Letter to Congressman Harry Mitchell

This one is rooted in the previous post, but while that was more of a rant, this one is more reasoned.

At least, I hope it comes across that way. :)

The contents of the letter that I just submitted to Congressman Harry Mitchell via his House website's contact form -

Dear Congressman Mitchell,

In the coming weeks and months, there will be much discussion (and some passage) by Congress of efforts to stabilize and stimulate America's economy.

Many of these efforts will include money for various infrastructure projects across the country.

I am writing today to ask you to work to minimize the portion of those funds that will be subject to whims of state legislators.

In our home state of Arizona, leaders in the legislature have already started to stated their intent to cut to the bone public services like education while pledging to set aside funds for activities they favor such as widespread roundups of immigrants. (http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/133701)

In a year when municipal, county, and agency revenue has plummeted and budgets have busted, funds that are targeted for projects such as public transit, rural broadband connectivity, alternative energy, schools, etc., shouldn't be subject to siphoning by irresponsible state legislators who are less interested in serving the public than in advancing their personal ideologies.

Please urge your colleagues, including all of the other members of Arizona's Congressional delegation, to pass stimulus packages that either send funds directly to the targeted end recipients or send the funds to the states but with serious strings attached to ensure that the funds are used properly.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

[cpmaz]

While the Rep members of AZ's delegation (Flake, Franks, Shadegg) are sure to oppose any stimulus packages, it wouldn't be a stretch for them to oppose the packages (which are all but certain to pass) while working to ensure that any funds disbursed have the safeguards mentioned in my letter. As such, I recommend that everyone - Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and more - to contact their Congressional representatives and urge them to work to ensure that any funds disbursed end up where they are supposed to.

Our Congressfolks and their contact pages -

Jeff Flake (R-AZ6) - contact (no direct contact page)
Trent Franks (R-AZ2) - contact (no direct contact page)
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8) - contact page
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ7) - contact (no direct contact page)
Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ1) - contact page
Ed Pastor (D-AZ4) - contact (no direct contact page)
John Shadegg (R-AZ3) - contact form

Note: the four without a direct contact page utilize a zip code verification process to ensure that the online contact system is utilized by their constituents only. Follow the directions on their websites to contact them.

Note2: In a development that signifies how important I believe this issue is, I have linked to the Republicans' actual House websites, not their crAZyspace pages. You should be impressed. :)


Later!

Best and worst bargains - 2008 elections

Edit on 12/8 to update County numbers, below...

Post-General Election campaign finance reports are in, and normally this would be the time to do a really geeky and dry post listing figures for contributions, expenditures, cash on hand, etc. However, since the election results are in, I'm going to do something a little different.

Still geeky and dry, but different. :))

Today's post will list the best bargains (based on lowest expenditures per vote for election victors) and the worst bargains (based on highest expenditures per vote for election losers.)

The expenditure figures taken from the cycle-to-date boxes of the campaigns' post-general reports; vote totals taken from the appropriate reporting authority, either the AZ Secretary of State or the Maricopa County Recorder.

Best Bargain - AZ Congressional races

Republican Trent Franks was easily the leader here, spending $400,019.59 to receive 200,914 votes, or $1.99/vote. Republican Jeff Flake was the second most frugal victor, spending $3.76/vote. By contrast, the victor who spent the *most* per vote was another Republican, John Shadegg. Shadegg spent $17.85/vote ($2,656,692.67 spent, 200914 votes received).

Worst Bargain - AZ Congressional races

Democrat Bob Lord, Shadegg's opponent in CD3, "won" this dubious distinction, spending $1,745,210.41 to receive 115,759 votes, for a $17.85/vote pace. The only losing candidate who spent at a pace that was even close to Lord's was Republican Tim Bee. Bee spent 13.25/vote in his failed campaign to unseat Gabrielle Giffords in CD8.

Giffords and Harry Mitchell (D-CD5) each spent more than $15/vote, but since they won their races (rather handily at that), the money spent was a good deal.

Note: Challengers Don Karg (R-CD4), Rebecca Schneider (D-CD6), and Joe Sweeney (R-CD7 [I think]) haven't filed post-general reports that I could find, but I doubt that any of them spent enough money to challenge Lord for the 'Worst Bargain' status.


The comparison of county campaigns was more difficult, because both major candidates for county attorney, Andrew Thomas and Tim Nelson, as well as supervisor candidates Fulton Brock, Joel Sinclaire, and Max Wilson haven't filed post-general reports yet. (Note: with Joel Sinclaire's passing, his committee has been suspended/terminated. I'm not sure if/when a final campaign finance report will be filed.)

Brock, Thomas, Nelson, and Wilson all have reports up on the County Recorder's website, and according to the time/date stamps on the forms, all reports were submitted on time.

However, I don't want it to be said that I'm not able to form conclusions based on incomplete information. :)))

Best Bargain - Maricopa County races

Right now, Don Stapley is the clear winner in this category, but that could change once his legal expenses are added in. At this point, however, the Republican incumbent spent $9933.45 to receive 164,381 votes, or $0.29/vote to retain his seat in SD2.

Note: Stapley was a little creative in filling out his report, neglecting to fill out the "cycle-to-date" column. The expenditure number listed in this post is a total of the "cycle-to-date" number from his pre-general report and the "current period" number from his post-general report.

Worst Bargain - Maricopa County races

Ed Hermes, the Democratic candidate in Supervisor District 1, "led" this category, spending $112,026.14 to garner 119,971 votes, for a $0.93/vote pace. While for the purposes of this post, this campaign qualifies as the "worst" bargain among the county races, I expect Ed to take the lessons of this cycle and apply them to another campaign, one that he may very well win.

Tim Nelson challenged for this one, spending over $438K in his unsuccessful campaign for County Attorney. However, while he spent nearly 4 times as much as Hermes, his countywide race garnered him more than 4 times the votes, dropping his dollars per vote number to $0.80.

One item of interest from Fulton Brock's post-general report were contributions from a couple in Oro Valley, which is in Pima County. The twosome share a name with some of the people involved in the Stapley indictment. On October 16, 2008, Jason and Kris Wolfswinkel each gave $390 (the maximum allowed individual contribution) to Brock's campaign.

Stapley's failure to report his involvement with some Wolfswinkel family businesses is at the heart of his legal travails.

Wouldn't it be sweet if Brock's name was added to the list of indicted Republicans? Yeah, I know it probably won't happen, but one has to wonder why some Pima County residents care enough about a Maricopa County supervisor's race to fork over the max contribution to his campaign.

Both of these could change once all reports are in, plus the numbers don't include the "independent" expenditures that benefitted Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas. However, they both won their races, no matter how unethically, so they don't qualify for "worst bargain" under the guidelines of this post.


I was going to do one of the comparisons for some of the ballot initiatives, but there were a couple of hurdles there - too many of the committees haven't filed reports, and in many cases, there are multiple committees in support/opposition of a given prop.


