At least nobody got hurt. This time, anyway.

From AZCentral.com -

More than 700 students in Tempe spent an extra day on spring break after a roof collapse and flooding at C.I. Waggoner Elementary forced officials to close the school today while they assessed the damage.

Fortunately, the roof collapsed before school started and no students or staff were injured.

However, given the lege's unceasing drive to undermine public schools (as illustrated by the lege's suspension of the School Facilities Board's Building Renewal Fund in last year's budget and proposed for next year's budget by Russell Pearce and John Kavanagh, and the defeat of a move during last year's session of the lege to help out with Corona del Sol HS' air quality problems), it's just a matter of time.

Sacrificing long-term infrastructure maintenance, be it of schools, dams, bridges, or roads (or any of a hundred other examples), for a short-term political benefit or to appease a nihilist ideology, carries with it foolishly grave risks.

New Mexico Legislature: Proof that not all western legislators are nuts

This actually came out late last week, but it's definitely worth worth a mention -

From Reuters -

New Mexico state lawmakers voted on Friday to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

The bill is HB 285. It passed the New Mexico House 40 -28 and it passed the NM Senate 24 - 18. It awaits the signature of Governor Bill Richardson, long a supporter of capital punishment.

How is it that the elected officials in a state that is very similar to AZ...just a few significant urban areas, lots of rural areas, large Native American population, a heavily Hispanic-influenced culture (both historically and present-day), a dry climate, a drier sense of humor, and more...how is it that a state legislature faced with many of the same issues as AZ's legislature can find the time to help move their state into modern society while ours offers up guns in restaurants?

BTW - in case you couldn't tell from the rest of the post, I oppose capital punishment. Our system of justice is good, but it is far from perfect. The death penalty is the one punishment in our society that cannot be undone if a mistake is made.

Anyway, kudos the the New Mexican state senators and representatives who voted for their HB 285. I hope that Governor Richardson sees fit to take his state out of the taxpayer-funded murder business.

See? Even elected officials that you've never heard of can make a difference.

Of course, this being AZ, that difference can be a negative one.

...Turns out that the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is a haven for anti-freedom and anti-education mischief-makers.

First, there was this New Times piece about attempts by the Board to take over direct control of the content of the student newspapers on the various campuses of the system. Their rationalization? They found that a cartoon published in the newspaper for Scottsdale Community College was offensive.

From the New Times article -

Controversy over an editorial cartoon that some say makes President Obama look like a monkey is blowing up into a fight over control of student newspapers at local community colleges.

At a Tuesday meeting of the Maricopa Community College District Governing Board, "all but one" member of the five-person panel "decided that all student newspapers in the district needed to allow the board to control content in the future," says an e-mail...by the journalism director of Scottsdale Community College.

The article goes on to print the email from Julie Knapp, faculty advisor to the Scottsdale Chronicle, that described a discussion at the Board's interest in the District and College administrations taking a more direct and controlling position regarding the student-published newspapers of the various campuses.

The New Times' follow-up piece has responses from a couple of members of the Board, Randolph Lumm, a substance abuse counselor and Bible study teacher, and Debra Pearson, the apparent ringleader of the anti-free press group of board members. Mrs. Pearson may be better known to some readers the name Debra Brimhall, former Republican legislator. In the lege, she was best known for her proposal to limit public employees and journalists to 12 years in their careers.

A takeover of the newspapers doesn't seem to be on the agenda for the next Board meeting on March 24, but that is subject to change. And there is a vague section on the agenda about an Executive Session starting at 5:30 p.m.

Stay tuned on this one.


Then, in Sunday's East Valley Tribune, there was a feature highlighting the, ummmm..."people skills" of a third member of the Board, Jerry Walker.

From the article -

Jerry Walker felt he was defending Arizona’s voters one day early last month as he heckled a college student through the halls of the U.S. Congress.

The Maricopa County Community College District student receiving his scorn felt threatened.

She broke into tears after Walker, a member of the district’s governing board, incessantly ridiculed her during her attempts to lobby for federal legislation to help illegal immigrant students.

{snip}

Walker is a Baptist minister-in-training who is active in East Valley politics, particularly in Republican circles.

Social issues, particularly his disapproval of homosexuality and illegal immigration, have caused him to clash with college employees and some board colleagues.

The incident in the Hart Senate Office Building was Walker’s first involving students.

