Hey, we're better than Mississippi!!

From AZCentral.com -

Arizonans who find themselves unemployed for the first time can face a hard reality when they file for unemployment benefits.

The absolute maximum amount a person can earn per week is $240 -- plus $25 from the stimulus legislation. That $265 per week translates into $1060, before taxes.

Only Mississippi, with a base maximum rate of $230/week, is lower.

On the other hand, Mississippi has a balanced budget in place.

Maybe we're not in a better position than they are.

Teabaggers' civility is still nonexistent

From USA Today -

U.S. Rep. David Scott, a fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, today found a swastika painted on the sign outside his metro Atlanta office.

Scott said the Nazi symbol was spray-painted sometime between last night and this morning. The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating it as a hate crime.

Yup. They're just "good ol' boys, never meanin' no harm"...

Senate floor session

1:22 - We're done until 10 tomorrow morning.

1:20 - Cheuvront responds by reminding members that he probably employs more people than anyone else in the chamber. Calls the budget proposal with its massive tax cuts for large corporations "fiscally irresponsible." Time to get a budget done.

1:17 - Leff (R-not sure right now) talks about AZ making the Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

1:16 - Hale (D-Window Rock) remembers Eunice Kennedy Shriver on her passing.

1:15 - Resolution passes, moment of silence for Officer Rosas.

1:13 - Pearce uses Rosas' death as another reason to militarize the border between AZ and Mexico.

1:11 - It's a memorial to a slain Border Patrol Officer, Robert Rosas.

1:08 - Intro of SCR1003, some kind of Russell Pearce anti-immigrant resolution.

No budget vote in the Senate likely today

...Apparently the Reps don't have the votes, so they pulled the COW agenda with the two tax package bills.

A "pledge, prayer, and procrastinate" floor session about to start...

"Quiet week." Not a concept the Maricopa County Supes embrace

On Sundays, I write a post laying out the list of scheduled political meetings of boards and bodies that affect the area of Scottsdale and Tempe.

This week, I wrote that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors was not scheduled to meet.

At the time, that was true.

What a difference a couple of days makes.

Now, they're planning to meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. in executive session.

A specific topic was not listed on the agenda, but my guess is that the meeting will have to do with Joe Arpaio's MCSO possibly violating labor laws by not paying overtime to its detention officers (to the tune of millions of dollars) [the reports are here and here, courtesy AZCentral.com], Arpaio's retaliatory investigation of the release of the overtime practices report, and the detention officers' $8 million lawsuit to recover some of the unpaid overtime.

Of course, the topic of the meeting could also be one of the scads of other lawsuits that the supes are part of.

Later...

What will the future look like if this budget passes? Here's the answer (warning, it's scary).

Copied from Rep. Kyrsten Sinema's Facebook page, with a few links added at the end for those who want to do some further research -

Today, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC)* issued this estimate of what future budget years will look like if the current budget passes.

Scenario 1 - The Sales Tax Referral is PASSED by the voters
Ending balances
• $367 Million in FY 2010
• $-892 Million in FY 2011
• $-2.2 Billion in FY 2012
• $-2.7 Billion in FY 2013

Folks, that's if the sales tax measure is approved by the voters. Which i can't imagine would happen, since no voter wants to pay more in taxes so that corporations and the rich pay less (which is what this budget does).


Scenario 2 - The Sales Tax Referral is REJECTED by the voters
Ending balances
• $624,900 in FY 2010 (yes, that's thousands)
• $-1.9 Billion in FY 2011
• $-3.0 Billion in FY 2012
• $-3.1 Billion in FY 2013

Yes, the little "-" signs mean NEGATIVE. As in, deficit. As in, a big huge hole, just like we've got now. See the concern here people???? This budget doesn't fix ANYTHING! It makes things worse!

So, why would anyone who wants to protect education, health care, social services, or public safety vote for this budget? I CANNOT fathom.

In fact, this budget looks like a great recession expander. For those who just think the recession might end too quickly, this budget is your fix. Watch the recession linger for years and years in Arizona...

Now would be a good time to call your Senator (heck, call all of them) and show them the money. http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S


*(P.S. JLBC are the non-partisan staff economist smartie guys and gals who do all the number crunching for the Legislature).

All posted JLBC budget documents are available here; the July 2009 Monthly Fiscal Highlights report is here.

Coming up Tuesday at the lege - AZ thrown under the bus

...and it turns out that there may be a couple of Democratic hands getting dirty right along with the Republican caucus'...


