Republican says he has PTSD from election denier threats over the 2020 election

Caveat: I'm not a fan of Gates or the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, but I don't wish PTSD on anyone.

From Business Insider -

An Arizona GOP official relentlessly threatened by election deniers after the 2020 presidential race says he has PTSD

A Republican official in Arizona revealed that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after election deniers targeted him and his family as a result of the 2020 presidential race.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Bill Gates, the current chair of the influential Maricopa County Board of Supervisors — which has jurisdiction over one of the most politically-competitive counties in the United States — spoke of the challenges that he faced as a result of backing the integrity of the countywide vote in 2020.

Kari Lake, a failed AZ gubernatorial candidate and one of AZ's biggest election deniers, diminishes Gates by retweeting thing that deride the WaPo article as a "puff piece."

Sometimes, R writings are horrifying lies. These qualify as horrifying truths.

It's not often that I republish material from Republicans, other than to mock said material, but this stuff I'll just leave here.

Got this in my email yesterday -

Joint Statement from Chairman Bill Gates and Recorder Stephen Richer on RNC/AZ GOP Lawsuit

"The idea that a Republican Recorder and four Republican board members would try to keep Republicans out of elections is absurd.  

We contact everyone on the lists the parties provide us.  Maricopa County’s temporary election worker hiring practices ensure bipartisan representation throughout the election process and follow requirements established in state law and the Elections Procedures Manual.  

Notably, the RNC's lawsuit doesn't allege any violation of election laws or procedures; it's sound and fury about a public records request that was made a mere three business days ago.

This is a political stunt.”

For factual information about how Maricopa County hires election workers, the party break down of hiring for the August Primary, and additional context, visit JustTheFacts.vote.

Got this today, from county supervisor Clint Hickman -

Statement on Election Threat Arrest "I remember exactly where I was when I heard that voicemail.  It was chilling.  This wasn't a prank call.  This wasn't protected speech.  This was a serious threat to me and my family.  I'm grateful to the Department of Justice and the FBI for taking this case seriously and making an arrest, and I'm pleased the U.S. Attorney General has set up a task force to address increased threats of violence to election workers and elected officials.   I can tell you, though, that is not enough.  I've received numerous threats over the past two years.  My colleagues on the Board have as well.  The Recorder.  And worst of all, county elections staff doing their job honorably are getting calls and emails threatening violence, calling them traitors.  It's despicable.   And by and large, people in positions of power, in positions of leadership, in positions of influence here in Arizona are silent.  How can you be silent? So I'm speaking out today in hopes that others will follow.  Whether it's a person who shares your politics or your worldview or not, no one should be subjected to this kind of hatred.  And if we truly want to keep our country great, we will do everything we can to denounce threats against election workers and combat the disinformation that imperils our democracy."

The AZ Mirror has a longer story on the arrest, written by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, is here.

The man arrested is named Mark Rissi.

Max Wilson resigning from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors

From the Arizona Republic, written by Michelle Ye Hee Lee -

 

Longtime Maricopa County Supervisor Max Wilson announced Friday he will retire, effective March 11, citing health reasons.

 

The 70-year-old Litchfield Park Republican was hospitalized with the flu in January. This week, his doctors advised him to take it easy. He also has had previous health concerns, and has gone through two open-heart surgeries in the past.

Wilson won reelection last year, so his office normally wouldn't be on the ballot again until 2016.

However, his resignation means that the rest of the BOS will appoint another Republican from Wilson's NW Maricopa County district to fill the office until the 2014 election, when somebody will be elected to serve out the remaining two years in the term.

If he (or she) chooses to run for election to the position, the appointee, whoever it may be, will have a leg up in the 2014 election.  They'll be running as an incumbent, an unelected one to be sure, but better to be an unelected incumbent than none at all (see: Jan Brewer in 2010).

Being the Northwest Valley, and Republicans, I've got no insight into how this is going to shake out, but expect to see a bit of a "domino effect".

Any person who is appointed to the office is likely to be a "mover and shaker" on the West Valley political scene, and if not already an elected official, someone who is on the short list of those considered to be ready to move into office.  Their appointment will, in turn, create an opening for someone else to move into the political "on deck circle" (nice baseball reference for a political change happening during spring training, doncha' think? :) ).

Wilson has faced two primary opponents during his tenure, easily defeating both. 

In 2012, former state legislator and current member of the governing board of the Central Arizona Project, Jean McGrath ran against him, getting trounced.  She may have some supporters among SD4's Republicans, but based on the primary results, there aren't many of them.

In 2004, one George L. Bradbury IV served himself up as the political equivalent of cannon fodder.  Hadn't heard of him before doing some research for this post, so he seems to done with his (apparently short-lived) political career, but a Google search turned up some allegations of sketchy land deals and being on the defendant side of some civil actions in court.