The female victim of Walker's harassing behavior has filed a formal complaint about Walker's behavior, but because Walker is an elected official there may not be much that the Board can do about it.

However, the voters *can* do something about it - Walker's spot on the Board is up for election next year.

He represents Supervisor District 2, which includes much of Scottsdale and Mesa. I'd look into running against him, but I live in SD1.

I'm sure someone will be motivated to challenge Walker next year (perhaps someone from SCC's Journalism program??? Hmmm??? Wouldn't that be ironic??).

Regardless of the politics involved, Walkers' behavior is totally unacceptable from *any* public official.

Looking ahead at the coming week...

Note: all info culled from the appropriate body's website, and subject to change without notice...

...In the U.S. House, the highlight looks to be H.R. 1388, the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act (GIVE Act). House Education and Labor Committee report here. The intent of the bill is to encourage volunteer service. AZ Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-CD7) is a cosponsor. John McCain is a cosponsor of S. 277, the Serve America Act, the Senate bill most analogous to H.R. 1388. S. 277 faces a committee hearing this week.


...In the AZ lege, most House committees will not be meeting this week (House committee schedule here). However, on Monday afternoon, House Rules will be meeting with 28 items currently on the agenda. Across the way at the Senate (Senate committee schedule here), the committees that do meet aren't scheduled to do more than listen to presentations. The highlight here (for partisan wiseasses like me, anyway :) ) will be the Senate Judiciary's meeting concerning domestic violence and domestic violence services and laws in AZ (Monday, March 16 at 1:30 p.m. in SHR 1).

State Sen. Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) sits on that committee. The same Russell Pearce with a "colorful" history regarding domestic violence.

At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the Joint Appropriations Committees from both chambers will be meeting in HHR 1 for budget hearings on the state's Judiciary, Department of Corrections, and Department of Health Services.

Note: House and Senate floor calendars haven't been posted yet, and all committee agendas are subject (and likely!) to change.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a number of hearings this week, but the only "formal" meeting will be a securities meeting. The majority of hearings will be utility-related, and most of them concern rate increases requested by Arizona American Water.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will be busy this week.

At Monday's "informal" meeting, they'll be considering a number of budget-balancing moves as well as the creation of a General Litigation Department, institutionalizing the removal of civil duties from the County Attorney.

Oh, and they want to fund the new department by taking away some of the CA's funding for outside legal services.

There's an executive session planned as part of this agenda, but even with the doors closed, expect to hear the screaming loud and clear. :))

At Wednesday's "formal" meeting, they have a 33-page agenda to go through.

Then on Thursday, the supes will be holding a "special" meeting. Not sure what the topic of that meeting will be as yet.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will be all over the place this week, visiting the University Club, the offices of the Arizona Power Authority, attending the WRRC Annual Conference at U of A in Tucson, as well as doing some work at their HQ in north Phoenix.

...The Tempe City Council doesn't have any Council meetings on this week's schedule, though some subcommittees will meet.

...As with Tempe's city council, the Scottsdale City Council doesn't have any formal meetings this week, though a number of the City's boards and commissions will be meeting.

...On Thursday, ValleyMetro's Board of Directors will have a fare hike on its agenda.

Reason 165 million that the financial industry bailout should have had strings attached...

...on second thought, maybe handcuffs would be better...

From AP via Yahoo! News -

Insurance giant paying out $165 million in bonuses

American International Group is giving its executives tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion dollars.

AIG is paying out the executive bonuses to meet a Sunday deadline, but the troubled insurance giant has agreed to administration requests to restrain future payments.

What else needs to be said?

EFCA - A letter to Congressman Mitchell

Congress will soon be considering the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (H.R. 1409 in the House; S.560 in the Senate).

It's been the subject of a massive anti-worker campaign funded by deep-pocketed corporate front groups. Many members of Congress, including CD5's Harry Mitchell, have been harassed by right-wing talk radio and inundated with a campaign of mass-produced postcards and phone calls to attempt to intimidate them into opposing the measure.

Perhaps the most galling aspect of the campaign has been the fact that some companies, particularly banks, that have received public bailouts from the American taxpayer, have used that money to fund anti-worker and anti-union activities. (Huffington Post)

It's time to let them, and Congress, know that the majority of Americans support unions and support EFCA.

