Andy Thomas exploring a run at AG

The controversial Maricopa County Attorney has almost made official his long-rumored interest in the job of Arizona Attorney General.

It's "almost" official because while he has informed the AZ Republic, the paperwork hasn't reached the Secretary of State's office yet (or if it has, the SOS hasn't posted it yet).

The Arizona Republic has the story on its website.

This announcement by the usually divisive Thomas will have the unexpected side effect of uniting both his supporters (the "rule of nativism" adherents) and his detractors (the "rule of law" adherents).

The nativists will be happy that a fellow traveler could become the highest-ranking law enforcement official in AZ; the rest of us realize that if he goes for AG, he'll have to resign from his post as Maricopa County Attorney.

And that Thomas even getting through a state-wide primary is far from guaranteed (though given the current state of the AZGOP, Thomas will start off as the favorite in almost any primary field).

And2, he is such a polarizing figure that he could cost the GOP a huge number of independent votes.

So for that reason and the "resign-to-run" aspect, this Democrat has one thing to say -

Run Andy, RUN!!!

Mayor Jim Lane already ceding the governance of Scottsdale to out-of-town lobbyists

You know, I freely admit that I was not happy with Mary Manross' performance as Mayor of Scottsdale. It's a South Scottsdale (older neighborhoods, families building lives, Scottsdale as "home") vs. North Scottsdale (overpriced and undervalued subdivisions, yuppies building McMansions, Scottsdale as "vacation home") thing.

Manross may not have had much use for South Scottsdale and its neighborhood activists (and those activists returned the feeling), but I suspected even last year that as bad as she was, she was better than Jim Lane, her challenger and the eventual victor in last year's mayoral election.

Hindsight being 20/20, damn if I wasn't spot on with that opinion.


The latest example of this is Lane's formation of a Charter Review Task Force. It was filled out on June 2nd, with Lane's hand-picked choice, Steven Twist, selected to serve as chair.

The Charter Review Task Force's first meeting took place on Monday, August 31 (no minutes available yet, but the marked agenda is here.)

The fourth item on the agenda/minutes for that meeting best highlights Lane's lack of respect for the idea of Scottsdale's residents actually having a say in the governance of Scottsdale.

It involved inviting guests to speak on possible changes to Scottsdale's charter.

One of those guests was Dr. James Svara, an ASU professor. He's an acknowledged expert on municipal governance, so I'll cut Lane some slack there. He may or may not be a Scottsdale resident (I *think* he lives in Phoenix, but I'm really not sure), but he has a very strong background in the area of interest.

The other two "invited" guests were a little more eye-opening, and bewildering.

One was the ORANGE Coalition. It's a "private property rights" organization that lists a Scottsdale address and professes to be a Scottsdale advocacy group (at least they did when I ran into one of their petition circulators outside the Scottsdale library earlier this summer).

There's only a couple of problems with that "Scottsdale group" thing -

1. Their address is listed as 4400 N. Scottsdale Rd #9-473. What they don't say is that is a mail drop - Suite 9 at that address is the home of UPS Store #1692. In and of itself, that isn't damning; there could be plenty of good reasons to use a mail drop instead of a local office. However...

2. While the chair and treasurer have some ties to Scottsdale, three of the directors do not, other than being able to find Scottsdale on a map. Actually, given the info to follow, the fact that the main page of their website focuses on opposing the Clean Water Act, and features a video clip of Senator James "climate change is a hoax" Inhofe, it looks an awful lot like an astroturf group.

Mark Killian is a former Speaker of the AZ House and Director of the AZ Department of Revenue. He's from Mesa. Republican anti-government ideologue.

Laura Knaperek is a former State Representative. She's from Tempe. Republican anti-government ideologue.

Dan Kelleher is a former executive of American Water, the parent company of Arizona American Water. The same Arizona American Water that pumped contaminated drinking water to its customers in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. At least two times that are publicly known.

The ORANGE Coalition's proposed amendments to Scottsdale's charter are here. Not surprisingly, their "proposal" includes a clause that would prevent the City of Scottsdale from taking over the Scottsdale part of Arizona American Water's system.