Stuff that isn't supposed to be done by those interesting in being on the MCBOS...at least until they are part of the MCBOS.

Political Tidbits...

Kind of like "Short Attention Span Musing", but without much musing. :)


...The Democratic candidates for the new Ninth Congressional District all attended, spoke, and took questions at Tuesday's meeting of the LD26 Democrats.  Because I support State Sen. David Schapira in that particular race, I won't comment on the event other than to say that he did well.

Note the lack of comparative words (i.e. - "best", "better than", etc.) favoring Schapira.  They aren't appropriate for this forum (not going to denigrate other Ds...unless they start acting like Rs), and they aren't needed.  His words and actions in office and on the campaign trail speak for themselves.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) appointed Kyle Jones, a former member of the Mesa City Council, to serve out the term of Lester Pearce as the North Mesa Justice of the Peace.  Pearce resigned to pursue a run at a seat on the MCBOS.

Jones on his appointment:

“I am honored by this opportunity to serve my constituents in this new role.  I grew up in Mesa, and raised my five children in Mesa. My four grandchildren are now growing up in Mesa. I am thrilled I can continue to serve this great community.”

Jones filed to run for the office in late 2011.  Given that he and Cecil Ash, a state legislator, are the only candidates for the office with significant name recognition in the area, this appointment may give him a leg up in the primary.

...I received an email touting a candidate training school taking place next Thursday.  It is a little late in the cycle, but it's not an unusual occurence during an even-numbered year.

The training session is being sponsored by an organization called the American Federation for Children (awwww...).

It sounded all well and good, other than being a little late in the cycle, until I noticed a few things about the flyer announcing the session -

- It talked about helping "pro-education reform candidates" (as the phrase is currently used "education reform" is a euphemism for "privatize public education and siphon tax money from public purposes to line the pockets of the corporate benefactors of certain legislators")

- The session is scheduled for all day on a week day (not the kind of scheduling if the target audience is Joe and Jane Average Citizen)

- It's being held at the Phoenix Corporate Center ('nuff said right there)

Hmmm...

A quick check found that the American Federation for Children is actually an ALEC-affiliated front group dedicated to undermining the public education system for fun and profit.

HmmmmClarified...

...In lege-related developments, the Arizona Capitol Times is reporting that State Sen. Frank "Don't Make Me Mad" Antenori is strongly considering dropping his run for Congress and instead running for reelection to the state senate (subscription required)

Coming in fourth in a four-way primary in a special election can cause anyone to rethink their plans, even someone as ego-drive as Antenori.

Also reported by the Capitol Times (and also requiring a subscription to access the full article), Republican state senator Lori Klein had been considering a move to a different legislative district due to redistricting because her home in Anthem (just a little north of Phoenix) is now in a district dominated by Prescott (more than just a little north of Phoenix).  Her new district is also home to Steve Pierce, the president of the state senate.  The Cap Times' article talks about how she is now mulling a run for the House, setting up a possible three-way primary with current state reps Andy Tobin and Karen Fann.

Tobin is the speaker of the House, so it would be something of a surprise if Klein defeating him in the primary, but Klein is trying to make the case that Fann is vulnerable.

I don't know that district well enough to even speculate on what would happen in a primary there, but I'd love to find out. :)


...And in case you haven't heard (OK, it's the biggest political story of the day), President Barack Obama expressed his support for the right of same-sex couples to get married.

Most of his detractors (and likely a few of his supporters, too) believe that the move is a political ploy designed to attract more votes, but since the opponents of same-sex marriage were already unlikely to vote for him (and the supporters were already likely to vote for him), this seems to be more the maturation of his thoughts and beliefs on the issue.

Programs! Get yer programs here! Ya can't tell the candidates without a program!

The last couple of days have seen some significant shakeups in the fields of candidates for some of the offices up for election this fall.

...In the new LD25 (East and Central Mesa), Russell Pearce, the recently ousted former senate president, surprised almost no one by announcing that he will run for the Senate again.  What did surprise a few people was how quickly Sen. Rich Crandall announced that he would not run (he lives in the new LD25) and threw his support behind newcomer Bob Worsley, a businessman who is highly regarded in Mesa and the Mormon Church.

...In the old CD8/new CD2, Ron Barber announced that he will run for a full term in the new CD2.  This came as a bit of a surprise, particularly to the Democrats who cleared the field so he could run to serve out the remainder of Giffords' term in the current CD8.  Of the "name" Democrats who were candidates for the new CD2 under the understanding that Barber was just running in CD8 as a sentimental placeholder, State Sen. Paula Aboud and State Rep.Matt Heinz have basically said that they will be staying in, Rep. Steve Farley has already dropped his bid for Congress and will be running for the state senate, and Nan Walden, a former US Senate staffer (and lots of other well-connected things) has announced that she won't be running.

...Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal is reporting that Vernon Parker, a former mayor of Paradise Valley and an also-ran in the 2010 primary in CD3, is going to run in CD9, and that Lisa Borowsky, currently a member of the Scottsdale City Council is looking into the race. Borowsky had been rumored to be interested in a run at the mayor's job in Scottsdale.

Parker won a seat on the PV Town Council last week, but resign to run doesn't apply because I think that positions on the PV council are unpaid.

...Former Scottsdale City Council member and Democrat David Ortega has entered the race for the District 2 seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.  The "big" name in that race right now is Lester Pearce, currently the embatttled Justice of the Peace for North Mesa and brother to former senator (and always bigoted) Russell Pearce.

The upcoming week - Special session (maybe), special meetings, and more

...The biggest meeting of the week is only a rumor at this point, but it is a rather persistent one.  There is a strong rumor going around that Republican Governor Jan Brewer is going to call a special session of the legislature to remove the Independent and Democratic members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).  One of the rumors going around was that the special session would be on Monday, but that seems to be off of the table.  It may have been R posturing, or it may have been due to an inability to line up enough votes to do the deed on Monday (they need 20 of the 21 Rs in the Senate to be in attendance and on board to pull this off, if they go the special session route.

Details if/when they become available.

...In a perhaps related development, the AIRC has scheduled a business meeting for Monday at 6:20 p.m.  at the Adams House in Phoenix (1100 W. Washington Street).  The one action item on the agenda:

Legal advice, direction to counsel, discussion and possible action regarding actions relating to letter from Governor Brewer concerning Commission conduct. Commission may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public, for the purpose of obtaining legal advice and providing direction to counsel (A.R.S. §38-431.03 (A) (3) and (4)).

...The AIRC has a full slate of public hearings scheduled for the week - Phoenix on Tuesday, Cottonwood on Wednesday, Scottsdale on Thursday, Marana on Friday, and Casa Grande and Green Valley on Saturday.

However, stay tuned - if the Governor and her associates in the legislature go through with their craven scheme to ignore the will of the voters and blow up the independent redistricting process, that schedule of public hearings on the new lines for Congressional and legislative districts will change to a schedule of court appearances, dates and times TBA.

- Also on Monday, the Joint Republican "Legislative" Committee on Messing With The Redistricting process and Commission is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. in HHR4.


...In other areas of interest...

- The Arizona Corporation Commission's hearing schedule is here.  In addition to the hearings, they are holding two special open meetings for Tuesday/Wednesday and Friday.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is meeting Monday and Wednesday.

- The Scottsdale City Council is meeting Tuesday, both in a special meeting for appointments to City boards and commissions and a regular meeting.  One item of interest to political geeks: an item to remove John Washington from the City's Airport Advisory Commission.  Recently, the Council has OK the building of well more than 1000 apartments near the Scottsdale Airport, something that Washington thinks is ill-advised and more importantly, a violation of some agreements with the FAA that the Scottsdale airport operates under.  Washington has contacted the FAA directly, and because of that contact, Mayor Jim Lane has agendized a motion to remove Washington from the Commission.  I can't say for certain how the vote will turn out, but whatever happens Tuesday, don't be shocked if Washington runs for Council or Mayor next year.

- The Tempe City Council is meeting Thursday.


Early notice:  On Wednesday, December 7, the Community Involvement Group of the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.  More details as the date gets closer.

The coming week: everybody else edition

All info gathered from the websites of the relevent public bodies/agencies, and is subject to change without notice.

Federal level -

In the House, the agenda for the week is focused on the Republicans' H.R. 2, "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act."  Related: H. Res. 9, "Instructing certain committees to report legislation replacing the job-killing health care law."

The Senate isn't in session this week.


Arizona level -

The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have a full meeting scheduled for this week.  It's hearing schedule is here.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission doesn't have a meeting this week, either.  They are seeking applicants for an open spot on the Commission. Interested folks who aren't registered as Democrats or Republicans and who do NOT reside in Maricopa County can apply (there are other requirements, but those are the big ones).

The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project is meeting on Thursday to select new officers, hold an orientation for new members on the topic of internal audit, and hold a meeting of the Finance, Audit, and Power Committee.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a Special Meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m.  The agenda looks quiet, but as is usual for this bunch, there's an executive session planned.

The Tempe City Council doesn't have a meeting scheduled for this week.  The City's City Council Calendar is here.

The Scottsdale City Council doesn't have a meeting scheduled for this week.  The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

Oopsie - Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting to correct "official" primary results

Given recent developments, it isn't a surprise that this involves a Green write-in candidate, but thus far this appears to be less "targeted fraud" and more "general screwup."  I'll update if that changes.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have called an "emergency" meeting for Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m.  They've posted a one-item agenda.