On to the letter -

Congressman Mitchell,

Thank you for your past support of EFCA, the Employee Free Choice Act.

Tonight, I am writing to you to urge you to continue to support it, which will soon be before you in the form of H.R.1409. The proposal will provide workers much-needed protections from employer misconduct and intimidation when workers are considering whether to form a union.

Far too often, workers who are trying to form a union, or who even merely think about it, are fired (more than 20%), threatened with job loss (more than 50%), threatened with deportation in the case of immigrants (also more than 50%), forced into closed-door anti-union indoctrination sessions conducted by company management, usually with the assistance of professional union busters (90%!).

Among the lies that the anti-worker agitators and union-busters are putting out is the one that a vote for EFCA is a vote against the "American tradition of the secret ballot."

In fact, the bill places control of the choice of a secret ballot election in the hands of workers, not companies.

That lie is just a small part of the organized campaign against the bill, funded by corporate front groups.

Congressman, I understand that you are being attacked by the GOP and right-wing talk radio hosts over this issue, but they don't care about workers and working families in your district and across the country, only about using this as a wedge issue.

Please continue to stand strong for workers and working families as they strive to make a decent life.

Thank you for all of the work you have done for your constituents in CD5.

Sincerely,

[cpmaz]

Good night!

Breaking: Senate to hear budget "trailer" bill

Will the State's revenue collections continuing to plummet, the lege needs to run a "trailer" bill to fix the budget fix to keep the current year's budget in balance.

On Thursday, SB1184 will be amended via a striker to serve as that trailer (text of the striker not available on the lege's website as of this writing).

At 9:30 a.m., Senate Appropriations will hear (and probably amend) the bill, while Senate Rules will hear (and probably pass) the amended bill immediately upon adjournment of Approps.

AZCentral.com coverage of the continued budget shortfall here.


Later...

Republicans behaving badly

Apparently, being thoroughly out of power has only served to strip the Reps of what little civility they may have ever had, allowing them to give free rein to the rankest pettiness...

...From Roll Call -

According to an HOH [Note - "HOH" is an acronym for "Heard On the Hill", a feature in Roll Call] tipster who witnessed the scene, the Louisiana Republican arrived Thursday evening at his United Airlines gate 20 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart, only to find the gate had already been closed. Undeterred, Vitter opened the door, setting off a security alarm and prompting an airline worker to warn him that entering the gate was forbidden.

Vitter, our spy said, gave the airline worker an earful, employing the timeworn “do-you-know-who-I-am” tirade that apparently grew quite heated.

That led to some back and forth, and the worker announced to the irritable Vitter that he was going to summon security.

Vitter is the married Republican Senator from Louisiana who's famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) as a regular patron of prostitutes in both New Orleans and D.C.

...Then, of course, there was the now-famous rash of Congresscritters, mostly of the Republican genus, who spent their time during President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress "twittering."

From the Washington Post -

Then there was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour." A few minutes later, another message came through: "Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer."

That's right, Congressman - when caught being rude and petty, shovel the blame as far down the org chart as possible.

...Speaking of speeches to joint sessions, don't forget State Sen. Ron Gould (R-Confederate Flag) and his rather loud and petulant stroll out of the House chambers during Governor Jan Brewer's address to a joint session of the AZ lege regarding the state's budget crisis last week.

From the AZCentral.com article linked above -

The details had members of both parties swallowing hard, and one legislator - Sen. Ron Gould, a Lake Havasu City Republican - walked out of the chamber in midspeech at Brewer's mention of raising taxes.

...Of course, in spite of Gould's venting of his contempt for a governor of his own party, most of their vindictiveness and pettiness is reserved for Democrats and the media.

Senate Majority Whip Pam Gorman has been running roughshod over everybody - she's limited press access to Senators, limited public and press access to Republican caucus meetings, and perhaps pettiest of all, playing with the bells that call Senators to the floor of the Senate in order to make it appear as is some Democrats have poor attendance.

Under Senate procedures, two bells are sounded to call Senators to the floor - the first bell to actually call them, and a second one 5 minutes later to signal that Senators should be in their seats for the start of the floor session.

She's taken to ringing (or having it rung, that wasn't made clear) the second bell one minute or so after the first one, leaving a certain physically ailing Democratic Senator stuck in an elevator between floors to be listed on the attendance roster as "seated but absent."

