Public workshop on the future of Papago Park

On Monday, Discover Papago Park, a joint project of the Salt River-Pima Indian Community and the Cities of Tempe, Phoenix and Scottsdale will hold two sessions of the same workshop on the future of Papago Park (located in Tempe and Phoenix and bordering on Scottsdale).

Those sessions will be held:

10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Desert Botancial Garden
Dorrance Hall
1201 N. Galvin Parkway
Phoenix

and

6 to 8 p.m.
North Tempe Multi-Generational Center
Gymnasium
1555 N. Bridalwreath Street
(McKellips Road and Scottsdale Road)
Tempe


The goal of the project is to fashion "a vision and series of recommendations to guide the future of Papago Park as a premier regional park serving Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale and the larger region." The end product of the process will be the Papago Park Master Plan.

I don't have much more on this (I'll try to attend the evening session), but given that developers have had their eyes on the Park for years, so this process should be watched closely to ensure that the Park stays a public park.

The coming week - everybody but the AZ lege edition

As usual, all info culled from the websites of the respective political bodies and agencies and subject to change without notice.

...The U.S. House has an agenda this week that is dominated numerically by memorials and post office namings and the like, but the debate is likely to be dominated by money issues.

Among the items to be considered -

- H.R. 2661, the Court Security Enhancement Act of 2009. Proposed by Texas Republican Louie Gohmert, it changes the penalty for violations of Title 18, section 119 from 5 years to 10 years.

- H.R. 403, the Homes for Heroes Act of 2009. Seeks to improve veterans' access to HUD programs and homeless assistance programs.

- H.R. 1674, National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act Amendments of 2009. From the CRS summary - "National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act Amendments of 2009 - Amends the National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act to declare that a nonprofit corporation (established to succeed the abolished Office of Self-Help Development and Technical Assistance) shall be deemed to be a community development financial institution, unless the National Consumer Cooperative Bank or any of its affiliates participates in certain depository institution incentives under the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994."

- Yet again, possible consideration of the conference report for H.R. 2346, the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act.

- H.R. 2847, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 and H.R. [Unknown], the Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010.

There are 23 other measures on the current agenda, but these last two should generate more controversy and debate than all of those others combined.


...Moving the focus to central AZ...

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an informal meeting scheduled for Monday that is mostly employee service awards, but there is an executive session scheduled to be part of the agenda for that meeting. They have a formal meeting scheduled for Wednesday. That agenda is long, but it looks to be boring.

OK, maybe not so boring to political/government ops geeks -

Item 35 is a hiring freeze for the coming fiscal year;

Item 36 is a capital purchasing freeze for the same period;

Item 40 is the premium pay rates schedule applicable to county employees for the same period;

Items 42 and 43 involve all sorts of fund transfers;

Item 86 is an appeal of a trial court ruling in the case of Braillard v. Maricopa County (background here)

Items F-3 and F-4 are the FY2009-2010 hiring freeze and capital purchasing freeze for the flood control district;

Items L-4 and L-5 are the same, but for the county library district;

Items S-4 and S-5 are the same, for the stadium district.

Yup, they're getting ready for an ugly fiscal year.


...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission has cancelled the meeting that it had scheduled for June 18.


...The Arizona Board of Regents will be meeting at NAU on Thursday and Friday. Items of interest include approval of a five-year contract for Sean Miller, UA's new men's basketball coach ($1.6 million/year), approval of a contract extension for Clinton Myers, ASU's Softball coach ($104K/year), and approval of the reappointment of and new contract with Dr. John Haeger, the President of NAU (no $alary listed).

Ummm...why aren't they publishing the NAU president's salary? And while the variance between the salaries of the basketball coach and the softball coach are eye-opening (which one has won a championship recently and sees most of his players graduate? Hint: not the higher-paid one.), at least the money for the hoops guy comes out of Athletic Department revenues, not ABOR.


...The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District are not scheduled to meet this week. The Tempe City Council and the Directors of the Central Arizona Project aren't meeting, either.


...The Scottsdale City Council is meeting on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The agenda there includes setting the FY2009/2010 property tax levees (combined rate of 0.74/$100 of valuation, a reduction of .06); setting the FY2009/2010 streetlight property tax levees (the city's 355 street light districts will each have different rates, depending on the circumstances of each district); and Mayor Jim Lane's proposal for the City of Scottsdale to withdraw from Valley Metro Rail, Inc. (aka light rail).

