Really Short Attention Span Musing

...The big "news" today was Jan Brewer's announcement on NBC's Meet The Press that she is endorsing Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination for president.

Umm, if the endorsement was supposed to matter to R voters, wouldn't she have issued the thing a few days before early ballots went out, rather than a few days before the close of voting?

I couldn't find the statewide numbers for the 2008 GOP presidential primary, but in Maricopa County in 2008, approximately 63% of all GOP primary votes were cast early, and as of 2/16 (approximately 1 1/2 weeks ago), more than 163K mail ballots had been returned in Maricopa County.

AZ lege persisting in pushing anti-choice measure on AZ's women

One of the lege's anti-choice/womens health care bills (HB2838) is stalled in a House committee, but that's not stopping the more extreme members of the lege (Rs, one and all) from trying to do an end run around that committee...

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. or upon adjournment of the Senate's floor session in SHR1.  Sen. Steve Yarbrough (R-Self Dealer) slipped a gem of a striker on to that meeting's agenda, with the following subject:

abortion; procedures; informed consent; requirements

With a subject like that, one would expect the involvement of the Center For Arizona Theocracy Policy (CAP), and one would be correct (Arizona Capitol Times coverage here, subscription required).

It has all of the clauses of the stalled HB2838.

It's a long bill (27 pages!), and a complicated one, but it contains most of the "ideas" that anti-choice activists have pushed here and across the country.  Here is a brief checklist -

Mandatory ultrasounds as part of all abortion procedures?  Check...

Require that doctors who perform abortions do so within 30 miles of a hospital where they have admitting privileges?  Check...

Interject the legislature between patients and their doctors by mandating specific medical activities, without regard to what is best for a particular patient?  Check...

Subject abortion providers to all sort of onerous and vindictive penalties for any infraction of state laws or regulations?  Check...

Ban most abortions after 20 weeks?  Check...

Breach doctor/patient confidentiality by introducing a third party (a notary public) into the health care process, based not on medical need but on ideology?  Check...

And those are just the high points.

Another highlight is the "legislative findings" section of the measure.  It's four pages and hundreds of words of pure propaganda masquerading as scholarly research and legal precedent, all tied up in a big red bow by a self-congratulatory expression of concern for the health of women.


Anyway, if  you can't make it down to the Capitol to express your objections to the striker, those of you who have set up an account can log in and weigh in on the measure here.  Otherwise, the list of committee members is here.  Click on members' names for phone and email contact info.

Best guess:  This measure passes committee on a party-line vote. and probably passes the full Senate along party lines too.  The question is when it returns to the House for approval of the amendment.  If I understand legislative procedure correctly, by using the "striker" method, they'll be able to bypass the House committee process and send it directly to the floor for the entire House to vote on it.

Reading the striker (and the original bill), I'm curious about one thing -

Does the lege have CAP's lobbyists and attorneys on retainer, or does CAP have the lege on retainer?

Lesson time: Arizona Constitution 101

You'd think that people elected to office and exercising authority under the Arizona Constitution would occasionally read the think.

But you'd think wrong.

From HTRNews -

A state House committee has approved a bill that will make thousands of Arizona university students dig a little deeper into their pockets to pay for school.

The legislation would require full-time students to pay at least $2,000 each year toward their tuition at a state university.

Students would not be able to use university-provided grants, scholarships or tuition benefits to pay the minimum share.


The bill in question is HB2675.  The bill passed the House Appropriations Committee by a 7 - 6 vote, with all the Democrats on the committee (Lela Alston, Chad Campbell, Matt Heinz, and Anna Tovar) and two Republicans (Steve Urie and Vic Williams) voting against it.


For those who weren't paying attention in their high school civics classes, from Article 11, Section 6 of the Arizona Constitution -

The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible.

"...as nearly free as possible."

Words to take to heart, but unfortunately, a supermajority of the legislature would rather take an oath to a corporate lobbyist like Grover Norquist to heart instead of the oath they took to the people of Arizona.