Comparison purposes -

To put some of these numbers in perspective, in 2004, then-Congressman JD Hayworth spent $7.58/vote to retain his seat. However, that was nearly 180 times the rate of his opponent, Elizabeth Rogers. She spent roughly $0.04 per vote.

Compare this to 2006, when both spent more per vote in their races. Hayworth spent $31.12/vote to lose to Harry Mitchell in CD5; Rogers spent $0.06/vote to win the Kyrene Justice of the Peace race.

OK, that's not really relevant to the rest of the post, but it should give pause to those who would support a speculated-upon Hayworth gubernortorial candidacy. It should also give hope to candidates like Rebecca Schneider and Marilyn Fox, who ran strong campaigns on limited budgets.

There is life after losing an election.

Let's see what happens in two years before considering them and others like them, to be electoral afterthoughts.

Other campaign and campaign finance news -

...According to the Secretary of State's website, the first official candidate committee for 2010 has been formed by Michelle Reagan, Republican State Representative from north Scottsdale. It's an exploratory committee and doesn't list the office that she is "exploring." My guess is State Senate, though Corporation Commission or State Treasurer are possibilities.

...Jim McAllister, an AZCentral.com Plugged In blogger, notes that victorious candidates Jim Lane (Scottsdale Mayor) and Lisa Borowsky (Scottsdale City Council) already have their hands out to developers, seeking contributions to retire their campaign debts.

Apparently, they don't read the news reports about indicted and convicted public officials.

...The AZ Republic has a story that current Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne will be forming a committee to explore a run for State Attorney General in 2010.

Ummm....yeah. Horne has spent most of two terms making the public education system in AZ one of the worst in the country, and now he wants us to set him loose on the legal system?

Later...

Time for some 2010 speculations...

...especially since "Candie Dates" at Sonoran Alliance got the ball rolling with a post concerning possible candidates to replace Jan Brewer at the Secretary of State's office if she ascends to the governor's office (OK, OK - "when" :( ) and the AZ Rep has an article about how Janet Napolitano's expected move to D.C. would "shake up" the 2010 race for governor.

A couple of caveats -

1. Most of my focus will be on Democrats from Maricopa County because they're who I have the most familiarity with. There are certain to be candidates from Pima, Pinal, Coconino and other counties whose names I haven't heard.

2. This is all pure speculation on my part. None of the potential candidates mentioned has ever spoken to me about their future plans.

3. The underlying assumptions are that Janet Napolitano leaves and does not return to run against John McCain in two years (though a run against Jon Kyl in four years remains a possibility) and that, despite laying the groundwork for a reelection run, McCain chooses not to run again at age 74.

4. The goal of this post is to start a discussion, so if you have some legitimate speculations of your own, feel free to leave a comment (just keep it civil :) ).


On to the idle thoughts random musings... :))

State Mine Inspector - why on God's green earth is this still an elected office? Could someone explain this to me, please?


State Superintendent of Public Instruction -

Speculation elsewhere on possible Republican candidates has focused on State Sen. John Huppenthal and State Rep. Rich Crandall. Both are very conservative; Huppenthal despises public education with a burning passion and Crandall does not.

As for possible Democratic candidates, Slade Mead and Jason Williams, who both ran in 2006 may try again. However, Williams has remained more active in the education field and has a higher profile in that area. Other to consider include Jackie and John Thrasher. Both are career teachers, both lost elections this year and may want to try for different offices in 2010 - it's looking more and more like John is not destined to be the one who unseats Congressman Trent Franks in CD3 and Jackie could make Republicans Jim Weiers and Doug Quelland eat green crow by winning a statewide office after weaselling their way back into office in LD10.


State Treasurer - No clue here. At all.


Attorney General -

On the Republican side, I have no idea, though I expect their nominee to be some party apparatchik.

As for the Democratic possibilities, I don't have much more of a clue here, though Tim Nelson (former candidate for Maricopa County Attorney) is a possibility if he doesn't accompany Napolitano to D.C. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is a possibility here too, if he chooses to give Terry Goddard an unobstructed run at the Democratic gubernortorial nomination. Long shots to even consider a run, much less win one, are Don Bivens, chair of the AZ Democratic Party, and Mark Manoil, chair of the Maricopa County Democratic Party. Both are practicing lawyers.


Secretary of State -

The Sonoran Alliance post linked above has a pretty good run down of possible Rep candidates for 2010 even though the focus was on possibilities for appointment to replace Brewer in the immediate future. One name that was mentioned over there was former Tempe state Rep. Laura Knaperek. They raved over her because she is so conservative, but I don't see it - she lost her last general election in 2006 against a couple of relatively new Democratic candidates for state lege, and she lost her last primary this year in CD5. Even good candidates can lose *one* election but she has lost three this decade. She may want to consider *not* running for office for a while.

Current Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes may consider a run here, too. While her non-political experience is in journalism, she has degrees in law and public administration. Since she is rumored to be interested in moving to the ninth floor (aka - the Governor's office), this office would be a logical steppingstone.

As for Democrats, Sandra Kennedy has been rumored to have interest in the job, though her recent victory in the AZ Corporation Commission race probably means she won't go for this in two years. There are a couple of termed out state legislators who may be interested, and perhaps some not-so-termed-out ones, if it doesn't look like the Dems will improve their representation in the lege in two years.


Governor -

The list is long and varied here. The Republican possibilities are discussed in the AZ Rep article, though Jan Brewer has to be considered the early favorite whether or not she ascends into the governorship within a few weeks. A dark horse here could be Congressman Jeff Flake, whose interest in the job has been the subject of rumors in the past. While the governor's job pays less than U.S. Rep, he wouldn't have to fly back and forth to D.C. every weekend and wouldn't have to sleep in his office to save money for his kids' college education.

On the Democratic side, current Attorney General Terry Goddard is considered the presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination with Phil Gordon the primary threat to that. Former AZ Dem chair and former candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Pederson is also mentioned frequently. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been the subject of rumors here, but she seems more likely to take a run at John McCain's Senate seat at this point.


Arizona Corporation Commission (2 seats) -

No clue as for the Republican possiblilities, and the only Democratic names that I can think of right off the top of my head are Sam George and Kara Kelty, both of whom were candidates this year.


U.S. Senate -

If McCain doesn't run again, the field is wide open on both sides of the aisle.

Republican possibilities include current Congressmen John Shadegg (CD3) and Jeff Flake (CD6), though there are sure to be other names floated (Mayes' name might fit here, too, but she passed on a run in CD1 this year. She may not be interested in federal office.)

Democratic possibilities include whichever of the Goddard/Gordon duo doesn't run for governor, Jim Pederson (again) and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (CD8). Giffords may be a possible candidate even if McCain runs again - many people in AZ believe that a strong female candidate would have the best chance of unseating the popular McCain.