As expected, the Senate adjourned after the two tax bills passed committee (one bill kills the state equalization property tax and cuts corporate income tax rates; the other bill refers a sales tax increase to the ballot, a sales tax that disproportionately impacts working and middle class families).

The bills are expected to reach the Senate floor tomorrow.

A number of sources, including Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (via her Facebook page) and Tedski at Rum, Romanism, Rebellion, are reporting that Senate President Burns is attempting to peel off a couple of Democratic votes by with all sorts of blandishments.

The names that are circulating are Sens. Richard Miranda and Albert Hale.

I wish I could say that I think that the info is wrong, but I heard similar rumors in the back halls of the Senate building today, with the same names attached to them.

Rep. Sinema, Tedski, and now I, am recommending that every one who reads this and cares about the future of Arizona to contact them, and their own Senators, and to urge them to stand firm against the Reps' profoundly irresponsible budget.

Hale's and Miranda's contact info:

Richard Miranda
rmiranda@azleg.gov
O: 602/926-5911
F: 602/417-3271

Albert Hale
ahale@azleg.gov
O: 602/926-4323
F: 602/417-3160

The contact info for the other Senators is here.

No guarantees here, but I'll try to be at the lege tomorrow, other committments permitting...

Senate Approps

3:29 - HB2015 vote. Aguirre - "this is a sad day for education." No. Gould objects to amendments on short notice. Votes no. Harper cites his previous committments, and predicts trouble getting House passage. Votes yes. Pearce cites teabaggers and big spending, and predicts ballot question will fail. Passes 6 - 3 again. Adjourned.

3:29 - Bill moved and amended.

3:27 - HB2015 up for consideration. TABOR, Voter Protection Act suspension, corporate income tax reduction.

3:25 - Bill amended. Voting on new bill. Hale here. Bill passes, 6 -3, Dems and Gould opposed,

3:23 - HB2007 moved. Amendment moved.

3:22 - Democrat Aguirre here, Rios' stuff has made an appearance, so she is probably on her way.

3:20 - going over the bills, and a Pearce amendment to repeal state equalization tax.

3:18 - Into order. Aboud absent and excused due to family issues.

3:19 - No Democrats present yet.

Waiting for Approps...

Kind of like "Waiting for Godot" but without the critical acclaim...

Update at 3:05 - Still waiting for the meeting to start. When asked whether the proposed splitting of the tax measures would affect his vote, Jack Harper was coy, leading to some speculation by some (including me) that the upcoming meeting could be a little more interesting than most observers previously expected.


...Senate staff and pages are setting up the hearing room (SHR109) right now. The agenda has been posted, here. There are even a couple of folks in the room waiting for something to happen.

The expectation is that the bills will pass Approps because Huppenthal has replaced Gorman and Harper still has his deals in place (5% RIF of state employees, crippling Rio Nuevo in Tucson, etc.)

...All indications are that Senate President Burns is still seeking to pass the budget package with votes from his own caucus only.

Not absolutely sure that will happen, but the building's staffers seem to be in a better mood than they have been for weeks.

...A lobbyist who spends far more time down here than me (and far more time than any sane person should :) ), thinks it will pass, but that "nothing would shock" him at this point...

...Best quote of the day (so far) - Sen. Debbie McCune-Davis, describing the Republican budget during the Democratic caucus meeting - "There's legislative malpractice going on here."

...I expect she's barely scratching the surface with that quote...

More later...

More budget talk

Sitting in the Dem caucus...

It's apparent that the Reps are moving forward with their June 30 plan that included heavy cuts to education and services. Totally ugly, with a crippling structural deficit as a ticking time bomb for future legislatures to deal with...

...Word is Republican Senator Carolyn Allen is still undecided and looking at the bills...

...Word is that Rep Senator Pam Gorman will be voting "yes" on all matters other than referring a temporary sales tax hike to the ballot...

...One of the things that the Republicans are looking at to get around the deadline for referring the increase is to move the election to November 10, royally screwing the cities and towns that had previously planned their elections for November 3...

...It looks like committee work will be done today, with COW and final passage planned for tomorrow...

Those Teabaggers? Just expressing their views civilly, right???

From HuffingtonPost (though it's available elsewhere) -

Town hall disruptions around the country have led to some outbreaks of violence. Unions participating in town halls have received death threats. At an event held by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) last week, the threat of violence led her aides to call the police after one attendee dropped a gun.

Yup. They're just "Just the good ol' boys, Never meanin' no harm..." unless someone disagrees with them.

Budget talk

OK, it seems that nothing significant will be done today regarding the budget.

Apparently, the Secretary of State has told lege leadership that they have a few more days to pass a referendum and get it on the ballot for November.