Live blogging the R debate from Mesa...

...though I'm in my living room watching CNN.  Seems the AZGOP didn't want to give out tickets or press credentials to lowly liberal bloggers.  Not sure why... ;-)

Anyway, it's time to hide the women, children, minorities, and small animals.  The GOP's presidential candidates are in town. 

Well, hide them if you think the civil rights of ethnic and racial minorities (and everyone else) should be protected, women should have access to reproductive health care, poor children shouldn't have to work as janitors in schools in order to get an education, and when you are mind-boggling wealthy, you should be able to afford a car that is big enough for the family dog.

Will post updates as this goes along...

...Romney during introduction: "America's promise has been broken by this president". He must believe Reagan is still president...

...Santorum: I will cut everything that the Rs don't like. Apparently, poor people are the cause of all that ails the US.

...Romney: Doubles down on Santorum's attack on the poor by adding public sector employees...

...Santorum now opposes No Child Left Behind because it led to spending on education.

...Gingrich finally gets to talk. Talks about founding fathers. Yes, he's a historian.

...Gingrich and our Jan have something in common: They want to get rid of civil service! Whoooo hoooo!

...Ron Paul's groupies out in force, but Paul is sticking to his same talking points. He's not trying to become a factor in the race...

...OK.  the highlight of this entire debate has been the anti-Arpaio ad that aired during the break. 

They have beaten me into submission.  I'm signing off...

Breaking: Budget bills to go before AZ lege at 8 a.m. Tuesday

With no notice, the Rs running the Arizona lege have scheduled the state's budget for committee hearings Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.

Senate Appropriations agenda is here.  House Appropriations agenda is here.

Between this and last week's ejection of a 12 News reporter from the House floor by a Republican functionary who cited an unannounced security policy, it's obvious that the Rs haven't learned the lesson from the recall election loss of former senate president Russell Pearce -

High-handed and arrogant behavior by elected officials is the surest way to tick off the voters...

Updates as I read the bills...

Update:

I'm going to link to the Senate bills, but there are matching House bills that will go before House Appropriations.

SB1523 - General Appropriations

SB1524 - Capital Outlay

SB1525 - State Budget Procedures

SB1526 - Revenue; Budget Reconciliation

SB1527 - Government; Budget Reconciliation

SB1528 - Health; Welfare; Budget Reconciliation

SB1529 - K-12 Education; Budget Reconciliation

SB1530 - Higher Education; Budget Reconciliation

SB1531 - Criminal Justice; Budget Reconciliation (this whole budget is ugly, but never let it be said that the Rs can't be petty and vindictive at the same time - this one elminates the State Capital Postconviction Public Defender Office.  Guess we'll need to change the state motto from "The Grand Canyon State" to "We Kill 'Em Quick")

SB1532 - Environment; Budget Reconciliation

The coming week...

It's shaping up to be a relatively quiet week at the Arizona legislature...emphasis on "relatively".  There are still going to be a number of controversial bills, but not the large number that we've seen in recent weeks.  Of course, agendas, particularly those for meetings later in the week, are subject to change without notice.

While many sources have reported that bills that haven't been heard in committee in their originating chamber as yet are dead, that isn't completely true - the Appropriations Committees can and are still hearing bills that originated in their respective chambers.

Most of the committee agendas are short, but they still have nuggets of ugly.

For example -

- House Energy and Natural Resources (Monday, 2 p.m., HHR4) has an agenda with only one item on it - SB1054.  That measure would raise the daily limit on hours that underground miners may work from 8 hours per day to 12 hours per day (a 50% hike).  In addition, it would remove language from state law that states that underground mining is hazardous and dangerous.

- House Appropriations (Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR1) has an agenda with two very bad measures - HB2675, mandating that all public university students contribute at least $2000 per year of their own money toward tuition, no matter how poor they might be; and HCR2032, a proposed amendment to the AZ constitution that would impose TABOR-like restrictions on Arizona's state government.