U.S. Congress -

There is a frequent rumor that Congressman Ed Pastor (CD4) could face a primary challenge in two years from Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox. If that actually happens, it would be an interesting, and probably heated, contest between two entrenched west Phoenix political machines.

As for the other CDs, I've got no idea, though any special-election winning replacement for rumored-to-becoming-U.S. Secretary of the Interior Raul Grijalva (CD7) is certain to face some strong challengers.


Other names that could fit into one of these potential races include Dennis Burke (former Napolitano chief of staff and rumored U.S. Attorney-to-be), state legislators David Lujan (D), Kyrsten Sinema (D), Chad Campbell (D) and Michelle Reagan (R) and outgoing Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross.



Later!

The 2010 campaigns are already starting

From CNN's Political Ticker -

From CNN's Dana Bash

(CNN) — CNN has learned that John McCain met Tuesday night with top advisers to start the process of setting up a political action committee.

A senior McCain aide says that was done to send the signal he intends to run for another term as senator from Arizona.

He is up for re-election in 2010.

This is no guarantee that McCain is going to actually run for reelection, but it does increase the likelihood that he will do so. Now if we can just convince Janet Napolitano to hang out in AZ for two more years - the political geek in me wants to see two of AZ's electoral phenoms face off in two years. :)

Of course, it doesn't bode well for couch-sleepers (and McCain allies) John Shadegg and Jeff Flake, who are both rumored to be interested in running for the seat.


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!

Bob Lord has the Shadegg campaign making rookie mistakes

As Election Day draws ever closer, the strong challenge that the Bob Lord for Congress campaign is mounting against incumbent John Shadegg is pushing Shadegg's campaign into making so incredibly dumb moves...

Let's see -

There was using a picture of a veteran in a campaign ad without his permission...and then insulting that veteran (and former POW) with a condescending faux "apology."

There was putting out another spot without the legally required "paid for by" statement, which could result in the Shadegg campaign paying thousands of dollars more than other candidates to air their ads.

Now there's the embarrassment of losing a campaign credit card.

In a Democratic Party office.

From an AZ Dem press release -

A credit card for John Shadegg's campaign was found this weekend under the front desk of a Democratic Party office.

The card is issued to a senior Shadegg campaign operative, lists Shadegg's re-election organization and was found near Democratic campaign materials.

The Democratic Party notified Shadegg's campaign office that the card has been found. The party has also filed a report with the Tempe Police Department and with the credit card company.

"It's extremely disturbing that a senior campaign operative for Republican John Shadegg would leave a credit card under a desk at one of our offices," said Maria Weeg, Executive Director of the Arizona Democratic Party. "We let Congressman Shadegg know we found his credit card and requested Shadegg promptly explain what a member of his staff was doing in our office and how his campaign credit card arrived in our office."

According to PolitickerAZ, the Shadegg campaign has responded by saying that the credit card was brought to the Democratic office by one of his campaign volunteers in order to purchase an Obama bumper sticker.

Huh?????

So the question now is whether the intended purpose of the purchase of an Obama bumper sticker was to proclaim the Shadegg campaign's support for Barack Obama (something that I'm certain that Shadegg's good friend John McCain will want to discuss :) ) or if they were purchasing the bumper sticker to deface or misuse it in some way (just for harmless laughs, of course).

Something which may or may not be legal to do once they've taken ownership of a particular bumper sticker, but which, legal or not, is still utterly petty.

Why do I not believe that Shadegg's campaign wanted the bumper sticker because of its support of Obama?

Actually, I think they showed up at the Tempe office to spy or more, but that's only my opinion, not an actual accusation. Yet.

Anyway, given all of the dumb mistakes and the blatant disregard for campaign rules (written and unwritten), is it any surprise that the Shadegg campaign has retained the K Street law firm of Sidley Austin, or that one of the firm's partners is Thomas Green, one of the people who defended the Republican "plumbers" of Watergate break-in fame? According to campaign finance records, they spent nearly $12K with Sidley Austin in just the month and a half from August 14 to September 30. (page 100 and 101 of this .pdf from the FEC)

Sounds like the Shadegg campaign is doing one thing right - they're following the Boy Scout maxim of "be prepared."

Later!

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans rate members of Congress...AZ results

Heads up on this courtesy Ron Pies' AZCentral.com blog...

The grades of AZ's Congressional delegation, from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Action Fund -

Harry Mitchell (D-CD5) - A+ - comment: "13 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, plus 2 points for Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsorship"

Note: Mitchell has just been endorsed by the VFW Political Action Committee.

Gabrelle Giffords (D-CD8) - A+ - comment: "13 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, plus 2 points for Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsorship"

Ed Pastor (D-CD4) - A - comment: "11 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, plus 2 points for Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsorship"

Raul Grijalva (D-CD7) - A - comment: "12 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, plus 2 points for Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsorship"

Rick Renzi (R-CD1) - A - comment: "11 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, plus 2 points for Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsorship"

Trent Franks (R-CD2) - C - comment: "8 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, not a Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsor"

John Shadegg (R-CD3) - B - comment: "10 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, not a Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsor"

Jeff Flake (R-CD6) - C - comment: "7 out of 13 votes with IAVA Action, not a Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsor"

John McCain, U.S. Senator and Republican presidential nominee - D - comment: "3 out of 9 votes with IAVA Action, not a Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsor"

Jon Kyl, U.S. Senator - C - comment: "5 out of 9 votes with IAVA Action, not a Post-9/11 GI Bill cosponsor"


The average grade for the Democratic members of AZ's delegation? 4.25 (A = 4 points, B = 3, etc., with "+" = an additional .5)

The average grade for the Republican members of AZ's delegation? 2.33; without the soon-to-be gone Renzi inflating their grade? 2, barely a C.

OK, so it's not much of a surprise that AZ's Republicans did so poorly on veterans' issues when compared to AZ's Democrats - it's long been common knowledge that Republican 'support our veterans' rhetoric is just that, *rhetoric.*

Not substance.

However, who would have guessed that the biggest drag on the Reps' grade would be John McCain, the former naval aviator who touts his status as a former POW at every turn?

It seems that Rudy Giuliani's "noun, verb, 9-11" meaningless spiel has been replaced by John McCain's "noun, verb, "POW" standard stump speech as the biggest snow job in American politics.

The only veterans McCain is concerned about are himself and those that support him with money or Swift Boat-style ad appearances; the rest mean nothing to him.

Access the entire report card here.

Later!

Congressman Mitchell's response to the letter on the bailout

A few days ago, I wrote a letter to Congressman Harry Mitchell concerning the Wall Street bailout proposal floated by the Bush Administration.

Congressman Mitchell voted against the original proposal (which failed) and voted in favor of the revised bill.

The Congressman's response, via email -

Dear [cpmaz]:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 1424, the economic recovery package.