Think of it as a statewide version of what happened when the Senate shut off the clocks on June 30 to maintain the illusion that they had passed a budget before the start of the new fiscal year.

Anyway, today's session is expected to be mostly a pro forma one - as I write this at 1:02, there are no Senators on the floor, though activity is increasing.

More later...

Well, it wasn't a bright idea to begin with, so this isn't a surprise

Non-political post ahead...

From AP via the East Valley Tribune -

A summer concert next week featuring Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson has been cancelled because of excessive heat in the greater Phoenix area.

Concert promoter Jam Productions said late Friday that the hot weather expected for Tuesday's show at Camelback Ranch in Glendale was a risk "too great for all involved."

Let's see...

Bob Dylan is 68.

John Mellencamp is 57 .

And Willie Nelson is older than Yoda (OK, actually, he's 76. But he looks older than Yoda. :) )

Add in the fact that the average temp in Phoenix in August is 105. (By comparison, Flagstaff's average temp in August is 80.)

So who had the bright idea of an outdoor concert, with older performers and a target audience that is 60+, in *Phoenix* in freakin' *August*?!?!?

Probably someone in the main office of the tour's promoter, Jam Productions.

Jam is based in Chicago.

The interesting part, one that illustrates Jam's ongoing detachment from reality - while the websites of the artists and of Ticketmaster have already been updated to reflect the cancelled show, Jam's own website, you know, the one maintained by the very organization that *announced* the cancellation, still has a link to purchase tickets.

Even as late as last week, I would still hear radio spots hawking tickets to the August 11 show, and whenever I heard one, I would wonder "Who the hell wants to go to an outdoor show in Phoenix in August?"

Apparently, pretty near no one, including the artists.

If they really wanted to do an outdoor show, why not hold it in Flagstaff or even Sedona? Or wait until October or November?

The coming week...

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice...

In terms of *official* activity, this is going to be one of the quietest weeks of the year so far.



...At the federal level, both the U.S. House and Senate are in recess. Expect most of the news in regard to congresscritters to be reports of teabaggers disrupting public appearances of elected officials, or, as in the cases of AZ's Harry Mitchell (closed office) and Gabrielle Giffords (public showing of a movie by another organization), teabaggers showing up where they know that the public officials *won't* be and complaining that the officials are "ducking" them. Note: I won't provide free publicity via direct links; this is a recurring theme in the Republican blogosphere. It won't take much digging to find the posts.



...The heaviest action could be at the Arizona Legislature. The speculation is that the lege, specifically the Senate, will conduct budget business on Monday. This week, they're trying a new tactic - splitting the tax package into two bills.

One bill will have the referral of a temporary increase to the state's sales tax in it; the other will have the huge cuts in taxes targetted to benefit corporations and the wealthy.

The Republican leadership in the Senate hopes that the scheme will persuade those who have voted against the referral to vote for the cuts, and that those who have voted against the cuts will vote for the referral.

On Friday, the Senate referred two bills, HB2007 and HB2015, to the Appropriations Committee. No Approps agenda has been posted as yet, but look for action on those bills and more on Monday.


...The Arizona Corporation Commission is holding a securities meeting on Thursday at 10 a.m. The agenda is a short one, though significant to those folks who are involved.


...That looks to be it for planned public meetings.

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, Boards of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the Central Arizona Project, and the City Councils of Tempe and Scottsdale.

While none of the aforementioned is scheduled to meet this week, emergency executive sessions are always possible, especially with the Scottsdale City Council and the County Board of Supervisors.

President Obama to visit Arizona next week

Let the screaming begin...

From AZCentral.com -

President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha plan to spend the day in Arizona on Sunday, Aug. 16, White House officials said today.
The Obamas will visit the Grand Canyon and Phoenix, said Adam Abrams, western regional press spokesman for the White House. Details of the president's public appearances are not yet available but will be released closer to the trip.

The Republicans in Arizona (and as you may have noticed, there are a few here :) ) will scream.

If not over the audacity of one of his programs to help the average American or some of their patented feigned outrage at some manufactured slight, then over the fact that someone who isn't an old white Republican dares to occupy the Oval Office.

Still, the Reps' cries will be thoroughly drowned out by the rather loud expressions of indignation that will reverberate across the state (and country) from the denizens of Tucson once they realize that President Obama would rather visit a big hole in the ground than the Old Pueblo.

:))


One point in defense of his choice of tourist destinations -

Average August high temperature at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in August - 82F

Average August high temperature in Tucson - 97F


Any other questions? No? Class dismissed.... :)))


Later...