Of interest to political geeks is the .pdf of the legislative update to be presented to the city council by Scottsdale's Intergovernmental Relations Director, Bridget Schwartz-Manock. It includes a municipalities'-eye view of the state budget mess and presents a legal opinion (from an attorney at Perkin, Coie, Brown and Bain) that at least one part of the Republicans' scheme to balance the state's budget with municipal revenue is either illegal, or needs a 2/3 majority to vote for it in each chamber of the lege. It's couched in that CYA-sort of attorney-speak that protects the attorney in the event that a judge disagrees with the opinion, but that's the basic meaning.

AKA - a little light reading to start your week. :))

Note: if COS pulls the full lege update from its website, leave your email in a comment. I'll send you a copy.

...Folks, we're getting closer to the opening of the freak show known as "Fiscal Year 2010 - Arizona Edition." It's scheduled to start on July 1st, but with legislative shenanigans (such as playing "budget chicken" with the Governor) and court cases looming on the horizon, this pre-show could have an extended engagement.

Later...

The coming week, legislative edition

As with last week, the calendar of the AZ legislature is so full that it merits its own post.

Note: This post doesn't even come close to being a comprehensive listing of all of the bad (and not-so-bad) bills that the lege will consider this week. If you have a specific area of interest, I strongly recommend determining which committee covers that area, and perusing that committee's agenda.


There's all sorts of noise over the budget - a deal is imminent, they're not even close, the Governor is making plans to shut down the state, a budget is going to the Governor this week, etc.

We'll know that the budget is done when it is done.

Of course, it won't actually be done at that point - anything produced by this legislature is likely to end up in court anyway, so even after the governor signs a budget, we're going to have to wait until a few judges have their say.

Until then, however, both chambers of the lege have shifted into overdrive, trying to cram five months of legislative work into three weeks.

Over in the Senate this week, so far only the floor schedule (specifically, a Third Read, aka Final Passage, calendar) for Monday is posted so far. Lowlights here include SB1113 (Guns in Bars), SB1175 (requires all government officials to enforce federal immigration laws and makes trespassing by an undocumented immigrant a crime), SB1280 (making harboring an undocumented immigrant a felony) and SB1444 (allowing the lege to seize and reappropriate non-custodial federal monies granted to entities in Arizona). This is *not* a complete list by any means; if you are interested, I recommend reading the entire calendar linked above.

In Senate Committee action...

...On Monday at 1:30 p.m., the Committee on Natural Resources is meeting in SHR109. The agenda includes a striker to SB1118 from Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-"mining companies are our friends") that would ease some construction-related pollution standards; SB1147, barring state agencies from adopting fuel economy or greenhouse gas emission standards; and a striker to SB1256 from Sylvia Allen that looks like it could be ok, though since it has to do with mining, I could be missing some of the nuances. They have placed some House bills on the agenda tentatively, pending processing (passage by the House, and Senate First Read, Second Read, and assignment to committee).

...Also on Monday at 1:30 p.m., the Judiciary Committee is meeting in SHR1. Gems on that agenda include State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's Sen. Jonathan Paton's striker to SB1069 that would outlaw ethnic education courses (wanna-be AG Horne is targeting some Mexican studies courses in Tucson with this. Apparently, he is trying to appeal to the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other nativists in his party.); SCR1025, a proposal by Paton and Sen. Steve Pierce to end Clean Elections' public financing of elections (aka the "return to wholesale corruption act."); and SCR1026, the Republican caucus' proposed anti-Employee Free Choice Act amendment to the AZ constitution.

...On Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. (or upon adjournment of the Joint Committee on Capital Review), the Government Institutions committee will meet in SHR1. That agenda has already been discussed.

...On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., the Commerce Committee will be meeting in SHR1. As would be expected from a committee chaired by everyone's favorite nativist winger Russell Pearce, this agenda is chock full of chunks of rancidness. The committee will be considering HB2103, a bill to exempt the State Treasurer from having to use the Attorney General's office for legal services. AKA the "Republican Dean Martin doesn't like Democrat Terry Goddard" bill; an anti-immigrant striker to SB1024 from Russell Pearce. Also, Pearce striker to SB1038 relating to revenue sharing with Native American tribes; and a slate of proposed amendments to the AZ constitution that have one thing in common - if enacted, they would have the effect of making Arizona a slightly worse place to live. They include SCR1006, a proposal to inflict some TABOR-like limits on AZ government, SCR1009, the lege's attempt to break the protections of the Voter Protection Act; and SCR1031, the anti-affirmative action measure championed by Ward Connerly.