The other invited guest was the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based anti-government and anti-tax lobbying group. They've never met a government service or function that they didn't want to privatize to the benefit of one of their corporate contributors. Not surprisingly2, they advocated shrinking the size of Scottsdale's city government by privatizing everything, including police services (see page 21, paragraphs D and E, of the linked .pdf, section titled "Performance Based Policing").

Good God.

I am not somebody who believes in recalling an elected official just because he/she is doing things that some of us disagree with (hey, it's politics - disagreement happens.) That's what elections are for.

However, refusing to do the job that an official was elected to perform *is* grounds for removal from office, and Lane has made it clear that he is more interested in using the Mayor's office to push an ideological agenda than in looking out for the interests of Scottsdale and its residents.

The sad part is that Lane *is* intelligent, and should be able to take a look at the cluster**** that the ideologues in the lege have perpetrated on the state budget and learn the lesson.

Ideology can and must take a back seat to practical considerations in retail level politics, and municipal government is the most retail level of government. It's about fixing potholes and streetlights, not the "big" issues of the day. (OK, so that is a New England reference, not a Scottsdale one. It still works. :) )

There's a reason that the old truism, popularized (but not created) by the late Speaker of the U.S. House, Tip O'Neill, was "All Politics is Local," not "All Politics is Partisan."

Mayors are supposed to know that, even before they enter office.

Breaking news: Obama speaks to students, world doesn't end

...though I'm sure some students will disagree when they hear their parents say "You heard the President - do your homework!" :)

Detroit Free Press coverage here.

Fox23.com (Tulsa, OK) coverage here.

ABC News coverage here.

And for the "world not ending" coverage, visit NASA.gov multimedia page here. I recommend the live space station video with pictures of the Earth.

AZ Republic headline seeks to brighten the day of Republicans

From AZCentral.com -

10,000 working parents in Arizona to lose health insurance

Nearly 10,000 working parents will lose their health insurance this month in the wake of state budget cuts, leaving some families with nowhere to turn as they seek affordable coverage.

KidsCare Parents, a program that provides low-income families with inexpensive insurance, will end Sept. 30.

This will brighten the day of Reps, particularly those in the lege and the Governor's office, because they know that some of the parents affected by the budget cuts that ended KidsCare Parents *will* find a way to buy private insurance, even if it means skimping on other expenses (like food, clothing, and shelter, you know, stuff that isn't really necessary).

Those Reps can now look forward to their rewards - campaign contributions and nice pats on the head - from their masters in the corporate health insurance industry.

Masters who have millions of dollars' worth of bonuses and stock options to fund.

The text of the President's planned remarks to students on Tuesday

Since there has been so much conservative angst over the President's planned address to students tomorrow, the White House has released the text of the remarks as prepared for delivery.

A brief analysis shows that conservatives actually have a solid basis for their concerns.

In the speech, President Obama encourages students to follow his radical agenda by staying in school, paying attention to their teachers, and listening to their parents!!

A number of Republican parents have professed the intention to keep their children out of school tomorrow. After reading the speech, my only question is why *all* parents aren't taking their kids out of school tomorrow.

As a public service, the remarks should be published everywhere to maximize their reach the chance for all parents to control the ideas that their children hear the fates of their children.

BTW - in case it isn't obvious, there is a *lot* of sarcasm in the preceding bit. :)

However, the President's remarks are not the least bit sarcastic.

From WhiteHouse.gov -

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President:

Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning. Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility. I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility
for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. I’ve
talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. But I was fortunate. I got a
lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take
better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter. Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Dear President Obama: It's time to throw an elbow

This is an open letter to the President, submitted via email. I don't expect that he will read it, but since I consider the "open letter" blog post/newspaper column construction to be weak unless it is submitted to the named recipient, he's getting it anyway.

One among the tens of thousands of communications received by the White House every day.

Anyway, on to the letter...

Dear President Obama,

Later this week you will address a joint session of Congress regarding health care reform. After a summer of town hall hysterics, sinking poll numbers, and unsuccessful tactical shifts designed to appease Republicans and fearful and/or corporate-friendly Democrats in Congress, something is needed.

A big part of your problems this summer, as I see it anyway, has been your Administration's attempts to negotiate with those who have no interest in changing a health insurance system that is less about caring for patients and more about enhancing the profit margins of deep-pocketed campaign contributors. In short, you've been trying to negotiate with schoolyard bullies in three-piece suits.

