Breaking: Politico.com reporting Jon Kyl not running for reelection

Thanks for the heads-up on this goes out to the blog Arizona's Politics...

From Politico, written by David Catanese -

Kyl to retire, won't seek another term



Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl will announce he won't seek another term at a press conference in his home state Thursday morning, POLITICO has learned.

The third-term Kyl was first elected to the Senate in 1994.

A GOP operative notes that the last time Arizona elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate was 1988 -- 22 years ago.

Assuming this report is accurate, and rumors to this effect have been swirling for weeks, even months, this development, along with redistricting and the addition of a ninth Congressional seat to Arizona, would turn next year's elections here into complete free-for-all.

Look for Republicans Jeff Flake and John Shadegg, current and former members of Congress, respectively, to be two of the most prominent names in any discussion of potential candidates to replace Kyl.

They won't be the *only* ones, however.

More later...

Rep. Ed Ableser introduces a version of the Utah Compact into the Arizona Legislature

LD17's Representative Ed Ableser has introduced HCR2038, a resolution patterned after the famous Utah Compact.  It lists a set of principles for a civil discussion of immigration issues.

I'm enough of a cynic that I'm sure it won't go anywhere in the Arizona legislature but it's definitely worthy of posting here -

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring:

That in discussing immigration issues the citizens of this state should be guided by the following principles:

1. Immigration is a federal policy issue between the United States government and other countries, not Arizona and other countries. Arizona's congressional delegation, and others, should lead efforts to strengthen federal laws and protect our national borders and state leaders should adopt reasonable policies addressing immigrants in Arizona.

2. We respect the rule of law and support the professional judgment and discretion of law enforcement authorities. Local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of the federal code.

3. Strong families are the foundation of successful communities. We oppose policies that unnecessarily separate families. We champion policies that support families and improve the health, education and well-being of all Arizona children.

4. Arizona is best served by a free-market philosophy that maximizes individual freedom and opportunity. We acknowledge the economic role immigrants play as workers and taxpayers. Arizona's immigration policies must reaffirm our global reputation as a welcoming and business-friendly state.

5. Immigrants are integrated into communities across Arizona. We must adopt a humane approach to this reality, reflecting our unique culture, history and spirit of inclusion. The way we treat immigrants says more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors. Arizona should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill.

The measure was introduced on February 9 ("today" as I'm writing this) and assigned to the House Government Committee.

Anti-14th Amendment/Birthright Citizenship update: Bills transferred to friendlier committee

On Monday, the Judiciary Committee of the Arizona Senate failed to move two nativist-written and -sponsored anti-birthright citizenship bills.

On Tuesday, Senate President Russell Pearce withdrew the bills from Judiciary to the Appropriations Committee for consideration (SB1309 and SB1308).

They are scheduled for consideration there on Tuesday, February 15 (next Tuesday) at 2 p.m. in SHR109.

The bills are expected to find a far friendlier reception in Appropriations than in Judiciary. 

While there is some overlap between the memberships of the two committees, it's an overlap that favors passage.

On the Judiciary Committee, Ron Gould and Andy Biggs are the chair and vice-chair respectively; on Appropriations, they switch jobs. 

Both favored the bills.

In addition, Judiciary member Rick Murphy is also on Appropriations, and he favored the bills at Monday's hearing.

Opponent Adam Driggs and (likely) opponent John McComish are NOT on Appropriations, so their voices and their votes won't be heard Tuesday.

Instead, the Republicans hearing the bill will be:

Sylvia Allen, Russell Pearce's close friend and ally
Andy Biggs, who has already made it clear that he wholeheartedly supports the bills and a cosponsor of both
Rich Crandall, a very conservative Republican who has occasional bouts of sanity
Ron Gould, who is known for celebrating the 4th of July by flying a Confederate flag in his backyard and is the originating sponsor of both measures
Lori Klein, who started the latest dustup over legislators carrying guns at the Capitol and a cosponsor of both measures
Al Melvin, who is a cosponsor of both measures
Rick Murphy, who is also a cosponsor of both measures
Don Shooter, another cosponsor and Kool-Aid drinker (and purveyor)
Steve Smith, yet another cosponsor of both measures

The Appropriations Committee is larger than Judiciary (13 members vs. 8), so it will need at least seven votes to pass, but by my count, at least seven members are sponsors/cosponsors, and Sylvia Allen is expected to vote whatever way Russell Pearce wants her to (to be fair to Allen, she appears to be a "true believer," not a tool...not exactly a marked improvement, that).

That leaves Rich Crandall, who though known for occasionally not being a total ideologue, doesn't let sanity or decency get in the way of a safe political future.  He voted for SB1070 last year.

The bottom line:  SBs 1308 and 1309 will pass Appropriations by an 8 - 5 or 9 - 4 vote.