...On Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., the Public Safety Committee will be meeting in SHR3. On the agenda: HB2610, the lege's plan to protect manufacturers of police equipment from product liability issues; and two measures from Cap'n Al Melvin that look almost (I can't believe I'm saying this :) ) responsible legislation. His SB1440 would ban smoking in a vehicle if there are minors in the vehicle and his SB1443 would ban texting or use of a cell phone (without a hands-free device) while driving.

...On Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., the Healthcare Committee will meet in SHR1. Carolyn Allen chairs this committee, so the agenda looks to be free of the little nuggets of rancidness that Pearce brings to his committee.

...On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m, the Veterans Committee will meet in SHR2. The highlight here is a Jack Harper amendment to SB1055 relating to the creation of a Homeland Security Force. No text available online as yet, but if this is anything like his previous proposals in this area, he is trying to create an anti-immigrant vigilante force and have it chartered (and armed!) by the state.

...On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the Finance Committee will meet in SHR3. This agenda includes a striker to SB1321, related to "job training tax suspension" (no text available as yet).

...On Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., the Education Committee will meet in SHR1. The ugly here includes SB1172, Pearce's proposal to compel school districts to monitor the immigration status of their students. There are a number of other bills on this agenda, but some of them are awfully technical and I don't understand the nuances of those bills.

...On Thursday at 8:00 a.m., the Government Committee will meet for the second time during the week, again in SHR1. The agenda includes Pearce's SB1173, another one of his anti-immigrant bills; Ron Gould's SB1348, making it a class one misdemeanor to knowingly give false information to a public official, commission, or board; and Steve Pierce's SB1269, making it more difficult for citizens of an area that is the subject of a proposed rezoning to object to that rezoning.

...On Thursday at 9:00 a.m., the Retirement Committee will be meeting in SHR3. Any committee meeting chaired by Ron Gould (R-Flies a Confederate flag on July 4) is certain to have some color, and this one is no exception. Among other items, they'll be considering Gould's SCM1003, a letter to the U.S. Congress begging them to let AZ out of the U.S. interstate highway system.


Over in the House, things look to be quieter. So far, anyway.

Monday's third reading calendar appears to be pretty mundane; the only item of interest thus far should be HB2369, to allow the lege to appropriate non-custodial federal funds.

Tuesday's COW calendar (and here) is similarly quiet so far. The only seriously controversial measure appears to be HB2099, which would force cities and towns to treat charter schools in the same way as public schools for zoning purposes.


Later...

Sen. Pam Gorman: working to sell off/out Arizona

Perusing next week's committee schedule and agendas at the AZ lege, I came across this gem. Normally, I would wait until the weekly schedule post to cover this, but this one is worthy of a post of its own.

There's a bill, SB1466, on two separate Senate Government Institutions Committee agendas (they must *really* want to push this one through!) with the rather innocuous-sounding title of "council on efficient government."

That couldn't be too bad, right?

At least, that's what I thought at first.

Then I saw the names of the sponsor (Pam Gorman) and cosponsor (Jack Harper).

Those two don't merely drink far-right wingnut Kool-Aid; they mainline it.

Note: for those of you who aren't up on the latest writing techniques, that "mainline it" reference is a metaphor. I do not mean that Gorman and Harper inject actual substances into their bodies.

Turns out the title is the only "innocuous" thing about it.

SB1466 would create a Council on Efficient Government, an entity whose function would be to drive the privatization of government and public services.

This bill starts ugly and goes downhill from there.

...It defines the composition of the council as 1 government agency head appointed by the Governor, and six private business people, with the Governor, President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House appointing two each.

Nothing like stacking the deck there, folks.

...It requires the council to review privatization of a good or service at the request on a government agency head or a private enterprise.

...What it doesn't require is for the council to hold public hearings on privatization proposals, using the word "may" (as opposed to "shall") in regard to public hearings.

