed away early Monday morning after a courageous battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia. What will be long remembered are the decades of service, the wit and the character of the man behind what some call the city’s “velvet voice.”

Copple, a retired Tempe lawyer, served two terms on the Tempe City Council, from 1998 to 2006. In 1994, he was appointed to serve a six-month Council term for Don Cassano, who resigned to run for Mayor. Copple served on the city’s Planning and Zoning commission from 1984 to 1989. For many years, his commanding voice could be heard on the city of Tempe’s on-hold messaging system describing various community amenities and services. Copple’s family said Monday that he was perhaps most proud of his role in bringing light rail and the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon to Tempe.

Tempe Community Council (TCC) named Copple a “Tempe Treasure,” as he had been nominated many times for that organization’s Don Carlos Humanitarian Award. He was the front desk receptionist for TCC’s Earned Income Tax Credit program for eight of the last nine years. Copple also had many years of involvement with Tempe Sister Cities and other community organizations.

“Len was not only a voice for those without; he was fiercely dedicated to improving Tempe through his charitable volunteer work,” said TCC Executive Director Kate Hanley. “He was a friend to everyone he met.”

Services will be 1 p.m. Sunday, May 23, at Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church, 1565 E. Warner Rd., in Tempe.

Copple is survived by his wife, Jean, three children, six grandchildren and a brother. The family asks that donations be made to the Friends of the Tempe Center for the Arts (700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, 85281) or to the Leukemia andLymphoma Society (http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/rnr10/cathyswann).

From the AZ Republic story on Copple's passing -

Councilman Ben Arredondo served with Copple on the Tempe City Council during Copple's terms from 1998 to 2006.

Copple was a stellar example of what a civic leader should be, Arredondo said.

"I thought Leonard was one of the most honorable persons I've served with. He stood by his convictions," Arredondo said. "I think that the two things he'll be remembered for are his honesty and his honorable intentions. That's what it takes to be a strong politician that people respect."

In a phone conversation, Corey Woods, a current member of the Tempe City Council spoke of Copple's kindness both toward the community (which has been well documented), and toward individuals.

For instance, after Woods' first run at a council seat in 2006, Copple volunteered to help first-time candidate Woods take down his campaign signs. After that, they were fast friends. They remained so even after Copple left politics behind, frequently meeting at Pier 54 in Tempe for lunch. There, Copple would often serve as a confidante and sounding board.

An emotional Woods observed "the entire community will miss him."

Expect more tributes to Copple in the coming days.

My condolences go out to Copple's family and friends on their loss.

McCain/Hayworth isn't the only colorful Senate race this year

...of course, given that we live in Arizona, McCain v. Hayworth is the one we've heard the most about.

Not a good day for incumbents and "establishment" candidates in either major party.


...In Kentucky, in a development that is certain to gladden the hearts of Tea Party types, Rand Paul (the son of Congressman Ron Paul) seems to have won the Republican primary in the Senate race there. The "establishment" GOP candidate there, Trey Grayson, had the support of most of the big names in the GOP, including Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell.

It didn't help Grayson, though Paul's victory may help the Democrats - Paul may be too extreme even for Kentucky's voters.

...In Pennsylvania, incumbent Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat again Senator Arlen Specter is facing a spirited challenge from Congressman Joe Sestak. While it's hard to consider a sitting Congressman to be an "outsider", Specter has been supported by President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Pennsylvania's Governor, Ed Rendell, and the party infrastructure. Sestak definitely qualifies as the outsider in this race.

Specter has lost the primary; now Joe Sestak will find out if it is an anti-incumbent wave sweeping the country, or an anti-Democrat.

...In Arkansas, incumbent Blanche Lincoln (D-Wal Mart) is being challenged by progressive Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter. She was favored to gain a plurality in today's primary, but under Arkansas law, she needed to gain a majority to avoid a run-off in early June. She didn't reach a majority, so a run-off will take place.

Her vulnerability seems to be over her wishy-washy stance on health care reform. She voted for the final HCR package, ticking off the Tea Party types, but was adamantly opposed to a public option (you know, *real* health care reform), ticking off the Democratic base and every Arkansan who is un- or under-insured.

Again, the party establishment (and Big Business) is supporting Lincoln (with Labor supporting Halter), and while she seems likely to win the nomination, grassroots disaffection with her may cost the Ds the seat in November.