- Senate Banking and Insurance's (Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR3) agenda has HB2079, Rep. Jack Harper's bill to make it easier for mortgage loan originators to obtain a mortgage broker's license (Harper works as a mortgage loan officer for a mortgage broker.  Hmmm...).

- Senate Appropriations (Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109) has an agenda with SB1495, a measure from Sen. Steve Smith that would require all applicants and recipients of unemployment insurance payments to submit to drug testing; SB1333, establishing a "council" and funding for the Rs to fight any federal laws that they don't like; and SB1421, a long and complicated bill from Sen. Don "Tequila" Shooter with the subject "uninsurable individuals; health insurance plan".  It's from Shooter, so it's safe to presume two things - 1) he didn't write it; and 2) it's bad for Arizonans.

- Senate Public Safety and Human Services' (Wednesday, 9 a.m., SHR3) agenda has HB2442, which would make prisoners on parole, probation, community supervision, or home detention pay for any drug testing that they are subject to as a condition of the status.

- Senate Commerce and Energy's (Wednesday 9 a.m., SHR109) agenda has HB2026, a measure from Jack Harper that would lower the threshold that real estate brokers must meet in order to renew a real estate sales license.  It has an "emergency" clause.  Not sure why Harper thinks this is an "emergency", but if it passes the Senate with a 2/3 majority and is signed into law by the governor, it will be effective immediately instead of the normal 90 days after the end of the legislative session.


The full list of House committee agendas is here; the full list of Senate agendas is here.  Floor calendars are posted here. 

The lege's Capitol Events calendar is here; the Arizona Capitol Times' calendar of events is here

Unless another legislator unexpectedly resigns this week, or another county sheriff unexpectedly comes out of the closet, the biggest political event of the week should be one that won't be at the Capitol - Wednesday's Republican Presidential debate in Mesa.

Does Jack Harper's wife know that he left the house needing glasses?

Some elected officials should be barred from using social media...but I'm glad they're not.  Wiseasses like me have more to write about. :)

From the Arizona Republic,

Tweet of the week:
"Heard the Governor read a proclaimation (sic) and she looked young! Does her husband know she left the house looking great?" -- Rep. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, tweeting under the handle @HarperForAZ, during the state's centennial celebration

The tweet in question -

Jan Brewer at an Arizona Centennial celebration, courtesy the Governor's webpage -

"Young"?  Your call...

Short Attention Span Musing...

...I don't often make predictions about Republican primaries (mostly because I'm usually wrong - something about not being a Republican :) ), but I don't think that it's going too far out on a limb to predict that Pinal Sheriff Paul Babeu is toast in the R primary in the new CD4.

One thing that I won't predict is whether the information in the linked article from the Phoenix New Times was planted by the Gould campaign or the Gosar campaign, but I'm guessing that both campaigns spent Friday night toasting to the fact that Babeu is toast.

Babeu held a press conference Saturday where he admitted that he is gay, but he denied all of the other allegations in the article.

In a Democratic primary, the fact that he is gay wouldn't be relevent; in a Republican primary...well, R primary voters hate gay people (and brown people, and poor people, and women, and...) even more than they love nativists and "Joe Juniors". 

And Babeu is a Republican.


,,,Seems we have a two-fer in the category of "certain messengers shouldn't carry certain messages":

- Regardless of what one thinks about the Catholic Church's opposition to the recent rule changes published by the Obama Administration (requiring religious employers that provide health insurance for their employees to cover birth control measures, with the exception of direct employees of a church), is the hierarchy of the Church the best choice to carry a message based on moral credibility?  Really?

- Back here in AZ, the legislator who is fronting bills to bar improper language from teachers and barring the teaching of partisan doctrine in the classroom is not the best judge of what is improper behavior or the inappropriate use of a position of public trust to disseminate partisan propaganda.