As any new kid in the schoolyard quickly learns, the best way to deal with a bully isn't by negotiating, pleading, or even running - it's standing.

As in standing up and standing your ground.

In the third season of the television show "The West Wing", an episode aired that told a story about the legendary center of the Boston Celtics, Bill Russell. The story was that Russell was getting eaten alive in the paint as he was playing by the rules but opposing centers were doing whatever they could to beat him. He asked the equally legendary Celtics coach and GM, Red Auerbach, what he could do. Red advised him to throw an elbow in a nationally televised game, and they wouldn't mess with him again.

The story may or may not be apocryphal (I could only find references to it in relation to its inclusion in The West Wing," but either way, the point of the story is perfectly applicable to the current situation.

You are getting pummelled from all sides and are trying to reason with those who have no incentive to be reasonable.

They need to be made aware that the President, as the head of the Executive Branch, holds political power that is at least the equal of their own.

It's time to get the attention of those who assail you, whether those who directly attack you or those who would simply hold you back because they fear change.

It's time stand up and stand your ground.

It's time to show them that you are the President of the United States.

It's time to throw an elbow.

Now, what form that elbow will take isn't known to me - I'm not a Washington insider, knowledgeable in the nuanced application of practical political power inside the Beltway.

I can hazard some guesses, though.

My suggestion would involve some of your senior staffers sitting with some Congressional Republican leaders at a negotiating table during an impasse, and one of the staffers casually mentioning that since health care reform isn't going to go through, the personnel who had been detailed to work on setting up the new health care structure will now be freed up to work in other areas of government, like a Department of Justice project examining campaign finance and lobbyist reports.

OK, so that isn't subtle and you probably can come up with something far more suitable to serve as your "elbow."

Just don't make it so subtle that those on the receiving end of your elbow don't realize that they just took one in the gut.

Something truly a little more circumspect would be called for when dealing with those in your own party who may be honestly afraid that if they support a public option as part of health care reform, they'll lose their seats in next year's elections.

Perhaps you could remind them, if you haven't done so already, that after the Clinton Administration's attempts to reform health care in the United States, the 1994 elections saw a massive Republican wave that carried them to their first majority in the House in generations.

And you could further remind them that any members who are legitimately vulnerable due to voting *for* real health care reform will be just as vulnerable to a Republican wave even if they vote *against* reform. "Waves" aren't particularly discriminating.

In any event, this week could be the "make or break" week for your entire presidency. When you make your plans for your speech and for your approach to health care reform going forward, remember that standing up and losing to the bullies still beats abjectly surrendering to them. A loss on this can be recovered from; a surrender will become the lasting legacy of your presidency.

And standing up could be the best path to victory, both for you and for the millions of Americans who support health care reform.

Regards,

[cpmaz]


P.S. - Jen at Mindless Mumblings of a Martyr Mom has her take on this topic (based off a Bill Moyers op/ed video) here; the full transcript of Moyers' piece is here, courtesy Truthout.org. (hat tip to David Safier at Blog for Arizona). Jon Talton, formerly the best writer at the Arizona Republic and now in Seattle, offers his rather blunt assessment here.

The coming week...

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


Well, for the first time in weeks, the U.S. Congress will be in session, and for the first time in months, the Arizona Legislature will *not* be. That sounds significant, but somehow, I'm not sure that it is.

Congress probably won't be doing much this week (in terms of "official business" anyway) and the lege has plenty of unfinished business that they should be dealing with, but won't be.

In short, not much has changed since last week. :)


...In the U.S. House, the action gets underway Tuesday afternoon. It looks to be a relatively quiet week as far as floor action goes. The agenda includes:

H.R. 324 - Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area Act, sponsored by Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7) and cosponsored by Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8).

The posted agenda is light on issues of national interest, and that looks to be the only one of direct interest to Arizonans.

However, both behind the scenes and in front of cameras, there will be a lot of talk about health care reform.

The President is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening on the subject. I'd say I'm "waiting with bated breath" for the speech, but he seems more likely to give up on a public option when he should be throwing an elbow (more on that later.)

