Time for a John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award

Yesterday, as part of a 'funds sweep' (a move to help balance the state's budget by finding allocated but unused funds in state accounts and returning them to the state's treasury), an unused million dollar grant to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to help fund Arpaio's personal (but taxpayer-funded war against undocumented immigrants. (Phoenix New Times coverage here)

The swept funds will be reallocated to a new, multiple agency, felony warrants task force.

Unsurpisingly, Arpaio was apoplectic. In his hastily organized press conference with fellow nativists Jim Weiers, Speaker of the Arizona House, state Rep. Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, he responded with quasi-paranoid rantings of "dirty politics" and a "conspiracy" between Governor Napolitano, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox and unnamed "activists" were out to stop him from performing his "sworn duty" to fight illegal immigration.

ABC15 coverage here; NBC12 coverage here; CBS5 coverage here; all three stories contain links to video of Arpaio's verbal antics at the press conference. (As for the coverage by the other two major stations in Phoenix, one is a Fox affiliate, and I won't link to Fox unless it is the *only* source for a piece of news, and there is something about the website of the other station, KTVK Channel 3, that jacks up my browser window. Too much effort to do a link to their coverage, though the New Times article contains a link to their raw video of the presser.)

In addition to the "conspiracy" rantings, there were very frequent, and very telling, references by Arpaio to "my money" and "me." Also telling was his dehumanization of undocumented immigrants. For example, when referring to the outcome of his war on immigrants, he could only bring himself to say that his deputies have arrested 950 "human smugglers and co-conspirators."

Nope, our Joe definitely doesn't believe that immigrants are human beings.

Anyway, back to our post and to the part press conference that has earned Arpaio the first awarding of the newly-rechristened John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award...

At one point during the press conference, when Arpaio was giving free rein to the most personal part of his umbrage at the state's fiscal responsibility move, he issued a choice quote, claiming that the Governor, Mayor and Supervisor weren't going to stop him from doing what he "took an oath of office to do, and that's to enforce every law in this county."

Apparently, that zeal for enforcement only applies to taillight violations against immigrants, not to the service of felony warrants upon those born here.

Otherwise, why would the state need to form a task force of DPS, municipal, and (if they want in on it) county law enforcement agencies to handle the service of such felony warrants?

And why would our sheriff (or any sheriff) object so strenuously to the service of those warrants?

For his shameless flip-flop, for claiming to enforce "every" law in the county while conspicuously ignoring the laws (and criminals) that don't appeal to his nativist sensibilities, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the first winner of the John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award.

Oh, and to sort of bring home the point about how Arpaio's enforcement of the laws in Maricopa County is based on his personal predjudices, we have exhibit A in the case -

Later in the evening yesterday, one of Arpaio's deputies pulled over the Mayor of Guadalupe, Rebecca Jimenez, the same mayor who last month criticized the sheriff for engaging in racial profiling in her town.

The MCSO deputy cited her for a broken headlight and for failure to have a registration and proof of insurance in the vehicle.

I suppose that's more creative than Arpaio's usual M.O. of going after Mexicans for broken taillights. :)

Edit on 5/16 - Now Sarah Fenske of The New Times has a piece documenting Arpaio's latest harassing tactic targeted at another mayor and another one of his critics, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.

From the article -

On April 24, four weeks after Gordon's widely publicized denunciation of the sheriff at a César Chávez luncheon, sheriff's deputies fired off a public-records request seeking the mayor's e-mails, cell phone records, and meeting calendar.

The letter also demands e-mail correspondence for Police Chief Jack Harris, City Manager Frank Fairbanks, and all of Gordon's administrative staff. In all, the sheriff's investigators are seeking every single e-mail written by more than a dozen Phoenix staffers, from November to the date of the sheriff's demand.

The flip-flop here is that while Arpaio is try to swamp the City of Phoenix with public records requests (and the City has said they are complying with the requests), Arpaio habitually delays compliance or completely ignores such requests.

In the light Arpaio's continuing unprofessionalism and petty vindictiveness, is it any wonder that more and more people are supporting Dan Saban for sheriff?

It's time for voters to expect some professional and personal integrity on the part of then Maricopa County Sheriff.

End edit.

Later!

Join fellow East Valley Democrats this weekend...

This weekend is going to be a busy one for Democrats in CD5 (LD17, LD18, LD8) -

...Congressman Harry Mitchell will be joining the LD17 Democrats as they walk neighborhoods for Tempe City Council candidates Corey Woods and Joel Navarro at 10:00 a.m., following up with a Democrats in the Park event that will actually be held indoors at El Penasco (highlights include a kickball game starting at 1:30 p.m). Contact LD17 Chair Doug Mings at dougmings[at]gmail.com for more info.

Meet up for the walk at 10:00 a.m. at Bunna Coffee (NW corner of Rural and Elliot); the event at El Penasco (SE corner of Mill and Broadway) starts at 1:00 p.m.


...Over in LD18, Congressman Harry Mitchell will be joining Judah Nativio, candidate for State Senate, and Tammie Pursley, candidate for State House, as they walk neighborhoods in Mesa. After the walk, 'there will be a 'meet the LD18 candidates' barbeque.