The brightest spot in all this?  Kyrsten Sinema, who eloquently and strongly debunked the nativists in the Senate Judiciary hearing, is also a member of Appropriations.  She will be joined by fellow Democrats Olivia Cajero Bedford, Paula Aboud, and Senate Democratic Leader David Schapira.

See you Tuesday, and bring your popcorn...

Redistricting Update: Pearce names Richard Stertz to Redistricting Commission

From the Arizona Daily Star, written by Rhonda Bodfield -

Senate President Russell Pearce picked Pima County Republican Richard Stertz to serve as the third member of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.


Stertz, who runs a faith-based organization geared toward getting churches more involved in the community, won out over Benny White, another Tucson Republican. The commission is charged with redrawing political boundaries using new census figures.

Stertz, who had some late taxes and some earlier civil litigation that was not disclosed on his application, was placed into the mix after Pearce and House Speaker Kirk Adams challenged some members of the initial selection.

The "late taxes" and other "civil litigation" that weren't disclosed by Stertz on his application are just a wee bit more significant than Bodfield's single subordinate clause would indicate.

From the Arizona Republic, written by Mary Jo Pitzl -

A candidate on Senate President Russell Pearce's short list for a committee to redraw Arizona's political boundaries failed to disclose tax liens and court judgments against him, although such disclosure is required.

Rick Stertz, in his application for the Independent Redistricting Commission, indicated that he had paid all taxes when due and that he had no court judgments filed against him.
Records in Pima County show otherwise; there are at least four court cases in which judgments were filed against Stertz, as well as two federal tax liens.

The tax lien records are here, also courtesy the Arizona Republic.

From Stertz' application for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission -

10.   Have you paid all state, federal, and local taxes when due?  Yes (X)  No ( )  If your answer is "No," explain by attachment.

At the end of the application form, he swore an oath that "the statements contained in this application are true and correct to the best of my knowledge."

Oh, and that oath was notarized. 

So it seems possible, even likely, that Russell "it's the law!" Pearce has knowingly appointed a perjurer to the AIRC.

Apparently, Pearce expects that only dark-skinned people have to respect the law.

Welcome to Arizona politics.

A quick history lesson for rookie legislators

Terri Proud, a Tucson tea party type and freshman Republican legislator, has introduced HB2657, a measure to require that all municipal and school board elections be conducted as partisan affairs.

Ummmm.  OK.  Really.

I just wonder if, before she sacrificed a tree to put her brilliant idea onto paper, she spoke to any of the other Republicans in the legislature.  Or even those from her district in Tucson.

I suspect not, because anybody who can recall the deepest parts of Arizona history...or at least back to 2009.

SB1123.

Sponsored by a slew of southern AZ Republicans, including her current seatmate Vic Williams, it prohibited municipalities from holding partisan municipal elections.  It was targeted at Tucson, which was the only municipality in the state that held partisan elections.

The measure was a going-away gift from former Sen. Jonathan Paton, who would soon resign from the lege in order to focus on a run for Congress (he lost in the R primary to Jesse Kelly).

Paton and the Tucson Republicans were overjoyed at SB1123's passage, not because they opposed the idea of partisan elections, but because they almost always get their butts kicked in Tucson when they run as Republicans. 

Proud's measure would roll back that perceived gain.

As of this writing, the bill has not been assigned to a committee, and since most of the House R leadership has been around a while and aren't forgetful, I don't expect this bill to go far.

David Schweikert: "Master Of The Budget Numbers", or "Master Of The Lobbyist Payoff Game"?

David Schweikert (R-Club for Growth) was the subject of a recent puff piece on the conservative news site Human Events (of course, calling it a "news" site is like calling Bristol Palin a "dancer").

The writer lauded Schweikert (as Schweikert lauded himself) for being a "fiscal conservative" and touting his desire to rein in federal debt.

Schweikert feels that government spending beyonds its means is dreadful and must be stopped at all costs except, possibly, for raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.  He has even proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, H.J. Res. 23, that would mandate that the federal budget be balanced (no text available online yet as the measure was introduced just yesterday).

That feeling, however, doesn't apply to his *own* spending.  Nope, he's a lot more "flexible" where that is concerned.

According to his most recent FEC filing, his campaign has a little more that $16K cash on hand, while over $500K in debt and loan obligations, almost all to himself ($500K in loans).

Not to worry though, as Schweikert is a man with a plan.

In this case, he's got a lobbyist schmoozefest/begging session scheduled for Thursday in DC.

Information on the event, courtesy the Sunlight Foundation -

For: David Schweikert (R, AZ-5)
When: Feb. 10th, 2011 (6 p.m.)
Where: Acadiana - 901 New York Ave NW
Type of Event: Dinner
Contribution Information: $2,500 Host; $1,000 PAC; $500 Individual
Make Checks Payable To: Manzullo for Congress - PO Box 368 Falls Church, VA 22040
RSVP: Meredith Hurt; mhurt@thehammondgrp.com

This looks a whole lot like money laundering, and I'm not talking about the "Make Checks Payable To: Manzullo for Congress" instruction - I *think* that's a typo as both Schweikert and Don Manzullo (R-IL16) are both clients of Hammond and Associates, a Republican fundraising "consultant."  They (Hammond and Associates) have the same mailing address on their website as is listed on the invitation.

