More impressions from Thursday's Republican "town hall" on the budget

...From the beginning of theThe Reps liked to talk about the state's "structural deficit" - the state doesn't take in enough in revenue every year to cover its basic annual fiscal commitments. Every budget is balanced by an array of loans, federal money, and accounting gimmicks (and more!) just so the lege can say that it didn't raise taxes.

The funny thing is that most of the "non-tax revenue enhancements" that they talked about using to address the state's budget deficit - selling state assets like parks, prisons, and the like or securitizing future lottery revenues (basically a loan using lottery revenue as collateral) are have one-time only benefits. Their ideas would do *nothing* to address that very stuctural deficit that they discussed.

In fact, but reducing the state's assets and committing future revenues to debt service instead of public services would only worsen the state's structural deficit.

In short, the Reps don't want to *solve* the state's budget problems, they want to *aggravate* them.

That way even if there is a change in the lege next year, the structural damage to the state's public service infrastructure that they are inflicting will continue to have devastating effects long after they are consigned to electoral irrelevance.

...One thing actually made me a little proud - in spite of all of the anger in the audience on Thursday, people were civil and respectful.

There was a group of ASU students who called out from the audience for a statement on the $1200 fee that Michael Crow wants to impose on students to offset the lege's cuts and a home school mom who stormed out of the hall in protest of all of the public school teachers there arguing against cuts to public ed, yet neither of them stepped out of line. They just added a little color to the proceedings. :))

...The Reps, especially Kavanagh, liked to call the expectations that education faces cuts of upwards of $900 million misinformation and a "doomsday scenario." He said that number was thrown around by Democrats to scare people.

The only problem with that position? That "$900 million" number was the Reps' own number.

I'm not sure if the Reps' disavowal of the "$900 million" number is because of the outrage of the citizenry, even some Republicans, or if the plan all along was to frighten folks with *massive* cuts before settling on cuts that are merely *huge*, and then patting themselves on the back and saying "Hey - it could have been worse. We really went to the mat for education."

Later...

Legislative Republicans - finally realizing that they have lost the PR battle

...And while they are finally taking steps to make up ground, even those belated attempts are making things worse.

For weeks now, the Democratic caucus of the Arizona Legislature has been travelling across the state, talking about the state's budget crisis with literally thousands of Arizonans.

On Thursday, April 16, the Maricopa County Republican Party will playing catch-up. Well, trying to, anyway.

They'll be holding a "Town-hall" regarding the state budget. It will be held in the auditorium in the Civic Center Branch of the Scottsdale Library. The panel will feature well-known Kool-Aid drinkers legislative Republicans such as Rep. John Kavanagh, Sen. Russell Pearce, Sen. Thayer Verschoor, and Sen. Chuck Gray.

The notice for the town hall promises discussion on how illegal immigrants and Democrats are responsible for the state's revenue shortfall. (What did you expect? They're on the receiving end of some serious heat over the devastation they are wreaking upon the state's education and human service infrastructures. They will be pointing fingers at everybody but themselves until November 2010. And after.)

Anyway, the meeting looks to be aimed at shoring up their support among the GOP's true believers.

As mentioned earlier, literally thousands of people attended the Democratic budget events, and the Reps know this. They know that people are seriously pissed, and are looking for ways to make their elected officials aware of their unhappiness.

This apparently presented a dilemma for the organizers of the event - how to encourage the participation of those who already support them while discouraging the "riff-raff" (you know, like those laid-off teachers) from getting in the way of their little blame train.

So some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed type** came up with the following line (emphasis mine) -

"A $5 donation will be taken at the door. "

Yep, when faced with an epic budget crisis, brought on in significant part by their own caucus' slavish devotion to tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and when faced with a population that is livid over the reckless and heartless "cut, and cut until the patient stops bleeding...and breathing" approach promulagated by the Reps, the Reps want to *charge* Arizonans extra for the privilege of speaking to the people who are supposed to represent them in the lege.

AZ Republicans - people who, when they find themselves in a hole, immediately start digging. Down.

**In this context "Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed type" = "crack-smoking nimrod"

2009 Legislative Loon Award

It's been tough finding a "winner" of this year's Legislative Loon Award. The problem hasn't been a dearth of candidates, because the rightward lurch of the GOP caucus in the lege has created a surfeit of them. (And so ends this blog's Thesaurus sentence of the year :) )

As in previous years, the likes of State Sens. Russell Pearce and Jack Harper were frontrunners for this award, as was Representative John Kavanagh. In addition to their nativist enthusiasms, Pearce and Kavanagh are the chairs of their respective chambers' Appropriations Committees, and have the influence to further the more radical parts of their ideology. Harper is, well, *Harper,* the man who never met a bill or utterance too outlandish or ignorant for him to put his name to it.

In a normal year, there would be no more than one or two others in serious contention (Trish Groe will be missed...OK, not really.)

But this year, a huge percentage of their colleagues have given free rein to their inner whackjob, in ways that go beyond the usual "appeal to the wingers back home" bills that go nowhere, and were never meant to.

Before we even enter into a discussion of some of the horrific bills proposed this session, there's the "colorful" utterances of some of the legislators to consider -

- Rep. Frank Antenori, a resident of Tucson and elected to represent part of Tucson, expressed objections to newspapers designating him as "R-Tucson." Apparently, he has a problem with the "hippies" that run the city.

- Sen. Pam Gorman, from her blog, on the prospect of devastating budget cuts for education and the rest of the state's budget (emphasis mine) - "Essentially, we will get to sit around in small groups brainstorming on ways to cut government spending instead of the normal nauseating disputes about how to spend more. Yippee! Now, where’s my party hat? "

- Sen. Jack Harper, responding to a story that Arizona, the rate of people applying for food stamps is rising at twice the pace of the U.S. as a whole (from Seeing Red AZ) - "One of the reasons so many people are signing up for welfare is due to so many welfare offices being opened up by the state and making it easy:," followed by a listing of all DES offices in the state.

No acknowledgement that maybe the reason that more people are applying for food stamps and other assistance is that more people *need* the assistance.

- Rep. John Kavanagh, speaking gleefully on the effects of cuts to the state's universities - "Since our cuts are going to send ASU back to the Middle Ages, the question is how many monks will they need?"

And that's just skimming the surface.

Then we move on to the transparency of the budget process (and balancing the state's budget in the face of the current fiscal crisis), something that the wingers complained about on an annual basis, when the moderate Republicans in the lege worked out a budget with then-Governor Napolitano and were able to garner enough support for it on both sides of the aisle to pass it. So what do the wingers do now that they've ousted most of the moderates in the Republican caucus and have fellow traveller Jan Brewer in the Governor's office?

Determine which programs to cut, and how savagely, behind closed doors.

They've even made their blog, Capitol Ideas (http://azhousegop.blogspot.com/), available to "invited readers" (i.e. - "true believers" in their view, "fellow Kool-Aid drinkers" in mine) only.

And then there are the bills.