...In other "colorful" elections developments, the presumed D nominee in Connecticut to replace the retiring Sen. Chris Dodd, current CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has been fighting allegations that he exaggerated his record of military service, saying that he had served in Vietnam when he had in fact only volunteered for the Marine Corps Reserve and had never actually been in Vietnam. He says that he "misspoke" and has apologized. It remains to be seen how this affects his candidacy.

The Connecticut Democrats will be holding a nominating convention this weekend. If another D candidate receives 15% of the vote, there will be a primary. Stay tuned on this one.

The next question, and we won't learn the answer until November, is whether tonight was an indication of a general anti-incumbent wave or if it was more the grassroots of each party flexing their muscles and knocking off candidates who weren't seen as "good" Democrats/Republicans.

Quick update - early signature filers

Nominating petitions aren't due until next Wednesday, but they are already rolling in across the Valley and across the state.


From a phone conversation with Carolyn Jagger, City Clerk of Scottsdale, the list of candidates for city council who have submitted their petitions already -

Joe Penalosa
Bob Littlefield (incumbent)
Tony Nelssen (incumbent)
Guy Phillips
Ned O'Hearn (former councilman)


Statewide and federal offices, courtesy the AZ Secretary of State's website,

U.S. Senate - Jim Deakin and J.D. Hayworth (both Rs)

U.S. Congress, CD1 - Bradley Beauchamp (R)

CD2 - Trent Franks (R)

CD3 - Steve Moak, Ed Winkler, Jim Waring (all Rs)

CD4 - Ed Pastor (D)

CD5 - Susan Bitter Smith and David Schweikert (Rs)

CD6 - Jeff Smith (R)
\
CD7 - Ruth McClung (R)

CD8 - Jesse Kelly (R)

Arizona Governor - Terry Goddard (D), Ron Cavanagh and Bruce Olsen (Ls), Jan Brewer, John Munger and Matthew Jette (Rs)

Arizona Secretary of State - Sam Wercinski (D) and Ken Bennett (R)

Arizona Attorney General - Felecia Rotellini (D), Tom Horne and Andrew Thomas (Rs)

Arizona Treasurer - Doug Ducey, Barbara Leff, and Thayer Verschoor (Rs)

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction - Margaret Dugan and John Huppenthal (Rs)

Arizona Corporation Commission - David Bradley and Jorge Luis Garcia (Ds), Brenda Burns, Gary Pierce, and Barry Wong (Rs)


I've got an email out to the Maricopa County Elections Department inquiring after similar info for the county-wide offices up this time around (county attorney and the governing board of the Central Arizona Project), but they haven't replied as of this writing. I'll update when that info becomes available.

Later...

Municipal budget time

Most of the state's political attention is on this week's special election to raise the state's sales tax by 1 percentage point or on the latest development in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

However, folks may want to start paying a little of that attention to matters closer to home.

Specifically, the municipal budget process.

Most cities and towns in AZ are finalizing their FY2011 budgets and are holding hearings to publicize their proposed revenues and expenditures for the coming year.

- On Tuesday in Scottsdale, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the budget proposal and proposed rates and fees during its regularly scheduled meeting (full agenda here). Also on the agenda: proposed changes to the City's charter to be offered for voter approval in November. Some interesting proposals here, but I'll cover those in a separate post closer to the election. The City's budget resource webpage is here.

- On Thursday and Friday, Tempe's City Council will be holding a number of mostly budget-related meetings.

After Thursday's regularly scheduled Council meeting (agenda for that here), they will be holding a meeting of the Rio Salado Community Facilities District Board to consider the tentative budget and assessments for the district.

On Friday, the Tempe City Council will be holding a budget workshop. The agenda for that includes discussion of "budget balancing" proposals for the City's Golf Fund, Performing Arts Fund, Transportation Fund, and Transit Fund (more layoffs coming, folks) and a discussion of the City's Capital Improvement Plan follow up.

Look for similar meetings in the other cities and towns in AZ shortly, if they haven't taken place already.

While the antics of the state legislature and governor garner more press (and notice from the likes of me), what our City Councils are doing has a far more direct impact on our day-to-day lives, and deserve at least as much attention.

Jan Brewer wants to "rebrand" Arizona's image

Arizona's unelected governor, Jan Brewer, has finally realized the furor over the police-state bill that she signed into law, SB1070, won't die down. Arizona's image across the country and the world has become that of a virulently redneck place where minorities and outsiders are only welcome in our prisons and jails.