Basically, Schweikert has officially "loaned" his campaigns (2008 and 2010) half a million dollars and now as a sitting member of Congress, he is now reaching out for lobbyist handouts to pay for his profligate personal spending.

At this point, I'd normally make a crack about watching for Schweikert to place advocating for the interests of corporations before advocating for the interests of his official constituents, the people of Arizona's 5th Congressional District.

However, it's long been known that if someone's last name can't be abbreviated "Corp.", "Inc.", or "LLC", Foreclosure Dave isn't there for them*.

* = One exception:  If that someone's job title can be abbreviated "CEO"...

P.S. - If you don't believe me, check out the list of contributors from his most recent FEC filing (linked above).

Perhaps if Schweikert wants people to believe that he is truly an advocate for fiscal responsibility, he should try, you know, *being* fiscally responsible.  Right now, however, it looks like the only things that differentiates him from JD Hayworth, the most recent Republican to hold the AZ5 seat, are visibly longer hair and no visible ties to Jack Abramoff.

Of course, Abramoff was released from confinement less than two months ago, so it may take a little more time for him to rebuild his "circle of influence."

Apparently, AZGOPers play favorites when it comes to the Bill of Rights

While the Founding Fathers may have placed the First Amendment to the US Constitution first, it's one of the Rs least favorites, at least based on their behavior Monday.

- In the House Ways and Means Committee meeting, committee chair Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) refused to allow a representative from the Maricopa Integrated Health System (MIHS) to speak on a bill that would micromanage MIHS' procurement procedures.

From Mary Jo Pitzl, writing for the Arizona Republic -

In a public hearing, not all are equal . . . or heard ... at least not in Rep. Jack Harper's Ways and Means Committee.
Harper refused to let a lobbyist for the Maricopa Integrated Health System speak Monday on House Bill 2207. The bill would require MIHS to use "competitive procurement rules" or adopt those used by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors when it comes to buying equipment and certain services.

It was the third time the bill has been before the committee, but a strike-everything amendment changed its direction from an earlier version. MIHS lobbyist John McDonald asked to testify, but Harper refused, saying nothing was served by "having a lobbyist here to speak against the taxpayer week in and week out."

- And across the Capitol quad in the Senate building, Sen. Ron Gould was running the Senate Judiciary meeting with a tool that was less "gavel" and more "sledge hammer."

He gavelled down applause, barked at a photographer for disrupting "his" (Gould's) meeting and interrupted and challenged any speaker who said something he didn't agree with.  In fact, the only public speakers that I saw him act courteously toward were John Eastman (speaking on the anti-14th Amendment bills) and John Wentling (speaking in favor of the "firearms omnibus" bill).

Both were there to support Gould's position on the bills.  Probably not a coincidence, that.

The video archives of the meetings (2/7/2011) can be found here.  Note: the audio quality of the Ways and Means hearing is poor constantly, fading in and out.

Texas 1963 --- Arizona 2011

A guest post from Jerry Gettinger of Scottsdale, a friend and a friend of the blog -

I was a young 23, starting a career and living in San Antonio, Texas. It was late November in 1963 when I and the rest of a 50 person office heard that JFK was going to pass by the office on his way to the airport. Very exciting. The office was on the ground floor and maybe 20 yards from the street to where I was standing along with a few “buddies.” Suddenly, a wave of sound came around the corner and there he was…and Jackie also and in the back seat the Governor, John Connelly and his wife. The car was a Lincoln convertible, big and Presidential-looking. There was only one policeman who was responsible for keeping the crowd at bay. And he really wasn’t needed. We were all well-behaved in those days. Of course there were Secret Service men running along-side.

As JFK passed by a thought came into my mind. I turned to my friend and mentioned how easy it would be to put a bullet into the president. But who would think of doing such a thing? Would never happen. As I think back, it was so obvious and so easy that it should not have been surprising that it did happen. The next day, I was at my desk talking to a customer when he said there was something on the TV about JFK being shot. I put the phone down and was about to yell when someone came running in and yelled that the President had been shot in Dallas. I looked over at the friend to whom I had remarked the day before. Our eyes met and there was that look of disbelief. But it was true and JFK was dead a short while later.I can’t explain it, but I have always had the feeling that everything changed when JFK died. It was never the same again. No one was safe, there were no rules anymore. Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and now Tucson. It sounds cold, but what happened in Tucson was not a surprise. It was shocking and even more so, sad, sad, sad. But not surprising. I haven’t heard anyone say that the senseless massacre was a surprise. It started on a chilly day in Texas and continues in Tucson. The players change. The method is the same (guns), although the numbers have increased along with the ability to kill faster. Hi-Tech. Tucson, we hope is a turning point, like Columbine High School, or Virginia Tech, or, who knows what is next.
 I remember as if it were yesterday. JFK was bigger than life in person, and Jackie was hot. Every time there is a tragedy I think back to that open car that the president was in. So vulnerable. Only this time, it was a 9- year-old child and many more. When are we going to stop the craziness? Buying assault weapons for target practice? On who? A nine year old? If something isn’t done, there will be another. That is certain. Tucson was not an isolated event perpetrated by a lunatic. (Shooting a nine year old child?). It was another episode in a series. An incident made all too easy by our so-called gun laws. Heck of a job, NRA. Your money has made gun laws a joke. The TV program Gun Smoke is now a reality show being filmed at your corner supermarket. Who knows, you too can be a star. Finally, explain to me how a magazine holding 50 bullets is good for anything but, oh well, you know.
 Jerry Gettinger