...The council will always work from the perspective that government providing a service or good is bad, and that private enterprise providing a service or good is always good.

...The language of the proposed law would define any government agency competition with a private enterprise as a violation of the act. At least in regards to complaints from private businesses about government agency competition, public hearings are required ("shall" instead of "may.")

...Requires state agencies to support a proposed outsourcing with a business case, and that business case cannot be protested or challenged.

Must stifle dissent. Must stifle dissent. MUST STIFLE DISSENT.

...Sets a sunset date for the council of July 1, 2019.

Apparently, Gorman and Harper plan that within 10 years, there won't be any part of Arizona's government left to privatize.

Of course, if we don't elect some responsible people to the lege (i.e. - not the Gormans and Harpers of the state), there won't be any Arizona left to govern.


What's sad here is that this could have been a decent bill - efficient government actually is a laudable goal.

A more balanced council (perhaps three agency heads appointed by the Governor, and four private business folks, one each to be appointed by the Speaker, Senate President, House Minority Leader, and Senate Minority Leader), tasked to look into the best way to provide a good or service, not to reflexively privatize, would be a good start.

However, given the nature of this year's lege, "good" is something we shouldn't expect in anything the lege produces.

Nothing like putting off until next year that which you should do today.

From AZCentral.com's Political Insider -

Senate President Bob Burns said there is a tentative agreement to ask lawmakers to refer a sales-tax hike to the 2010 ballot.

The agreement has emerged from ongoing budget talks between himself, House Speaker Kirk Adams and Gov. Jan Brewer.

Ignoring for the moment the fact that his proposal is only for a temporary increase to the state's sales tax, the most regressive and unstable source of revenue available to the state, this is his idea of a sound fiscal fix for the state's woes?

We're trying to fix a yawning maw in the FY2010 budget, and Burns wants to wait until halfway through FY2011 to shore up the state's revenues?

And before someone accuses me of being in favor of a hike to the sales tax, I'm not. A sales tax hike is irresponsible and short-sighted (two words which, not-so-coincidentally, describe the Republican caucus of the AZ lege).

However, given the Rep caucus' desire to permanently cripple the state with its reflexive corporate tax cuts, a sales tax hike is the only possible revenue enhancement that has a chance of getting through the lege and onto the ballot.

Of course, Burns makes it clear that he doesn't support any tax hike, and he is going to work to make sure that any such proposal that makes it to the ballot is worded in a way to ensure that the state's voters won't support it.

From the Political Insider piece -

Burns also said there is no plan to put "trigger language" in the measure that would direct the money to specific budget items, such as education.

Yeah, there's nothing like making sure that the new revenues won't go to the areas that voters support to make sure that they don't vote for the tax hike.

Later...

A Black Man Dies Defending The Holocaust Museum

pic courtesy CBSNews.com

At today's shooting at the Holocaust Museum by James W. von Brunn (left), security guard Stephen T. Johns (right) gave his life in defense of the museum and its patrons.

There's a certain karmic balance (not the best phrase, but it's the best that I can come up with right now) in a black man giving up his life to defend the Holocaust Museum against an attack from a strident white supremacist/anti-Semite.

The African-American and Jewish communities have had their differences over the years, but today's tragedy should serve as a reminder that they have far more to unite them than to divide them.

Shared enemies being at the top of the list.

My deepest condolences go out to the wife, family, friends, and colleagues of Mr. Johns.

On a personal, even selfish, note, my sister had already made plans to visit the museum this weekend with her son. As such, my deepest thanks go out to Mr. Johns and the other security guards who stopped Mr. von Brunn. Their quick and courageous actions, and sacrifice in Mr. Johns' case, helped to safeguard my family members and all of the museum's visitors.

Breaking: Shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.

From CNN -

Gunfire at the entrance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum wounded at least two people Wednesday, emergency officials said.

A private security guard and another person were wounded, according to officials of the D.C. police and fire department. A police official said one of the wounded was the shooting suspect.

News reports have named the suspected shooter as one James W. Von Brunn, a a long-time (born in 1920) white supremacist with a police record. (Wikipedia entry here. I normally don't link to Wikipedia, but I refuse to link to the white supremacist/neo-Nazi/anti-Semitic websites that he has written for. Note: the Wiki entry looks as if it was written by Von Brunn or one of his supporters.)

More later...