Congressman Harry Mitchell's (D-AZ5) responses to questions (about health care reform) posed by readers of the Arizona Republic can be found here; Congressman Jeff Flake's (R-AZ6) responses can be found here.

...The U.S. Senate looks to have an equally low-key "official business" week, with a lot of back office focus on health care reform.

...The Arizona Legislature is out of session, with no special sessions officially scheduled at this point, though given that the budget is still out-of-balance, expect one soon. Just probably not this week, as I previously expected would happen.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission has a securities and utilities meeting scheduled for Wednesday. The agenda is here. There are a couple of APS-related items and a couple of securities "cease and desist" related items, including one against JP Morgan Chase & Co. More details here.

The ACC's hearing schedule for the week is available here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a light week - no regular meetings, just a Special/Executive meeting on tap for Wednesday morning. Why don't they drop the "special" moniker, since they seem to have one almost every week?

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be holding a meeting of its Project ADD Water group on Wednesday and Thursday.

...The Tempe City Council has a meeting scheduled for Thursday. The agenda is here. It looks to be mostly mundane, but even that can be interesting on occasion. On *this* occasion, item A-3 includes a name that is familiar to most D17'ers.

It just goes to show that even high-flying legislative stars are subject to the drudgery of normal life in the not-so-big city. :)

...The Scottsdale City Council has a regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Items of interest on the agenda include consideration of the process of appointing an interim City Attorney, a new City Treasurer, possibly creating a Scottsdale City Lobbyist ordinance, and enacting some recommendations regarding the operations and oversight of City Cable 11,

They've also scheduled an executive session to "[d]iscuss and consider international or interstate negotiations with representatives of the public body regarding ongoing negotiations with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (a domestic sovereign nation) for intergovernmental agreements related to Pima Road and drainage improvements; and discuss and/or consult with the City attorney(s) for legal advice regarding the same."

That meeting is also scheduled for Tuesday. The executive session is scheduled for 4 p.m., the regular meeting is scheduled for 5.

...Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (though CCEC has scheduled candidate workshops for September 16, October 21, November 18, and December 2. Sign up here.)

Later...

If it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, maybe it's a duck

...and the results of the special session of the legislature and the Governor's vetoes/acceptances of same look an *awful* lot like continuing resolutions.

Even though no one is using those specific words.

From the AZRepublic's piece on today's budget action -

Gov. Jan Brewer served up a mixed verdict on the state's budget Friday, restoring spending for education and social services, vetoing a tax repeal and abandoning hopes of getting a sales-tax hike before voters this year.

The Republican governor said her actions leave the state able to operate until early next year without the need to borrow money. But lawmakers will need to work on a mix of spending cuts and tax increases to keep Arizona on track, she said.

{snip}

Brewer said she was hopeful a tax referral could be made to the March 2010 ballot.

{snip}

The budget picture at the state Capitol is expected to remain relatively unchanged for the next few weeks. However, Brewer said a “clean up” special session is needed by Sept. 30 to restore policy moves that, left untouched, could harm a dozen state
agencies, including the Arizona Corporation Commission and the state Lottery.

Yes folks, all of the posturing has come down to this -

- The lege passed a budget in the wee hours of July 1, only to see the Governor veto most of it. She left just enough intact to keep the state running while she continued to negotiate with the Republican extremists in the lege, which is most of the caucus these days.

- A couple of weeks later, a partial budget was passed in order to fund education, needed since those pesky public schools were scheduled to begin their fall semesters soon thereafter. And if the schools didn't receive the funds they needed to open, that would have meant that hundreds of thousands of students would not have been in school. And *that* would have meant hundreds of thousands of parents calling and emailing their elected officials, and thousands more would have descended in person on the state capitol to give those same elected officials an earful.

Or two. :))

- Now, the Governor has mostly approved her caucus' unbalanced budget, with no concrete plans to balance it any time soon.

Just a reminder - during most of the Bush Administration, the Bushies and their cohorts in Congress didn't operate under a budget, just a series of continuing resolutions. In addition, Bush's wars were funded "off the books" via special appropriations bills that weren't subject to close scrutiny.

Now, the federal budget is totally screwed.

And Brewer wants to lead Arizona down the same path.