Meet up for the walk at 9:00 a.m. in Kleinman Park (710 S. Extension in Mesa). The barbeque starts at noon at the Manske residence, 1758 E Gary St., Mesa. (View Google Maps)

Contact for the barbeque - Wayne Manske, 480-835-8977.

Tammie Pursley, Judah Nativio, and the LD18 Democrats are working with the United Way of Mesa and a food bank, and are asking folks to bring food items to meetings and other events.


...Up in LD8, on Saturday, there will be a special reception for Congressman Harry Mitchell at the home of Denise and Ross Cooper from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Contact Herschel Fink at 480-755-3343 or Ross Cooper at 480-922-0068 for reservations and donations. Online RSVP here.

On Sunday, there will be a 'meet the candidates' houseparty hosted by Linda Mack Ross, 4752 N. 75th Place, RSVP at 480-425-0470. Join Linda and bring your friends to greet, meet and learn more about what could be . . . . Stephanie Rimmer, Candidate for Arizona State Legislature; Dan Saban, Candidate for Sheriff, Gerald Richard, Candidate for County Attorney, Joel Sinclair, Candidate for Maricopa County Supervisor. 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. for desserts.


...For those who want the get an early start on the week, don't forget LD8's "meet the candidates" night at their monthly program meeting on Thursday, May 15. The event will be held at Country Inn Suites, 10801 N. 89th Place in Scottsdale and is scheduled to include candidates Stephanie Rimmer, Dan Saban, Gerald Richard, and Joel Sinclaire. The reception starts at 6:30 p.m.; the meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.

Congrats to Tedski!

Earlier today, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, announced the names of the blogs selected for the national convention's "State Blogger Corps." The members of the State Blogger Corps will be seated with their states' delegations on the convention floor.

Ted Prezelski, arguably the dean of Arizona's progressive blogosphere, received the well-deserved nod for Arizona.

The entire list -

STATE - BLOG NAME - BLOG URL

ALASKA - Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis - http://divasblueoasis.blogspot.com/

ALABAMA- Doc's Political Parlor - http://www.politicalparlor.net/

ARKANSAS- Under The Dome.com - http://www.underthedome.com/

ARIZONA - Ted Prezelski - Rum, Romanism and Rebellion -http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/

CALIFORNIA - Calitics- http://calitics.com/

COLORADO -SquareState.net - http://squarestate.net/

CONNECTICUT -My Left Nutmeg - http://myleftnutmeg.com/

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA- DCist.com - http://dcist.com/

DELAWARE - TommyWonk - http://tommywonk.blogspot.com/

DEMOCRATS ABROAD - Democrats Abroad Argentina -http://www.yanquimike.com.ar/

FLORIDA - Florida Progressive Coalition - http://flaprogressives.org/

GEORGIA- Tondee's Tavern - http://www.tondeestavern.com/

GUAM - No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro -http://minagahet.blogspot.com/

HAWAII - iLind.net: Ian Lind Online - http://www.ilind.net/

IOWA - The Iowa Independent - http://iowaindependent.com/

IDAHO - 43rdStateBlues.com - http://www.43rdstateblues.com/

ILLINOIS- Prairie State Blue - http://www.prairiestateblue.com/

INDIANA- Blue Indiana - http://www.blueindiana.net/

KANSAS - EverydayCitizen.com - http://everydaycitizen.com/

KENTUCKY - BlueGrassRoots - http://www.bluegrassroots.org/

LOUISIANA - Daily Kingfish - http://www.dailykingfish.com/

MASSACHUSETTS - Blue Mass. Group - http://www.bluemassgroup.com/

MARYLAND - The Center for Emerging Media -http://www.centerforemergingmedia.com/

MAINE - Turn Maine Blue - http://www.turnmaineblue.com/

MICHIGAN - Blogging For Michigan - http://bloggingformichigan.com/

MINNESOTA - Minnesota Monitor - http://minnesotamonitor.com/

MISSISSIPPI - The Natchez Blog - http://natchezms.blogspot.com/

MISSOURI - Fired Up! LLC - http://www.firedupmissouri.com/

MONTANA - Left in the West - http://www.leftinthewest.com/

NORTH CAROLINA - BlueNC.com - http://bluenc.com/

NORTH DAKOTA - NorthDecoder.com - http://www.northdecoder.com/

NEBRASKA - New Nebraska Network - http://www.newnebraska.net/

NEW HAMPSHIRE - Blue Hampshire - http://www.bluehampshire.com/

NEW JERSEY - PolitickerNJ.com - http://www.politickernj.com/

NEW MEXICO - Democracy for New Mexico -http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/

NEVADA - Las Vegas Gleaner - http://www.lasvegasgleaner.com/

NEW YORK - Room 8 - http://www.r8ny.com/

OHIO - Ohio Daily Blog - http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/