In addition to their now-annual moves to repeal the state's equalization property tax, a dedicated funding source for education (SB1107, among others) or moves to repeal other taxes (HCR2034, et. al.), they've got the bills with the usual nativist pablum (with Russell Pearce lending his name to at least 16 of them), the anti-choice screeds (such as HB2564), and, of course, the gun fetish bills (SB1270, HB2171, and others).

But wait, there's more -

- The myriad bills against the use of photo radar, the most colorful of which may be Rep. Andy Biggs' HB2124, which won't allow photo radar to be used to issue tickets for going less than 35 mph in a school zone or less than 85 mph on a freeway. (Thanks to blogger Mike McClellan at AZCentral.com for the heads-up on HB2124)

You know, I can understand the 85 mph requirement in the rural portions of the state, where the speed limit is 75 mph, but 35 mph in a school zone? If there is one area that calls for strict enforcement of speed limits it's school zones.

- Sen. Ron Gould's SB1359, which would allow cities and towns to "construct, operate and finance the construction of toll roads within the corporate limits of the city or town."

- Sen. John Huppenthal's SB1393, a measure written so broadly that it would turn the public school system into a religious school system.

- Rep. Warde Nichols' scheme to disband the Arizona Board of Regents, HCR2002.

- SB1123, a Republican move to make Tucson's municipal elections non-partisan, mostly because Democrats win in Tucson.

- SB1147, which would bar state agencies from adopting any rules or policies regarding greenhouse gases or fuel economy without the express direction of the lege. The same lege that is run by Republicans who think that scientific evidence regarding global warming and human impact on the environment is a fraud.

There are more, but the point is made - Pearce, Kavanagh, and Harper have a LOT of company this year down on West Washington.

As such, the winner of this year's Legislative Loon Award is...


The entire Republican caucus of the Arizona Legislature.


God help us all.


Note: to be fair, I should note that there are still a few members of the Rep caucus who take the idea of public service seriously, however, most of them have to keep silent or face a primary challenge from hardliners. And in today's AZ Republican Party, the reality is that few of them are safe from such a challenge.

The lege's plan for education in AZ...in pictures

Call this one the "before" pic, as in "before" the likes of Russell Pearce and John Kavanagh get their hands on it

(Pic of the ASU campus courtesy the blog Ten Car Train. BTW, the blog entry it's attached to is funny as hell. :)) )

Call this one the "after" picture.

(Pic courtesy of Visitors Memories, this one is of an abandoned one-room schoolhouse in Canada [I think])

For anyone who might think this is a little over the top, the word of the day today is "metaphor." Look it up, but do it quickly before they can add dictionaries to their 'banned books' list.

At noon on Wednesday, there will be a noon rally at the State Capitol to protest the plans to gut education funding in AZ. In addition to students from all over the state, there will be a large contingent of East Valley Democrats in attendance.

The Top Priority Of Arizona's Republicans...

Want to hazard a guess what it is?

Here's a hint - in spite of the widening deficit, their first priority won't be fiscal responsibility, and in spite of their protestations that they respect the "voters", their first priority won't be following the will of those voters.

First perennial contender for the Legislative Loon Award, Republican Senator-elect Russell Pearce of Mesa announces that the he and the lege won't be able to balance the state's budget unless it gets the authority to interfere with voter-mandated programs.

From the EV Tribune -

But Pearce said voters should be allowed to reconsider limiting the power of lawmakers to alter voter-approved measures given the state's current fiscal crisis.

"I don't think they expected to raise taxes or to grow government ... when we can't even pay our bills," he said. Pearce also said voters have been "fooled a little bit" into believing the additional spending mandates would pay for themselves.

In Republican-speak, "the voters were fooled" means "the voters approved something we don't like."

While the Reps want to override the wishes of the voters in this period of budgetary distress, they want to ignore that same budgetary distress in favor of their *own* priorities.

Also from the EV Tribune -

State lawmakers will consider whether to continue spending tens of millions of dollars a year to arrest illegal immigrants when the legislative session begins next week with Arizona’s government in a $3 billion hole.

{snip}

However, Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, pledges to protect money for operations that target illegal immigrants and to provide additional cash for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s controversial crackdowns.

“Sheriff Joe (Arpaio) is going to get his $1.6 million back to go after human smuggling,” said Pearce, incoming chairman of the Senate appropriations committee.

So education, health care, arts, and public services will all face heavy (perhaps terminal) budget cuts, but officially sanctioned immigrant-bashing will get a blank check? Or at least a $1.6 million check, with more to come?

You know, the AZ Reps got exactly what they wanted in November's elections - a (slightly) larger majority in both chambers of the lege and, with Barack Obama's victory and designation of Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security, a fellow traveler in the Governor's office.

They may just end up learning the lesson of the old saying "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it."

They used to be able to say to their base "Hey, we passed the {pick your lunacy here} bill, but that @#%#@$ Napolitano vetoed it."

No longer, not with Jan Brewer stepping in to protect Arizonans from legislative depredations with her brand of matador defense.

The campaign season for 2010 is already looming and not having John McCain on the ballot as a presidential candidate combined with what looks to be two years of Republican placing their ideology and bigotry above the state's fiscal and political reality could set the stage for some significant changes on West Washington.


Republican State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Scottsdale), not exactly a slouch when it comes to riding the Wingnut Express, is the incoming chair of the House Appropriations Committee and he offered an unexpectedly apt observation.

From the Trib's story on overriding voter wishes -

But Kavanagh questions whether voters, having tied the hands of lawmakers in a 1998 ballot proposal, will be willing to remove the fiscal handcuffs. "They seem to have a lingering mistrust of the Legislature," he said.

"Lingering mistrust"??? After stunts like these, that may turn out to be the understatement of the entire session of the 49th session of the Arizona Legislature, and it hasn't even started yet.


NB - In case you think I'm overstating, in this post and others, how ideological the Republicans in the lege have gotten, take a look at the list of Rep members of the Senate Appropriations Committee -

Sylvia Allen, newby and a friend of Russell Pearce.

Pamela Gorman - Hardcore social conservative and wiggy enough to hang with anyone else in this post, but only rates a "B" from the Goldwater Institute, perhaps because she occasionally does things such as sponsor bills like a cell phone bill of rights (the bill was killed by the full Senate). The other returning members all received "A's" from the Goldwater Institute.

She was out of town when the budget came to a vote, but hurried back to see that the anti-same sex marriage amendment made it on to the ballot. Guess a little thing like the main reason the lege exists isn't important to her. Still, she may qualify as the least loony of this ready-to-bay-at-the-moon bunch.

Ron Gould, most noted for flying a Confederate Flag in his back yard and opposing any idea that post-dates Abe Lincoln taking office.

Jack Harper, famous for violating Senate rules to protect people who send text messages while driving and to help anti-same sex marriage folks to shoehorn a constitutional amendment on to last November's ballot.