All of the Governor's budget actions can be found here.

State Rep. Daniel Patterson offers his take here.

D17 State Rep. Schapira named to prestigious regional education committee

Courtesy a press release from the AZ House Democrats -

Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe (District 17), has been named to the Western
Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s (WICHE’s) Legislative Advisory
Committee.

The commission selected Schapira from among Arizona’s lawmakers to serve on the committee for a three-year term to advise the commission on higher education.

"I am grateful for this amazing opportunity to work to strengthen our higher education system in Arizona and the West," Schapira said. "Education is key to building a stronger economy and bringing thousands of high-paying jobs to our state."

Schapira will inform the commission about significant legislative issues on higher education, provide input on initiatives and advise them on education policy workshops. The committee meets annually.

The commission was created to facilitate resource sharing among higher education systems of the West. Member states are Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

"Arizona's students are seeing increased class sizes, highly valued professors are losing their jobs and our tuition rates continue to rise as the state’s contribution level declines," Schapira said. "All students deserve a quality and affordable education, and I'm looking forward to working with the commission to accomplish that goal."

Schapira will attend the annual committee meeting, "A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How to increase Your Return on Investment," in September. For more information on the commission, please visit: www.wiche.edu.

Later...

Should we start a budget pool?

One with all money raised going to defray the state's deficit?

Depending on your source, budget negotiations have...

...broken down (Capitol Times this morning, subscription required)

...ongoing, but maybe going nowwhere (Arizona Republic's Political Insider)

...ongoing, but whether or not they are making progress, the Governor isn't going anywhere - she has cancelled her planned trip to Mexico in case the talks make actual progress (they all have this one, but since the Rep's website doesn't require a subscription, I'll link to that one; Tedski at R-Cubed has some early details here)

...ongoing, but possibly a sham that involves talking to the Democrats to try to scare the hardcore wingers in the Rep caucus "into thinking that they might do a deal with Dems that conservatives might hate worse than the Republican leadership plan." (latest Farley Report, a weekly update email from State Rep. Steve Farley (D-LD28). No link at this time, but Tedski will post part or all of it at his blog, as will Zelph at AZNetroots.)


My prediction for the pool - Governor signs most of the budget, vetoes enough to give her leverage in a fourth special session to get her sales tax hike referred to the ballot, calls the special session for next week (have to have a referral done by the 9th or so to make a planned election date in December), and gets it with few, if any, Democratic votes.

Pinnacle West Her constituents *really* want the repeal of the state equalization property tax, and the Democrats have been insisting that is left alone as a condition of their support for her sales tax referral.

...According to one source, at least one chamber's Democrats will be holding a caucus meeting tomorrow. No word about the subject of the meeting, but given the events that have taken place/not taken place this week, I feel safe in guessing that item one on the agenda will be the BUDGET.

Yeah, I know that guess was a shock to all regular readers. :))

...More updates as they become available...

Glass Houses, Senator Pearce, Glass Houses

From AZCentral.com -

The Senate Appropriations Committee chairman wants to hold a public hearing to determine if Maricopa County officials are properly appropriating money.

"We have a fiduciary responsibility to step in," said Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, noting that state government disburses money to the state's 15 counties.

Pearce's concerns were prompted by two groups of public-safety officers - the Maricopa County Association of Detention Officers and the Deputies Law Enforcement Association - who allege that the county is misusing $196 million in surplus funds while simultaneously making service cuts to cover a $76 million revenue shortfall.

The article goes on to note that Russell Pearce's son, Sean, is a member of the board of the Deputies Law Enforcement Association. According to the Association's website, Pearce the son is a vice president. Based on a statement on the front page of their website, DLEA is fronting for Joe Arpaio in one of his many battles with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. In this one, he is trying to exempt his office (MCSO) from the budget cuts that loom for all other County operations.

Anyway, just to remind Pearce the father of a couple of things -

1. As the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he is one of the primary crafters of the state's budget.

2. That budget has a gaping maw of a deficit.

3. The budget that he helped craft didn't address the state's deficit. In fact, it made it worse. Pearce and his associates focused on giving tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy instead of balancing the budget.