The current economic crisis extends far beyond Wall Street or Washington. It affects us all. If the credit market freezes, then it is going to become dramatically more difficult for anyone to borrow money to purchase a home or a car, or to send their kids to college. Businesses, large and small, will be cut off from the credit they need to stock their shelves and make payroll.

Throughout consideration of this rescue package, I believed that both parties needed to come together to forge a compromise that would protect taxpayers and promote investor confidence. For this reason, I opposed the blank check proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson. And, with less than 24 hours for deliberation and public comment, I voted against H.R. 3997, a modified proposal that House Leaders rushed to the floor on September 29, 2008, and failed by a vote of 205 to 228.

After the House of Representatives rejected these hasty proposals, members of both parties worked together to make significant improvements to this legislation.

H.R. 1424 authorizes the U.S. Department of Treasury to begin an aggressive program to restore liquidity to our nation's credit market. Specifically, it authorizes the Department Treasury to begin buying and re-selling certain mortgage backed securities that are currently preventing lenders from issuing credit. Unlike the lump sum $700 billion pay out in the Paulson plan, the legislation provides the Secretary with an initial $250 billion, followed by another $100 billion upon a Treasury Department report to Congress. The Secretary could then request up to an additional $350 billion, however, Congress will be given 15 days to vote to stop this from happening if it does not approve of how the Secretary is managing the rescue plan, or does not want to commit additional taxpayer funds to it.

I am not happy with everything in the new bill, especially the earmarks that the Senate snuck into the bill at the last-minute. This is precisely the kind of legislating that makes the public so distrustful of Congress and so suspicious when they are asked to support an important economic rescue package. This is disappointing on many fronts, particularly because I spent nearly three decades teaching government at Tempe High School, and I am certain that this is not how our political process was intended to function.

However, inaction would cripple our economy.

To its credit, the new package includes improvements to protect taxpayers and promote investor confidence.

It increases Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") and National Credit Union Administration ("NCUA") insurance limits to $250,000. This is not only important protection to individual depositors, but also to small businesses that keep payrolls in banks and credit unions and need to know these funds are secure. This provision was not included in the Paulson plan or the first bill brought to the House on September 29.

In addition, unlike the Paulson plan, H.R. 1424 puts a stop to so-called "golden parachutes" - extravagant exit bonuses to executives who leave companies that may have had a hand in creating the current crisis.

Also, unlike the Paulson plan, H.R. 1424 will protect taxpayers by making sure that the recovery program is subject to oversight and judicial review. Four separate entities will provide constant oversight to ensure efficiency and fairness in the Troubled Assets Relief Program ("TARP"). This program will buy and re-sell assets from distressed companies, and new provisions for recoupment ensure that costs from the program are not passed on to taxpayers.

The new package will also help many homeowners in danger of foreclosure by allowing the government to work with loan servicers to re-structure mortgages.

Significantly, the new package includes a recoupment provision, which requires the President to submit legislation to Congress in five years to begin recouping any losses incurred by the federal government as a result of TARP from the financial industry in order to make taxpayers whole.

Finally, the new package will extend key tax credits to encourage investments in alternative energies like solar. Right here in Arizona, APS and Abengoa are planning to build the world's largest solar power plant - big enough to power 70,000 homes. Without these tax credits, it will not happen. These investments will be taken overseas. Now, the investments spawned by these tax breaks will help drive our economy forward by creating thousands of jobs and producing more than $4 billion worth of energy over the next 30 years.

I am disappointed that the final package did not extend important cuts to capital gains and estate taxes. These cuts are set to expire and I think the last thing we want to do is have investors worried about a tax increase. Last year, Representative Christopher Shays and I introduced H.R. 3170, Capital Gains and Estate Tax Relief Act, to make these cuts permanent, and I believe that the inclusion of this legislation would have encouraged investment and provided important certainty to our tax code.

However, with an economic disaster looming, I believe we had a responsibility to act. The final package was approved by the U.S. Senate on October 1, 2008 by a 74-25 vote. I voted for, and the House passed the economic package two days later by a bipartisan vote of 263 to 171. The President signed the legislation into law the same day.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write to me about our economy and the government's economic recovery package. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if you have additional comments or concerns.

If you would like to receive e-mail updates about how I am working on behalf of Arizona's 5th Congressional District, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter at www.mitchell.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Harry E. Mitchell
Member of Congress

HEM/jw

I haven't actually looked at the revised bailout package, but while it sounds to be a much better package than the original one, I'm still hesitant about anything with a price tag in excess of $700 billion dollars.

Especially when the primary beneficiaries (though not the *only* beneficiaries) are Wall Street CEOs/inveterate gamblers with other people's money.

...As for the rest of the AZ delegation in addition to Harry Mitchell, Democrats Gabrielle Giffords and Ed Pastor, and Republican John Shadegg voted in favor; Democrat Raul Grijalva and Republicans Jeff Flake and Trent Franks voted against.

Later!

Wow! The AZ Congressional delegation can agree on something besides postal facility namings...

Of course, even on those rare occasions when AZ's federal legislators are on the same page, it's for very different reasons...

As has been reported in many places, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the $700 billion bailout bill for Wall Street investment firms, and the entire Arizona delegation voted against it.

Note: more info on the bailout is available from the House Financial Services Committee here.

Their reasons were varied - from the Dems hating it because it didn't contain enough protections for taxpayers to the Reps hating it because it contained some protections.

A number of MSM pundits and writers have opined that the measure was defeated by members of the House who are facing tough reelection battles (AP via TriValleyCentral.com). There may be an element of truth in that idea, but an examination of even just the AZ delegation's situations belies that the notion is universally accurate -

Ed Pastor (D-CD4), Raul Grijalva (D-CD7), and Jeff Flake (R-CD6) are totally safe in their races.

Trent Franks (R-CD2) is close to safe in his, too.

Gabrielle Giffords (D-CD8) is facing a solid challenger in Tim Bee, but she is solidly positioned herself, and should retain her seat.

Harry Mitchell (D-CD5) is facing a tough fight because of his district's demographics (40K more registered Republicans) and John Shadegg (R-CD3) is facing the fight of his political career (a super-strong challenger in Bob Lord and his retire/unretire two-step earlier this year).

Rick Renzi (R-CD1) isn't even running (something about a federal indictment and upcoming trial).

So only two of the eight AZ Congresscritters who voted against the bailout are facing serious election threats (apologies to supporters of Tim Bee and John Thrasher, but that's the way I see it), yet all eight voted against it.

Simply put, the Bush Administration's bailout proposal was just a bad idea, even for people who believe that a government response to the turmoil in the markets is appropriate.

After all of the finger-pointing dies down (publicly, anyway), look for some sort of bailout proposal to come out of the House, probably with a price tag that's much lower than the Administration's desired $700 billion blank check, and also with some serious safeguards for the taxpayers' money.

At this point though, any changes will probably appeal more to Democrats looking to protect taxpayers' interests than appeal to Republicans looking to use this crisis as an excuse to further deregulate the financial markets.