Al Melvin, Vice-Chair - newby who's most famous for taking out Pete Hershberger, one of the few "moderate" Republicans in the lege, in the fall primary. Actually, Melvin called him a liberal. Like Allen, he's also an ally of Pearce.

Russell Pearce, Chair - A listing of the reasons for his notoriety is far too long for this post. Check the crAZyspace entry linked to his name for more details.

Steve Pierce - newby who took out another Tom O'Halleran, another moderate Republican (by AZ standards, anyway). Most famous for buying the seat. A hardcore social and fiscal conservative endorsed by the likes of U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, Congressmen Jeff Flake and John Shadegg, the NRA, AZ Right to Life PAC, a couple of chambers of commerce, etc.


In short, the next state budget would be horrific even without the state's budget crisis. Given that the wingnuts have that crisis to use as cover, expect the worst budget in memory, perhaps ever.

But hey, it'll have plenty of corporate tax cuts and anti-immigrant provisions, so that will make it OK, right?


This is going to be a loooooooong two years, even if rhe agony eventually does lead to the election of some responsible public servants to the lege and statewide offices.

Later...

East Valley Election Results

Well, East Valley, with some statewide and county races included...

Most results still unofficial, but most are still clear. All results courtesy the websites of the AZ Secretary of State, Maricopa County Recorder, and the Scottsdale City Clerk.


In CD5, incumbent Democratic Congressman Harry Mitchell is returning to D.C. with a comfortable margin of victory. With 245 of 248 precincts reporting, Mitchell leads David Schweikert 118,849 to 97,569.

In CD3, Democratic challenger Bob Lord fell short of defeating incumbent Republican John Shadegg (R-Club for Growth), receiving 92,614 votes to Shadegg's 117,439.

While Lord was able to significantly cut into a daunting Republican registration advantage, much like Mitchell did in CD5. However, unlike Mitchell, he's not, well, Harry Mitchell.

In the race for Corporation Commission, Democrats Sandra Kennedy and Paul Newman and Sam George are leading the race with 2219 of 2239 polls reporting. This one is close enough that one of them, Sam George, could be overtaken by Republican Bob Stump as provisional and early ballots are counted and added to the tallies.

In LD8, Republicans Michele Reagan and John Kavanagh were easily returned to the lege over Democratic challenger Stephanie Rimmer, 43,385 and 39,865 votes to 30,189, respectively. State Senator Carolyn Allen was unopposed for reelection.

In LD17, incumbent Democratic State Senator Meg Burton Cahill easily won reelection over Republican Jesse Hernandez, 28,510 to 18,106 while Democratic State Representatives Ed Ableser and David Schapira defeated Republican challengers Mark Thompson and Wes Waddle, with 24,242, 26,469, 19,081, and 15,030 votes respectively.

In LD18, Republican Russell Pearce (R-Nativist) handily won his race for the State Senate over Democrat Judah Nativio 19,510 to 15,250 (100% of precincts reporting) and Republicans Cecil Ash and Steve Court defeated Democrat Tammie Pursley and Independent Joe Brown.

It seems that the residents of west Mesa have to look forward to another two years of not having people in the lege who are there to represent *them*, not an extremist ideology.

In LD20, in a bit of an upset, Democrat Rae Waters will probably be joining Republican John McComish in the Arizona House of Representatives - she's got a small lead over Republican Jeff Dial. On the Senate side, sign-slashing and elderly-woman pushing incumbent Republican John Huppenthal defeated Democratic challenger Ted Maish.

In LD21, Republicans Warde Nichols and Steve Yarbrough stood off the challenge of Democrat Phil Hettmansperger, 45,757 and 37,403 votes to 36,232. Republican State Senator Jay Tibshraeny was unchallenged for reelection.

In LD22, Republicans Andy Biggs and Lauren Hendrix defeated Democrat Glenn Ray, with 48,157, 46,132, and 35,211 votes, respectively. On the senate side, Republican Thayer Verschoor was unchallenged for reelection.


In Maricopa County races...

In the four contested County Supervisor races, all four Republican incumbents were returned to office easily, with none of the Democratic challengers surpassing 46% of the vote inteir race.

Republican County Attorney Andrew Thomas defeated Democratic challenger Tim Nelson 514,820 votes to 440,197.

Republican Sheriff Joe Arpaio defeated Democrat Dan Saban 588,550 votes to 444,551.

Guess this means another four years of invaded libraries, shackled journalists, and unbridled corruption.

In the race for the Maricopa County Special Healthcare District, 3 out of the 5 candidates that were endorsed by the Maricopa County GOP lost, including District 3's Colette Rosati, who was spanked by Sue Gerard 85,369 votes to 43,909.


In the races for Scottsdale Mayor and City Council...

The race for Mayor is tight, but challenger Jim Lane has a nearly-800 vote lead over incumbent Mary Manross, 41,255 votes to 40,663. As for the City Council, it appears that incumbent Ron McCullagh will be returned to the council with newcomers Lisa Borowsky and Suzanne Klapp joining him. Incumbent Betty Drake is in fourth place, less than 900 votes behind Klapp.

Both the Mayoral and Council races could change slightly as the final mail-in and provisional ballot totals come in, but it appears that the face of Scottsdale's municipal government has changed.

However, there will still be a huge number of issues decided by a 4-3 margin.

(Wayne Ecton, Klapp and McCullagh on one side, with Lane, Tony Nelssen, and Bob Littlefield on the other. Lisa Borowsky will be the wild card. Expectations seem to be that she will mostly side with the Chamber of Commerce crowd, Ecton, Klapp, and McCullagh. We'll find out for sure starting in January.)

As for the ballot propositions, Prop 100 (barring a sales tax on real estate transfers) passed by a more than 3-to-1 margin; Prop 101 (Health Care Choice, aka 'banning all public health insurance plans') looks to be going down to defeat by a margin of approximately 2000 votes; Prop 102 (constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages) passed by nearly 240,000 votes; Prop 105 (Majority Rules, aka "not voting counts as a 'No' vote) was easily defeated by a nearly 2-1 margin; Prop 200 (Payday Loan reform, aka 'permanent legalization of loan sharking'), was defeated by 400,000 votes; Prop 201 (Homeowners' Bill of Rights) went down to defeat by a more than 3-1 margin; Prop 202 (Stop Illegal Hiring, aka 'Protect Big Business' ability to depress wages and hire cheap labor') was defeated soundly (400K+ votes); and Prop 300 (legislative pay raises from the current salary of $24K to $30K) was also soundly defeated.

More later!

Polished bigotry is still bigotry

There is so much to write about - a McCain campaign aide's race-baiting, the irony of both Barack Obama and Sarah Palin pulling off of the campaign trail at the same time - the irony being that Obama went to be with his ailing grandmother while Palin went to be deposed in the investigation of her abuse of office in Alaska - but I don't have enough time for that.

Instead, the focus will be much closer to home.

Specifically, the AZ Republic's endorsement of nativist John Kavanagh over Democrat Stephanie Rimmer in the race for LD8 House.