There's no good reason for it, especially since Senate sessions have thus far mostly consisted of the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer, and a Republican ideological indoctrination lecture. They haven't actually conducted much real business yet.

However, given that what little courtesy and professional respect the Senate Republicans ever had has been gone since the dustup last June over the railroading of the anti-same sex marriage question onto the ballot, Gorman's move will probably continue unabated until the ADA violations begin adding up.

...And all of this doesn't begin to touch the clash between professional bloviator Rush Limbaugh and new (and soon-to-be former?? )RNC chair Michael Steele. While it's been a lot of fun to watch the national GOP shred itself, that's an internal matter, so I won't comment here.

I will just grab some popcorn and settle in for the show. :))

Later!

2010 Candidates and Committees - updated

Things have been pretty quiet since my last one of these. Some incumbents have also formed re-election committees, but since the idea of "elected officials running for re-election" isn't exactly breaking news, I won't cover that yet.

Newbies, based on info from the Secretary of State's website -

...In LD8, Dr. Ray Mahoubi, a Republican PC and State Committee member, has filed paperwork for exploring a run for State Rep.

...For State Treasurer (I think), Democrat and renowned author Andrei Cherny has opened an exploratory committee.

...In LD7, Republican PC Larry Coutts has filed for a run for State Rep.

There are, of course, a number of rumored candidates for various offices, but since this post is only about those who have filed paperwork..


There are also a number of committees that have been formed relating to ballot measures.

Among the lowlights there:

Prop 13 Arizona, petition serial number C-06-2010. If passed, would amend the state constitution to cap property tax rates and valuations, and would not allow the voters to override the caps in specific situation by ballot.

Not to imply that this is a partisan measure meant to further cripple the state's ability to function, but the chair of the committee, Lynne Weaver, is a Republican PC in LD7 and a "Volunteer of the Year" for the Maricopa County Republicans.

Even though she claims that her measure is non-partisan.

"Non-partisan"?? Yeah, sure. Whatever you say. Really.


I've got calls out on a couple of the other committees, but no info (call backs) as yet.

Don't expect the pace of candidate filings to pick up until later in the year or early next year (when current officeholders can avoid the restrictions of AZ's resign-to-run laws). In addition, generally speaking there are far more ballot measure committees than there are actual ballot measures. I probably won't cover those until they show some sign of viability.

More later...

Breaking News: Andrew Thomas still under investigation

...OK, so the fact that Andrew Thomas is being investigated doesn't exactly shock any observer of AZ or Maricopa County politics... :)

The AZ Bar Association has dismissed a couple of complaints against Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas (he of "pissing off judges he thinks treat immigrants like human beings," "investigates and jails reporters who write and publish articles he doesn't like," and "funnels taxpayer money to former employers" fame). (AZCentral.com's Political Insider)

Thomas and his echo chamber in the right wing blogosphere have, of course, seized upon this development to declare his canonization and ascension into the pantheon of saints among us. (IC Arizona for the Goldwater Institute)

...OK, not quite. His press release was an exercise in self-worship however.

The headline of IC Arizona's post on the matter was a little misleading.

Final bar investigations dismissed Against County Attorney Thomas: Freedom of Speech wins

There's just a couple of problems with that -

1. Thomas now has received a free pass for investigating and ordering the arrest of two New Times' journalists for daring to publish uncomplimentary articles about him and his saddle partner/political mentor, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. That's hardly a victory for freedom of speech.

2. "Final" is the wrong word to use when describing investigations of Andrew Thomas. To whit:

From the EV Tribune -

The state Bar of Arizona has launched a new ethics investigation against Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas over his prosecution of county supervisor Don Stapley.

The Tribune confirmed the new investigation Monday — the same day the bar dropped the last of two old complaints brought against Thomas and his office.

Pat Giallanza, director of communications for the bar association, confirmed a new complaint has been lodged against Thomas regarding allegations he has a conflict of interest in his handling of the case against Stapley, a Mesa Republican.

More as this story develops...

Bob Burns: Don't let the voters decide, because they might not make the decision I want them to make

Bob Burns, the Republican State Senate President, has announced that he is hesitant to put any proposal for a tax increase to fund public services to the ballot because he is worried that the voters might approve it.

From a Howard Fischer story in the EV Tribune -

The top Senate Republican is shying away from putting two measures on a special ballot this spring, at least in part because he fears voters will not decide the issues the way he wants.

Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, said Monday he has a “gut feeling” that a proposal for a temporary tax hike would turn into a one-sided campaign, with his personal position against the increase on the losing side.

In addition, he is opposed to letting the voters decide whether or not to open up voter-protected mandates (both spending and taxes) to legislative "re-appropriation,"

From the same article -

Burns also is balking at putting any plan to let lawmakers tinker with measures previously approved by voters on the same ballot, for the same reason: It might actually fail, which he does not want.

The right wing blogosphere is all over this one, siding with Burns in their open contempt for voters. (Sonoran Alliance)

My prediction is still that the Reps will hem, haw, scream, breast-beat, pull their hair out (OK, so it's too late for that in Burns' case there - see the pic at the Trib article :) ), and all other kinds of showboating before "reluctantly" giving their approval of referring a sales tax increase to the ballot.

And, citing the state's dire fiscal situation, not so reluctantly referring an override of the Voter Protection Act to the ballot.

Oh, and don't be surprised if they look for a way to tie the enactment of a tax hike, even a regressive one, to the lifting of Prop 105 protections on education funding, healthcare for the poorest Arizonans, and Clean Elections public financing for campaigns.

Other notes, but definitely related:

This weekend I was talking to a friend and regular reader who observed that I haven't been picking on State Senator Jack Harper (R-Surprise) as much as I have in the past. I responded by saying that there are too many targets this year to devote much time to Harper, and that he seems to have toned down his "shoot from the lip" brand of lunacy this year, probably because he is running statewide next year.

What a difference a day makes.

Tedski at R-Cubed has an email that Harper sent out to supporters that contained part of a commentary that Harper wrote for the AZ Capitol Times.

Quoting Harper from Ted's post (I don't subscribe to the Cap Times, and their website is subscriber-only access) -

I do not speak for the entire Republican caucus, and certainly not the minority party, but I hope to summarize this with a broad view of what to expect in the next budget for the under-employed or over-expectant.

If you are relying on any services from the state that are not mandated by the federal government, I advise you that those services may end June 30, 2009.

If you have children that require expensive experimental treatment or therapy that is not provided by the federal government, I advise that the state will not have the money for it after June 30.

If you have been laid off from your job and are not willing to take a job that is available, unemployment benefits, food stamps and AHCCCS for health care are going to fall short of what you could make by being employed.

Arizona will not follow the country into socialism. If you feel you need greater assistance and are not able to move to another state, please turn to your local churches and give them the opportunity to show their generosity and love.

It seems that Harper (and Burns, and the rest of the AZ chapter of the Flat Earth Society) are actually gleeful at the near-bankruptcy of the state and the prospect of ending all but federally-mandated public services for the people of Arizona.

Harper, Burns, et. al. have made it clear that they have no intention of doing their jobs of serving their constituents unless their arms are twisted.

The two main ways of twisting their arms are federal law and the Voter Protection Act.

And they want us to override the Voter Protection Act.

As painful as the 20 months are going to be here in AZ, we're better off leaving the VPA alone and waiting until November 2010 to kick the nihilist ideologues to the curb.

Later...

Both of AZ's U.S. Senators are in the top 10. That's a good thing, right???

Well...it depends what category's "top 10" we are talking about...

From ConsumerWatchdog.org -

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Health insurers and pharmaceutical manufacturers contributed $5.5 million to the top 10 recipients in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives during the last two election cycles - a period in which health care reform dominated political discourse, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Consumer Watchdog.

Health insurers contributed $2.2 million to the top 10 members of the U.S. Senate and House. Drug manufacturers contributed $3.3 million to the top 10 recipients in each legislative body. In all, health insurers and drug manufacturers contributed $24,220,976 to the current members of Congress in the last two election cycles.

The top 1o Senate recipients of Health Insurer Money (note: due to formatting issues, a direct copy and paste wasn't possible here) (emphasis mine) -

John McCain (R-AZ) - $251,834
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) - $200,200
Max Baucus (D-MT) - $183,750
Joe Lieberman (I-CT) - $101,400
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) - $98,600
Susan Collins (R-ME) - $96,500
Jon Kyl (R-AZ) - $90,450
Mark Warner (D-VA) - $89,700
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) - $85,903
Ben Nelson (D-NE) - $83,300

Top 10 Senate recipients of Drug Co. Money -

John McCain - $294,603
Max Baucus - $229,020
Mitch McConnell - $225,200
Joe Lieberman - $196,540
Arlen Specter (R-PA) - $179,650
Robert Mendez (D-NJ) - $147,243
Mike Enzi (R-WY) - $134,500
Jon Kyl - $118,350
John Cornyn (R-TX) - $115,900

So should we be proud that AZ is the only state where both members of our delegation to the U.S. Senate are in the "top 10"??