That item:

Amend the official canvass of the August 24, 2010 Primary Election regarding Green Party candidate, Deborah Odowd -- candidate for State Representative, Legislative District 6. The write in vote for Deborah Odowd should be recorded in Legislative District 6, not in Legislative District 17 as initially reported. The official canvass will be amended to include the following correction: "2010 Primary Election Official Write In Results for the Green Party in Legislative District 6, State Representative: ODOWD, DEBORAH, 1 vote."

Note: I've left the incorrect spelling of O'Dowd's name intact (it's capital "O", apostrophe, capital "D", not the way that they have spelled it).

The most recent list of write-in results is here (courtesy the Maricopa County Recorder's Office).  The list reflect's O'Dowd's single write-in vote in LD6, but it was last updated on September 3.

The incorrect original canvass was approved unanimously by the Board on September 1, hence the need for Tuesday's emergency meeting.

Note2: There is a special meeting of the MCBOS scheduled for Wednesday, but no agenda has been posted as yet.

Tune in Monday for the next stage in the infighting at Maricopa County

More goings-on in Maricopa County...

From the Arizona Republic -

Maricopa County officials will subpoena records that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has refused to hand over to U.S. Department of Justice lawyers for a civil-rights investigation, according to a county letter.


Cari Gerchick, a county spokeswoman, told The Insider that the move is meant to prevent federal officials from taking away funds from the county. Last year, she said the county received $113 million in federal funds; she could not immediately say how much went to the Sheriff’s Office.

"Certainly we want to try to minimize any exposure we have on either the legal or financial front," Gerchick said. "We believe the Sheriff’s Office should comply with the Department of Justice’s investigation on the basis of the civil rights investigation. We don’t know why they wouldn’t comply. And, our letter to the DOJ is to let them know that Maricopa County will assist the DOJ in its inquiry."

The next broadside in the ongoing battle between the County Supes and the Maricopa County Sheriff will take place on Monday when the supes hold a special meeting to consider to consider but a single item -

1. RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF MARICOPA COUNTY REGARDING AN ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

Consider an action, if applicable, to adopt a resolution entitled, “Resolution of the Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County to Issue an Order to Show Cause to Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - Joseph Arpaio to Appear and Show Cause Why the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Should Not be Held in Contempt for Failure to Comply with Board Issued Subpoena Duces Tecum Dated July 29, 2010.” (C-06-11-053-M-00)

 
Earlier on Monday, there will be an "informal" meeting with the normally juicy (in a "get the Kool-Aid drinkers worked up" sort of way) topics of property tax levies, but most of the attention will be on the "special" meeting.
 
Wednesday's "formal" meeting of the supes includes an item to terminate early the lease with Wells Fargo, at Wells Fargo's request, for the MCSO offices in the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix.  They have leased space in the Luhrs Building at Central and Jefferson.
 
And as much fun as watching Wells Fargo throw Arpaio out of his preferred, and rather tony, digs in their building will be, that will be nothing compared to the fireworks at and after the special meeting on Monday.
 
The latest Arpaio antics, courtesy the Phoenix New Times' Valley Fever, here.
 
 

Romley squares off against Arpaio and Thomas

From the Arizona Republic -

Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley on Thursday released hundreds of pages of grand-jury testimony and other documents showing failed attempts by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas to obtain criminal charges against county officials.

Grand-jury proceedings are secret, but a Superior Court judge unsealed the records "in the furtherance of justice."

The whole article, as well as the attached documentation, is well worth a read.

As is the article in the Phoenix New Times' Valley Fever.

From that article -

Bombshell stuff at a press conference just completed in downtown Phoenix at the offices of interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley.


The biggest news was that a county grand jury last March rejected efforts by one of then-County Attorney Andrew Thomas' special prosecutors to issue major felony indictments against Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe, county manager David Smith, and several other county officials.

"This is outrageous behavior, absolutely outrageous, and this miscarriage of justice stops now," Romley said a few minutes ago.

Let's be clear on one thing - the *timing* of Romley's presser was almost certainly motivated by political considerations, at least in part.

Arpaio has been using his vast campaign war chest to fund anti-Romley and anti-Tom Horne (Andrew Thomas' primary opponent for the R nomination for AZ Attorney General) and Romley's primary is less than two weeks out.  And in what is sure to be a low turnout election, many folks are still undecided (statewide ballpark figures that I've heard on early ballots are that roughly 1/4 have been returned at a point in the cycle when normally closer to 1/2 have been returned).