So in typical Jan fashion, she's forming a commission of business types and giving them some of the state's ever-more scarce financial resources ($250K!) to get the message out that Arizona really is a swell place to visit, gosh darn it.

From the AZ Republic article -

Acknowledging that Arizona has developed a serious image problem because of its tough new immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer and tourism-industry leaders said Thursday that they will launch a new effort to stanch the flow of lost trade and convention business in the state.

{snip}

A new task force is charged with rebranding and repositioning the state as a unique destination spot.

That is sure to be a tough task after weeks of talk-show comedians, celebrities, politicians and others making Arizona a punch line, calling the law racist and drawing comparisons to fascism and Nazi Germany.

{snip, for the big whopper of the piece}

The governor said much of the furor is caused by what she characterized as "mistruths" about the new law.

As an example, Brewer said it has been erroneously reported that the new immigration law would allow racial profiling and that visitors can't come to Arizona without ID or they'll be arrested.

"You aren't going to be asked for ID unless you first commit a crime," she said.

To address the lie first - SB1070 contains the following section:

FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY OF A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON...

That section was adjusted with the passage of HB2162 with this language -

For any lawful contact STOP, DETENTION OR ARREST made by a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency of this state or a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency of a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF ANY OTHER LAW OR ORDINANCE OF A COUNTY, CITY OR TOWN OR THIS STATE...

Not really an improvement that. The law has gone from "arrest immigrants and tourists for asking a police officer for directions or the time of day" to "arrest immigrants and tourists for merely being in the vicinity of a noise ordinance or sign code violation (think that there will be any of those in an election year?)".

No crime has to be committed by a person for the police to demand to see their papers, they only have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Victims, witnesses, and even completely uninvolved bystanders are at risk for arrest. And the kicker is, if the law enforcement officer understands that and doesn't demand to see the papers of everyone he has contact with, he will get sued by anybody who so desires. In short, the law is written in such a way as to condition law enforcement officers to go after everybody, even if it is counterproductive to public safety or justice.

Anyway, if Jan and her clan want to improve Arizona's image, here are a few suggestions to her from someone who is sick of starting conversations with outsiders with "Hi, I'm from Arizona, and no, we aren't all nuts" -

1. People won't boycott AZ over bigoted police state laws if you don't sign them in the first place.

Duh.

2. Quit enacting laws like the "anybody can carry a concealed weapon without training or a background check" law. Not only do outsiders think that we are bigots, they think that we are bigots who are heavily-armed and trigger-happy. And who can get our drunk on earlier than ever before.

3. Stop lying about the problem, and instead focus your energy on fixing it.

Later...

Pearce facing challengers for his seat in the AZ Senate

While State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) has been traipsing across the country and the cable news shows crowing about his police state bill, challengers have been lining up for a chance to represent West Mesa in the Arizona State Senate.

...In February, Robert H. McDonald announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the LD18 Senate seat.

...In mid-April, Andrea Garcia formed a committee to pursue the Libertarian nomination in LD18.

...A week later in April, Andrew Sherwood formed a committee for the Democratic nomination, setting up a primary on the Democratic side of the ballot, something that hasn't happened since at least 1992 (which was as far back as I checked. The area covered by LD18 now was LD29 in the 1990s. Before that, I don't know what district it was.)

During the last nine election cycles, there hasn't been even one instance of a contested primary on the D side of the Senate ballot. In fact, in many of the cycles, there hasn't been even one Democratic challenger for the Senate seat.

*Two" Democrats duking it out for the chance to unseat Pearce after years of token opposition (and not even that much of of the time)? Be still my beating heart...

I don't know much about Sherwood or McDonald at this point, but Garcia has turned in her nominating petitions. On her website, she even talks about how she submitted "nearly twice the required number [of signatures] to qualify for the August 24th primary election."

Sounds like a groundswell of support, if only of the ABRP variety (ABRP = Anybody But Russell Pearce), right?

It does, until you find out that as a Libertarian, she only needs 6 signatures to qualify for the ballot.

She submitted 11, so her "nearly twice the required number" statement *is* technically true, but... :)

Anyway, after months of embarrassing the state and years of doing everything except for representing his district, Pearce looks to be facing serious competition this time around.

Later...