Congratulations to Kyrsten Sinema

From a press release -

Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema has been selected as one of 32 state legislators nationwide to help President Obama reform health care.

In a conference call today, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, told Sinema — the only state lawmaker chosen from Arizona — that real health care reform will come from Democrats and Republicans alike from across the country.

As a former state legislator himself, the President of the United States appreciates legislators’ unique perspectives on this issue, Jarrett said.

Sinema will work with other state legislators in the President’s health care reform group to share best practices and lessons learned from their respective states, which will help shape national health care reform. They will also work to create a dialogue between state leaders and the U.S. Congressional delegation and have weekly conference calls with the White House until the reform is implemented.

“I’m so grateful and honored for this amazing opportunity to truly reform our nation’s health care,” Sinema said. “Our health care system is broken and families and businesses are being crushed by high health care costs. The American people, including right here in Arizona, deserve better.”

Obama’s plan does three things:

Reduces costs to make health care affordable
Protects a patient’s choice of doctors, hospitals and insurance plans
Assures quality affordable health care for all Americans

Health care reform is one of Obama’s top priorities and he is committed to enacting health care reform this year, Jarrett said.

State legislators are able to see firsthand in their states and communities how rapidly escalating health care costs are hurting family, business, and government budgets, which is why President Obama is looking forward to working with the group, Jarrett said.

For more information, please visit www.healthreform.gov.

Seriously, while all I've done here is to publish a press release, this is a great honor for both Rep. Sinema and Arizona. It's nice to see somebody from AZ being recognized for their ability to contribute to the dialogue and planning for America's future, dialogue and planning that is taking place far from Arizona.

BTW - when they ask her what lessons can they learn from AZ's healthcare model/disaster, she can reply simply "Don't elect Republicans."

She could say that, but she won't. She's a lot more tactful than I am. :)

And the terrorists learn that violence works

From AP via Yahoo! News -

Slain Kansas abortion provider's clinic to close

WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita clinic of slain abortion provider George Tiller, one of only a handful of clinics in the country that provides third-term abortions, will be permanently closed, his family said Tuesday. Operations at Women's Health Care Services Inc. had been suspended since Tiller's death last month, and the clinic's future was uncertain.

In a statement released by his attorneys, Tiller's family said it will close permanently, and relatives would honor Tiller with charitable activities instead.

Anyone have a pic of Randall Terry and Trent Franks dancing on Dr. Tiller's grave?

June Update from Congressman Harry Mitchell

From an email sent to his constituents from his campaign -

Dear [cpmaz],

I recently spent a full week traveling the district meeting with a variety of different folks and I had another busy weekend this past weekend. Today, I wanted to take a moment to give you an update on some of the things I have been working on.

FORECLOSURE PREVENTION AND SURVIVAL WORKSHOP

As you or friends you know may be painfully aware, Arizona has consistently ranked in the top three states in the country for foreclosures. Over the last year, home prices in Arizona have fallen over 30%, homeowners keep slipping into foreclosure and every foreclosed home devalues the property of the homes around it.

We have seen homeowners who have been unable to contact their lenders, homeowners that don’t have information they need or homeowners who fall victim to scams. I believe that helping folks stay in their homes during this economic downturn will strengthen our neighborhoods and stabilize housing prices, which benefits us all.

Since my last update, I had the opportunity to hold a Foreclosure Prevention and Survival Workshop in Scottsdale. Over 100 individuals participated and received one-on-one financial counseling and directions to resources, information and guidance that can help them make the best decisions to protect their homes and financial future.

PROTECTING CONSUMERS

I have heard disturbing stories from individuals across our community about how some credit card companies were arbitrarily hiking their credit card fees, interest rates and other unexplained penalties. While credit card companies offer a valuable service, I believe that consumers – especially during these tough economic times – deserve protection from unfair practices and predatory lending.

I am happy to report that late last month, the Congress passed and President Obama signed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. This new law will protect consumers by putting to an end to some of the most offensive practices like retroactive rate hikes. It will stop unscrupulous lenders from shutting down the payment window early so they can declare payments “late” and charge a fee.