Don't expect the AZ delegation to be in so much agreement next time.


On the Democratic side, the AZ Star on the reasons that Reps. Grijlava and Giffords voted against the bill here; the Ahwatukee Foothills News on Rep. Harry Mitchell's objections here. Bob Lord's (D challenger in CD3) press release here.

On the Republican side, Rep. Shadegg's op-ed in USA Today is here; a Rep. Flake quote is here (Phoenix Business Journal).

Note2: I'd have linked to the websites of Reps. Giffords and Pastor, but the House website is still experiencing problems related to its heavy site traffic on Monday, and couldn't access those pages.

Note3: ever-loyal (and perceptive!) reader and frequent commenter Elizabeth noted in an email that after the failure of the bailout on Monday, followed by the stock market's precipitous drop, the Washington Post ran this story on the front page of their website.

It chronicles what is truly the greatest crisis facing American society today - the decline in home run totals in Major League Baseball.

Later...

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award

Time for another edition of the award for political flip-floppery that every politician dreads even being considered for, much less receiving.

Apparently, the plaque that commemorates this award, with its real mounted Crappie, becomes "aromatic" rather quickly, distracting the staffers who work in the offices where the winners so proudly display it. :)

There was a spirited competition for the award this week, with John McCain, the namesake of this thoroughly uncoveted award, making a run for it.

From an article about the candidates' personal cars, in the latest edition of Newsweek magazine -

"I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud," McCain said in the interview with Detroit's WXYZ-TV.

Then the article goes on to list the McCains' *fleet* of vehicles -

"There's a 2005 Volkswagen convertible in the garage along with a 2001 Honda sedan. Otherwise, there's a 2007 half-ton Ford pickup truck, which might come in handy on the Sedona ranch; a vintage 1960 Willys Jeep; a 2008 Jeep Wrangler; a 2000 Lincoln; and a 2001 GMC SUV. The McCains also own three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles, which are bubble-shaped cars popular in retirement communities."

In addition to the imported VW convertible and the Honda sedan listed in the paragraph, the article mentioned another import, a Toyota Prius, that was purchased for the McCains' daughter. There's yet another import, a Lexus, that's used by Cindy McCain, but that one doesn't count because it is registered to her family's beer distributorship.

I would love to go on about how McCain's flip flop on American-made products and jobs for American workers, but in this week's finned follies competition, this is nothing but "normal" campaign hyperbole.

(And for the sake of giving this week's award to the person I wanted to award it to anyway, I'm going to ignore McCain's spinal cord-shearing flip flop on regulation of America's financial markets this week. During the yet-to-be-penned election post-mortems, this past week will go down as the point when the McCain campaign succeeded in locking his "I'm a maverick. Trust me!" wool over America's eyes or as the point where America finally realized how full of Crappie McCain really is. Check back in a month and a half for an update. :) )


The second and more serious contender for the award was President George W. Bush. He and his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, are pushing a plan to bail out Wall Street that will cost taxpayers to the tune of $700 billion.

This is after a year during which Bush spent most of his time opposing and threatening to veto any plans to help out Main Street homeowners dealing with the mortgage crisis.

I'd speak (at length! :) ) about how Bush's concern for those facing financial stress seems to be directly proportional to their tax bracket, but since he actually broke down and signed a mortgage relief act, the Wall Street bailout isn't quite a flip flop of "crappie" proportions.


Nope, this week's award goes to another regular contender for the award, Congressman John "Calgon, take me away" Shadegg.

First, he spent most of August bloviating in an empty House chamber, "protesting" the failure of Congressional Democrats to pass a measure authorizing more oil drilling near America's coasts.

So when the House considered a measure to do just that, did Shadegg support it? He decried the bill as a Democratic "hoax" and voted against it.

For that shameless flip flop of the "reverse one-and-a-half somersaults with a twist" variety, Congressman John Shadegg reels in this edition of the John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award.

For more Southwestern finned follies, check out Desert Beacon in Nevada for a possible Sunday Morning Deck Bass sighting.


Later!

Labor Day and candidates for office: A quick comparison

On one hand, we have Bob Lord, the rising Democratic challenger in CD3, who spent his day walking neighborhoods of the district and talking to voters, and attending the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in Phoenix.

On the other hand, we have John Shadegg, the embattled, retiree-wannabe incumbent, who spent the morning dining in a luxury hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota calling the Democratic Presidential ticket of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden 'a product of the "radical left." '

So now he's calling two sitting U.S. Senators "radicals? Two members of what is perhaps the most exclusive and privileged club in America? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!

They're radicals only by the standards of extremist ideologues, not responsible public servants.

In any event, today, Bob Lord issued a statement of appreciation and commemoration of American workers -

On Labor Day, Arizonans and Americans observe their hard work, the quest for the American Dream and the importance of preserving the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.

We take time off to appreciate the hard work our parents and grandparents did so that they could make life better for us. We take time to appreciate those of us who have to work today, even though most of us have the day off. And most importantly, we take the time to recognize those of us who can't get by because we lost our jobs to the failed economic policies of the current leadership.

Fortunately, my wife Tammy and I both were lucky enough to live the American Dream. We both were born to modest circumstances, but we were both fortunate enough to attend fantastic public schools. We worked hard, we learned and we built a very good life for ourselves and our seven children.

On this Labor Day we celebrate the contributions workers have made to better our country. We have worked so hard and we have come so far and things will get better, because Arizona deserves better.

We just need leaders who are willing to make that change.

President Bush and John Shadegg's economic policies have resulted in hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, a huge housing and financial crisis, and a middle class that is holding on by a thread.

This is about investing in America's future, and Arizona can lead the way. We have the workers, we have that American drive that says, yes, we can do it and we will succeed.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day!

Short Attention Span Musing....

...Your humble but ever so wise wiseass blogger is finally moving into the 20th Century. I have acquired that ubiquitous but possibly cancer-causing electronic leash known as a cell phone. For years, I've avoided getting one but since I'm driving to Denver this week across three relatively uninhabited states, it was time.

Of course, when I get the first bill next month, it may be time for screaming... :))


...According to PolitickerAZ, in CD3 the Shadegg campaign is finally talking to the Lord campaign about debates. They're still in the "posturing" phase of the negotiations (the Shadegg campaign wants six debates over the 8 or so weeks between the primary and the general election) so nothing may come of it, but that still puts John Shadegg, someone who's been mailing it in all year, ahead of Joe Arpaio, who still refuses to publicly debate Dan Saban, his challenger for the Maricopa County Sheriff's job.

Somebody needs to let Joe know that it doesn't look good when even a candidate who's tried to retire this year and who thinks his job is "boring" is putting more effort toward his reelection bid than he is.

Not good at all.


...Of course, Shadegg is still doing everything he can to avoid Bob Lord and to minimize his contact with the residents of CD3 (you know - his constituents).