That last would pretty much bar the teaching of anything mandated by the state lege (while the measure is mostly targeted at the supporters of Tucson's ethnic studies program, it is written so broadly that many of the mandates that the lege has added or will add to AZ's classroom curricula fall under the measure's rubric).  As for the first, barring teachers from using profanity and other "inappropriate" material, the measure would ban the reading aloud in class (or at least the watering down) of the following books, some of which you may have heard of:

Catch-22
1984
Romeo and Juliet
As I Lay Dying
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Bible
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Clockwork Orange
The Great Gatsby
The Catcher in the Rye
Of Mice and Men

The full list is much too long for inclusion here, but the list of books with "offensive" material includes many of the classics of Western literature and even some volumes to which the Rs profess near-absolute devotion.

...Later...

Richard Miranda resigns from the AZ House of Representatives...

According to this story from the Arizona Capitol Times, written by Caitlin Coakley Beckner (subscription required), Rep. Richard Miranda (D-Tolleson) has resigned from the Arizona House of Representatives, effective Monday.

In his letter, he cited health and family concerns as the reason for his resignation.

In short order, the Democratic PCs in LD13 will gather to select three nominees, whose names will be forwarded to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.  They will then select the person who will serve the remainder of Miranda's term.

While it isn't an official rule, traditionally, the supervisor in whose district the affected legislative district is located usually has the final say on the selection.  The other supes generally rubber-stamp that decision.

LD13 is located in the supervisorial district of Mary Rose Wilcox, the lone Democrat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.  While there could be some game playing by the Rs on the MCBOS, there probably won't be - they have nothing to gain from it.  Under state law, they must select a D to fill a vacancy in the lege left by a D, and the Rs in the lege will retain a supermajority in the lege regardless of who is chosen to fill the LD13 seat.

In addition, after their protracted recent battles with Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas (which, to be clear, were mostly the fault of Arpaio and Thomas), the supes may not be itching for another unnecessary pissing match.

I've got a call out to the chair of the LD13 Democrats for info about the schedule of events to select candidates to replace Miranda, but she hasn't returned that call as of this writing.

More updates when they become available...

The coming week: the lege's power grab continues

Trying a format change on this post in an attempt to make it more readable.  Comments (be they compliments or constructive criticism) always welcome.

All agendas and calendars are subject to change without notice.
The theme of this week's legislative activity seems to be the ongoing one - an attempt by the members of the current Republican supermajority in the lege to gather as much power unto the lege and their pet governor before they likely lose that supermajority in November's elections.

Oh, and the war on reproductive choice is going full blast this week, too.

Nice way to celebrate Arizona's centennial.

Thursday looks to be the big day for Jan Brewer and the lege's attack on the civil service/merit protections for state employees.

The House Committee on Employment and Regulatory Affairs is holding a special meeting at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  On the agenda is one item, a striker with a subject of "state personnel system".  The text isn't available online as yet, but it is likely to be Brewer's scheme turned into legislative language. 

Note: this committee's regular meeting will be held on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in HHR3.

Also on Thursday, the Senate's Banking and Insurance Committee will hold a special meeting in SHR3 upon adjournment of the Senate floor session (roughly 2 p.m.)  The only item on the agenda relates to auto glass industry practices and doesn't really merit a special meeting.  Expect the agenda to be amended to include something on the state personnel system.

Note: this committee's regular meeting will be held on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in SHR3.

Not that government workers should feel like they are the only target that is in the sights of the legislature.

HB2789 would require the Arizona Corporation Commission to submit any and all of its rules for legislative approval, and bar enforcement of any rules that don't gain legislative approval (House Government, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR4)

HB2729 would both expand the ability of firearms owners to carry a weapon (or many weapons) in public facilities except under some very specific conditions and severely restrict or ban the ability of anyone but the lege to say "boo" about it (House Military Affairs and Publiic Safety, Wednesday, 9 a.m., HHR3)

HB2181 would turn state higher education funding into a voucher system that would funnel public monies into private schools and away from public schools (House Higher Education, Innovation and Reform, Wednesday, 10 a.m., HHR1, and it's probably not a coincidence that a number of corporate education lobbyists are presenting to the committee on Wednesday)