Today's press conference by Romley, who's running a "professionalism vs. blind ideology" campaign against his opponent, the Arpaio-endorsed former Thomas deputy Bill Montgomery, needed to reach out to some of the undecideds.  This does that.

Having said all that, however, let's be clear on one other thing - the *content* of the press conference is nothing that surprised any seasoned observers of the goings-on in Maricopa County.

Folks have known for months and years that Thomas' and Arpaio's investigations and indictments of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and various county employees and judges were more about intimidation and retribution than about justice and truth.

Folks have known that the outside prosecutors who looked at the cases declined to accept the cases on the grounds that there was no "there" there.

Folks have heard whispers about all of this, but now those whispers are documents.

I think that the ideal situation in government is that officials who are relative equals behave as independent yet respectful colleagues.

Right now in Maricopa County, we are seeing a situation where relative equals are ardent adversaries (the Supes and County Attorney on one side, the Sheriff and former CA on the other).

Still, it beats what we had just a few short months ago - County officials who were less "independent" and more "co-conspirators."  And the co-conspirators were something other than "respectful" toward their other equals.

Andrew Thomas has a press conference of his own scheduled for 1:30 p.m. to respond to Romley's information release today.

Stay tuned...

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.

...At the federal level, both the U.S. House and Senate are on a break. They'll be back in session next week.

...Back here in Arizona...


- The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any regular meetings scheduled, however they will be travelling to gather public comment on specific issues.

-- On Wednesday at 1 p.m., they will be holding a special meeting in Tucson to solicit public comments on line extension policies for Arizona utilities.

-- Later on Wednesday, they will hold two public meetings in Nogales. The first will start at 6 p.m. and will concern Rio Rico Utilities rates; the second is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will concern Valle Verde Water Company rates.

-- The ACC's hearing schedule is here. Most of this week's hearing activity involves Arizona American Water (a name near and not-so-dear to Scottsdale readers :) ).


- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will meet on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. It's a special meeting with one topic - a settlement with the Department of Labor over MCSO's forcing detention officers to work unpaid overtime. AZ Republic coverage of the matter here.


- The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will have a busy week.

-- On Tuesday at 1 p.m., there will be a meeting of the Project ADD Water group.

-- On Thursday at 9 a.m., the Board's Public Policy Committee will meet.

-- After the committee meeting, the full Board with hold a regular meeting. The highlights of this meeting will be the setting of property tax and service rates.


- The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week; the Council Calendar of events is here.


- The Scottsdale City Council also isn't meeting this week; the City of Scottsdale's Community Meeting Notice is here.

Note: When memorial service arrangements for late Councilman Tony Nelssen are announced, an update will be posted.


Not meeting this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Arizona Board of Regents

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.

These schedule posts have become intermittent, due in part to the lack of interesting tidbits to cover, as well as election year deadlines in Arizona (sigs are due Wednesday!) cutting into available blogging time. However, this week, there will be a *lot* of budget-related action and other interesting matters up for consideration, especially in D.C. and with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Stuff that is definitely post-worthy.

On to the important stuff...

On the federal level -

- The U.S. House will be handling a number of bills this week as they get ready for the holiday break next week. The highlight this week will be H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2011 (CRS summary here). There will be a massive amount of election-year posturing over this one, whether of the "fiscal responsibility" or the "I'm a patriot" variety. Still, it's only an authorization bill, not an appropriations bill, and they all will want to make the earliest possible flights out of town on Friday. The posturing will be loud, but efficient.

Also on the agenda: Consideration of a Senate amendment to H.R. 4213, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (most current CRS summary here); H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act (CRS summary here - it's designed to limit corporate control of election campaigns); and further consideration of H.R. 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (previously blocked by the House GOP when the measure came to the House floor under "suspension of the rules," requiring a 2/3 majority to pass, it's coming back in a way that will require only a simple majority to pass).

- The U.S. Senate will be doing, you know, "Senate" stuff this week. That includes a committee schedule with hearings on the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, impacts of consolidation on the airline industry, and more (lots of executive branch nominations). There will also be floor consideration of H.R. 4899, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010.

...Back here in Arizona -

- The Arizona Corporation Commission will be holding a public comment session in Prescott Valley on Tuesday. The subject will be

Public Comment in the Matter of the Application of the Commission’s, Docket No. E-00000J-10-0044, inquiry and potential rulemaking regarding line extension policies of electric utilities, including but not limited to, alternative rate designs related to apportionment and rate recovery of cost of construction and installation of electric utility line extensions, the use of free footage and/or dollar allowances in line extension tariffs, the treatment of proceeds associated with line extensions as contributions in aid of construction (CIAC) and/or revenue, and the ability for third-party vendors to contract to install line extensions for electric utilities.

The ACC will be holding a regular "Utilities" meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, agenda here.
The Commission's regular hearing schedule is here.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a busy and "colorful" week on tap.