Later...

Senate Judiciary Holds Anti-14th Amendment Bills

...but this isn't over yet.

Before a packed meeting room, the Judiciary Committee of the Arizona Senate listened to well over two hours of testimony regarding SB1308 and SB1309, the anti-14th Amendment/birthright citizenship bills proposed by Sen. Ron Gould, the committee's chair.

Anybody who watched the proceedings, in person or over the internet, was treated to a mindnumbing showcase of constitutional law knowledge and ignorance.

The lead actor in that part of Monday's political theater was one John Eastman, a law schoo dean from California.  Dr. Eastman's biography boasts of his clerkship for US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  He also regularly weighs in on things like torture, school vouchers, expansive Presidential power, and more, always supporting the "conservative" position.  In short, he was an out-of-town ringer brought in by Gould and Pearce for just this event.

Eastman droned on for well over 90 minutes, basically arguing that everyone of the "interpretations" of the 14th Amendment over the last 140+ years was wrong and that his "interpretation" was the correct one.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema served as the main counterpoint to Eastman's misinformation, drawing on her own intelligence and legal knowledge to successfully refute Eastman's arguments.  Republican Senator Adam Driggs, a lawyer too, also pushed back against Eastman.

I'm not recounting the discussion in it entirety because it was too long and technical for me to follow closely, but friend of mine who works in the justice system was watching, described Eastman's arguments as erroneous (OK, a different word was used, but in the interests of keeping this post family-friendly... :) ).

The video of the meeting will eventually be posted on the legislature's website here (look for Senate Judiciary on 2/7/2011).

While I can't completely summarize the legal arguments between Sinema and Driggs on one side and Eastman on the other, I can list some of the better quotes of the meeting -

"The bills would have no effect unless the federal government takes steps" - Gould (then why waste the taxpayers' time and resources with this crap)

"I'm the 'Clarence Thomas' of this committee - I don't ask many questions" -Sen. John McComish

The bills "could shame our state" - Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network

The proposals would "create multiple generations of children without a nation, a community" - Dana Naimark of Childrens Action Alliance

Three children, ages 11 and 12, spoke on behalf of other children and future children in opposition to the bills.  Also opposed were representatives of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In fact, every person who testified Monday *except* for the ringer brought in by Gould and Pearce was opposed to the bills.

Just about the only tactic that Gould et. al. used today that worked was letting Eastman go on and on while keeping dissenters on a strict time limit.  By the time many of the opposing witnesses were called to the podium, they had left the meeting due to the late hour.

However, that didn't change the basic math for Gould - out of eight members of the committee, three were clearly going to vote against his measures (Democrats Sinema and Steve Gallardo, and Republican Driggs) and one was wavering (Republican McComish) leaving both dead on a 4 - 4 ties.  His "hold" of the bills allows him to both save face and allow him, Pearce, et. al. to twist some arms behind the scenes to wrangle the votes into line or even to pull the bills from that committee and assign it to one with a more pliable membership.

The quote of the day, and possibly highlighting the reason that Gould and company are so scared of immigrants, came from 12-year-old Kathleen Figueroa -

"We are the future."

Some pics -

Ron Gould, and *yes* that is a tea party sticker on his state computer...

Kyrsten Sinema during the discussion

Just a few of the many media representatives watching the hearing

One of Gould's fellow nativists, Rep. John Kavanagh, made a personal appearance to check in on the proceedings

The protest outside the Senate building

Steve Gallardo

AZGOP: Going after the children

Just a quick hit as I'm sitting in the Senate gallery waiting for the floor session to start...

Not only are Arizona's Republicans (in the persons of Senate President Russell Pearce and his accomplices in the lege) going after brown-skinned children with their anti-14th Amendment/birthright citizenship bills (to be heard in Senate Judiciary later today, the real reason I'm down here today), they are working on indoctrinating white-skinned children with their ideology.

When I arrived in the Senate gallery, Sen. Don Shooter was addressing a group of children who were here on a class trip. 

