Short Attention Span Musing

The "what you get when you put crooks in charge" edition.

...Maybe they can put it next to Ben Carson's $31K dining table.

From AP via Yahoo! -

Scrutiny of Arkansas governor's $19,000 lectern deepens after new records are released

New public records have widened questions over when Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office planned to use Republican Party funds to reimburse the state for a $19,000 lectern, which was bought in June using a government credit card.

The Arkansas GOP paid for the lectern in September, but the words “to be reimbursed” were only added later to the original invoice, records released this week show. The undated reimbursement note adds to weeks of scrutiny over the purchase, which has dominated political talk in Arkansas.

...If only the oft-charged Ken Paxton had a sense of irony.

From the Texas Tribune -

Ken Paxton to file criminal complaints against Texas House impeachment managers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he plans to file criminal complaints against the group of state representatives who led the impeachment against him for releasing his personal information.

“The impeachment managers clearly have a desire to threaten me with harm when they released this information last week,” he said in a statement. “I'm imploring their local prosecutors in each individual district to investigate the criminal offenses that have been committed.”

The 12 House representatives being targeted by Paxton led the impeachment trial in the Senate after the House overwhelmingly voted to impeach Paxton in May. Last month the Senate acquitted Paxton of 16 articles of impeachment that alleged corruption and bribery.

...Should we all pitch in to buy Steve Scalise a hair shirt?

From CNN -

Steve Scalise picked as GOP speaker nominee, but struggles to lock down votes to win the gavel

House Republicans picked Rep. Steve Scalise as their nominee for speaker on Wednesday, but the Louisiana Republican lacks the votes needed to win the gavel and it remains unclear whether he will be able to win over holdouts.

Republicans are now worried that Scalise is facing grim prospects of becoming speaker as he confronts opposition within the ranks, a situation that threatens to prolong the GOP’s leadership crisis following Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster.

Do I believe that Scalise is a better human being than Gym Jordan?  Yes.  If only because he hasn't enabled and protected a sexual predator.

To the best of my knowledge, anyway.

On the other hand, he's still a lousy human being.

...Speaking of lousy human beings...

Does ignoring part of your job and actively working against the interests of your employers count as a voluntary resignation?

In his ads touting school vouchers to siphon money from public schools to private pockets., Arizona's Tom Horne refers to himself as the state's "superintendent of schools."  [edited] Actually, he campaigned for and won the office of "superintendent of public instruction".

Yes, I believe that elected office is a job like any other.

[Note - edited on 10/12 - I heard the spot again.  He said "schools", not "education", as I originally wrote.  Of course, "public" is still not part of his mindset.

The original text - 

]

Don't bother staying up late to see the results of the Arizona presidential primary

The Presidential Preference Election in Arizona (what we folks here call our presidential primary) is over.  At least it will be after some stragglers in Maricopa County vote.

(The consistent ineptitude/malice of Maricopa County's chief elections officer, Helen Purcell, can and will be the subject of a separate post in the near future.)

The MSM pundits will soon declare one or the other candidate to be the "winner", even though most of them know full well that pledged Democratic delegates in Arizona are awarded proportionally, with candidates needing to reach 15% of the vote to earn any delegates.

Given that there are two main candidates (Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton) running fairly evenly (with Clinton ahead) nationwide, both should attain that 15% threshold easily.

Based on that, the "winner" will be expected to earn more than half of Arizona's pledged delegates, but nowhere near all of them.

Except that it's not quite that simple.


The Arizona Democratic Party does, in fact, award its pledged delegates proportionally, and 15% is the minimum vote threshold needed by any candidate to receive some.

Where it gets complicated is in the fact that delegates are awarded based on *Congressional District* and the 15% threshold applies to each district's votes.

From the Delegate Selection Plan crafted by the Arizona Democratic Party -

To sum up, mathematically, a candidate could "lose" statewide, but still end up with more pledged delegates than the "winner" if he or she wins in a couple of districts by a large enough margin to shut out the other candidate while finishing far behind the other candidate in the other districts, but still earning enough of the vote in those places to break the 15% threshold.

Or to sum up the "sum up", don't go to bed thinking you know how the Arizona primary turned out.

It won't be "over" until all of the district level results are tallied.

Ballot time in Arizona: Presidential primary edition

Full disclosure time: I am on the Permanent Early Voting List and have already voted in Arizona's Presidential Preference Election, and I voted for Bernie Sanders for president.  Nothing about this post should be considered to be an endorsement...but if I was going to make one... :)


...A few thoughts as we approach the date of Arizona's presidential primary (Tuesday, March 22) -

- Everyone has their own "big issue" that they use as a litmus test when choosing which candidates to support.  Mine is "will she/he work in the best interest of all of her/his constituents, and not just her/his donors and supporters".  I can disagree with a candidate on an issue and still vote for that person, so long as I am convinced that their "guiding light" is the best interest of their constituents (example: Harry Mitchell would drive me up a wall with some of his votes in Congress, but I never doubted his respect, affection, and dedication to the people of Tempe or his district [when he held a "district" office, not a Tempe office]).

Of all of the candidates on both sides of the political aisle, I think that Bernie Sanders does the best job of meeting that criteria, which is why he won my vote.


- At this point, tt looks as if the horrific Donald Trump will be the nominee of the Republican Party, which should make life easier on the eventual Democratic nominee, whoever that may be.  However horrific he may be as a candidate and as a human being though, his nomination doesn't guarantee a Democratic win.

Not even close.

One way for Democratic activists to enhance Trump's chances in the general election is if the supporters of the two main Democratic candidates, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, refuse to "bury the hatchet" after the nominee is selected.

There have been some hurt feelings on both sides as (alleged) supporters of one candidate spout things that are demeaning toward the supporters of the other candidate.

My advice to partisans of both candidates:

When someone you personally know and respect goes "below the belt" in criticisms of your favored candidate or his/her supporters, discuss (or argue :) ) the matter with them.

When someone you don't know or have never even heard of does the same thing, ignore them.


- Related to the above paragraph, please read the one above that one.  It serves as evidence that one can express support for a candidate without insulting another candidate or his/her supporters.

Note: Expressing support for one candidate does not in itself constitute an insult to another candidate.  If you feel that someone civilly expressing support for a candidate that you don't support to be an insult, stay away from politics.

Your sensibilities are far too tender.


- Supporters of some of the candidates have been touting their preferred candidate's "resume".  While the job of "President of the United States" is not an entry-level position (looking at you, Donald Trump), "resume" is not the deciding factor with most voters.

If it was, Barack Obama wouldn't have won in 2008; Bill Richardson (experience in Congress, as a cabinet secretary, state governor, ambassador to the UN, nominations for a couple of Nobel Peace Prizes, etc., in other words, "resume out the wazoo") would have.