Is Doug Ducey the governor of Arizona, or Andy Tobin's "goombah"?

...Either that or we should change the name of the office of the governor to that of the protector of Andy Tobin's Employment Security...

From KNXV-TV (Phoenix channel 15) (emphasis added) -

Former Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin has been appointed to the Arizona Corporation Commission to fill the seat vacated by Susan Bitter Smith.

The appointment by Gov. Doug Ducey was announced Wednesday.

{snip}

Tobin is currently the director of the Arizona Department of Insurance and the interim director of the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. He will leave both positions when he joins the Commission, said Ducey.

Before that, he was the director of the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures.

Mitch M. at Arizona' Politics observes that Tobin will take a significant cut in pay when he takes the job on the ACC.

However, I will observe, that given the behavior of the ACC and its members, that we need not worry about Tobin.

Only his *official* pay will be cut.

The calendar may be about to turn to 2016, but State Sen. John Kavanagh has his hate on for Phoenix like it is still 2013

In 2013, Phoenix passed a non-discrimination ordinance that protects LGBTQ people.

This so ruffled the tender sensibilities of many of the Rs at the lege (and their puppeteers at the Center for Arizona Theocracy Policy) that State Senator John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) proposed a change to Arizona law that would have made it illegal for someone to use a public restroom that's intended to be used by people of the gender that is different than the gender listed on the person's birth certificate.  He clearly targeted the state's transgender population with his proposal, and he and his proposal were widely denounced.

Kavanagh's proposal to criminalize the state's transgender population ultimately failed, but not before bringing yet another wave of ridicule down upon Arizona.

And while that measure has gone away, Kavanagh has not.


Fast forward to 2015 (almost 2016) and Phoenix is still rousing the ire of Kavanagh, this time in his nativist wheelhouse.

From the Arizona Republic, written by Dustin Gardiner, and dated on the evening of December 16, 2015 -

Phoenix will continue exploring a proposal to create a city photo-identification and service card, which could provide IDs to undocumented immigrants and other residents who struggle to get valid government ID.

The City Council voted 5-4 Wednesday night to issue a "request for information," inviting private-sector companies interested in managing the program to come forward with their ideas.

Interestingly, Kavanagh submitted SB1017, a measure to override anything that the city of Phoenix does with municipal IDs by imposing certain conditions upon them (essentially rendering them useless).

And when did he file the measure?

In other words, he knew this was coming and was trying to get ahead of the curve, a little anyway.

2016 will be an even-numbered year.  An election year.

The Rs in the legislature, in addition to their usual mischief-making, will be pushing measures to try to rouse their base.

Basically, we should all expect more measures to counter anything that even resembles simple human decency.

And the first "WTF?" bill of the 2016 session of the Arizona Legislature is...

... HB2003.

A couple of weeks ago, the Yellow Sheet Report, a publication of the Arizona Capitol Times, reported on the first bill proposal for the upcoming session of the Arizona Legislature (HB2001, from Rep. J.D. Mesnard).  That one is a (relatively) mundane correction to Arizona's "revenge porn" law, a law that has been blocked due to a court challenge.

Less mundane is HB2003.  It is sponsored by Rep. Mark Finchem (R-LD11) and numbers among its primary and cosponsors a rogues' gallery of members of the tin foil hat brigade of the R caucus.

From the measure -

A.  A person is eligible for election as county school superintendent if the person holds a basic or standard certificate to teach in the schools of this state baccalaureate degree in any subject or an associate degree in business, finance or accounting.

Ummm...really?

OK.  We're in Arizona - legislative hatred of teachers here is well-documented, so the part about not requiring county school superintendents to be able to teach in a public school classroom isn't much of a surprise.

It's unconscionable, but, with this bunch, it is something that should be expected.


But mandating that possessing an associate's degree in business, etc., means that one is as qualified to run a county school department as someone with a bachelor's degree in education (or anything else)?

That seems rather crazy...unless you see this proposal as so specific as to likely be a favor to someone in particular.

Looking into it, but anyone with insight into this is welcome to reach out to me, via email or a comment...