-- Monday's Informal meeting is dedicated to budget matters, including the tentative adoption of next year's budget.

-- Later on Monday, the Supes will be holding a Special meeting dedicated to a financial review of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. This one could include a contempt hearing over Sheriff Joe Arpaio's refusal to turn over financial records for the review. There is some question about the procedures for the contempt hearing, so the hearing schedule may yet be changed or be cancelled entirely. More AZ Republic coverage here. This one could be the most interesting event of the week, or it could fizzle completely.

- - On Wednesday, the Supes have a Formal meeting scheduled. The agenda is a long one.

- The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will be holding an executive session on Monday (relating to legal matters and contracts - the agenda items are rather vague, intentionally so, I think) and a regular meeting on Wednesday (highlight: budget-related stuff). MIHS' Legislative summary will also be on the agenda. Like most of us, their primary focus is on the state's budget situation.

- The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, agenda here. It looks pretty mundane thus far, though there is an item to change the length of the terms of the Board President and Secretary from one to two years. After the regular meeting will be an executive session regarding employment of the Chancellor of the District, Rufus Glasper. There have been issues of contention between the Chancellor and certain board members, so this particular exec session could be one that most MCCCD observers wish was a public session. Look for public fallout from this meeting to reach an agenda in June.

- The City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale aren't scheduled to hold regular meetings this week, though Tempe will hold a special meeting on Friday to accept the results from last week's election. Tempe's Council Calendar is here; Scottsdale's Community Meetings Notice is here.

Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project

Later...

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.

Ahhhh...the first lege-free week of the year...ahhhhhhhhhhhh


...In D.C. -

- The House looks to have a relatively quiet week this week. The agenda is very heavy on memorials and congratulations and such, while light on substantive legislation.

- The Senate will continue to consider reform of financial regulations. In addition, the Senate's committee schedule is here. The item of most interest to Arizonans could be Wednesday's hearing of the United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. The topic will be "Drug Trafficking Violence in Mexico: Implications for the U.S."

Edit on 5/2 to add: The AZ Republic has an article up documenting that while nativist rhetoric about cross-border violence is up, there hasn't actually been an increase in border-related violence in Arizona.

End edit.


...Back here in Arizona...

- The Arizona Corporation Commission won't be meeting this week, but their hearing schedule is here.

- The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be meeting on Thursday. Rate-related items and the Navajo Generating Station dominate the agenda this time around. CAP's Public Policy Committee agenda (preceding the full Board meeting) is here.

- The Tempe City Council will have an active week. They will be part of a special meeting on Thursday to seek public comment on and give preliminary approval to Tempe's budget for the coming fiscal year. Budget-related coverage from the AZ Republic here. The agenda for the Council's regular meeting is here. The Council's calendar is here.

- The Scottsdale City Council will be meeting Tuesday. The agenda includes the likely hiring of the City's next future ex-City Manager. AZ Republic coverage here.

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District.

The Coming Week - Everybody Else Edition

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

In DC...

...The House's agenda is here. It looks fairly quiet thus far, though H.R. 2499 (Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009) and H.R. 5013 (Implementing Management for Performance and Related Reforms to Obtain Value in Every Acquisition Act of 2010, aka IMPROVE Act) may generate some controversy.

It looks like that after the healthcare reform dust-up earlier this year, the leadership; in the House is going to take it easy on the really controversial stuff.

...Over in the Senate, much of their week will be consumed by consideration of financial regulation overhaul (S. 3217). Call me cynical, but much of the contention on this one seems to be over deciding between faux reform (Senate Ds) and no reform (Senate Rs). The Senate's committee schedule is here.


Here in Arizona...

...The Arizona Corporation Commission is holding a utilities-related meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, agenda here. On Friday, they'll be holding a special open meeting in Globe to solicit public comment on line extension policies of electric utilities.

The ACC's hearing schedule is here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is meeting this week. Their "informal" meeting on Monday has been cancelled, however, Wednesday's "formal" meeting is still on tap.

...The Citizens Clean Election Commission is meeting on Thursday. No agenda posted as yet.

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday, with an executive session at 5:30 p.m. and the regular session at 6:30 p.m. Agenda here.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System is meeting on Wednesday. The executive session agenda is here; regular session agenda here.

...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week. Their calendar of events is here.

...The Scottsdale City Council has a regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday and a special meeting scheduled for noon on Friday to interview finalists for the City Manager's position. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

Not meeting this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project

The coming week - everybody else edition

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

...The post regarding the planned activities of the Arizona Legislature this week is here.

...In D.C., both chambers of Congress will be back in session this week, and should be until the week of Memorial Day at the end of May/beginning of June.