BTW, and this is certain to tick off commenter Thane and a few other folks - data like this, data that shows the bipartisan impact of industry legalized bribes "campaign contributions" have on public policy only serves to strengthen the argument in favor of taking Arizona's system of publicly financed elections to the next level.

Later...

Upcoming in the AZ Lege

Most of the action this week will be on the House side, though there is a rumor that the Senate may start considering real (aka - "non-budget") bills soon.

Note: all committee agenda info drawn from the lege's website and is subject to change without notice.

On Monday, the House Rules Committee (1 p.m., House Hearing Room 4) has a full agenda with 25 items on it. Highlights include consideration of HB2103, which would give the State Treasurer the authority to bypass the Attorney General's office and hire outside legal counsel (aka "The Dean Martin doesn't like Terry Goddard Act"), HB2467, to bar the state from having anything to do with the Western Climate Initiative, HB2628, the so-called "Parents Bill Of Rights", HCM2004, expressing the Republican caucus' disapproval of the federal Employee Free Choice Act, HCM2006, telling the U.S. Congress not to pass laws affecting public lands in AZ (the "protect mining and ranching on public lands" Act), and strikers on HB2396 (privatizing transportation projects) and HB2278 (relating to tires and abandoned mines).

On Tuesday, the Joint Appropriations committees of the House and the Senate will meet (2 p.m., HHR1) to conduct budget hearings for a number of state agencies; at 3 p.m. (or after the end of the joint meeting), the House Appropriations Committee will meet to conduct budget hearings for even more agencies.

On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee will meet (9 a.m., HHR1) to do, you know, ways and means stuff.

At the same time on Wednesday in HHR3, the House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee will meet ("with the permission of the Speaker") to discuss MAPS stuff. The highlight there seems to be HB2610, a move to limit civil liability awards by adding to the list of affirmative defenses against civil liability (the "those poor, deprived corporations need to be protected from responsibility for their own bad products" Act).

At 2 p.m., House Appropriations will be meeting in HHR1 to discuss a number of bills. Highlights include strikers to HB2369 ( to restrict the state government's authority to accept federal funds for other than some specific purposes) and HB2050 relating to false medical claims (text not available on the lege's website as of this writing).

Over on the Senate side, most of the committee hearings that will take place will be discussing the federal stimulus package.

The highlight there could be Wednesday's meeting of the Senate Education Accountability and Reform Committee where they will receive a presentation from the State Auditor on "Arizona Public School Districts' Dollars Spent in the Classroom FY2008." (Full Report With District Pages available at the link)


So far, the House and Senate floor calendars for the week aren't available on line.

Brewer Lets Voters Know That They're #1...

....too bad for voters that wasn't her index finger pointed skyward...

I almost titled this post "Business as Usual," but I like the above line better. It's funnier...

When Governor Jan Brewer addressed a joint session of the lege on Wednesday, her speech discussed the fiscal crisis facing the state. In it, she assessed three main causes for the deficit -

1. Without naming names, she blamed the former governor Janet Napolitano for the deficit (emphasis mine) - "...we have inherited one of the largest budget deficits per capita of any state in the United States..." and criticized the use of short-term revenue enhancements to balance last year's budget.

2. The Voter Protection Act (aka Proposition 105), passed by the voters in 1998. She said that "permanent, inflexible spending and taxes" that are protected from legislative tampering by the provisions of the act paint "state government into a corner" during difficult times.

3. She blamed the state's tax structure for being too business-unfriendly.

Her solutions?

1. Enact "structural budget reforms" such as doubling the size of the state's "rainy day fund" and restrict its use. As part of the "structural budget reforms, she wants restrict "fund sweeps" from fee-based funds. Those are where users pay fees for government services. During the drive to balance the state's budget, many of the remaining balances in those accounts were "swept" up.