OKLAHOMA - DemoOkie - http://www.demookie.com/

OREGON - BlueOregon (blog) - http://www.blueoregon.com/

PENNSYLVANIA - Keystone Politics - http://www.keystonepolitics.com/

PUERTO RICO - Jusiper - http://jusiper.blogspot.com/

RHODE ISLAND - Rhode Island's Future - http://www.rifuture.org/

SOUTH CAROLINA - CracktheBell.com - http://www.crackthebell.com/

SOUTH DAKOTA - Badlands Blue - http://www.badlandsblue.com/

TENNESSEE - KnoxViews/TennViews - http://www.knoxviews.com/

TEXAS - Burnt Orange Report - http://www.burntorangereport.com/

UTAH - The Utah Amicus - http://utahamicus.com/

VIRGINIA - Raising Kaine - http://www.raisingkaine.com/

VIRGIN ISLANDS - Democratic Party of the US Virgin Islands -http://groups.yahoo.com/group/democratvi

VERMONT - Green Mountain Daily - http://greenmountaindaily.com/

WASHINGTON - HorsesAss.org - http://www.horsesass.org/

WISCONSIN - Uppity Wisconsin - http://www.uppitywis.org/

WEST VIRGINIA - West Virginia Blue - http://www.wvablue.com/

WYOMING - Hummingbirdminds blog - http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/

Congratulations go out to all of the bloggers honored with their selection for the State Blogger Corps.

Later!

Small (Shady) World Time - Shadegg, McCain, Myanmar, and TCE

By now, most people have heard how Douglas Goodyear, the man that John McCain and his campaign picked to coordinate his coronation at this fall's Republican convention, had to step aside after word got out of his lobbying ties to Myanmar's repressive regime.

From Newsweek -

...[I]nvestigative ace Michael Isikoff reported that the man chosen by John McCain's presidential campaign to run this summer's GOP convention--Arizonan Doug Goodyear--was causing some headaches within the ranks. The problem? Goodyear is CEO of DCI Group, a consulting firm that earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients...DCI was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's military junta, leading "a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing 'falsehoods' by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses."

Mr. Goodyear doesn't just have shady ties to John McCain and Myanmar's brutal government. In addition to the thousands of dollars that he has given to McCain's various campaigns, he's supported the candidacies of a virtual post office wall-ful of some of the most ethically-challenged (and in many cases, criminally-challenged) politicos to ever run for a term, whether in office or in prison.

The 'who's who' list includes luminaries like indicted Texas Congressman Tom Delay, facing jail over his money laundering indictment, AZ State Treasurer Dean Martin, renowned for his creative use of campaign funds, Congressman Jerry Lewis, who, like McCain, has his own shady lobbyist problems, indicted Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi (R-Mantech), who, like McCain, has his own shady land deal problems, and McCain BFF and CD3 Congressman John Shadegg, who like Delay, has money laundering problems of his own.

What I found interesting, in a "gee, isn't it a small world" sort of way, is that Goodyear's DCI Group is a paid lobbyist for Iowa American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, which also owns Arizona American Water, the company that at least twice in last 7 months has pumped TCE-contaminated water into the homes of some of Shadegg's constituents in Paradise Valley, threatening the health of those constituents and their families.

A threat that Shadegg conspicuously ignored, in favor of campaigning for his BFF, John McCain.

Maybe somebody should tell Shadegg that while giving a free pass to the clients of major campaign contributors isn't necessarily indictable, it's still not a good idea to do so during an election year.

Particularly when facing a strong challenger.


Financial notes -

Goodyear gave $256 to Martin for his state senate run in 2000; $500 to Renzi in 2003; $2000 to Delay in 2004; $3500 to Lewis, via DCI's PAC, in 2006 and 2007; and $6600 to Shadegg, both personally and via DCI's PAC, in 2006 and 2007. Info courtesy the campaign finance websites of the FEC and the Arizona Secretary of State.

Note: This may be the first blog post ever to have a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis reference that neither harkens back to the great comedy team nor is trying to force a lame Martin/Lewis joke on readers.

I'm rather proud of my self-restraint.

Enjoy the moment, but don't get used to it. :))

Time to retire the Sunday Morning Crappie Award

I wasn't going to do one of these this week, but then the McCain campaign, not waiting to be reeled in, served it up with a "reverse back somersault with 2 twists" leap directly into the bottom of the boat.

Earlier this week, the McCain campaign took umbrage when Sen. Barack Obama commented that perhaps McCain has "lost his bearings." They felt that Sen. Obama was attacking Sen. McCain's age (he wasn't, but the McCain campaign isn't going to let facts get in the way of negative rhetoric.)

Then later in the week Joe Lieberman, speaking for the campaign, called McCain's "experience" one of his biggest advantages and one of the reasons that voters should choose McCain over Obama.

On one hand, they criticize their presumptive opponent for a perceived reference to John McCain's age, but then squirm, twist, and flippety-flop when citing his age as a strength in one of their own talking points??

WTF???

For more on McCain's hypocritical antics this week, check out this post from Desert Beacon.

Anyway, on to the retirement of the Sunday Morning Crappie Award. It seems that every week, John McCain wins the award, or is in strong contention for it. He is so consistent in his flip-flopping that scientists have derived a corollary to Newton's First Law of Motion -

1. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

..... a. In politics, once you start flip-flopping, you keep flip-flopping until the external forces of the electorate stop you.

Simply put , in light of past activities (like saying that he supported George Bush after the Bush campaign hatchet job on him in 2000, telling Arianna Huffington that he voted for Al Gore, and now denying that report) and current developments, there aren't any contenders for the award that are such strong candidates week in and week out, the Sunday Morning Crappie Award is henceforth retired.