One of the children asked "can the Governor tell the President what to do?"

Shooter responded "we'd like that" then went on to explain his view of the relationship between the states and the federal government as one where the state governments are the parents of a wayward child called the federal government and like many parents, sometimes there is a need to bring that child to heel (my paraphrase, not a quote.)

And when asked if he had any friends in the Senate, he answered "only the ones with elephants on their desks.

....On a related-to-the-Senate-Judiciary note:

There was a small protest outside the Senate when I arrived, protesting Russell Pearce and his bigoted agenda.  There were perhaps 50-60 protesters, and more than 20 were small children.

There were at least a dozen uniformed police officers (mostly DPS and Capitol PD) flanking the protesters, which is 11 - 12 more than is normally in evidence here, unless there is a LARGE protest (meaning 1000 or more folks.)

The coming week: Legislative Edition. Chapter 2 - Arizona House

As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona Legislature or other internet sources, and subject to change without notice (and given the time of year, expect changes)...
Normally, the committee schedules of both the House and Senate are combined into one post. However, the week, and probably for the next few weeks, committee agendas are incredibly full. In the interests of keeping this manageable, there will be a separate post for each chamber this week and any future weeks where necessary.

In addition, there are *so* many bills up for consideration this week, that I don't have time or space to cover them all. If you've got a particular area of interest, please read the pertinent agenda(s) to ensure you know about all of the bills you care about.

House committee highlights/lowlights this week -

- Rules will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 1 p.m.  The agenda is a long one and mostly OK.  However, bad or good, this committee is a rubber stamp and the meeting will be a short one.

- Ways and Means will meet on Monday in HHR1 at 2 p.m.  On the agenda:  a striker to HB2207, micromanaging the purchasing policies of the Maricopa Integrated Health System; HB2338, placing more stringent limits on county-level secondary tax levies (i.e. - library, jail, health care districts); HB2503, reducing the income tax rate for the poor and downtrodden...corporations ($200 million to $250 million per year); HB2504, phasing out the state's capital gains tax ($369,000,000 worth of state revenue in 2008); HB2557, imposing a 300% sales tax on medical marijuana (sponsored mostly by Democrats, not sure how this one will fare.  If the Rs on the committee vote for the measure, they'll be supporting a higher tax, if they oppose it, they'll be seen as protecting marijuana.  Hmmm.... :) ); HCR2006, drastically raising the tax exemption limit for business personal property.

- Energy and Natural Resources will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 2 p.m.  On the agenda: HB2485,
mandating that if a governmental entity acquires previously privately-owned land, it must sell and equal amount (in terms of value) of land it already owns.

- Education will meet on Monday in HHR3 at 2 p.m. or upon recess of the floor session.  On the agenda:  HB2419, micromanaging schools' employment decisions by mandating that K-8 schools each hire a phonics reading coach that meet certain criteria.  Oh, and all costs for this mandate would be covered by the schools.  There's another, more technical, bill involving JTEDs (Joint Technical Education Districts) on the agenda, HB2237.  Not sure if this is bad, good, or housekeeping.

- Banking and Insurance will meet on Monday in HHR5 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Government will meet on Monday in HHR4 at 2 p.m.  On the agenda:  HB2077, requiring all federal agencies to register with a county sheriff and pay a fee before conducting any sort of operations in a county;

- Employment and Regulatory Affairs will meet on Tuesday in HHR3 at 2 p.m.  No bills on the agenda thus far.

- Military Affairs and Public Safety will meet on Wednesday in HHR3 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda: HB2366, mandating that communications with public officials be "anonymized" before the contents of the communications are made part of the public record.

- Higher Education, Innovation, and Reform will meet on Wednesday in HHR2 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  \HB2565, protecting devoutly religious students at the state's universities and community colleges from reality if reality is in conflict with their deeply-held (or not-so-deeply-held) religious beliefs.

- Health and Human Services will meet on Wednesday in HHR4 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  HB2384, an anti-choice measure and HCR2034, "honoring" the faux pregnancy care centers that seek to deceive desperate women looking for accurate and complete information regarding their health care.

- Commerce will meet on Wednesday in HHR5 at 10 a.m.  On the agenda: HB2536, removing the requirement that dog racing facilities actually hold dog races, allowing them to go over to simulcast-only operations.

- Appropriations will meet on Wednesday in HHR1 at 2 p.m.  Highlight (and perhaps one of the few of the week in either chamber):  HB2227, declaring that money given as a gift or bequest to a state agency isn't part of the states's General Fund and cannot be swept and appropriated by the legislature unless such is specifically allowed by the giver.