- First, he's been staying in D.C., leading his Republican colleagues in a shameless campaign to befoul America coastlines to benefit Big Oil's profit margins. (The Phoenix Business Journal)

- Next week (August 25 - 28), he's going to Alaska to visit Prudhoe Bay to advocate for the pollution of ANWR, also to benefit Big Oil's profit margins. (PolitickerAZ)

- The week after that (September 1 -4) is the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. The event will be held at the XCEL Energy Center.(GOPConvention2008)

And then on September 8, the week after that, the U.S. House of Representatives is back in session.

In other words, Shadegg is spending his summer district work period doing almost anything but working in his district.

...Posting will be lighter than normal this week, due to the aforementioned trip to Denver (projected high temps for the next week: mid to upper 80s; projected low temps: mid to upper 50s.) :))

Later!

Events and other election stuff (and an Ethics Committee hearing into Jack Harper's behavior)...

...Tuesday, August 12 - As chronicled by Zelph at AZNetroots, the hearing by the Senate Ethics Committee, putatively to investigate the actions of Sen. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. At the end of the Senate session in June, Harper abused his power as the chair of the Senate meeting to cut off Democratic Senators Paula Aboud and Ken Cheuvront. He was trying to railroad an anti-same sex marriage constitutional amendment on to the November ballot; they were working to prevent that. When Harper arbitrarily shut off the Dems' microphones, he violated Senate rules.

However justified the hearing may be, it's nothing but a sham as two of the three Republican members of the five-member committee, Sens. Barbara Leff and Robert Blendu, have already announced that they don't think that Harper committed any violations. Still, it could be interesting to watch the hearing; while the outcome is all but determined, some of the nuances and shadings of the proceedings could be fun (like who shows up to watch, how long they make Harper squirm before giving him a free pass, etc.) Video should be available here.

...Tuesday, August 12 - The LD17 Democrats will hold their monthly meeting at the Pyle Center in Tempe (SW corner of Baseline and Rural). The special guest speaker will be Congressman Harry Mitchell. Other highlights include Adralyn Wendel from the coordinated campaign office, campaign updates, and T-SHIRTS!

...Tuesday, August 12 - Rebecca Schneider and Chris Gramazio, Democratic challengers to Congressman Jeff Flake (R-CD6), will hold a debate at the main branch of the Chandler Library, 22 S. Delaware St.

...The Ed Hermes for County Supervisor campaign will be holding phone banks on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and canvassing in LD20 on Sunday, August 17. For more details, contact the campaign at 480-626-8100 or stop by the campaign HQ at 7305 W. Boston St., Chandler.

...Friday, August 15 - There will be an open house at the coordinated campaign office in Tempe (123 E. Baseline - SE corner Mill and Baseline). Stop by from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and meet Congressman Harry Mitchell, LD17 State Senator Meg Burton-Cahill, and LD17 State Representatives Ed Ableser and David Schapira as well at Ted Maish and Rae Waters (LD 20 Candidates), Phil Hettmansperger (LD 21 Candidate), Tammy Pursley and Judah Nativio (LD 18 Candidates), and Ed Hermes (County Board of Supervisors Candidate).

...In "non-event but still pretty informative (and funny) news, the AZ Democratic Party has launched ShadeggforSenate.com, dedicated to the future political aspirations of Congressman John Shadegg (R-Calgon, take me away!). It's a sharp needle aimed toward the balloon of Shadegg's career in D.C., but it has a tough act to follow in the Maricopa County Democratic Party's Joe'sGotToGo.com, aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Later!

John Shadegg - Master Of The Misapplied Metaphor

Ahhh...the greatest joy of even-numbered years - the ill-thought out campaign press release just begging to be shredded by wiseass bloggers like me (even though in this case, it's an 'official' press release)...

As mentioned in the post immediately prior to this one, John Shadegg (R - Calgon Take Me Away) and many of his cronies in the Republican caucus took to the floor of the House to protest the House's adjournment for its summer district work period (oh, and you may have heard of the two shindigs taking place in Denver and Minneapolis :) ) before voting to allow offshore oil drilling near the American coastline. (Washington Post coverage here)

Two of the main doubts that Democrats (and most people in the country) have related to offshore drilling is the great risks that it poses for the fragile ecosystems along America. The damage resulting from the inevitable leaks and spills could be devastating, and in spite of industry claims about the safety of modern drilling equipment, even existing offshore drilling efforts result in thousands of gallons of oil spills every yearl

And that doesn't even count the water and air pollution that results from the 'normal' operations of offshore drilling rigs. (Sierra Club)

After that bit of background, on to the "misapplied metaphor" part of the post...

Shadegg's press release on the events on the House floor is titled "Shadegg’s Boston Tea Party for American-Made Energy" and contains the following quote -

“Ladies and gentleman, all of you who are here in the House Chamber today, listening to us speak without the TV cameras on, and without the microphones on, are watching history. How many of you remember the Boston Tea Party? This is the Boston Tea Party!"

Perhaps one of Congressman Shadegg's friends or advisors could remind him of a little of the relevant history of The Boston Tea Party - in 1773, a group of 50 or so activists (Sons of Liberty) dressed up as Mohawk Indians, strolled down to Boston Harbor, and dumped tons of British tea into Boston Harbor.

Given that one of the biggest concerns with oil drilling is the likely contamination of coastal waters and beaches, perhaps the use of a historical analogy where the substance at issue was dumped into coastal waters may have been ill-advised.

To add more context to the misapplication - the Boston Tea Party was organized to protest the higher prices for tea charged by the East India Tea Company. Those prices had nearly as great an impact on American life then as do the high prices of oil charged by petroleum companies today, the same petroleum companies that Shadegg and his friends have been working to protect.

Oh, and to complete the Shadegg's metaphorical misapplication - oil is nicknamed "Texas Tea."


Nope, definitely *not* the best analogy there, John.


BTW - many bloggers have written about Friday's events (mostly conservatives crowing about it all), but Airbare8 at rochesterturning.com in NY had the most apt description of Shadegg and his cronies to be found anywhere -

He called them "The Floundering Fathers."

God, I wish I'd thought of that one. :))


Later!

Congressional Republicans are working for Big Oil

...at least they aren't hiding it anymore. That's a good thing, right?

After the House adjourned for its summer work period (reconvening on September 8 after both Presidential conventions), a number of House Republicans took to the House floor to protest the fact that the Democrats hadn't passed any measures allowing oil drilling offshore or in ANWR, moves that aren't guaranteed to reduce energy prices for Americans, but would be certain to enhance the already record-level profits of Big Oil.

CBSNews.com has coverage here, and in a moment of moral weakness (referred to as "honesty" by normal folks), they posted a banner above the story of the Republicans' faux indignation. That banner told the real story of the day's events.

It read simply - "Presented by ExxonMobil". See pic below.