Beginning next week, we here at Random Musings will debut a new award, one that is sure to light the blogosphere afire.

We hereby present......

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award!!!

Please note: McCain's involvement in a suspicious land deal in AZ, while worthy of a raised eyebrow (and possibly an indictment), doesn't factor in a Crappie award - he's been very consistent about it for years, as this post from DB demonstrates.

At least we now know where Rep. Rick Renzi, former AZ state chair for the McCain campaign and indicted for his own illicit land deals, learned his trade.

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing

...The McCain campaign is preparing its strategy for the fall, locking up the 'really creepy' vote early on...either that, or Joe Lieberman earned an MD when no one was looking (hey - he's got the time now that he doesn't have to go to any Democratic Party functions, right? :) )...

From AP, via the Boston Herald -

“I just want to report that this morning, I personally checked John McCain’s bearings. He has not lost any of them,” Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said yesterday.

Lieberman's comment was in response to Barack Obama's comment that John McCain had 'lost his bearings' during his pursuit of the presidency, which was itself a response to McCain's comment that the Sen. Obama is the favorite candidate of Hamas.

Apparently, the McCain campaign considers Obama's 'bearings' comment to be a shot at McCain's age.

Sorry guys, but this has nothing to do with age - your candidate lost his bearings years ago, when winning the presidency became more important to him than his humanity.

BTW - didn't Sen. Larry Craig (R - Airport Restroom) get in trouble for merely offering to 'check someone's bearings'?? :))


...On Friday night, the Irrelevant Express whistle-stopped its way through Tempe when third party presidential candidate Ralph Nader campaigned at Changing Hands Bookstore.

After what happened in 2000, he's less than irrelevant to most voters. I don't mean to sound too harsh to Mr. Nader, because he's done some great work during his career, but if he wants to be a force for real change, he needs to choose a different path. All his presidential runs do at this point is to increase the likelihood that a truly bad candidate win the White House.


...In a rather disjointed two-step, on one hand, Republican Sen. David Vitter was cleared on any ethics violations regarding his involvment with a D.C. prostitution ring operated by recently-suicided D.C. madam Deborah Jean Palfrey.

On the other hand, the GOP has turned on one of its own, Rep. Vito Fossella. His crimes? The married congressman was stopped for a DUI and admitted to fathering a child with his mistress.

Why the calls for Fossella's resignation, but the free pass for Vitter for being a patron of an ongoing criminal enterprise?

I don't want to sound like that I'm condoning Fossella's actions (the DUI or the affair), but he's not the first sitting Congresscritter to have a booze problem (he won't be the last, either!), no one was hurt by his DUI (and yes, that does make a difference for the purposes of this post), and his marriage and extramarital activities are only the business of the people involved (and he won't be the last one to cheat on his wife, either).

Much as it pains this Democratic hack to say this, let the voters of his district decide if they still want Fossella, warts and all, to represent them in Washington. There seem to be legitimate reasons for this guy to be out of Congress (corruption, misuse of campaign funds, just generally being a sleazebag, etc.); let him be run out of town for those reasons.

Not for being as subject to human weakness in his personal life as everybody else.

Have a good weekend...

Events Calendar

Monday, May 12 - East Valley Residents are invited to join Governor Napolitano in celebration of Older Americans Month.

Join her to chat over coffee, obtain new resources for senior citizens and mature workers, and to hear about her initiatives for an Aging Arizona.

Place: Granite Reef Senior Center, 1700 N. Granite Reef Rd., Scottsdale.
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Contact: Governor's Office on Aging, 602.542.4710.


Tuesday, May 13 - Monthly meeting of the LD17 Democrats

Join fellow Democrats from the Tempe and south Scottsdale area as we hear from speakers Roberto Reveles of Somos America, Tempe City Councilman Mark Mitchell, and Joel Navarro and Corey Woods, candidates for the Tempe City Council.

Place: Pyle Center, 655 East Southern Avenue. Tempe (SW corner of Southern and Rural)
Time: 6:30 info exchange/meet and greet; 7:00 p.m. meeting start
Contact: Doug Mings, LD17 Chair at dougmings[at]gmail.com or 480.628.2481.


Thursday, May 15 - The LD8 Democrats present a 'meet the candidates' night.

Five candidates have accepted D8’s invitation to participate in this first “Meet the Candidates” program: Kara Kelty, Candidate for Corporation Commission; Joel Sinclaire, Candidate for Maricopa County Supervisor; Dan Saban, Candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff; Gerald Richard, Candidate for Maricopa County Attorney; Stephanie Rimmer, Candidate for the Arizona State Legislature.

Place: Country Inn Suites, 10801 N. 89th Pl., Scottsdale.
Time: Reception at 6:30 p.m.; program starts at 7:00 p.m.
Contact: 480.596.8350


Tuesday, May 20 - Election Day in Tempe!


Wednesday, May 21 - Meeting of the Community Involvement Group (CIG) of the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site (NIBW)

Place: Scottsdale Civic Center Library, 3839 N.Drinkwater Blvd.
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Contact: Vicki Rosen, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, 415.972.3244, rosen.vicki[at]epa.gov


Later!