- Transportation will meet on Thursday in HHR3 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  HB2003, barring public agencies from imposing or collecting any emergency service response fees, with certain exceptions, including ambulance services.  Not sure how bad this bill is, but since Rep. John Kavanagh is behind it, it probably targets Mexicans.  I just haven't figured out how.  :)

- Judiciary will meet on Thursday in HHR4 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  HB2304, an "elections omnibus" bill.  Some of the provisions include: requiring that non-resident petition circulators register with the secretary of state's office (though the language is so broad that it might be construed as to require that *all* petition circulators register with the SOS, allowing candidates with an "exploratory" committee to collect signatures and contributions (call this the "Huppenthal Provision"), allow candidates to transfer excess campaign funds to their officeholder expense accounts (not sure how this provision would affect Clean Elections money, of which surplus is supposed to be returned to Clean Elections).

- Agriculture and Water will meet on Thursday in HHR5 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  HB2339, reducing commercial and agricultural property taxes.


Later...

The coming week: Legislative Edition. Chapter 1 - Arizona Senate

As usual, all info gathered from the website of the Arizona Legislature or other internet sources, and subject to change without notice (and given the time of year, expect changes)...
Normally, the committee schedules of both the House and Senate are combined into one post.  However, the week, and probably for the next few weeks, committee agendas are incredibly full.  In the interests of keeping this manageable, there will be a separate post for each chamber this week and any future weeks where necessary.

In addition, there are *so* many bills up for consideration this week, that I don't have time or space to cover them all.  If you've got a particular area of interest, please read the pertinent agenda(s) to ensure you know about all of the bills you care about.

Senate committee highlights/lowlights this week (mostly lowlights) -

- Rules will meet on Monday in Caucus Room 1 upon adjournment of the Senate floor session.  Long agenda, lots of bad bills, rubber stamp, short meeting.

- Natural Resources and Transportation will meet on Monday in SHR109 upon adjournment of Rules.  Bad bills:  SB1334, OK'ing hunting within city limits; SB1335, OK'ing hunting at night (for "varmints"); SB1388, adding the provision that incorporated municipalities can regulate the sale of consumer fireworks within city limits (currently, they can only regulate the use of same within city limits) and restricting Maricopa County from regulating use in unincorporated areas except "during times when there is a reasonable risk of wildfires in the immediate county."

- Judiciary will meet on Monday in SHR1 upon adjournment of Rules.  This one is nearly *all* ugly, even though a few bills were removed from the agenda (and even those were bad).  On the agenda: SB1201, a firearms "omnibus" bill.  Rather than attempt to explain all of the bad in this one, just read the summary compiled by legislative staff;  SB1308, directing the governor to enter into a neo-Confederate alliance with other states that create a 2nd class birth certificate/non-citizenship for immigrants law such as would be created by the following bill on the agenda...SB1309, the nativists' anti-14th Amendment bill; SB1465, barring the acceptance of consulate-issued ID cards as valid identification; SB1469, greatly expanding someone's ability to kill another person and escape justice with some sort of "defense" claim; SB1490, barring counties from issuing food service worker cards unless the recipient proves his citizenship/"authorized presence" first; SCR1025, a proposed amendment to the AZ Constitution ending Clean Elections; SCR1034, the secession-by-any-other-name/"nullification" screed declaring that Arizona doesn't have to follow any federal laws or rules it doesn't like.

- Education will meet on Monday in SHR3 upon adjournment of Rules.  There's some bad here, but it doesn't even come close to the level of bad on Judiciary's agenda.  This agenda includes:  SB1422, changing procedures relating to school closures, including removing a requirement for a public meeting before any such closure; SB1263, with all sorts of changes to education-related law, including allowing for a shorter school year; SB1554, mandating that the Arizona Department of Education contract with a private insurer to provide personal liability insurance for teachers.

- Veterans and Military Affairs will meet on Tuesday in SHR3 at 9 a.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Banking and Insurance will meet on Tuesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet, but some of these are very technical and might warrant a looking-over by someone who has more expertise in these areas than I do.

- Appropriations will meet on Tuesday in SHR109 at 2 p.m.  Another bad one.  On the agenda:  SB1231, SB1408, SCR1019, and SCR1026, all relating to mandating lower limits on state appropriations/expenditures.  All are tea party favorites.

- Public Safety and Human Services will meet on Wednesday in SHR3 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  a possible strike everything amendment to a Russell Pearce-introduced "technical correction" bill, SB1012.  The striker's subject is "fingerprint clearance cards; citizenship status"; SCR1056, an Al Melvin postcard to every county and municipality in the state urging them to utilize inmate forced labor for some of their public works projects.