In a short speech I delivered on the House floor, I stated that one wouldn’t think we’d have to pass a law to say that payments made on or by their due date should be documented as “on time”, but sadly, that is how bad things have gotten. For more information on the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights and to read The Arizona Republic article, click here. [note: dead link; the AZRep has already pulled the article from its website]

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR VETERANS

As you know, I had the honor of joining with Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia last year to introduce and ultimately pass the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The new GI Bill is now law and takes effect August 1, 2009.

This past weekend, I hosted a couple of workshops with an educational expert from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to make sure that veterans and their families have the information they need to apply for and utilize the benefit.

Saturday marked the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, and while hundreds of National Guardsmen and women were participating in a drill over the weekend, we had the opportunity to provide information to over 200 veterans and members of their families at the Arizona National Guard Headquarters and Mesa Community College.

For more information on the GI Bill and services to our veterans, you can read an article written by Chandler City Councilman Matt Orlando, published in the East Valley Tribune, by clicking here.

NPR’s “HEAR AND NOW” & REPUBLIC EDITORIAL

I was fortunate to have been given the chance to discuss the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights, healthcare reform and the Post-9/11 GI bill on 91.5 KJZZ, Arizona’s NPR station. In the segment, Sen. John McCain went first and my interview follows. You can listen to the interview by clicking here.

I had the opportunity of participating in an Arizona Republic editorial in their Scottsdale edition highlighting the first few months of the new Congress and President Obama’s new administration. The editorial titled “Economic Crisis Needs Bipartisan Solutions” can be read by clicking here.

Later...

Brewer jumps on the PR train...

...but her train ride is less "whistle stop tour of the state" and more "spin around the kiddie park."

From AZCentral.com -

Legislative leaders on Monday rejected a request from Gov. Jan Brewer to send her the budget bills they passed last week, saying they need more time to work out their differences. The governor then decided to conduct her own review of the $8.2 billion, convening a daylong hearing that begins at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at the state Capitol.

She's inviting people to testify about the effects of the GOP budget plan on such areas as education, health and human services, local governments, transportation and public safety.

The meeting will be held in the second floor conference room of the Executive Tower, 1700 W. Washington. It will run until 2:30 p.m.

She's taking a page from the Democrats in the legislature, except that it looks like one of her handlers shredded that page and gave the pieces to a drunk chimpanzee to put back together.

To whit:

...where Brewer's "hearing" will be held in the bowels of the State Capitol's Executive Tower in downtown Phoenix, a short elevator ride away from her plush offices, the Democrats travelled to the far reaches of the state.

...where Brewer's "hearing" is invitation-only, the Democrats' hearings were open to all interested people.

...where Brewer's "hearing" will be held in a small conference room, the Democrats' hearings were held in lecture halls, auditoriums, open parks, community centers, churches, and pretty much anywhere large groups of people could meet.

...where Brewer's "hearing" will be held during the middle of the business day, limiting the number of average folks who can stop by, the Democrats worked all day at the lege or their own jobs and then spent their evening hours listening to Arizonans who will be affected by the state's budget.

In short, Brewer's hearing is solely a PR move, meant to pressure her own caucus in the lege, not to listen to the folks who will be (and have already been) devastated by the state's budget debacle.

The sad part is that Brewer and her handlers could have planned this better - she's been to many parts of the state for various events. A little multi-tasking wouldn't have been difficult. This PR push should have started in February or March, not well into June.

Later...

Imagine if this decision had been handed down two weeks ago...

...wonder if it would have had an effect on the Mecum criminal speeding/reckless driving dismissal by Arrowhead JP John Keegan?

From the Washington Post -

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled for the first time that excessive campaign contributions to a judge create an unconstitutional threat to a fair trial, a decision that could have a nationwide impact on whether judges must recuse themselves in cases involving their political benefactors.

The case in question is Caperton v. Massey. West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin didn't recuse himself from a case involving Massey Coal, a company owned by someone who contributed $3 million to the judge's election campaign.

The judge, and the WV Supremes Court, overturned a $50 million judgement against the contributor's company.

That raised a few eyebrows (Really?? But why?? :) )

Now, the case above doesn't seem to apply directly to the Keegan/Mecum situation, as least it isn't as spectacularly lucrative for Keegan, but there are some similarities -

- Keegan is a partisanly elected public official who's married to Lisa Graham Keegan, a well-connected GOP official/candidate/operative;

- Mecum is Executive Director of the Arizona Republican Party;

- and just in his last campaign, Keegan accepted contributions from Paul Senseman (longtime Republican operative and current spokesman for Governor Jan Brewer) and Stan Barnes (President of Copperstate Consulting, a Republican lobbying firm).