John Shadegg, Master Of The Empty Gesture

Apparently, John Shadegg realizes that after not supporting Harry Mitchell's modern G.I. Bill (288 cosponsors and counting, but no Shadegg), he has some bridges to repair with the veterans in his district.

Too bad for him (and for his veteran constituents) that his attempt to do that was all sizzle and no steak.


Thanks to PolitickerAZ for the heads-up on this one...

On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 5818, the Neighborhood Stabilization Act. The bill would establish a program to purchase foreclosed properties and sell them to low- and middle-class buyers at a reduced cost. Since the bill would help Americans, President Bush has threatened to veto it.

Before final passage of the bill, the Republicans, in the person of our own John Shadegg (R-AZ3), made one of their standard motions to recommit (aka - 'kill') the bill.

From the Politicker AZ piece -

Rep. John Shadegg (R-3), however, offered a motion to recommit that would have barred drug dealers, sex offenders and those who've committed mortgage fraud. Instead, said Shadegg, priority should be given to disabled veterans.

"...the least we can do is give those who have served our nation the highest priority in receiving housing assistance," said Shadegg on the floor of the House.

Sounds good, right? Where's the 'empty gesture' here?

From CQ.com (note: Politicker AZ used the same quote; I just went to their source) -

But House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said the motion to recommit could stall the bill. He noted that an amendment from Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., adopted Wednesday by voice vote, added priority treatment for veterans and members of the armed forces.

My curiousity was piqued - *surely* a long-time Congressman such as Shadegg wouldn't have missed something like that, particularly when the amendment was offered by a fellow Republican, such as Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI11). Surely Rep. Frank was putting a partisan spin on the facts, right??

From the House webpage chronicling its floor activities on Wednesday, May 7 -

10:39 P.M. -

On agreeing to the McCotter amendment Agreed to by voice vote.

10:27 P.M. -

DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 1174, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with ten minutes of debate on the McCotter amendment.

Amendment offered by Mr. McCotter.

An amendment numbered 6 printed in House Report 110-621 to direct States using federal loans and grants for housing rehabilitation to give priority to veterans, members of the Armed Forces on active duty, members of the National Guard or Armed Forces reserves, school teachers, and emergency responders when reselling the rehabilitated property.

Note: The entire McCotter amendment, courtesy the House Rules Committee, here.

In any event, Shadegg's motion to recommit failed by a 210 - 216 vote (from AZ - Renzi, Flake, Shadegg, Franks, Giffords, and Mitchell, aye; Pastor and Grijalva, nay) while the underlying bill passed 239 - 188 (Giffords, Mitchell, Pastor, Grijalva - aye; Flake, Franks, Shadegg, Renzi - nay).

Shadegg seems to be conceding the whole supporting veterans issue to his opponent for the CD3 seat, Bob Lord -

- Lord's campaign website has a page dedicated to supporting actual troops and veterans and guiding his supporters to organizations that directly and specifically assist active-duty troops, veterans, and their families.

- Shadegg's campaign website has a page supporting General Petraeus.


Anybody have questions about which of the two actually cares more about the people actually serving our country?

Later!

Some interesting facts that I learned during Scottsdale City Government 101

I've spent the last 8 Wednesday evenings in the company of more than 20 (mostly) fellow Scottsdale residents who were interested in learning more about the functions of their city's goverment. We were taking a course offered by the city, Scottsdale City Government 101 (webpage here).

Meeting at various locations throughout the city (Granite Reef Senior Center, One Civic Center, Witzeman Building, Arabian Library, the City's Human Resources meeting room), the group received presentations on city functions from various department heads, charter officers, Council members and the Mayor.

I won't try to cover every bit of the course - that would take too much time - but I can share some of the more interesting facts that I learned during the course.

- The City of Scottsdale has approximately 2800 employees.

- The City's Official Food is chili (oh, wait - that's not really that interesting. Never mind. :) )

- Generally speaking, Scottsdale's unemployment rate is 1/2 - 2/3 that of Arizona's as a whole.

- The City's Intelligent Transportation System/Traffic Management Center is 'da bomb' (at the end of this post, I'm going to urge any interested residents to take this course because of the wealth of information offered, but the entire 8 weeks was made worthwhile because of the one hour in that room).

In Scottsdale, there are somewhere around 50 traffic intersection cameras (not to be confused with red-light and photo radar cameras, which are separate and unrelated to the traffic control system), as well as buried road sensors at every intersection with traffic signals (285 of them). The engineers and operators working in that room can monitor (wall-sized multichannel video monitors) and adjust the signals' timings and cycles in response to out-of-the-ordinary traffic conditions (accidents, events, flash flooding or other weather issues, etc.)

At the risk of playing into every comedic stereotype about men and remote controls, I'm channelling Tim Allen of "Home Improvement" fame - "Arr arr arr arr" (best approximation of a simian grunt there. Just work with me on this one, OK? :)) )

- Approximately 50,000 people work in the Scottsdale Airpark.

- The City has approximately 1955 miles of water lines, and over 1300 miles of sewer lines. (For most people, that's even less interesting than the chili factoid, but given the recent history of drinking water issues in parts of Scottsdale, that one may be important to some readers.)

- The biggest chunk of the City's capital improvement funds go to water and wastewater projects, not City office buildings or even roads.