2. No new programs, and the Voter Protection Act should be relaxed to allow the lege to restrict or even end programs, taxes, and expenditures that the voters have approved.

3. She wants to "reform and modernize our state tax structure" to make it more business-friendly.

4. Raise taxes in an unspecified, but temporary, manner.

Ummm....where to start, where to start?

How about with some of the contradictions?

Let's see -

...When placing blame on Napolitano, she conveniently forgets to place any of the blame on the lege (you know, the group responsible under the state constitution for the budget) for its constant drive to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy. It wasn't just spending that put the state into a structural deficit; it was permanently reducing revenue streams too. And let's not even get started on the almost-criminal over-reliance on the notoriously unstable revenue stream provided by the sales tax.

...She decries the voter-imposed restrictions and inflexibility in time of fiscal need on the legislature and executive that protect the programs that the voters approve of (like healthcare and education), yet wants to make the lege's ablility to expend money less flexible.

...Even though she was elected by the voters (as Secretary of State only, but that was still an election), her primary focus is on catering to big business. (More on that in a moment...)

...She *did* issue a call for a tax hike, but she left the specifics in the hands of the lege, an organization that has never met a tax that it liked...except for the most regressive tax of all, the sales tax. She was very specific in her call to override the will of the voters, but woefully unspecific in regard to her "plan" to bring in more revenue. Unspecific to the point of showing that she knows that it is all but certain that the lege won't even put the question to the voters.

Most, like Sen. Ron Gould (R-Hates Everything), have already said that they think it is a *very* bad idea. Of course, there don't seem to be any quotes anywhere from prominent AZ Republicans criticizing the idea of overriding the Voter Protection Act.

I predict that there will be special election with a sales tax increase proposal and a proposal to gut the Voter Protection Act on the ballot. The Reps will fight against the tax increase, but not cry too much if it passes (a sales tax is always the most acceptable to them), while fighting tooth and nail to crack the protections of the Voter Protection Act.

Of course, Brewer's repeated rhetorical caresses of that Republican touchstone, big business, was calculated, and for more than to garner support among the Rep caucus in the lege.

Big Business has been screaming for weeks about the fund sweeps, because some of those sweeps have interfered with business as usual. Some of those businesses are as "conflicted" as Brewer.

For instance, when the House Ways and Means Committee heard (and approved) a bill to repeal the state's equalization property tax on February 23, the owners of APS, Pinnacle West, had a representative there to argue in favor of the repeal.

Out of concern for their customers, of course - they didn't want to have to raise rates to pay for the tax. (audio available from the lege here)

Of course (again! :) ), that concern didn't stop Pinnacle West from criticizing the sweeping of a fund at the Arizona Corporation because the fund supported staff there that processed requests for rate hikes. The fund sweep made it more difficult (though far from impossible!) for APS to raise rates.

Note: This isn't meant to single out Pinnacle West; they're hardly only corp to dance this little two-step.

I'm sure that between the anti-voter and voter-mandated programs rhetoric on one side and the anti-tax, pro-business rhetoric on the other, Brewer and the legislative Republicans have made it clear to corporations that in Arizona the lights are on and the AZ government is open for business as usual.

Of course, that light is red, and the "business" involves screwing the average Arizonan, but hey -

Here, that *is* "business as usual."

Best sign of the day...

...and there were some good ones at the rally (what did you expect when you tick off a bunch of smart people? They sharpen their needles and start jabbing those that ticked them off :) )...

Just in case you forgot - 100% of Democrats in the lege voted to protect education; over 96% of Republicans in the lege voted to gut education.

During the day, I spoke to a number of people at the Capitol, some there for the rally and some not (including some tourists from Alberta..brrrr. :) ).

Most said that education shouldn't be a partisan issue, and I and most Democrats agree. There are many Republicans who agree with that sentiment, too.

Unfortunately for us, those Republicans aren't in the Arizona Legislature, with a couple of notable exceptions - thank you Senators Carolyn Allen and Jay Tibshraeny.

I may not agree with them on much else, but they were right when they voted against the budget "fix" that decimated education and human services in Arizona.

Education *shouldn't* be a partisan issue, but it is in Arizona.

I hope that the teachers, parents, and education supporters who were at today's rally remember that fact, and the "best sign of the day" in September and November of 2010 and vote in their children's and the state's long-term interests.