Given the dynamics of the Mecum case, Keegan should have considered kicking the case up to a court overseen by a non-elected judge, if only to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

I'm not saying that Keegan showed favoritism to Mecum in this case, because Keegan is noted for, correctly or not, dismissing all similarly-issued photo citations.

Those dismissals may be incorrect (I'm not a legal scholar, so I can't even make a guess there), but he is consistent.

For all that, it still looks bad (you know, "appears to be improper"). Keegan should have recused himself from the case.

Especially in light of today's U.S. Supreme Court decision.

LD17 Legislators In The News...

With the legislative session heating up, LD17's legislators have been getting more notice in the MSM...

- State Senator Meg Burton Cahill has been getting notices for her solitary stand against the devastating Republican budget last week. It was a solitary stand because the Reps has indicated to the Dems that no vote would be taken that night, so they all went home.

From Tom Spratt, editor of the Tempe Republic -

Sometime after midnight Thursday morning, Sen. Meg Burton Cahill, D-Tempe, found herself alone among Republicans as a vote neared on the 2009-2010 state budget.

Soon, she became engaged in a one-woman battle to restore money for food banks, senior food programs, domestic violence services, the developmentally disabled, poor children and the mentally ill, among others.

She offered 10 budget amendments that she believed captured the essence of what other Democrats would have wanted had they been on the Senate floor. All the changes were defeated. Before sunrise, Burton Cahill cast the Senate's only "no'' vote on the budget.

More AZCentral.com coverage here.


- State Representative Ed Ableser will be participating in a roundtable discussion on The American Clean Energy And Security Act (H.R. 2454) making its way through Congress. Some of the expected benefits of the bill if it is enacted into law would be to stimulate the creation of clean energy jobs and the reduction of pollution. The discussion is scheduled to take place at the Burton Barr Library on Central at noon.

It's not the "best" media coverage ("Ed Ableser, state representative from Tempe (who?)"), but hey, it's still media coverage, right? :)


- State Representative David Schapira had an op-ed piece published by the AZ Republic on May 17 defending the need for a strong higher education system in Arizona.

From the piece -

Our state has a deficit, but we can't balance it on the backs of students, especially when other options are available (See common-sense options at www.StrongerArizona.com). Providing access to quality and affordable higher education must be a priority.

Later...

AZGOP trying to use the backdoor to impose $1 billion more in cuts to education

The Republicans in the lege, not content with the havoc that they have already wreaked upon Arizona, have designed their budget proposals in a way that could cost the state over $2 billion in federal stimulus money, money that they are counting on to bring the budget into balance.

From AZCentral.com -

Arizona lawmakers and other state officials are debating whether a Republican budget plan approved by the Legislature would jeopardize over $2 billion of federal stimulus funding that Arizona is counting on to keep current and future budgets in the black.

At issue is whether state budget provisions violate conditions set by the federal stimulus law for allotments of approximately $1.7 billion of additional Medicaid dollars for care for poor people and of $1 billion of "stabilization" money intended to prop up state spending on education and other services.

The problems stem from the GOP budget's illegal sweep of auxilliary funds from the universities and its failure to meet "maintenance of effort" standards with education funding.

Rep, Kyrsten Sinema put it mildly with this quote -

“I’m not sure how much more education in Arizona can take from Republican lawmakers,” said Assistant Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema. “On top of all their cuts to education, their budget will lose $1 billion in education stimulus money for Arizona schoolchildren.”

She seems to assume that the Republicans aren't fully aware of the impact of their budget.

I say that not only are they aware, they're gleeful over the harm that they are doing to Arizona's future.

David Safier at Blog for Arizona has more here.

Later...

Live Blogging Senate Judiciary

4:16 - SB1243 (defensive display) up next, but I'm out of here. They're going to be here for a while. Later!

4:13 - Striker passes on a voice vote. Amended bill passes on a party-line vote. (4-3)

4:10 - Committee considering a Pearce amendment to the main striker to give AZ sheriff's posse members and AZ POST certified officers blanket rights to carry firearms.