The honesty epidemic spread all the way down to individual Congresscritters, such as AZ's own John Shadegg (R - Calgon take me away). Shadegg was quoted in the article -

"I love this," Shadegg told reporters up in the press gallery afterward. "Congress can be so boring. ... This is a kick."

In essence, Shadegg finally admitted openly that sitting in a darkened room with only other extremist Republicans to talk to is more interesting to him than doing the job he was hired for - representing the residents of Arizona's Third Congressional District in Congress.

If Shadegg decides to get serious about retaining his seat (more likely, if one of his "financial supporters" tugs on the leash to get his attention), he's going to spend the next five weeks trying to take back the gifts that he's been handing to the Bob Lord campaign.

Later...

Those Republicans, working to protect America from those darn lawyers*

*well, except for the lawyers who are working for the Republicans as they try to undermine the Constitution...

On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act. The bill passed on a nearly-party line vote of 247 - 178. Every Democrat present supported the bill, as did 14 Republicans.

It should be noted that all four Democratic members of AZ's delegation - Gabrielle Giffords, Harry Mitchell, Raul Grijalva, and Ed Pastor - were present and voted in favor of he bill, and all four Republican members of AZ's delegation - Rick Renzi, John Shadegg, Trent Franks, and Jeff Flake - were present and voted in opposition to the bill.

As predicted last week, the Republicans, led by Buck McKeon (R - CA), trotted out the straw man of "oil drilling" and the boogeyman of "trial lawyers" as their rationalizations for opposing the bill.

"Trial lawyers" was the big club during the floor debate, though when the bill went through the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, the Reps proposed seven amendments related to energy (most were to open protected federal lands to oil drilling), however, none of those were made in order by the Committee (that darn 'relevancy' requirement! :) ).

On the floor, however, they kept stressing the point that while of course they opposed pay discrimination against women in the workforce, they had to oppose this bill because it "lines the pockets of the trial lawyers".

Funny, but while they objected to the enforcement provisions in the bill (i.e. - lawsuits), they couldn't be bothered to propose an alternative enforcement scheme; they just wanted to kill the bill (that darn 'protect big business at all costs' plank of the Republican Party platform! :) ).

Their anti-trial lawyer screeds might have had more credibility if they had proposed added gender-based pay discrimination to the list of predicate acts under Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 96 of the U.S. Code.

For those of you who aren't Michael Bryan of Blog for Arizona, that section of federal law contains the provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Just ignore the sound of popping blood vessels coming from the corporate types and their myriad lobbyists and water carriers on Capitol Hill (that darn 'forfeiture of assets' provision :)) ).

OK, OK, so I know that would never happen, even though it would certainly be appropriate in some of the more egregious cases. However, the point is a simple one, and it is a valid one.

The Republicans, who proclaimed very piously their support for equal pay for equal work and for laws guaranteeing such, gave lie to their protestations by working to ensure that current equal pay laws border on unenforceable.

It seems that the "law and order" Republicans only favor enforcing the laws of the land only against poor people and immigrants, not against corporate bigwigs.


Anyway, a press release on this subject from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi can be found here; a release from Republican leader John Boehner is here. President George Bush has threatened to veto the bill, though anything can happen during an election year.


The best news for an Arizona Republican, related to this bill, is that Jeff Flake finally had one of his "anti-earmark" amendments pass (by voice vote, of all things).

The addition of that provision didn't stop him from voting against the underlying bill though.

Anyway, have a good night...

John Shadegg - apparently already checked out

As if his retire/unretire two-step in February didn't make it clear to the voters of CD3 that he's no longer interested in working for them, John Shadegg took the opportunity in a Wednesday interview with PolitickerAZ to reinforce the point.

From the interview -

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix) is making no bones about it: He has his eye on John McCain’s U.S. Senate seat.

“I see my friends in the Senate deeply engaged in fights where even in the minority you matter,” said Shadegg, who won a seat in Congress in the GOP’s 1994 rout but has since seen his party lose its majority. “Yeah, I could find that very interesting, very appealing.”

Asked point-blank if he would take McCain’s current position if given the opportunity, Shadegg responded: “Yes.”

Shadegg has spent most of the year mailing it in, even when he has been in D.C. *working* for his constituents (some examples here, here, here, and here).

More evidence of this? During the current session of Congress, the 110th, records show that he has spoken on the floor of the House or has submitted statements for the record 58 times - 50 times in 2007, and only eight since his flirtation with retirement in February. By contrast, Harry Mitchell, an icon in Arizona but only another freshman in D.C. is on the record 104 times since January 2007, 51 of which happened this year. For the most part, first-termers from both parties are expected to be seen and not heard, so that total number (104) isn't particularly high or low.

For those of you who are among the math-challenged, that means that 53 of the entries took place last year. :)

All of which shows that by that measure, Mitchell and Shadegg were approximately equally active last year; however, since Shadegg moved to hang it up, he's less than 1/6 as active as Mitchell.

In other words, when Shadegg tried to walk away, he should have kept going - it would have been better for his constituents in CD3 (not that he cares about them) and it would have looked better for him when he starts running for another office (which probably *is* something that he cares about.)

Ya know, maybe he should just withdraw now to give the Republicans in CD3 a chance to run a write-in candidate. Otherwise, he's just ceding the district to his Democratic challenger, Bob Lord.

Headlines...

Still have the whole "short attention span" thing going on...

Today, though, it seems to be combined with a fascination with betting... :)


...From AZCentral.com -

Gunman suspected of shooting 3 apologizes to 'innocent' victims

The 22-year-old Phoenix man suspected of shooting three people at South Mountain Community College confessed and apologized to victims Friday during his initial court appearance.

Anyone want to start a pool on how long it takes a Republican legislator to use Thursday's incident at SMCC as justification to propose another "guns in schools" bill?


...From AP -

Pa. teens charged in fatal beating of immigrant

PORT CARBON, Pa. (AP) — Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez.

Assuming that the defendants and their families seek donations to pay for their legal fees, anyone want to start a pool on how much money they receive from the Pearce/Ready/Childress crowd here in AZ?


From AP -

It's the law: No sagging pants in Chicago suburb

LYNWOOD, Ill. (AP) — Be careful if you have saggy pants in the south Chicago suburb of Lynwood. Village leaders have passed an ordinance that would levy $25 fines against anyone showing three inches or more of their underwear in public.

Anybody want in on a pool based on the number of Lynwood cops signing up for their new "Ruler Patrol"? I've got dibs on "0"... :)


From Politicker.com -

Arizona Dems use Heller's statement in ad knocking Republican incumbent

The Arizona Democratic Party has released an Internet video ripping U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), and the ad's main message comes from Republican Congressman Dean Heller (R-Carson City).

The video features a photo of Heller with remarks he made earlier this month to the Las Vegas Review Journal, saying the 1994 GOP Congressional freshman — famous for seizing the U.S. House from Democrats for the first time in decades — had been changed by the culture in Washington.