- Government Reform will meet on Wednesday in SHR1 at 9 a.m.  Almost as bad as Monday's Judiciary agenda.  Items: SB1322, mandating the privatization of virtually all municipal services in cities with a population of more than 500K (definitely Phoenix, probably Tucson, possibly Mesa); SB1325, inhibiting labor unions from engaging in any political activity; SB1329, barring public employees from engaging in any sort of political activity, including lobbying, during "the employee's hours of employment."  This seems to be targeted at agency and governmental lobbyists who advocate for their employers as part of their job functions and at teachers, many of whom had dared to participate in protests at the legislature; SB1339, repealing *all* agency rules unless they are enacted by statute; SB1345 and SB1347, mandating limits on the number of municipal employees and their compensation in cities with a population of more than 500K; SB1365 and SCR1028, barring payroll deduction for political advocacy without an annual authorization from the employee; SB1409, mandating that all government publications and documents be written in English; SB1420, mandating that school districts put placement of special needs students out to competitive bid, instead of placing them in a school/facility that serves their needs; SB1525, mandating all sort of requirements/restrictions on municipal development fees (this one should really be analyzed by someone who understands the subject better than I do).

- Commerce and Energy will meet on Wednesday in SHR109 at 9 a.m.  On the agenda:  SB1363, "protecting" employers from union activity.

- Healthcare and Medical Liability will meet on Wednesday in SHR1 at 2 p.m.  Some seriously bad bills on the agenda:  SB1246 and SB1265, doing all sorts of things to limit a woman's right to obtain an abortion, and SCR1017, "honoring" the fake pregnancy care centers that the anti-choice types use to deceive desperate women.
- Water, Land Use, and Rural Development will meet on Wednesday in SHR3 at 2 p.m.  On the agenda:  SB1319, a bill to require goverrnmental entitities that acquire property by whatever means must sell off an equal amount of property and SB1470, repealing all county water authorities.

- Economic Development and Jobs Creation will meet on Wednesday in SHR109 at 2 p.m.  Looks quiet so far.

- Border Security, Federalism, and States Sovereignty will meet on Thursday in SHR109 at 8 a.m.  All bad bills.  On the agenda:  SB1392 and SB1406, new Confederacy/"interstate compact" bills regarding gray wolves and a border fence, respectively; SB1393 and SB1394, declaring that Arizona has supreme authority to regulate greenhouse gases; SB1546, proclaiming Arizona's "right" to seize federally-owned land under eminent domain; SB1342, authorizing the Arizona Rangers to engage in border security/anti-immigration activities upon proclamation of the governor.

- Finance will meet on Thursday in SHR1 at 9 a.m.  Most of these are beyond my understanding, but one that stands out is SB1221, freezing until 2030 the amount of revenue the state is required to share with municipalities at the 2009-2010 level.


Highlights of other Capitol events:

- From 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the ALEC membership drive and reception will be held at Morton's on Camelback Road.

In case you missed it...

...Rep. Bob Robson (R-Chandler) has announced the end of his political career.  Not in so many words of course, but it's over.

From Brahm Resnik of 12News, on AZCentral.com -

A Republican legislator is warning that the governor's proposed budget cuts would drive the state's jobless rate up to 11 percent, and says his party needs to consider tax increases to fix the budget.

State Rep. Bob Robson of Chandler tells me on "Sunday Square Off" this weekend that Gov. Jan Brewer and lawmakers need to consider the broader impact of their cuts. Robson says communities like Flagstaff would be hit especially hard by cuts to the Medicaid system. He is the only Republican on record questioning the extent of Brewer's proposed cuts.

That kind of apostasy guarantees any Republican a primary challenge in his next election, if not outright threats of violence.  Robson is from LD20, the same area that recently saw a mass resignation of officers of the local Republican Party because of threats from other Rs who thought the officers weren't *conservative* enough. 

The former chair, Anthony Miller, had the audacity to support fellow Republican John McCain for U.S. Senate last year.


...Still continuing in Tucson is the trial of Shawna Forde, a famous and violent member of the Minutemen.  She is facing murder charges is the killing of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul.  Forde and her accomplices allegedly broke into the Flores' home and proceeded to execute them and shoot Brisenia's mother, Gina Gonzalez.  After she was shot, Gonzalez pretended to be dead to avoid another bullet.

Forde and her accomplices were seeking money and drugs to steal to fund their anti-immigrant activities.  They didn't find any in the Flores/Gonzalez home.

If convicted, Forde could face the death penalty.  Her accomplices will be tried in March and June.

This story has been all but ignored by the mainstream media in Arizona, with a little coverage in Tucson, the home of the trial.  However, even there, the main daily there, the Arizona Daily Star, has done only minimal coverage and has mostly buried what little they have done.

One of the joys of the internet is that people are no longer entirely dependent on the MSM for information about stories that the corporate masters running MSM organizations would prefer didn't exist.


...ABC News recently aired a "Candid Camera"-style segment filmed in Tucson where producers staged a situation where an actor playing a security guard harassed Hispanic-looking patrons (who were also actors).  The object of the piece was to study the responses of bystanders to situations of ethnic profiling.  Video here on Youtube.

Not so predictably, but heartening, was the reaction of many of the unknowing bystanders who stood up to the fake "security guard."

However, the unfortunately predictable has been the Republican response, who have uniformly denounced the piece as "false," "a hoax," and more, even though the entire story was openly presented as staged.