Other power amassing or reproductive rights reducing items up for consideration this week include -

...SB1304, taking away the authority of municipalities and counties to enact ordinances regulating the discharge of firearms within a quarter-mile of occupied structures (Senate Judiciary, Monday, 3:15 p.m., SHR1)

...A striker to SB1009 that would mandate that schools present adoption and childbirth as preferable to elective abortion, and barring the use of any educational materials that do not present such (Senate Education, Monday, 2:00 p.m., SHR3)

...SB1358, creating a joint legislative committee to "neutralize" any federal laws, orders, rules, or policies that the Rs don't like (Senate Appropriations, Tuesday, 2 p.m., SHR109)

...SB1488, the lege's annual move to seize the authority to appropriate "noncustodial federal monies" (block grants, etc.) from the governor.  Passed by leges since time immemorial, and vetoed by governors for just as long.  This one was passed by last year's lege, and vetoed by Jan Brewer, so they added a sweetener - a clause delaying enactment until after Brewer is out of office. (Senate Appropriations - a very bad agenda overall)

...A striker to SB1083, creating an "Arizona Special Missions Unit" as part of the Arizona State Guard.  The "Special Missions Unit" would be focused on anti-Mexican/immigrant activities and would be authorized to cross on to federal lands or into other states in pursuit of their prey (Senate Appropriatons again.  Told ya this one was bad.  Take the time to check out the rest of the agenda.)

...HB2774, expanding the religious exemption to property taxes (in AZ, those provide revenue for schools, municipalities, counties and certain other lower level political subdivisions, but not the state) by exempting all property owned by a self-proclaimed religious organizations, not just churches. (House Ways and Means, Monday, 2 p.m., HHR1)

...A striker to HB2416 that would bar cities and towns in Maricopa and Pima counties from refusing to provide water and wastewater services to users outside their municipal boundaries if those users meet certain conditions, essentially forcing those cities and towns to expand their municipal water utilities to cover people who built up property without ensuring a guaranteed water supply for that property. (House Government, Tuesday, 2 p.m., HHR4)

...The agenda for this week's meeting of the Senate Committee on Healthcare and Medical Liability Reform (Wednesday, 2 p.m., SHR1) has a number of bills targeting abortion and non-coital (for lack of a better term) methods of conception.

...The agenda for this week's meeting of the Senate Committee on Government Reform (Wednesday, 8 a.m., SHR1) has some interesting strikers on it.  The text isn't available yet, but the subjects are "taxation", "prohibition; teachers; partisan doctrine", "curriculum transparency", and "schools; parental options".

...The agenda for this week's meeting of the House Judiciary Committee (Thursday, 8 a.m., HHR4) is entirely devoted to measures that would reduce an individual's ability to win and collect judgements in civil cases

And this list doesn't even cover half of the bad bills up for consideration this week.  I think they are planning to get out of town early this year ("adjourn sine die", to put it into lege-speak) and have crammed the committee agendas with all sorts of ugly early on in an effort pass as many of the bills as possible before heading out to campaign for re-election/election to new offices.


The complete list of House committee agendas is here.

The complete list of Senate committee agendas is here.

The list of floor calendars is here

The lege's calendar of events at or near the Capitol is here.

The Arizona Capitol Times' Calendar of Events is here.

The calendar of AZ centennial-related events is here.

Mark your calendars: Attack on civil servants up for committee consideration on Thursday, February 16

Strap in folks, the ride is only going to get bumpier from here...

On Thursday, the House Committee on Employment and Regulatory Affairs is holding a a special meeting at 2 p.m.  There is one item on the agenda -

HB2571   public employees; unlawful acts; termination   

Doesn't sound too bad, until you see the subject of the strike-everything amendment that is being proposed for the bill -

S/E: state personnel system

The text of the striker isn't available on line as yet, but Steve at Arizona Eagletarian has the scoop on the details of Governor Jan Brewer's scheme to turn the Arizona state government personnel system into a political patronage system where the spoils go to the governor and her allies.  His post includes a memo giving an overview of her plan.