- The House's floor schedule is here. As might be expected during a week where they will be getting back up to speed after two weeks off (and most of a year devoted to health care reform), the schedule is kind of light. Only one bill looks like it might generate some serious controversy, H.R. 4715, the "Clean Estuaries Act of 2010." It amends the Clean Water Act, and the only "amendment" to that Act that the Rs will accept is a complete repeal. They aren't getting it with this.

- The Senate's website is unavailable at this writing, but they are expected to take up an extension of unemployment benefits, one that expired for hundreds of thousands of Americans due to Republican obstructionism.

...Back here in AZ -

- The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a Securities, Safety, and Utilities meeting on Tuesday. They are holding "special" meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, and Thursday and Friday. Lastly, the ACC's regular hearing schedule is here.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two regularly scheduled meetings on tap this week. Monday's "informal" session will be focusing on renewable energy contracts for the Jefferson St. Garage and the Downtown Justice Center. Wednesday's "formal" meeting looks to be longer but pretty mundane.

- The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District is holding a "work session" on Tuesday evening. The scheduled topic of the meeting is "EFFECTIVE TEACHING & LEARNING – ON-LINE/IN-CLASS/HYBRID?"

- The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a rate setting workshop for its customers on Thursday. Preliminary rate schedule here.

- The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week. The Council's Calendar is here.

- The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Things look pretty mundane so far. The agenda has been revised to announced the appointment of John Washington to the Channel 11 Programming Commission by Councilman Tony Nelssen. Info on Washington is here. He was a write-in candidate for mayor in 2008 and is acting as the treasurer for Nelssen's reelection committee. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.


Not meeting this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Arizona Board of Regents

Maricopa Supes appoint committee to vet interim replacement for Thomas

...and while almost anybody would be an improvement over Thomas, whoever makes the grade with this bunch won't be much of an improvement.

From the East Valley Tribune -

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appointed a citizens' committee Monday to recommend a replacement for outgoing Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

The Board of Supervisors will make the final decision on whom to pick and is scheduled to consider the recommendations by the five-man committee on April 16.

The committee consists of former state Rep. Steve Tully, former state Attorney General Jack LaSota, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, Goldwater Institute attorney Clint Bolick and Salvador Ongaro, who leads a Latino legal organization.

Let's see -

- Tully is a former legislator (House majority leader in the mid-2000s) and chair of the LD11 Republicans.

- Lasota is a former AG and current lobbyist and a big Thomas supporter.

- Bolick...Clint freakin' Bolick. Where do I start? Go to Blog for Arizona and run a search; they've done a much better job of covering him and his organization, Goldwater Institute, than I ever have. Suffice to say, where most people have blood running through their veins, he's got Kool-Aid.

- Smith is the mayor of Mesa. He's a Republican, but he may be one of the few in AZ who actually can be conservative without trying to destroy society in the name of ideology. I don't always agree with him, but he seems to be trying to improve Mesa. It seems to be working, or at least it isn't the political laughingstock of the Valley of the Sun any longer.

Note: In a weird bit of coincidence, Scottsdale now holds that distinction, and Jack Lasota's son Tim is the chief of staff for Jim Lane, Mayor of Scottsdale. OK, given that Tim also worked for Thomas at one point, I don't think that it is much of a coincidence.

- Ongaro is head of Los Abogados, Arizona's Hispanic Bar Association.

The Phoenix New Times has more coverage, including the supes' press release on today's appointments, here.

In other County Attorney news, the AZ Republic has a piece up on the possibility that former CA Rick Romley may run for the job.

Later...

The coming week - everybody but the lege edition

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

Changing up the order this week (normally, the lege schedule is posted first), because, well, mostly because I feel like it.

Oh, and one of the most interesting events of the week won't be at the lege. :)

On to the post...

...Both chambers of the U.S. Congress are still in recess this week.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any regular meetings scheduled for this week, but it will have a special meeting on energy preparedness for this summer on Thursday and Friday. The ACC's hearing schedule is here. The only item of interest, in fact the only item on the docket this week, is a public comment session on some rate hike proposals from Arizona American Water. If you live in the Anthem Water District, Sun City Water District, Anthem/Agua Fria Wastewater District, Sun City Wastewater District, or Sun City West Wastewater District and do business with AAWC, you may want to attend the meeting in Anthem on Wednesday evening.

...The highlight of the week has to be Monday's special meeting of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to discuss and take action on Andy Thomas' resignation as County Attorney. They are expected to initiate the process for naming an interim CA to replace Thomas in the office.

Expect *lots* of smiles on West Jefferson (where many county offices are located). :)

...The Tempe City Council isn't meeting this week. Their Council Calendar is here.