4. And just a quick reminder, in case a reader isn't from Arizona (or *is*, and has been hiding under a cactus for the last 8 months or so), the latest budget is still sitting unsigned on the Governor's desk. And it's basically the same budget that she had to mostly veto two months ago.


Just a thought: Russell Pearce may not be the best choice to be the public face of the "fiscal responsibility" crowd.


Anyway, this kerfluffle is less about "fiscal responsibility" than it is about Arpaio's friends having the time on their hands to join him in his fight to wrest control of the County from the Board of Supervisors.

And so Political Silly Season continues...

How not to write a headline - press release edition

Early last week, I signed up for the mailing list of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). I didn't expect much, but since I live in the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund site (NIBW), it's a good idea to gather info from as many sources as possible.

What I didn't expect was a bit of unintentional humor.

One of the first press releases that I received had this for a subject line -

ADEQ Director Grumbles, Host of Other Water Experts to Speak at Arizona Investment Council Water Symposium

Now, my first reaction upon reading that, wiseass that I am, was to wonder "You'd think that one of the job requirements for the head of a state agency would be the ability to enunciate clearly. I mean, he must have been able to do so at least once, at his job interview, right?"

Turns out that instead of reading the word "Grumbles" as a verb, I should have read it as a proper name.

The Director of ADEQ is named Benjamin Grumbles.

Ooops. :)

For the record, Director Grumbles probably enunciates quite clearly. According to his ADEQ bio page, he has degrees in English, Law, and Environmental Law, and worked as a Congressional committee staffer and a college instructor prior to a stint as a Bush appointee to the EPA.

In my defense, the capitalization pattern of the headline didn't really give any clues to the fact that "Grumbles" is a proper name. Any word longer than two letters was capitalized.

Of course, given Director Grumbles' educational background in English and law, and his professional background, the communications guy/intern/chief cook and bottle washer who wrote the headline has probably been advised to do something with future headlines to minimize the confusion.

Of course2, this blog post, humble though it may be, is probably the most public notice that ADEQ has received in weeks, so we may see more of this.

Note: the original press release publicized a symposium in Tucson sponsored by the Arizona Investment Council. It was held this past Friday.

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.


...Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are in recess until next week.

...The Arizona legislature is between special sessions right now. The third special session was adjourned in order to give their Governor more time to "evaluate" the budget bills that they've sent her.

In this context, "evaluate" means work out a deal so that the expected (but not yet officially-called) fourth special session of the lege will approve sending her proposed temporary increase to the state's sales tax to the ballot in a December election.

No timetable has been set for a fourth special session. To make a planned election in December though, it will have to happen soon after Labor Day.

Of course, Brewer could just say "[bleep] them all!", sign the budget bills as is (as out of balance as they are) and resign, giving over the mess to AG Terry Goddard. Besides being a fiscal disaster that it would take the state decades to recover from, it would have some electoral side effects.

Such a move would saddle him with the budget mess while mounting his expected campaign for Governor next year, *and* shortening his potential stay on the 9th floor (term limits kick in, even for partial terms in office).

Stay tuned, because this ride won't be over for a while yet...

...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any full meetings this week, though there are a number of hearings planned. Full list here.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project has meetings scheduled for Thursday - full board at 10:15 a.m.; the Public Policy Committee at 9 a.m.; and the Strategic Plan Task Force at 12:45 p.m.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting, with an attached executive session, scheduled for Monday. They have a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday, with an executive session planned immediately following that meeting.

The highlight of Monday's meeting looks to be an update on the new Court Tower project. Wednesday's meeting looks to be pretty run-of-the-mill, though there could be nuggets of controversy hiding among the mundanity of what is essentially a city council agenda (for a *really* spread out city :) ).

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has a special meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon. The agenda is light on details so far, but has subjects like "Performance Evaluation" and "Employment Agreement."

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, and the City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale (though both are expected to participate in the festivities of the 2009 League of Arizona Cities and Towns Annual Conference in Oro Valley. The conference runs from Tuesday through Friday).

Later...

The 2010 field for Governor

Time for a meaningless post, other than as an excuse to vent a little snark and, perhaps, spark a conversation.

With the lege adjourned, political silly season has begun (though some might consider the record of this year's lege to be definitive proof that in politics, "silly season" never ends.)