Anyone want in on a pool on how loudly Shadegg tells Heller to "shut the Heller up! Bob Lord doesn't need your help!"? (Sorry - couldn't resist that one. :)) )

Note: the full video is at the Politicker link.


...And in the "certain to generate headlines" department, according to next week's House schedule (courtesy The Weekly Leader from Steny Hoyer's office), the House will be considering H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act. The bill would accord women faced with gender discrimination some of the same legal remedies available to victims of racial discrimination (think: lawsuits for both compensatory and punitive damages). The bill passed the House Education and Labor Committee this week on a party-line vote after Republicans trotted out "trial lawyers" and "gas prices" as among the reasons that they opposed the bill. (Workforce Management)

Anybody want to bet against more of the same when the bill reaches the House floor on Thursday or Friday?

Didn't think so. Hell, they'll probably add "ANWR," "offshore drilling," and "terrorism" to the list just to spice things up. :))

Democratic press release on the bill here.

Republican press release on the bill here.

Note: all four Democratic members of AZ's Congressional delegation - Harry Mitchell, Gabrielle Giffords, Raul Grijalva, and Ed Pastor - are among the 230 cosponsors of the bill.


...Finally, in a 'non-headline' item, the AZ Republic has posted the responses to its candidate questionnaires online here. The list of respondents is incomplete. In some cases, it's obvious by the presence of one or another opponent in a given race that some candidates were asked but simply didn't respond. In other cases, there is only one unchallenged contender so they may not have even been asked to complete a questionnaire.

Later!

Lord Sparring With Shadegg On Education...

The problem, for Shadegg anyway, is that it's a one-sided fight.

Let's start with the basics - while Shadegg's campaign site touts the fact that he is married to a public teacher which helps him to "understand" the importance of education and teaching-related issues, that "understanding" hasn't been transformed into real-world support for students or teachers.

A quick comparison -

On math and science instruction:

Lord (courtesy his education plan/position paper unless otherwise noted) - "Every grade level should have a robust science and math curriculum, and the recruitment of math and science graduates into the teaching profession should be a priority."

Shadegg - voted against the 21st Century Competitiveness Act, which strengthened math and science instruction.


On early childhood education:

Lord - "We must make an increased investment in early childhood education, like early Head Start and Head Start, and help states enact universal pre-school programs and all-day Kindergarten."

Shadegg - voted against passage of the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act (H.R. 1429), an act to update and extend the Head Start Program.


On access to higher education:

Lord - "Any child who works hard, does well in school, and wants to attend college should have the opportunity to do so. Affordable student loans with low interest rates give children the chance to go after their dreams. Increased Pell Grants also will expand college access to thousands of students."

Shadegg - voted against the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669), an act that included language that lowered student loan interest rates, increased the maximum amount for Pell Grant awards, and increased support for those students who choose to become teachers. (You know - the career that his own wife chose, a choice that he believes grants to him an insight into the educational needs of the country.)


On health care for young students:

Lord (from a press release on Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion) - "Vetoing this bill puts tens of thousands of Arizona's most vulnerable children at risk of losing their health insurance," said Bob Lord. "It is not just President Bush who is to blame. John Shadegg has stood against this program since its creation and he continues to stand against offering basic health insurance to our poorest children."

Shadegg - Rationalized his opposition to SCHIP by calling the program a "fraud". (Page H10873 of the Congressional Record)


Perhaps the best summary of the relative positions on education of Lord and Shadegg comes from the National Education Association (NEA) -

Shadegg earns an "F" or its equivalent from the NEA, year after year - 2007 - F, 2006 - F. 2005 - C (must've backslid that year :) ), 2003-2004 - 15%, 2001-2002 - 0%.

Lord earns the NEA's endorsement.


If there are any other questions -

On Friday, Bob Lord will be meeting with Arizona educators for a "Back to School Education Roundtable Discussion" at the Phoenix Public Library Mesquite Branch, 4525 Paradise Village Parkway North, Phoenix from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. The public is invited.

Next week, John Shadegg will be hobnobbing in D.C. with lobbyists and other ultra-conservatives to raise money for conservative candidates for Senate.

OK, so there probably aren't any other questions. I just wanted to throw that out there. :))


Later!

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award

It's time for another tribute to political flip-floppery.

The competition for this week's edition of this dubious yet apparently highly-coveted honor (well, there always seems to be many contenders for the Award, so they must covet it, right?) was fierce. Two old pros and one relative rookie fought tooth and fin over this week's award like it was a minnow on a hook.

First, let's be clear up front - if the award hadn't already been named after McCain, he would have won the award going away for first criticizing Barack Obama for not having visited Iraq (May 2008) but then criticizing Obama for this month's visit to Iraq and Afghanistan (June 2008).

As if that wasn't enough, in his latest campaign ad, McCain also criticized Senator Obama for not holding hearings on Afghanistan in the Senate subcommittee that he chairs (European Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) while blithely ignoring the fact that McCain, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, hasn't attended any of his own committee's hearings on the same subject.

However hard he strove for the award though, out of fairness to the legion of other contenders, he has been retired from consideration.


Also in the running was John Shadegg, who, in a shamelessly cynical election-year ploy, voted to override the President's veto of a Medicare bill that he originally voted against anyway. However, I already wrote about that move, so I won't add to his embarrassment by awarding him another Crappie.

Have no fear though - he's got plenty of time between now and when he loses his job in November to Bob Lord to earn many more Crappies.


This week's winner is a first-timer, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.


The AZ Republic broke a story about how a Thomas staffer at the County Attorney's office, paralegal Phillip Quihuis, is one of the leaders of a group seeking to force a recall election of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, a political adversary of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Thomas' political mentor.

When asked about Quihuis' convenient (for Thomas) side project, Thomas didn't criticize or question it, he simply stated "I'm not involved in it. He has constitutional rights. "

Yes, this Andrew Thomas who is so concerned with civil liberties and constitutional rights is the same one who ordered an investigation into the Phoenix New Times. critics of he and Arpaio, an investigation that led to the false arrests of two of the New Times founders.

For this back one-and-a-half twisting tuck of a flip-flop (lackeys have Constitutional rights, journalists don't), Andrew Thomas is the winner of this week's John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award.

This may be Thomas's first Crappie, but like Shadegg, he has plenty of time to win more before losing his position to either Gerald Richard or Tim Nelson.


Later today, travel over to Nevada's Desert Beacon for her latest edition of the always entertaining, informative, and pointed Sunday Deck Bass Award. And if you're feeling really adventurous and want to take a road trip that won't burn up any of that $4.00+ gas that is the Bush Administration's legacy to the American people, journey up to Minnesota's Extemperaneous Discourse to see if a rare but tasty Sunday Eel Pout Award is on the menu.

Have a good weekend!