If you are a state employee, know a state employee, or just simply believe that state government exists to serve the needs of the people of Arizona, not the whims (and wallets) of certain elected officials, contact the members of the committee - Reps. Eddie Farnsworth, Sally Ann Gonzalez, John Kavanagh, Justin Olson, Lynne Pancrazi, Daniel Patterson, Kimberly Yee, John Fillmore, and Bob Robson (emails and phone numbers available here) and plan to be there on Thursday to show your support for the state's workers, and the integrity of the state's employment system.

More details as they become available...

Shake up coming in EV political circles

...and I'm not talking about just East Valley Congressman Jeff Flake choosing to run for US Senate, opening up his spot in the US House of Representatives.

The creation of a new Congressional district, combined with the continuing fallout from the now-famous recall election loss of former state senator Russell Pearce, is serving as the catalyst for a shake up among politicos in Mesa.

While checking for open campaign committees, I found that five people, State Rep. Cecil Ash, former Mesa city council member Kyle Jones, automotive technician instructor David Lane, Town of Gilbert purchasing specialist Jess Romney (Rs one and all) and corporate pilot Fred Sossaman (I), all have open committees for a run at the North Mesa Justice of the Peace slot currently held by Lester Pearce.

Who doesn't have an open committee for that particular race? 

Pearce himself.

Hmmmm.  It's rather unusual for that many folks of the same party as an entrenched incumbent to go after a seat held by that incumbent.  Unless they know that incumbent isn't trying to keep his job.  That discrepancy piqued my interest, piqued it enough to inspire me to engage in some intense research.

"Intense" meaning that I called a friend in Mesa and asked him if he had heard anything. :)

According to the rumor mill there, Lester Pearce is facing possible disciplinary action for his direct involvement with both his brother's campaign and with putting a "sham" candidate on the ballot in an attempt to split the "anti-Pearce" vote in the recall election.  Turns out that it is frowned on when sitting judges do such things.  Who knew? :)

According to the rumors, he has been quietly advised that it would be best for all concerned that he not run for reelection.

Note: the specifics of the rumors could be a little off as my friend is not hard-wired into the smoke-filled backrooms of R politics in Mesa.  However, they do fit the known facts.

Besides this stuff, Lester is known  to be as "creative" in his worldview as his brother and for bringing that creativity to work with him (lots of complaints filed, lots of defense motions for a change of venue/judge.)

Now add into this mix Don Stapley, current Maricopa County supervisor, who is mulling a run at the new 9th Congressional District.

It seems that Lester Pearce is eyeing Stapley's seat on the MCBOS in turn.  The only real question is if Pearce would challenge Stapley in a primary if Stapley chooses to forego a run for Congress (best guess: Pearce would go for it).

On top of that, Russell Pearce is making moves to run for AZ senate again, though he may go in another direction (say...if Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio resigns or retires in the face of the ongoing USDOJ inquiry).

Now, just to spice things up a little, the rumors are that the next generation of Pearces are thoroughly peeved at the travails of their elders and are looking for a little payback/redemption for the Pearce brand.  One or more of them may run for an office (JP?, constable?, city council?, lege?).

Note on the above:  even my source admitted the least confidence in the last rumor, but it is well-known that the Pearces in general are still ticked off, which isn't really a surprise.

Still, regardless of which Pearce(s) runs for which office(s), it's going to be an interesting spring, summer, and fall...


Note:  As of this writing, I can't find any paperwork for any new campaign committees in the name of Pearce or Stapley at the county, state, or federal levels.

Lege's GOPers hide from public to prepare next salvo against state workers

The Arizona Capitol Times has a story up, written by Luige del Puerto (subscription required) about how the GOP members of the Arizona Senate went behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss the ways they plan to remove Arizona's few employment protections for state workers.