No "big name" candidates have officially announced yet (that pesky "resign to run" law), but that minor detail won't stop some idle speculation on my part. :)

On the Democratic side...

Terry Goddard - the presumptive Democratic nominee is the current Attorney General and is a former mayor of Phoenix. He is smart, experienced, highly-respected, and has been making large strides in addressing his one major weakness as a candidate - a speaking style that could sedate a room full of caffeine junkies on espresso IVs. His rousing speech at one of this year's Democratic Party State Committee meetings really opened some eyes.

Now, the field has apparently cleared for Goddard, but until the date sigs are due, things are subject to change. As such, a little discussion of some of the other names that have been bandied about on the Dem side is in order.

Jim Pederson - The former ADP chair and 2006 nominee for U.S. Senate mulled a run for guv, but perhaps reading the tea leaves, announced he is *not* going to seek the seat. Would have made it interesting - while he trails Goddard in the level of grassroots support in the party, that is only because Goddard is so respected. Pederson himself still has plenty of respect within the party, plenty of cash, and has learned some lessons from his campaign for Jon Kyl's Senate seat in 2006. Could run for Senate if McCain steps aside.

Neil Giuliano - The former Republican mayor of Tempe is neither a Republican nor mayor any longer. He might have made some noise in a primary with some support from the LGBT community (he's a former president of the gay-rights organization GLAAD), but most Dems would have looked at the newness of his turning away from the Dark Side of the Force enrollment in the Democratic Party and voted for someone else. He was rumored to be running, then rumored to not be running. The rumors of his interest have not completely died, so he is included here.

David Bradley - Current Democratic State Representative from southern AZ. Has pulled back from a run for governor and is rumored to be interested in another statewide office. Would have faced a seriously uphill battle in a primary due to nearly-nonexistent name recognition outside of his legislative district.

Everything stated/guessed here could change in a heartbeat if Republican U.S. Senator John McCain retires next year instead of standing for reelection. If that happens, all bets are off, up and down the ballot.

On the Republican side...

Jan Brewer - the current Governor ascended to the office after a long political career after Democrat Janet Napolitano stepped aside to become U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Brewer inherited a large budget deficit, and with the assistance of the Republican majority in the legislature, has turned a deficit into a disaster.

Fiscally, not only has the budget on her desk not closed the deficit, it has made it worse with massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.

Politically, her call for a referendum on a temporary sales tax hike has utterly ticked off the pure anti-taxers in her party, cutting into any chance of her winning the Rep nod. Of course, while she has made some recent noises about running for a full term, she hasn''t done more than "make noises."

Of course, those noises could just be positioning in her budget negotiations with the lege. As a lame duck, she'd have even less influence than she has now; as a potential full-termer, the lege will at least have to listen when she speaks to them.

Still, with her career experience and the power of the incumbency, she has to be considered the favorite to win a primary, though not a prohibitive one.

John Munger - former chair of the state GOP. Apparently still has some name rec and some support within the GOP, but given that he is based in Tucson, would have an uphill fight ahead of him.

Andrew Thomas - current Maricopa County Attorney. Wants to turn his notoriety in anti-immigrant circles into a statewide run. Could do well in a GOP primary, but may find that hitching his star to the nativist wagon driven by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will hurt him in a statewide general election. May run for State Attorney General.

Tom Horne - The current State Superintendent of Public Instruction is "exploring" a run at AG, but has long held an interest in the 9th Floor, and the Brewer-led budget meltdown could make him think that next year is "the year."

Dean Martin - The current State Treasurer was rumored to have gubernortorial ambitions while he was still in the state senate. Probably has a clear run at the Rep nomination for Treasurer, but the tragic death of his wife and newborn son earlier this your could cause him to speed up the timing of his plans. Will eventually run for Governor. The only question is when.

Ken Bennett - The current Secretary of State was appointed to the office when Jan Brewer moved into the Governor's office. A former President of the State Senate, his comeback from a scandal involving his son's "misuse" of a broomstick with some pre-teen campers won't be complete until he wins an election. Bennett's problem isn't really what his son did (most folks understand that he is not his son and that the son was easily old enough to understand that his actions were improper) but with his son's sentence.

18 victims - 30 days.