Of course, they have the right to endorse any candidate they choose, and for any reason that they choose. However, their rationalization for selecting Kavanagh for the endorsement was breathtaking.

From the editorial (emphasis mine) -

Kavanagh's signature issue in his first term has been, as he promised, illegal immigration. He is as zealous on the issue as Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, which makes us uncomfortable. But there is a profound difference between the two men: Kavanagh is more intelligent and more tactful in making his points...

Hey, I've no disagreement with the Rep on the main point - Kavanagh *is* more intelligent, educated, tactful, and just generally more polished than Pearce.

Even combined, however, intelligence, education, tact, and polish do not make nativists any less bigoted.

And have no doubt - Kavanagh *is* an unabashed nativist. He may have been on his best behavior for the Rep's editors, but when he feels like he is comfortably ensconced among fellow travelers on the anti-immigrant trail, he lets his hair down a bit, as documented in this post from June of 2007.

Simply put, Stephanie Rimmer is a much better choice to represent LD8's residents. She's an intelligent and hard-working businesswoman and community activist whose pro-education, pro-conservation, and pro-business views are a far tighter fit with those of the voters of north Scottsdale and Fountain Hills than Kavanagh's anti-public education, anti-brown people, and anti-government views.

Note: it is sort of hypocritical of Kavanagh to constantly rail against government spending when his entire career has been one of taxpayer-funded positions in the military, as a police officer in New York, as an instructor at Scottsdale Community College, and as an elected official.

Don't misunderstand me - based on what I know, he's had a laudable career of public service, but when he attacks the same government spending that has supported he and his family for decades, I have to wonder where his head's at. (Think: "dire need for cranio-rectal dislodgement surgery" :)) )

Anyway, help Stephanie Rimmer and all of LD8 by volunteering with her campaign or at the coordinated campaign office in Scottsdale (480.607.4435) to help put her over the top.

Have a good weekend!

Campaign Finance Reports - LD8, LD17, LD18

All info courtesy the website of the Arizona Secretary of State...

LD8 State Senate -

Carolyn Allen, Republican (traditional financing) - raised $22000, spent $8000, cash on hand $68000. Interesting names: Her entire list of contributors reads like a "Who's Who" of the Arizona business community (heavy on the healthcare sector), so in the interests of brevity, I won't list any of them, but one of the non-business community folks to contribute to her campaign was David Waid, former ED of the Arizona Democratic Party, who gave $100.

Robert Weber, Libertarian (Clean Elections financing) - Nada. Zip. Bupkes. No activity. At all. When I saw this report, I was going to question why go to the effort of getting on the ballot if he wasn't going to at least *try* to mount a campaign, but upon further reflection, I've decided not to go there.

Not because I'm feeling nice, but because Mr. Weber didn't actually qualify for the ballot.


LD8 State Representative -

Michele Reagan, Republican (Traditional) - Raised $11000, spent $11000, cash on hand of just under $46000. Interesting name: David Waid (again!) gave $200.

Stephanie Rimmer, Democrat (Clean Elections) - Raised $2000, spent $1600, cash on hand of $400.

John Kavanagh, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $930, spent slightly less than $400, cash on hand slightly more than $500.


LD17 State Senate -

Meg Burton Cahill, Democrat (Clean Elections) - Raised almost $2900. spent $86, cash on hand of a little more than $2700.

Jesse Hernandez, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $250, spent $0, cash on hand $250.


LD17 State Representative -

David Schapira, Democrat (Clean Elections) - Raised $16000 ($12921 CCEC funding), spent $2500, cash on hand $14200.

Ed Ableser, Democrat (Clean Elections) - Raised $14600 ($12921 CCEC funding), spent $2400, cash on hand $12600.

Wes Waddle, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $500, spent $150, cash on hand $350.

Mark Thompson, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $1200, spent $100, cash on hand $1100.


LD18 State Senate -

Judah Nativio, Democrat (Clean Elections) - Raised $960, spent just under $800, cash on hand of just under $800.

Kevin Gibbons, Republican (Traditional) - Raised $66000, spent $3500, cash on hand of just under $63000. Interesting names: State Rep. Lynne Pancrazi donated $200; Jean McGrath, former legislator and current member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board, gave $100; Jim Pederson, former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate gave $390. In addition, he had a large number of agriculture-related contributors, a large group from Yuma, of all places.

Russell Pearce, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $2300, spent $24000 ($23K had to do with closing the books on the Pearce Exploratory Committee), cash on hand $2600. Received $19382 CCEC funding after the reporting period ended.

I thought that Pearce's exploratory committee was a federal one formed for his abortive run at Jeff Flake's CD6 seat, so I'm not sure why anything related to it is showing up on his state report. I'll see what I can find out (aka - I'll call the Secretary of State's office and ask :) ).


LD18 Representative -

Tammie Pursley, Democrat (Clean Elections) - Raised $1700, spent $350, cash on hand of $1300.

Cecil Ash, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $2950, spent $800, cash on hand of $2150. Received $19382 CCEC funding after the reporting period ended.

Steve Court, Republican (Clean Elections) -Raised almost $14700 ($12921 CCEC), spent $6500, cash on hand $8200. Received supplemental CCEC funding of $6461 ($19382 total) after the reporting period ended.

Kanani Henderson, Republican (Traditional) - Raised $1300, spent $260, cash on hand of nearly $1100.

Ron Middlebrook, Republican (Clean Elections) - Raised $1245, spent $0, cash on hand $1245. Received $19382 CCEC funding after the reporting period ended.


CCEC's LD18 candidate forum for Republican candidates (House and Senate) will be held on Thursday, July 10 at EVIT, 1601 W. Main St., Mesa, AZ from 6:00 p.m until 8:00 p.m.


I'll do a post on Corporation Commission candidate reports later on Thursday.

Later!

Legislative candidate update

After reading this post at SeeingRedAZ about how Congressman Jeff Flake's brother-in-law has filed to challenge Russell Pearce in the LD18 Senate primary, I realized that it's high time to check for active candidate committees. All info courtesy the Arizona Secretary of State's website. I cross-checked the names at the Clean Elections website, but there were no names on the CCEC list of candidates that weren't also on the AZSOS's site.

(* = incumbent)


LD17 Senator (Tempe, South Scottsdale) -

Democrats - Meg Burton-Cahill*

Republicans - None yet


LD17 Representative -

Democrats - David Schapira*, Ed Ableser*

Republicans - Wesley Waddle, Mark Thompson (exploratory)

...This district is almost certain to have the hardest-fought general election. While the voter reg trends in the district favor Democrats (whoooo hoooo!), it's still almost evenly split in this district. I have heard of a couple of other possible Rep contenders, but they haven't announced yet, and since I'm not a Rep, I don't exactly have stellar sources among them in order to confirm/refute the rumors. :)



LD18 Representative (West Mesa) -

Democrats - Tammie Pursley

Republicans - Cecil Ash, Joe Dobbins, Steve Court, Kanani Henderson, Ron Middlebrook


LD18 Senator -

Democrats - Judah Nativio

Republicans - Russell Pearce, Kevin Gibbons

...Hmmmm....Both of LD18's Republican primaries look to be dogfights - 5 candidates running for two spots in the race for state rep, and Jeff Flake's brother-in-law running against Russell Pearce in an apparent bit of payback for Pearce's abortive primary challenge of Flake for the CD6 seat. There are no incumbents running in LD18 because Russell Pearce is term-limited out of the House, Karen Johnson has stepped aside to allow Pearce to run for the Senate seat that she currently holds, and current state representative Mark Anderson is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Harry Mitchell in CD5.