- Scottsdale's crime rate has dropped almost as steadily as its population has risen.

- According to the City's Human Services Division, 7.1% of Scottsdale residents live in poverty.

- The City's libraries have over 1.4 million visitors per year.

- Scottsdale has 962 acres of public parks, including 3 'off-leash' areas for dogs.

- Nearly 150,000 people attended spring training games in Scottsdale this year (the spring home of the SF Giants).

- More than 60,000 Scottsdale voters are on the Permanent Early Voting list; according to the Maricopa County Recorder's latest registration numbers, there are just over 123,000 registered voters in Scottsdale. That means that 50% of Scottsdale's voters have already chosen to vote early, and more will do so as the elections near. The most recent elections in Tempe saw 79% of ballots cast as early ballots; Scottsdale may approach that figure.

- The presentation about fire service coverage actually had some information that is relevant to political geeks like me - the southernmost part of the city (from the Tempe line north to Indian Bend Road), encompassing 7% of the City's land area, is home to 43% of the City's population. I'm not sure how close that distribution of population matches up to the distribution of registered voters, but it's still eye-opening.

- Starting next month, Councilman Bob Littlefield will begin an eight-month term as Mayor Pro-tem, better known as Vice Mayor. Councilman Wayne Ecton in the current Vice Mayor.

- As of the close of business on Wednesday, no candidate for City office has turned in petitions. Normally, there's at least one show-off who tries to get their signatures in at 8:00 a.m on the first day that they can be turned in. In Scottsdale's case, that was Monday, May 5th.

- When the ballots for the elections in September and November come out, the contests that have the most direct impact on people's lives, the races for municipal offices, will all be at the bottom of the ballot, as will an municipality-based referendum questions.

The combination of increased turnout due to the inclusion of Scottsdale's races with the federal/state/county races and referenda with the inevitable ballot exhaustion (depending on the number of ballot questions, the ballots this fall could be 3 or 4 pages long even before getting to the local races) could lead to some interesting results, depending on which factor turns out to have a greater influence.

- An unheralded but potentially highly significant side effect the increased turnout due to the merging of large municipality elections from a March/May cycle into the September/November cycle could be making it tougher for potential candidates to get on the ballot in future elections.

Current rules in Scottsdale (and many cities) base the number of nominating petition signatures required to make it on the ballot on the number of voters in the most recent mayoral election.

Right now, that means 1,652 valid signatures, based on 5% of the turnout of 33,039 in the mayoral runoff election in May of 2004.

Compare that to the more than 109,000 ballots cast in the November 2004 general election by Scottsdale's voters.

A similar turnout this November could lead to a tripling of signature requirements, to more than 5400, for the 2010 and 2012 municipal elections.

A bill to address this, HB2385, was introduced in the Arizona Legislature this session. It died when the House Rules Committee failed to consider it. (I'm not sure why - both the chair and vice-chair of the committee were sponsors of the bill, as were the entire delegations from LD17 and LD8.)

Whatever the reaspn for the measure's failure this session, look for it to come back next session so that it can be in place before the start of the 2010 campaign season.


While I had some familiarity with the political side of Scottsdale's government, before the course started, I had almost no knowledge of the 'nuts and bolts' side of it.

Now, even more important than the info the presenters imparted to the class, I've got a really cool three-ring binder full of names, phone numbers, and emails when I've got specific questions.

For those who are interested in finding out more about how their city actually works, I heartily recommend signing up for the fall session of the class when it is offered - all lame jokes notwithstanding, it's a great way to get a crash course in what the City does and what it has to offer to its residents.

While all of the presenters and speakers did a great job with their parts of the course curriculum, special thanks go out to LaTricia Harper Woods, Assistant to the City Manager, and John Shultz, Citizen Liaison (for now anyway, he's rotating to a different department soon). For eight weeks, they facilitated the course, kept us focused (most of the presenters were happy to answer every question, but those questions could have kept going well into the night, and there were 2, 3, or more presenters every night) and most importantly, they fed us well.

:)

Without the enthusiasm, experience, and knowledge of LaTricia and John, the course wouldn't have been anywhere near as interesting or useful.

Later!

Harry Mitchell calls out VA secretary on coverup

On Tuesday, the House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing on one of the great unseen scandals of the Iraq War - the epidemic of suicides and suicide attempts by veterans, and Bush Administration attempts to cover up the truth about how widespread the problem is (current estimates are that more than 1000 veterans attempt suicide every month.

During that hearing, Congressman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5) took the Secretary of the Veterans Administration, James Peake, to task over he and his agency's refusal to release to Congress documents related to the incidence and handling of veterans' suicides.

From CNN -

Rep. Harry Mitchell, a Democrat from Arizona was particularly irate at what he sees as stonewalling by the VA. He said he has spent four months requesting specifics on what resources the agency needs to handle the suicide issue.

"That's not just an insult to me, it's an insult to me and our veterans," he said.

He was told to file a Freedom of Information Act request, a method more commonly reserved for the public and media, not congressional committee members, he said.

"I've tried to be reasonable," Mitchell told the committee, "I've tried to work with Secretary Peake's office, but Mr. Chairman, my patience is at an end."

Mitchell told Peake that if he does not receive the documents by Friday, he will push for a committee subpoena.