Among the "highlights" of the scheme, which is pretty much the same as a scheme she pushed at the end of the 2011 legislative session -

- Removal of merit protection for state employees.  All would serve at the governor's pleasure, essentially turning the state government into one giant nest of patronage and corruption.

- Current employees would still enjoy some protections - until they wanted a pay raise or a change in duties.  To get either, employees would have to waive their protections.

- Supervisors and new employees would have no protections at all, starting immediately.

- The appeals process for employment related decisions and actions would be "streamlined", to put it mildly.  In addition to all-but-eliminating appeals within the state's personnel system, employees who thought a disciplinary action was"capricious" or "arbritrary" would no longer be able to take the matter to superior court.

Combined with their all out attack on the unions representing the state's public sector employees, including teachers, police, and firefighters, the Republicans are set up to turn the state's government employment system into their private "profit center".

Something tells me that when and if the Rs get their way, anybody who wants a state job will be "encouraged" to proffer the appropriate political bribes contributions, or maybe slip the right lobbyist a little brown bag.


Look for the Rs in the lege and Jan Brewer to work out a deal on how to best eviscerate the state's employees..."best" for the Rs anyway...

It must be spring - candidates are just sprouting everywhere

...In CD8 (Tucson), Ron Barber, the long-time district director for Gabby Giffords, is likely to enter the race to serve out the rest of her term.  He seems most likely to enter the race as a placeholder, finishing out the term but not running for a full term of his own.  If that is so, most of the Ds who have expressed interest in the seat will probably forego a run in the special election and focus on the fall election.

...State Rep. Vic Williams (R-Tucson). former state representative Nancy Young Wright (D) and former AZGOP chair Mike Hellon (R)  are running for District 1 spot on the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

...The outgoing mayor of Tempe, Hugh Hallman (R), is considering a run for Congress, most likely in the new CD9.  Not exactly breaking news, that.  His interest in higher office is well-known around Tempe, and this particular interest has been talked about for months.

...In other not-exactly-breaking news, freshman GOP congressman Ben Quayle has chosen to run against fellow freshman GOPer David Schweikert in the R primary in the new CD6.  Quayle lives in the new CD9, but that's a competitive district.  CD6 is so strongly Republican, the winner of the primary is likely to be the winner of the general election.

...A number of other folks have filed paperwork for Congress.  I'll call them "minor" candidates, but not out of disrespect.  It only means that I've never heard of them before.  When they show that they have some game (like by gathering enough sigs to gain a spot on the ballot), I'll list them.

...Also, there have been a number of filings for legislative seats.  As the AZ lege is basically "entry level" for politics in AZ, it isn't surprising that I haven't heard of most of them.  It will take some time to research them all.

Expect the candidate filings to accelerate over the couple of months.

Picture of the week: Jobs situation

There are many on the R side of the aisle that urge a vote for their presidential candidate (likely Romney, but the primary/caucus season is still ongoing) because they are "better for jobs and the economy".

Barack Obama has been president for 36 months, entering office in 2009 at the depths of the deepest economic recession/depression since the Great Depression.

Businesses were collapsing everywhere and people (other than the 1%) were losing their jobs, homes, and the lives they had built up over decades of hard work.

By the beginning of 2011, Obama (and the rest of the country, for that matter) was faced with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives that, that for partisan political purposes, was implacably opposed to any ideas or efforts to improve the economic condition of the country.  Or anything else about the country.

In spite of that, the country has seen 23 consecutive months of private sector job growth, and 33 consecutive month of positive trends (meaning there were 10 months of shrinking job loss numbers)

Things aren't perfect, and it will be years before the country returns to "normal" (whatever that may be), but the choice in November will be between one candidate who is working to make things better for the entire country (Obama) and one who has made a career out of generating personal wealth from destroying companies in the most profitable way (in the words of one of his R opponents, "managing the decay").

Barack Obama should be re-elected, and a vote for him isn't just the best choice, it's an easy choice.