LD8 Senate (North Scottsdale, Fountain Hills) -

Republicans - Carolyn Allen*

Democrats - None yet


LD8 Representative -

Republicans - Michelle Reagan*, John Kavanagh*

Democrats - None yet


...Expect Democratic candidates to step forward in LD8; I know of a couple of folks who are mulling over a run, but have yet to announce. Anybody who is interested in running should contact the LD8 Dems at (480) 596-8350.


Later!

Musings on a community meeting

Edit on 2/26 to add link at the bottom of the post...

Last night, I took the opportunity to attend a meeting of the Community Council of South Scottsdale at the Granite Reef Senior Center in Scottsdale.

One could tell it was an election year, as there were five members of the City Council or candidates for the council present (Jim Lane, Tony Nelssen, Ron McCullagh, Nan Nesvig, Joel Bramoweth), as well as one candidate for Congress (Laura Knaperek).

The main topic of the meeting was a presentation and discussion of a development/redevelopment project proposed for south Scottsdale. One of the components of the project was 'income-restricted' housing units, targeted at lower-income, first-time home buyers. This generated one of the highlights of the meeting.

The discussion of income restricted housing immediately set off a few people in the audience, spouting off about illegal immigrants and subsidized housing and ruined neighborhoods.

That, in turn, sparked council candidate Joel Bramoweth into taking exception to the bigotry being spewed forth. He was shouted down with cries of "she has the floor", but he still impressed me - most candidates for office today won't go against the tide in a gathering such as that one.

I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for, but he went a long way toward earning my vote (and he sure as hell went a long way toward making up for some of the rather rambling speeches that he gives during Council meetings :)) .)

It should be noted here that this is the same group that last year invited State Rep. John Kavanagh to one of their meetings, inspiring me to right this post, comparing Kavanagh to his friend and ideological hero, Russell Pearce. The anti-mmigrant rhetoric present on Thursday night wasn't a surprise.

Other highlights -

...I spoke with Councilman Ron McCullagh for a few moments before the start of the meeting and research into the possible addition of Arizona American Water Company's Scottsdale customers to the Scottsdale municipal water system. Personally, I don't think it will happen during an election year, especially one where most federal, state, county and municipal budgets are stretched to the max, but stay tuned.

...Laura Knaperek spent some time introducing herself and shaking hands. So far, she's been the only Rep candidate that I've seen working the community gathering circuit in south Scottsdale and Tempe (she was at the Tempe City Council forum earlier this month), but that's said with a couple of caveats - I've only been to a few non-partisan events this month, and I don't attend the 'big money' events such as those put on by the Chamber of Commerce and their ilk.

Race for CD5 note - If Knaperek is any indication, the Republican contenders in CD5 learned at least one lesson from Harry Mitchell's 2006 upset of JD Hayworth - they're stressing their 'fiscal conservative' bonafides while minimizing their harsher 'social conservative' credentials. For instance, Knaperek has be Executive Director of a right-wing organization called United Families International for more than a year. That organization is so far right that it opposes UN efforts to outlaw forced marriage and gender-selective infanticide because such efforts demean the value of traditional marriage. (Knaperek's take here.)

On her website's "Meet Laura" page, she has a 6-paragraph, 336-word bio. She devotes a full paragraph to being a fiscal conservative (two paragraphs on her work with the disabled!) and all of one sentence to her work with UFI, and that sentence has no details on the organization.

Ahhh yessssss...the selectively-edited resume. It serves the same purpose in politics that coverup makeup does with tattoos.

...To be fair to the bigots at the meeting, Mexicans weren't the only targets of their ire. During a discussion of the status of the SkySong development at the old Los Arcos Mall location, there were criticisms over the number of non-American companies that have leased space there. A number of the tenants are from countries such as Turkey, Singapore and China, and a group of audience members felt that was "unAmerican".

I'm not making this up.

Later!

Edit on 2/26 to add -

Ari Cohn of the East Valley Tribune was at the meeting; his coverage is here.

End edit.

Short Attention Span Musing

...The forces of ignorance and bigotry are rejoicing tonight...

From the AZ Republic -

A controversial scholarship that benefited Arizona State University students who are in the country illegally has quietly faded away.

As many as 200 students who graduated from Arizona high schools received the private scholarship money through the university this year.

But now, the money is spent, and ASU is advising students who depended on it to "seek private funding sources."

{snip}

State Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, is thrilled ASU will no longer be providing money to these students.

"The university should never have been complicit in bypassing the will of the voters," Kavanagh said. Prop. 300 passed in 2006 with the support of nearly seven out of 10 voters. "They were giving tuition breaks to illegal immigrants."

Wonder how much Kavanagh is going to revere the "will of the voters" when he votes on bills like HCR2066 and HCR2044, both of which would allow to lege to override the "will of the voters" under certain circumstances, as determined by the legislature itself.


...Does this mean that Bob Lord gets to call John Shadegg a 'flip-flopper'???

From the East Valley Tribune -

U.S. Rep. John Shadegg said Thursday he will reconsider his decision to retire at the end of his term.

He began wavering after learning that more than half of the Republicans in the House have signed a letter asking him to stay. Shadegg, 58, unexpectedly announced his retirement Monday.

...Breaking news: One rich, old, white Republican male endorses another rich, old, white Republican male.

From the Houston Chronicle -

GOP presidential front-runner John McCain is continuing to sweep up establishment Republican support as former President George H.W. Bush is expected to endorse the Arizona senator Monday in Houston.

What the hell, it's not like anyone expected him to endorse Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton...

2008 Legislative Loon - 1st Runner Up

In a slight change from the previously announced format, instead of four posts announcing the three finalists for the 2008 Legislative Loon Award and the winner, there will be three posts listing the final results.

State Sen. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!), the subject of my previous post on this topic (and last year's winner), is 2nd Runner Up.

Tonight's subject, State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-LD8), is 1st Runner Up.

He's a real 'up-and-comer' - as an incoming freshman legislator a year ago, he was an almost totally unknown quantity and was unranked.

What we did know a year ago was that he came from a district (north Scottsdale) that is known for sending socially moderate, pro-business Republicans to the lege (i.e. -Sen. Carolyn Allen and Rep. Michele Reagan.) In addition, it was known that he was a retired police officer and current college program head (Scottsdale Community College.)