Mitchell's press release on the hearing here.

A CBS News report on the VA's coverup here.

A GovExec.com report on the hearing here.

OK, it's all over but the shouting...

...and the 'shouting' in this case will be the shouts of support at the convention when Barack Obama strides to the podium to give his speech accepting the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.

Not only did Obama win big in North Carolina (15 percentage points, >230,000 popular votes), he closed the pre-election gap in Indiana, leaving Clinton a victory margin that fell short of expectations and far short of what was needed for her campaign to maintain viability (2 percentage points, <23,000 votes).

He should net a gain of approximately 13 or more pledged delegates after everything is said and done, offsetting the 12 that Clinton gained with her win in the Pennsylvania primary.

There are a few remaining primaries left (Oregon, Kentucky, Montana, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, West Virginia), but the math just isn't there for her. There are just 217 pledged delegates available in those states (DNCC delegate map here).

After tonight, Hillary Clinton needs 334 delegates to secure the nomination, Obama needs 189. (CNN Election Center here). The race will come down to superdelegates, and right now, they are trending toward Obama (right along with the popular vote).

The last best hope for the Clinton campaign is now reseating the Florida and Michigan delegations in a way that helps her; any neutral way of handling that situation hurts her at a time when she needs to make strong gains. The DNCC's Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on May 31 to discuss many delegate-related issues, including Florida and Michigan; however, any chicanery there will fracture the Democratic Party.

That probably won't happen - while the contenders may desire the nomination with every fiber of their beings, they aren't stupid.

Right now, the Obama/Clinton battle for the nomination has energized the Party in a way that it hasn't been for decades, but that could change in a heartbeat if one of the candidates goes overboard with insider games. Any result from that meeting that even hints of unfairness will totally undercut the gains made by the Party in outreach to new and independent voters, turning them off to the Democratic Party for years, perhaps even a generation.

And in four years, the grassroots of the Party will be certain to remember the campaign (and campaigners) whose blind devotion to personal ambition and cynical 'business as usual' politics condemned the country to four more years of a Bush-era government (aka - a McCain presidency).

House Republicans throwing a temper tantrum today

In a protest against the way that the House Democratic leadership's handling a the upcoming Iraq War supplemental spending bill (it's going directly to floor consideration, bypassing an Appropriations Committee markup session), House Republicans are using quorum calls, motions to reconsider votes, and motions to adjourn.

So far (the session is still ongoing; there will be more dilatory tactics by the Reps), there have been 16 procedural votes or moves to prevent the House from doing its job -


Motions to adjourn - 4

Motions to reconsider a vote - 6

Questions of the presence of a quorum, stopping proceedings - 6

In addition, every vote has been a 'recorded' one, taking 10 - 20 minutes each.


[And counting - as I was writing this post, there was another quorum question, plus they are continuing with forcing every vote, even on totally non-controversial measures, to be a recorded one, *and* then forcing reconsideration of said votes.]

Wouldn't it be ironic if the Reps' tantrum resulted in putting off consideration of the war supplemental funding bill until next week or even the week after next? And that when the bill finally arrives on the President's desk, it contains something that the White House hates (like Harry Mitchell's modern G.I. Bill, timetables for withdrawal from Iraq, restrictions on torture, etc. - all of which *will* be in the supplemental) and would want to veto, but won't have time, because the latest supplemental funding runs out on June 15.

The President would be in quite a bind if that situation came to pass.

Nope, wouldn't want that to happen at all.

Really.

Trust me.

;)


Anyway, the House might consider the Iraq War supplemental bill on Thursday, though after today's stellar performance by the Republicans (say what you want about them - you've got to admit they do 'dilatory' really well when the put their minds to it), there may not be enough time for the bill to reach the House floor this week.

Sometimes, *rivalry* can be taken too far

Totally non-political post ahead...

It seems as if we hear something like this once a year or so, though most of the time, the locale of the paroxysm of gross stupidity is generally in some town where high school or college football is revered above life itself, if only because such locales have nothing better going on there anyway.

I've been to Nashua - there's no way anybody should ever be bored enough to get involved in this.

From AP -

NASHUA, N.H. - After a Red Sox-Yankees argument spilled outside a bar, a Yankee fan aimed her car at a group of people to scare them and didn't brake, hitting and killing a man, authorities and witnesses said.

{snip}

"She accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people," prosecutor Susan Morrell said. "She indicated to police that she wanted to scare this group of people. She thought they would get out of the way."

What words can adequately describe my disgust and horror at this alcohol-fueled insanity?


Like many others in our society, I buy into sports rivalries (Suns-Spurs, ASU-UA, Patriots-Colts, etc., and yes, Red Sox-Yankees), rooting for one or another team for the local pride value, the thrills (a Sox-Yanks game is always riveting, even when one or both teams is having a bad season), the entertainment value...hell, for the sheer *fun* of it all.

And "fun" is the key word here; in the end, no matter the outcome on the field or court, we're talking about *games*, folks.

Taunt, tease, and razz fans of your team's rival - just remember that they are human beings too, and they have as much pride in their teams as you do, and as much desire to simply enjoy the spectacle of the rivalry.