When the scion of a politically powerful man receives that kind of jaw-dropping leniency, eyebrows get raised.

Still, he will be running, whether next year or in 2014.

JD Hayworth - Former Congressman (thank you, Harry Mitchell!!) and current radio talk show host. His name was mentioned as a possible 2010 candidate for Governor, even before he lost his congressional seat in 2006, but Governor is a "heavy lifting" kind of office, and Hayworth has never been known as a heavy lifting kind of office holder.

He might make a primary run at John McCain, but probably not for governor.

John Shadegg - Currently the Congressman from AZCD3. He announced his retirement last year, only to renounce that announcement a week later. Rumors persist that he will retire (and go through with it!) this time. He is more likely to take a stab at a Senate run if John McCain retires than to run for governor.

Jeff Flake - Currently the Congressman from AZCD6. Has long been rumored to be interested in the job, though he has indicated that he plans to run for reelection to Congress next year. May have realized that his anti-government ideology is a good fit for a member of the minority in Congress but is not such a good fit for a "govern"-or. In addition, while the Rep caucus in the lege is just as anti-government as he is, they are something he is not.

Completely freakin' NUTS.

Flake might consider them to be his ideological brethren, but they probably wouldn't show him any more respect than they've shown Brewer.

He will probably stay in Congress unless McCain retires.

Vernon Parker - Current Mayor of Paradise Valley. Could be intriguing as a candidate who is an African American Republican. Brings money and business connections, but would have to get through a GOP primary as an African American. More likely to be a king-maker this time around than the king.


Other names worth consideration (this isn't a comprehensive list as every R who has ever held or even run for a significant office is looking at a run at the 9th Floor) -

Kris Mayes - The term-limited Corporation Commissioner could be an interesting choice. She's moderate enough to woo some of the independent voters who are running full speed away from anything that even hints of the AZGOP. However, that moderation pretty much negates any chance of her making it through a statewide GOP primary. Could make gain some traction in a race for Congress, especially if Shadegg or Flake steps aside.

Karen Johnson - The former LD18 state senator has an open exploratory committee. She's a gun-toting, UFO-sighting, 9/11 truther. Running to make sure certain issues are part of the campaign dialogue. Wouldn't even sniff this list in any state not named "Arizona."

Here she has to be considered a serious dark horse.

Len Munsil - The GOP nominee in 2006 has to be listed, but his public profile has been pretty low since his lost to Janet Napolitano.

Hugh Hallman - Current Mayor of Tempe. Wants to go statewide, with a run at Governor sooner or later. May make a run at something next year with Tempe as his base of support, but could lose Tempe in a statewide general election - he's not well-liked there outside of his Rep base, and more Dems will turn out in a midterm than in a municipal election.

As with the Democrats, the key here is John McCain; if he decides to retire, all Rep candidates with at least consider running one level up. If he doesn't, expect something resembling status quo.

Either way, though, there will be a scrum for Governor.

Next up in Breaking News: Water is wet

On Thursday, Pro Tem Justice of the Peace Daniel Washburn acquitted State Sen. John Huppenthal (R-Anger Management Issues) on misdemeanor theft and political sign tampering charges.

Washburn is a Republican activist and candidate in Pinal County. Huppenthal is a state senator and likely candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction next year.

This was not a really shocking verdict (the sign tampering statute's language refers to the signs for a candidate, and the sign in question was not "for" a candidate) but the fact that Washburn took so long to find something to hang an acquittal on the theft charge was a little surprising.

While the ruling cannot be appealed by the prosecution, the grounds for the acquittal on the theft charge seems weak.

The Judge found that the state hadn't proven that the sign in question belonged to the Arizona Democratic Party, and that was enough to acquit.

My understanding of the law (which isn't great; if a real lawyer wants to chime in with some insights, that would be fine) is that theft occurs when someone takes property that doesn't belong to him, not when that someone takes property that belongs to a specific owner.

Another weakness of the verdict is that it was based in part on the property manager giving Huppenthal permission to take the sign down.

Well, while Huppenthal testified that he was given permission, the property manager testified that she said "I don't care."

Only in Arizona could "I don't care" be synonymous with "I give you permission."

I guess we can file all of this under "IOKIYAR" - It's OK If You're A Republican.