A year ago, expectations...hopes, anyway...were that while he was a loyal Republican, his careers as a public servant and educator would give him an understanding of the damage that blind ideology can wreak upon public service and infrastructure, and that he might pass that understanding on to a couple of his caucus-mates.


What a difference a year makes.


Let's look at his 'rabid ideologue' credentials -

He hates immigrants with the passion of a Pearce or Tancredo -

He is the sponsor or cosponsor of seven anti-immigrant bills (and counting), operates an anti-immigrant website called ProtectAZBorder.com (Google it if you want to look at it; I'm not going to link to it), and he has an anti-immigrant radio show on KFHX 1620 AM airing Fridays at 8 a.m. (I think it's a low power station based in Fountain Hills, but it streams its audio. Google it if interested.)

Coverage of some of his public expressions against immigrants here.

He's anti-public education -

He's sponsored or cosponsored seven bills that undermine public education, from a bill that makes permanent the corporate tax credit for donations school tuition organizations (STOs) for private and charter schools (HB2098) to barring the assessment of development fees to pay for school construction or maintenance (SB1138).

...He's not unusual in this regard - most of the Republican caucus in the lege works against public ed; however, very few actually work in public ed at the same time. Isn't it interesting that someone who works for a publicly-funded school (SCC) is dedicated to undermining the viability of public education?

He's a fiscally irresponsible (but oh-so-fervent) anti-tax crusader -

He has sponsored or cosponsored five bills that would decrease the state's revenues when it's already laboring under a budget deficit that exceeds a billion dollars. Perhaps he believes that the state can balance its budget with a voluntary tax (HB2339).

31 other Republicans have signed on to HB2339; apparently, they hope that the average citizen will step in to pick up the revenue slack while not noticing that the state's revenue problems were exacerbated by those same Republicans when they forced through yet another huge tax cut for corporations.


Highlights of some of his recent utterings and press coverage -

He wants to balance the state's budget on the backs of needy students.

From the Sierra Vista Herald (January 10, 2008) -

The proposal Wednesday by Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, would require universities to charge students at least 40 percent of what it costs to attend the schools. Now, some students can get fullride scholarships, including room and board, while others get a major percentage of their tab picked up. Kavanagh said the current policy essentially amounts to those without a college degree subsidizing the education of those who will get one.

And if you don't already see his plan as a carefully planned attack on financially-needy poor students (in the name of the state's own financial needs, of course), his proposal would exempt students on academic or athletic scholarships.

Or how about this gem, from the AZ Republic's Political Insider (aka - Plugged In) (the entry is quoted in its entirety because the entire entry *is* a quote) -

"Can we do that to prevent the decimation of our forests, the herniation of our postal workers and the pillaging of our budget?" - Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, asking Secretary of State Jan Brewer if her office could save money by sending ballot information electronically, instead of through the U.S. mail.

In case this isn't clear (somebody should take his thesaurus away, right now! :) ), let me clarify - he wants to use the state's budget problems to disenfranchise those who aren't Web users.

Why doesn't he just say what he really means? "Elderly folks who haven't adapted to an online world yet - you don't need to know about the ballot. You've already voted enough in your lifetimes. On election day, you just get in the way of busier, more useful people anyway. Poor people who can't afford web access - Just get to work and quit wasting time on civic niceties like informed voting."


What elevates Kavanagh about the rest of the Republican caucus (and above 2nd Runner Up Jack Harper) in the race for 2008 Legislative Loon isn't that he's a raving ideologue and frothing-at-the-mouth bigot (most of them are both).

It's the fact that he *is* well-spoken, well-educated, and highly intelligent, and quite capable of crafting and pushing well-thought out and responsible bills. He can even "work across the aisle" on some good bills (i.e. - HB2396, Steve Farley's ban on texting while driving, HB2557, a bill that specifies that schools cannot reduce or eliminate PE, music, or art instruction to meet academic standards in required subjects).

He's the 1st Runner Up because he's capable of being better. He could be a dedicated and hard-working legislator who could be disagreed with on policy issues (he *is* a Republican after all :) ), yet could be respected for at least trying to bring an air of intelligence and professionalism to his job.

Instead, he's just Loon in professional attire, nothing more than a polished Kool-Aid drinker.

...Next up - the Winner!

Of course, most regular readers can guess who that's going to be... :))

Hint: Even without the rest of his resume, the whole 'guns in schools' proposal (SB1214) put him over the top.

Not that he hasn't always been "over the top..."

Later!

The nominations are in...

With the WGA still on strike, this awards season has been something of a bust, but that all changes tonight... :)


It's a new year, and a new session of the legislature, and it's time to announce the finalists in the 2008 Legislative Loon award.


This year's competition has a number of contenders for the top spot, but the finalists came down to three names familiar to readers of this blog.

This is the first of a series of four posts - one for each finalist, detailing their qualifications for this year's award, followed by a fourth naming the winner. The winner will be announced next week.

On to the finalists...


State Senator Jack Harper(R-LD4), the defending champion, made a strong case to retain his title, sponsoring or cosponsoring at least 10 anti-immigrant bills, three anti-abortion measures, and a offering a number of bills and utterings of the 'unrepentant wing nut' variety.

Some of the highlights of his entries in the category -

...the previously discussed SB1064, a proposal to open up Arizona's presidential primaries - for everyone except Democrats...

...a slightly watered-down version of the infamous "guns in bars" bill. His SB1132 would allow gun owners to carry their weapons in a restaurant as long as the proprietor of the establishment specifically posted that such was allowed. (note: Believe it or not, I could actually support this bill except for the fact that the posting required under the language of this bill doesn't actually clearly state that guns are permitted. Yes, that means that patrons that aren't part of the gun culture wouldn't know that they were around people who were mixing booze and guns. An article on the bill by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, via the Sierra Vista Herald is here.)

...his refusal to hold re-confirmation hearings for the commander of the Arizona National Guard, Gen. David Rataczak, because he doesn't like the fact that Governor Napolitano hasn't mobilized the National Guard to patrol the border with Mexico. (EV Trib editorial here)

...his sponsorship of seven bills designed to reduce state or local revenues (i.e. - SB1002, end equalization tax for education; SB1138, bar local development fees to pay for schools in newly'built areas) or increase fiscal irresponsibility (HCR2004, creative use of federal money that isn't subject to specific encumberances).

[And all you CD8 types should remember that Tim Bee is the one who put Harper on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Just something to think about when Bee tries to portray himself as a "moderate Republican" during his campaign to unseat Gabrielle Giffords in November.]

...the reintroduction of a bill to create a state-sponsored and funded anti-immigrant vigilante force...errr..."homeland security force" (SCR1007).

...during a meeting of the Joint Appropriations Committee on January 23rd, he grilled ASU Michael Crow over university courses that "challenge the social norms." He objects to courses that discuss subjects, such as sexuality, that are "deviant from from the majority" and wants "assurance that courses that challenge the social norms will be eliminated in light of budget issues." (The lege's video archive page is here; select the longer January 23, 2008 meeting. Harper's part starts at around the 1:21:00 mark.)