And then, after the final gun, out, or buzzer, when the games are over and the crowds have thinned out, give the gloating a break and offer that opposing fan a drink (or a cab ride home, whichever is most appropriate) and a smile -

For without them, the misguided (insert your own euphemism or non-euphemism here) fans of your rival, the rivalry wouldn't exist, and what fun would that be?

New Candidates - Congressional Races

Update on 5/6 to add another CD6 candidate. Thanks to Richard Grayson for the heads-up in his comment...

CD6 news -

Jeff "Mikey" Flake (R-CD6) has a real opponent in CD6. Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) looked, but found that while he thought that Flake was vulnerable to an attack from the right, he was one of the few who thought that way. He's now running for the state senate seat from LD18.

Against Jeff Flake's brother-in-law, Kevin Gibbons. :))

Richard Grayson has been running a semi-quixotic 'write-in' campaign, chronicling Flake's penchant for placing his devotion to an extreme ideology before the interests of his constituents in this blog.

Now, Rebecca Schneider, a librarian and community activist, has filed organizational paperwork with the FEC for a run at the CD6 seat (campaign website here)

She seems to be running a campaign that is somewhat more serious than Grayson's - she has a campaign treasurer *not* named 'Rebecca Schneider.' (That's not a shot at Grayson; he's made it clear that his campaign is rooted in the fact that no other Democrat had stepped up to oppose Flake.)

Based on her website, she seems to be an intelligent, educated (hey, she's a *supervisory* librarian - that implies a familiarity with books that goes far beyond knowing how to reshelve them :)) ), and a progressive, grassroots sort of Democrat.

I wish good luck to Schneider (and Grayson!). She'll need it - Jeff Flake still has well over $900K cash on hand.

Edit to add:

Also running in CD6 is Chris Gramazio of Queen Creek. Based on his website's "about" blurb, he's an intelligent and thoughtful blue-collar Democrat.

Good luck to Gramazio; I hope that after the primary, the runner-up can lend their support to the winner. Whoever faces Flake in November will need the support of the other candidate's base to have any chance of unseating the incumbent.

End edit...


CD5 news -

In a long-rumored development, PolitickerAZ is reporting that Susan Bitter Smith will enter the race for the Republican nomination to oppose Congressman Harry Mitchell in CD5. According to news reports, her official announcement will take place on Friday, May 9, giving her just a few short weeks to gather signatures on nominating petitions and to gather financial support.

Given that she's a long-time industry lobbyist (cable and telecom), the money part shouldn't be much of a problem.

Note: I'm going to have to get some Windex for the ol' crystal ball - I've predicted that she wasn't going to enter due to the late date.

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing - Numbers Edition

...First number up today - 6

6, as in 6 years, which is how long one air marshal has been having trouble catching his flight assignments, according to this Washington Times article.

The reason?

His name is on the 'no-fly' list.

And he's not the only air marshal facing this problem.

From the article -

False identifications based on a terrorist no-fly list have for years prevented some federal air marshals from boarding flights they are assigned to protect, according to officials with the agency, which is finally taking steps to address the problem.

The air marshals service response?

They issued a memo advising their employees who face this situation to contact a supervisor at the airline denying them boarding.

I have a little sympathy for the affected air marshals, but only a little. Thousands of civilians have faced this issue, with little or no recourse available to them.

Maybe now that the problem is affecting people from the same government bureaucracy that created the faulty 'no-fly' list in the first place, they'll put some real effort into straightening it out.


...Next number up for consideration - 20%.

20%, as in the reduction in Phoenix's per capita daily water usage over the last 15 years.

From the Arizona Republic article -

Water usage in Phoenix has dropped 20 percent in the past 15 years, the result of ongoing educational efforts and increased efficiency, city officials say.

According to information from the city's Water Services Department, average per capita daily usage has plunged from about 250 gallons per person per day to about 200 gallons.

Total water usage has held steady, even as the population has soared past 1.5 million people.

No snarkiness here; it seems that ongoing water conservation efforts have had a visible effect.

I would be interested in finding out the breakdown of the reduction - is it rooted in residential conservation efforts, a reduction in industrial or commercial usage, etc.

However, regardless of the area most responsible for the usage reduction, it's still encouraging news.


...Last number - 20,000.

20,000, as in the number of American jobs lost in April, the fourth consecutive month experiencing a net job loss.

From The Inquirer.net (Philippines) (emphasis mine) -

US economy shed 20,000 jobs in April

WASHINGTON -- US employers cut 20,000 jobs in April in a relatively stable showing for the US labor market as the jobless rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 5.0 percent, the Labor Department said Friday.

And therein lies the spin - a loss of 20,000 jobs is being portrayed as good news, because it wasn't as bad as expected...

Does anybody else think that every single day this year, George Bush has thanked God that he doesn't have to try to run for reelection on his economic record? And that every day, Republican candidates across the nation look to the heavens and curse the fact that they *do* have to run on the economy?

Anyway, no "Sunday Morning Crappie" post this week - it would have gone to John McCain anyway, and I have to admit, it's getting kind of boring picking on our Johnny for his flip-flopping.

On the other hand, while I'm getting bored with McCain's pandering, Desert Beacon is not. Click here to check out her latest Sunday Morning Deck Bass award.

Have a good week!