The best (in an ironic sort of way) of the denunciations was in a press release from Kirk Adams, the Republican Speaker of the Arizona House.

Over the course of the press release, he demands an apology and a retraction and he hits all the right wing rhetorical high points (i.e. - "East Coast media elite media") but the best part is when he referred people to a video of the piece, not at ABC News or even Youtube (where ABC News has uploaded the video), but instead to *Breibart.tv.*

The same "Breitbart" who was caught in 2009 manufacturing an actual hoax.

Denouncing as a hoaz something that was never presented as fact by referring people to someone who has been proven to present lies as fact? 

Not exactly helping the credibility there, Mr. Speaker.


...Astronaut Mark Kelly, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband, today announced that he is resuming training to command the next flight of the space shuttle, its last.  It is scheduled to launch in two months (April 19), and Kelly and the rest of us are hopeful that the recuperating Congresswoman will be able to attend the launch.


...The State Bar of Arizona has filed an 82-page complaint against former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and former assistant county attorneys Lisa Aubuchon and Rachel Alexander.

There's nothing really new in it for anyone who has been following the mess that longtime observers (not so) affectionately refer to as "business as usual" in Maricopa County, but it's nice to see Thomas et. al. move one step closer to disbarment.

Later...

LD17's David Schapira on Horizon

State Sens. David Schapira (D-LD17) and Ron Gould (R-LD3) appeared on KAET's Horizon Tuesday to discuss Gould's anti-14th Amendment bill, SB1309.

The discussion has been posted to YouTube by KAET.

Arizona is an "outlier on the low end"? Color me so not shocked.

As the US Census Bureau releases local data to various states for redistricting efforts (Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Virginia this week, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland next week), they're holding a number of press conferences.

Wednesday, Dr. Robert M. Groves, Director of the Census Bureau discussed "the upcoming release of state redistricting data products."

The transcript of the presentation is here; a .pdf of the Powerpoint slides is here.

As the data for Arizona hasn't been released yet, I didn't expect much from the presentation other than to provide a little background for when AZ data *is* released.  However, my ears perked up when the following slide was presented -

This slide (page 6 of the presentation .pdf) shows how much actual state census counts varied from pre-census estimates based on demographic analysis.  The estimates were actually pretty close -

- In 34 of 50 states, the actual counts were within +/- 1% of the estimates, and 46 of 50 states were within +/- 2%.

As you can see from the graph, the margin of error spread was pretty balanced, but the interesting point (for AZ readers, anyway) is that the one state where the actual count was more than 2% less than the estimates was, of course, Arizona (page 9 of the transcript .pdf).  In AZ, the actual count was 4% less than the estimates.

When asked by a reporter from the Arizona Republic (Ron Hansen) about the variance, Dr. Groves didn't have an explanation or even speculation, saying only that they're looking into it and that they'll have more information when they have more information, specifically on local level variances and explanations.

However, I'm not a trained statistician (as if you hadn't noticed :) ), so I will be happy to engage in a little speculation.

I think there are three main reasons for the variance - fear, hatred, and economics -

1.  SB1070 and the related anti-immigrant hysteria.  Many immigrants either have left the state or simply avoid contact with public officials (such as census workers) as much as possible.  Even legal immigrants fear the harassment that comes from contact with emergency and public service personnel.

2.  The hatred of the federal government that has taken hold of the Arizona GOP and its adherents.  Many people simply refused to respond to either the mailed surveys or when actual workers were sent out to "fill in the gaps."  They don't hate state or local governments, because in most of AZ, those are run by people who are "good ol' boys," just like them.

While the reasons may have differed, a significant part of AZ's population self-selected themselves for undercounting.

3. The cratering of Arizona's economy seems to have led to an significant outflow of residents.  Anybody who canvassed neighborhoods for any candidate in the 2010 election noticed a huge number of empty homes.  This may not seem to be purely political, but as more people watch the Republican majority in the legislature and the rest of the state government focus on tea party issues/corporate giveaways while ignoring the state's economic and fiscal crises, it shouldn't be surprising that many have just given up hope of making a good life for themselves and their families.

That trend seems to have been accelerating over the last 18 months or so, and may have skewed the estimates - people that were here when the estimates were formulated weren't when the Census Bureau conducted the physical count.

We'll see what happens when the local level data for AZ is released (personally, I expect an outcry of "we wuz robbed!" from the RW blogosphere).

All local level data will be released by the end of March (a statutory deadline).  However, the exact date for the release of Arizona's data hasn't been announced yet.

Each week, the Bureau will announce which states' data will be released the following week.  After that, the data will be shipped to the states' leaders (i.e. - the governor and caucus leaders in the legislature).  Once the receipt of the data by the leaders is confirmed, the data will be released to the general public and media, generally 24 hours after the state leadership gets it.

Eventually, the data will be available via FTP download here and on the Census Bureau's American FactFinder page here.


A related blog post from the Population Resource Center is here.