Yes, in a period when the state is facing a budget shortfall in the vicinity a billion dollars, and he's concerned with a couple of individual class offerings that have a single class section. He's actually interested in turning the state universities into higher-ed versions of vocational high schools, not institutions of higher learning -

He wants his "tax money going to train someone for a career not going to push someone's social agenda."


No UFO sightings here, but Sen. Harper offers a well-rounded resume. He's petty, unprofessional, reactionary, and bigoted.

He's made a very strong statement in his campaign to retain the title.

Next up: State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-LD8).

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing

This one's a mish-mash of stuff that has been building up over the weekend...

Note - this post was edited to correct spelling, punctuation, poor grammar, and a couple of forgotten sentences. I really should know better than to post late at night after working all weekend. :))

...Bush makes it official - he cares more about killing Iraqis than he does about protecting Americans.

From Bloomberg.com -

Bush Says Funding Iraq, Afghan Wars Is Congress's Top Priority

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said that funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be Congress's top priority when it returns to Washington next week, and he lashed out at Democrats for not acting on his spending request.

From MSNBC.com -

Bush Proposes Dramatic Cuts In Homeland Security Funding

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration intends to slash counter terrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments nation-wide by more than half next year, according to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press. New York would be hard hit by deep cuts, according to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

The plan would eliminate programs for port security, transit security and local emergency management operations in the next budget year.

Even the right-wing blogosphere takes issue with cuts to HS funding.

Wonder how soon-to-be Senate minority whip Jon Kyl will spin his blind support of Bush's plans?


...In the candidates and rumored candidates department -

Caveat: all rumors are just that and nothing more. In addition, any Republican-related rumors should be read with the understanding that I am *not* a Republican insider, nor do I know any. It's all just stuff that I've heard.

- - - Long-heard talk has that LD8 State Senator Carolyn Allen won't be running for reelection and that current LD8 State Rep. Michelle Reagan will be running for the seat. What is new to me is the rumor that John Kavanagh, also a current rep in LD8, will challenge Reagan in the Republican primary, setting up the equivalent of Allen-Rosati II, with the pro-business Reagan taking on the role of Carolyn Allen and wing-nut Kavanagh stepping in for Colette Rosati.

If true, this would create a dilemma for Democrats in the overwhelmingly Republican LD8 - lend support (if not votes) for the relatively moderate (and more importantly, sane) Reagan in the primary, even though she would be all but invincible in the general election, or risk the possible elevation to the Senate of Kavanagh, who, while nothing but Russell Pearce with a New York accent, is marginally more vulnerable in a general election.

Note: According to a search of the AZ Secretary of State's website, Reagan's active 2008 committee is for state rep, and Allen still has an active state senate campaign committee.

- - - It's not official yet, but apparently Democrat Stephanie Rimmer may be running for LD8 State Rep next year. She ran in 2006 and mounted a credible campaign against Reagan and Kavanagh; if both incumbents are running for state senate in 2008, she'll have a fighting chance against two Republican rookies in the state rep race.

That 2-to-1 Republican registration advantage will be tough to overcome, though. Maybe the Republicans will help her by nominating Rosati for a run at a state rep seat.

Rosati's burned enough bridges in her own party that some LD8 Republicans would vote for Hillary Clinton before they'd vote for Rosati; that dynamic will help Rimmer.

Rimmer is a long-time community activist and small business owner and lives with her family in Scottsdale.

No word yet on any other possible Democratic contenders in LD8.

...In LD18, Republican PC (Mesa 32) Ron Middlebrook is running for state rep; the current reps are erstwhile congressional candidates Russell Pearce ('exploring' in CD6) and Mark Anderson ('exploring' in CD5). No rumor this - his Clean Elections paperwork is already filed.

Don't know anything else about him.

Note - if the 'explorations' don't become full-fledged candidacies and they start looking at other offices, Pearce is termed out in the state House, while Anderson can run for another term there.


...and finally, in the "Let's help Jan Brewer puff up her resume before she runs for governor in 2010" department, Republican State Senator Chuck Gray has introduced an amendment to the state constitution, that if it passed the lege next spring and the voters next fall, would change the Secretary of State's job title to "Lieutenant Governor."

It wouldn't change the job description, just the title.

My question - why bother?

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing...

During the tumult of the last few days over the FISA bill and the number of Democrats that crossed over to support the imperial Presidency aspirations of Bush, a few things came up that deserve a little attention...

...Turns out that there are more-or-less matching bills in the House and Senate that clarify journalist shield laws.

From The Register (UK) -

US bloggers set for journalistic shield

A US bill that would shield journalists, including bloggers, from revealing their sources has cleared the House Judiciary Committee, an important stage in becoming law. There is already legislation in the UK which protects journalists and bloggers.

The US Free Flow of Information Act protects journalistic sources generally, but does include several exceptions regarding terrorism, national security, imminent death and trade secret leaks.

However, there is a gap in the proposal that is far more relevant to most bloggers than those exceptions, exceptions that most of us will never have to worry about. More from the article -

The modified bill which passed the committee on 2nd August included a provision that limits its protections to those who make "financial gain or livelihood" from their journalism.

This essentially means that most individual bloggers, who may make a small income from Google adverts, seem unlikely to get protection – though this will depend on how broadly the courts interpret "financial gain".

Maybe this is my cynicism showing, but that 'modification' sounds an awful lot like something that a lobbyist for a corporate media conglomerate would have put in to reduce competition from independent amateur journalists such as bloggers.

Like yours truly, and most people who write blogs.

Note: the bills are HR2102 and S1267, the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007. Those numbers might be good to know if someone wanted to contact their Congresscritter and suggest broadening the protections to amateurs. {hint, hint :)) }

...California's Secretary of State, Debra Bowman, did something that warmed the hearts of everyone who loves democracy, and raised the hackles on Jan Brewer's neck. Secretary of State Bowman decertified the electronic voting machines made by some of the industry's biggest players...

Also from The Register -

E-voting gets bitch-slapped in Calfornia

California's top election official has decertified electronic voting machines made by the industry's four biggest vendors, in response to a report that highlighted their potential for election tampering.

The move by California Secretary of State Debra Bowman effectively bars the machines of three of the manufacturers - Diebold Election Systems, Sequoia Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic - unless new measures are implemented to safeguard against abuse.

Bowen also decertified e-voting machines sold by Election Systems and Software, which didn't turn over source code and other materials in time to be tested in in a "top-to-bottom" review designed to assess the security of all ballot machines. ES&S machines could be certified for use in the future.

There have been hundreds of articles on this topic, but none had quite so evocative a headline. :))

Wonder how AZ Secretary of State Brewer is going to defend her own approval of the same machines from the same vendors for use in Arizona's elections?

The announcement from Ms. Bowen is here.