...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. The agenda includes the City's monthly financial report, issuing the official call for this fall's elections (OK, the primary will be in August, but that's close enough for blogging :) ), and discussion of possible projects to include in the 2010 bond election. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

An AZ Republic article on the City's proposed budget is here.

...Not meeting this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and Maricopa Integrated Health System.

Later...

The coming week - everybody else edition

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

...The schedule of activities at the Arizona Legislature was covered in an earlier post here.

...In D.C., both chambers of Congress are in recess/district work period for a couple of weeks.


...Back here in Arizona...

- The Arizona Corporation Commission has a regularly scheduled utilities meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. The agenda is here. The ACC's hearing schedule is here.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has two regularly scheduled meetings on tap this week.

At Monday's "informal" meeting, the normally quiet agenda has a couple of items of possible controversy - an update and some contractual items regarding the Downtown Court Tower project, and a move to initiate litigation over Sheriff Joe Arpaio's purchase of a really expensive inmate transport bus. AZRepublic coverage of that last item here.

The agenda for Wednesday's "formal" meeting includes an item for a settlement in the case of "Robert Cole v. Maricopa County and Joseph Arpaio."

- The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will meet on Thursday. Its agenda is here; its Public Policy Committee meeting agenda is here.

- The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to hold any regular meetings this week. The Council Calendar of activity is here.

- The Scottsdale City Council isn't scheduled to hold any regular meetings this week. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

Also not meeting this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Governing Board of Maricopa County Community College District

Later...

The coming week - everybody else edition

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

...In the U.S. House of Representatives, last week is blending into next week as they are still in session even as I write this, working toward a vote on the latest health care reform package. As such, no agenda has been posted online as yet. Once that agenda is posted, expect a quiet week as the members look to recover from this week's exertions.

...Over in the U.S. Senate, a lot of their time will be taken up (presumably, assuming passage by the House) with consideration of a reconciliation bill relating to HCR. On the Senate's committee schedule, there is one item of direct interest to Arizonans - the Armed Services Committee's consideration on Tuesday of the nomination of Katherine Hammack to the post of Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment. Ms. Hammack is a senior manager at Ernst & Young in Phoenix.


...Back in Arizona...

- The legislature's committee schedule is covered here.

- The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have any full meetings scheduled this week, but their hearing schedule is here.

- The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has a special meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m. No agenda available online as yet.

- The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday, with an executive session planned for 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Agenda here. Looks relatively quiet thus far, though there is one item of interest to political geeks like me - a consent agenda item to participate in a program from First Things First to pay fees at the Children's Learning Center at Gateway Community College for qualifying parents.

The same First Things First that the legislature wants to eliminate.

- The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System has two meetings this week. On Monday, there is a special session scheduled, with an executive session component. On Wednesday, there will be a full meeting. The agenda includes consideration of proposed rate changes for services.

- The Tempe City Council will meet on Thursday. The agenda is here, and it includes approval of the results of Tempe's election from two weeks ago. The Council Calendar is here.

- The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. First up will be a special meeting devoted to appointments to some of the City's Boards and Commissions. The agenda for the regular meeting includes, as with Tempe, approval of the election results from earlier this month. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.


...Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, and the Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project.

The Coming Week - Everybody Else Edition

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

...In Congress, most of the MSM attention will be on health care reform but there are other matters on the agenda this week.

- In the House of Representatives, their agenda includes many of the usual memorial, congratulatory, building naming and similar "window dressing" motions.

However, there are also a few items that could generate some heat.

- H.R. 4621, the Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act. This one is targeted at groups and organizations that have sent out fundraising mailers that look like official Census documents. Like the GOP.

- H. Con. Res. 248, a privileged resolution by Dennis Kucinich to compel the President to remove American troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. It won't pass, but it will take hours of debate to not pass it. Unless leadership decrees that is should just be tabled. Only the most progressive Democrats will support this one and all Rs will oppose it. Where things could get cute is if there is a move to table the resolution or to refer it to committee, the Rs could vote to keep it on the floor. As a privileged resolution, the measure takes precedence over almost everything else so they will have to deal with it before any other measure (like HCR) can be considered.

- H. Res. 1031, to impeach federal judge G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana for ethics breaches. More info here.

...The Senate's committee schedule is here.


...Here in Arizona:

...The Arizona Board of Regents will meet on Thursday and Friday at U of A in Tucson. The agenda includes setting tuition and fees (there are other items related to tuition, but the link is the big one).

...The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn't have a full meeting this week. Their hearing schedule is here, however.

...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System don't have a meeting this week, but they are scheduled to be at MIHS' employee picnic on Friday.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a joint meeting with the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association on Friday in Phoenix.

...The Scottsdale City Council isn't meeting this week. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

...The Tempe City Council also isn't meeting this week. The Council Calendar for the week is here.

Also not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Election Commission, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.