4:06 - Cheuvront questions the light penalty (Class 3 misdemeanor) for bringing a gun into a restaurant that doesn't allow them. Also questioning the placing of the onus for keeping them out on to the restaurant owner.

4:00 - Pearce says the bill is "too watered down." Raved about Randy Graf.

3:58 - Pearce wants strict liability - for anyone who restricts people from possessing a firearm.

3:45 - Burton Cahill grilling the NRA guy on how easy it is to get a CCW permit in AZ and how the other states that have a law similar to this proposal make it difficult to obtain a CCW.

3:42 - Lobbyist from the restaurant association weighs in as "neutral." Cheuvront questions this as he is a member of the organization and has yet to meet another member who is in favor of the bill.

3:34 - Lobbyist from AZ Licensed Beverage Association is testifying against the bill.

3:29 - Lost internet connection for a moment. Now NRA lobbyist is testifying in favor of the bill.

During the technical issues, Gray asked Harper which amendments he supported. Harper looked to Paton to find out. Everybody laughed.

3:25 - Harper giving a history of the bill (aka - "guns in bars"), lamenting the veto of the previous Democratic governor. Thanks the NRA for its support and work on behalf of the bill.

3:21 - A striker to SB1113 from Jack Harper to compel restaurant owners to allow handguns on the premises unless the business owner has previously posted signs prohibiting them.

3:16 - Bill passes 4-3 on a party line vote.

3:10 - Miranda states his belief that the bill destroys even the illusion that there is a rehabilitative element to the corrections system.

3:07 - Burton-Cahill expresses hesitation about the effects of the bill's "natural life" sentence for "three strikes" offenders.

2:57 - Pearce wants to execute more under-21 offenders.

2:54 - Huppenthal wants data on the recidivism rate of elderly murderers who had been convicted of murder in their 20s. Wants lots more executions.

He wants to supervise the education of Arizona's children. God help AZ students; God help us all.

2:49 - Kathleen Mayer of the Pima County Attorney's Office is speaking in opposition. Her office opposes the bill for "pragmatic" reasons because it restricts their ability to negotiate plea agreements and to prosecute cases.

2:46 - The younger brother of a murder victim is testifying in support of the bill. Russell Pearce supports the bill because plea agreements exist in the event of weak cases.

I'm not making this up.

2:37 - Next up - SB1112, changing the sentence of "life imprisonment" to "natural life." Aka - life without parole.

2:36 - Bill passes 6-1.

2:33 - Burton-Cahill thinks that municipal and county elections *should* be non-partisan, but doesn't think that this bill will accomplish that in fact. Also questions the near universal support from developers and industry. Votes no.

2:28 - Cheuvront questions why City of Tucson isn't here. Votes aye. Huppenthal says this has nothing to do with partisan politics and voted aye.

2:25 - Stan Abrams, says he's a Democrat and a Tucson businessman, supporting the bill.

2:23 - Rossi, a Tucson real estate guy, is supporting the bill.

2:21 - Paton calls on yet another bib business supporter of his bill.

2:16 - Chair of Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce also supports the bill. Sen. Burton-Cahill brought up the point that calling elections "non-partisan" in theory won't make them non-partisan in fact. The Chair guy agreed, but he still thinks that the ballot designation should be removed from the ballot.

2:10 - First up - SB1123. Ron Shuman (sp?) of some Southern AZ Leadership Council is supporting the bill for "Tucson's future." A lobbyist from a Tucson manufacturer also supports the bill. Not a shock that supporters of Paton's bill are first up.

2:07 - meeting gavelled into order. In addition to the previously listed members, Chuck Gray is present.

2:04 - Paton announced that while the floor session has adjourned, senators move slowly. Some are here already - committee members Huppenthal, Miranda, Waring, and Cheuvront. Harper is in the crowd.

1:44 (continued) - while Paton, the chair of the committee was announcing that the committee was running late, he also announced the order of the bills on the agenda. First up: SB1123, the scheme to get Republicans elected in Tucson mandate non-partisan municipal elections in Tucson.

1:44 - meeting was scheduled to start at 1:30, but today is the one year anniversary of the passing of Sen. Jake Flake (R-LD5). They're running late. They are introducing his entire family in the gallery of the Senate.

Turns out that there are lots of Flakes in Arizona.

As near as I can tell, they're all Republicans, too.

:))