...Hillary Clinton may not have lost the nomination over the weekend, but she made it clear that she's DLC to the core and not trying to appeal to the Party's grassroots.

A strong defense of big-money lobbyists will tend to do that.

From The Atlantic Online -

"A lot of those lobbyists whether you like it not, represent real Americans," she said. "They represent nurses, social workers" -- here the audience began to boo -- "and yes, they represent corporations and they employ a lot of people." "I just... I just ask you to look at my record." Never, she said, in her 35 years of public service, had she bowed to the will of a lobbyist. But she would not change her mind.

Her speech at YearlyKos may bring in more corporate and PAC donations for her campaign, but donations aren't votes and chasing corporate cash so blatantly will cost her more votes and support than the money she receives will buy.


...Wonder if Nissan had a certain Republican legislator from Lake Havasu in mind when they started development work on their latest car...

From BBC News (UK) -

Nissan studies drink-proof cars

Japanese carmaker Nissan has unveiled new technology designed to detect whether a driver has been drinking.

It includes odour sensors that monitor breath, detectors which analyse perspiration of the palms, and a camera that checks alertness by eye scan.

If John Kavanagh (R-LD8) found ignition interlock devices so onerous that he proposed repealing the law making them mandatory even before it went into effect, what would the introduction of these cars into Arizona make him do, have a seizure??

Of course, perhaps a campaign contribution from a Valley Nissan dealer would soothe his nerves...

Later!

Rep. John Kavanagh - Russell Pearce with a 'Noo Yawk' accent...

Tonight, I had a choice.

I could have attended a charity screening of the movie "Serenity" to benefit local charities GIFT (Growth Improvement for Female Teens) and The Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona or I could have gone to a meeting of the Community Council of South Scottsdale.

Since I watched, over a 5-day period a couple of weeks ago, the entire Firefly series as well as 'Serenity,' the movie based on the series (something I recommend for anyone - it's a great series and holds together well with the movie), I elected to attend the community group meeting.

Damn, I'm glad I made that choice.

Tonight's meeting, held at the Granite Reef Senior Center, was an immigration forum with state Rep. John Kavanagh (R-LD8) and Alexis Tameron, Congressman Harry Mitchell's district director. Both were there to give updates on immigration-related activity at their respective levels of government.

Ms. Tameron discussed Congressman Mitchell's positions regarding the immigration issue and also about the recently-revived immigration 'reform' measure in the U.S. Senate. She acknowledged a lack of specific information regarding individual provisions in the bill because it is still subject to negotiation, amendment, and debate in the Senate. She offered to contact interested folks when the Senate finalizes and passes its bill.

In short, it was pretty standard stuff.

John Kavanagh, however, was a revelation.

Tonight was the first time I had seen him up close since I attended a couple of LD8 candidate forums last year.

During those forums, he came across as a far-right Republican; an intelligent, educated, and well-spoken one (he's an instructor at Scottsdale Community College), but not a hard-line bigot.

Well, apparently, while he was *running* for the office, he was on his best behavior.

Now that he *in* the office, it's a different story.

He blamed immigrants for all that ails society - rising crime, failing schools, diseases (TB and leprosy were his favorites there), potential terrorism, and more.

He also has no use for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the one that says that babies born in the U.S. are automatically U.S. citizens), but he admitted that getting another Constitutional amendment passed to 'correct' the 14th is unlikely.

In short, he's an intelligent, educated, well-spoken version of Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance), only with a 'Noo Yawk' accent.


Some of his choicer quotes tonight [with my responses] -

"They come here for the benefits." [No, they come here to work in lousy jobs.]

Arizona cities that have 'sanctuary' policies are "shameful." [Only if considers 'shameful' to be a synonym of 'humane.']

Jon Kyl is a "disappointment." [OK, so anybody can get *one* right.]

Regarding the Minutemen - "good people." [ROTFLMAO - watch the film Crossing Arizona.]

After citing a (unverified) statistic that 1/5 of the residents of Arizona are illegal immigrants, he looked around the room and said "everybody in this room looks OK." [Good freakin' God...]


And my personal favorite:

"Russell Pearce is my close friend." [With friends like that, who needs jackboots....]


Here's to hoping that the LD8 Democrats can find a good candidate to run against him next year, and that the LD8 Republicans can see past the polish and understand that Kavanagh isn't there to represent them.


Good night...

The 'law and order' lege backpedaling on tougher DUI law

Earlier in the session, Rep. David Schapira (D-LD17) accomplished something unusual for a Democrat in the Arizona State Legislature -

An amendment that he proposed was added by the House to a bill, which later passed the Senate also and was signed into law by Governor Napolitano.

The amendment, now law, requires that first-time DUI offenders install an ignition interlock device (IID) into their vehicles and that they pass a breath test before their cars will start.

The new law gives Arizona some of the strongest anti-DUI laws in the nation, yet it was done in a reasonable, non-"lock-'em up and throw away the key" way.

Coming from the AZ lege, that's almost unheard of.

Rest assured, however, that the lege's bout of sanity and reason was short-lived, though it ended in a rather surprising manner.

The House, led by a Republican ex-police officer, is trying to weaken the law.

Yesterday, LD8 Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Scottsdale) proposed, and the House passed, an amendment to another bill, SB1582, gutting the new law. Kavanagh's amendment would require IIDs for first time DUI offenders only if they cause an accident with injuries or property damage.

Now, when I first heard about the move by Kavanagh, the partisan hack in me immediately started thinking "Damn! The Republicans won't let a Democrat get anything passed, and if one does, they're so blindly partisan, they'll try to repeal it."

Then the cynic in me chimed in.

The new law is a general one; it applies to all DUI offenders.

It will apply even to the moneyed denizens of Kavanagh's district in north Scottsdale and Fountain Hills.

Could it be that Rep. Kavanagh, a hardcore 'law and order' Republican, realized that this law could apply to 'good people' and their families and rode to the rescue?

I've got a sneaking suspicion that if the original law was targeted only at immigrants, Kavanagh would be trying to make it tougher, not weaker.

Note1: There is some question about whether yesterday's vote will make a bit of difference. The amended bill still has to go back to the Senate, where the original sponsor of it, Sen. Linda Gray (R-LD10), has said that she doesn't approve of the change. If they get that worked out, it still has to be signed by the Governor.

In other words, Kavanagh still has an uphill battle on this.

On the other hand, his LD8 counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Carolyn Allen, is well respected and influential. If she's on board and can convince Linda Gray, it might make it through conference committee.

Stay tuned.

Note2: There are some concerns over the original bill, witnessed by the fact that a number of Democrats supported the amendment. Simply put though, Kavanagh and his amendment would have more credibility if one of them had actually proposed the amendment in the first place.

A number of the representatives expressed concerns about the impact of the IID provision in the new law on women, motorcyclists, and families of DUI offenders.

To them I say: Whatever the impact, it sure beats jail time.

AZ Rep coverage is here.

EV Trib coverage here.

Later!