The coming week....

...Due to a busy weekend and lots of stuff going on yesterday (some former Senator from Illinois visited Phoenix, and the lege still didn't finish a budget), it's a little later than normal, but here it is...


As usual, all info gathered from the websites (except where noted) of the relevent political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice.


...Both chambers of Congress are still in recess until after Labor Day. Next week, Congressman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5) will hold a "telephone town hall" on health care. The town hall is open to residents of CD5; those interested can sign up here.


...The Arizona Legislature is still in *special* session. The House will hold a brief floor session today, then recess for Rules Committee and Caucus consideration on SB1o25, the General Revenues BRB (aka - the state equalization tax repeal). It will then go into COW and Third Read and it will likely pass the bill and send it on to the Governor for her signature (it's rumored that she is likely to sign it and the rest of the budget).


...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors held an "Informal" meeting yesterday (told ya this post is a little late :) ). Tomorrow, they'll be holding a "Formal" meeting. The agenda for that meeting looks to be pretty mundane, though one item on it caught my eye.

Item #19 calls for the removal of one "Richard Miranda" from the list of the County's pro tem justices of the peace.

Yes, that is the same "Richard Miranda" who is better known as "State Senator Richard Miranda."

At first glance, I wondered if this move might be payback for the failed budget moves involving Miranda (the Reps somehow "persuaded" him to vote for their budget, before he backed out...no, the *ran* out of the Senate building). Governor Jan Brewer is a former member of the MCBOS and still likely has some influence there. In addition, 4 out of the 5 current supes are highly partisan Reps and probably would have a problem with doing a little political hatchet work on a Dem.

However, a little research on this found that this issue has been percolating for a while, as some there believe that, legally speaking, a sitting member of the lege cannot serve as a JP.

There is some confusion on that issue, however.

Article 4, Part 2, Section 5 of the AZ Constitution, regarding "ineligibility of members of legislature to other public offices", states -

No member of the legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed shall be eligible to hold any other office or be otherwise employed by the state of Arizona or, any county or incorporated city or town thereof. This prohibition shall not extend to the office of school trustee, nor to employment as a teacher or instructor in the public school system.

Seem pretty clear, right?

Not so much.

Article 4, Part 2, Section 4 of the same AZ Constitution, regarding disqualification for membership in the legislature, states (emphasis mine) -

No person holding any public office of profit or trust under the authority of the United States, or of this state, shall be a member of the legislature; Provided, that appointments in the state militia and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class, shall not work disqualification for membership within the meaning of this section.

That's a large area of conflict, so I'm not sure how this is going to play out. Miranda may have a case if he wants to join the scores of others who have brought legal actions against the MCBOS.

Or he may not. I'm not a lawyer or even a knowledgeable amateur scholar of the nuances of Arizona's constitution.

For now though, it doesn't look as if there is any untoward going on here (Republican Russell Pearce was once a pro tem JP, but was removed from the list for the same reason), but the timing of this is still interesting.

Very interesting.

Stay tuned...


...The Tempe City Council is meeting on Thursday (agenda here). The agenda is 95 items long. It looked pretty non-controversial, but I freely admit that I didn't even try to read all of them. They've also scheduled a special meeting for Friday. That purpose of that one is for discussion of the Council's direction for the next year.

Not scheduled to meet this week (so far, anyway) - Arizona Corporation Commission (this week's hearing schedule is here, though), the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District, the Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and the Maricopa Integrated Health System, Arizona Board of Regents, Citizens Clean Elections Commission, and the Scottsdale City Council.

The relative peace of summer breaks will next week. That post will be longer, and on time. :)

Later...

Pics of the rally for the President's visit

Some marching, some cheering, some spelling issues... :)

That's our Jack...

What was the most colorful bit of news today?

...President Obama's speech to the VFW Convention in Phoenix?

Nah. That went off without a hitch. AZ5's own Congressman Harry Mitchell even rated a prominent mention in the speech.

...A dozen protesters carrying guns outside his speech, including one with an assault rifle?

Closer, but nope. Under the watchful eyes of the police, Secret Service, and the other citizens assembled outside the Phoenix Convention center, the firearms enthusiasts (see? I don't *have* to use loaded words like "gun nuts". :) ) actually behaved themselves.

...The White House apparently abandoning real health care reform because of opposition from industry lobbyists and their lackeys in Congress (from both parties)?

Nope. It's bad, but not "colorful."

...Texas mandating a Bible curriculum in its public schools, starting this fall?

Well, no. Like "Manny being Manny" (that's a baseball reference for the heathens among you :) ), that's just "Texas being Texas." Let the lawsuits and late-night punch lines begin.

...Tom Delay moving from dancing around ethics laws to dancing around the ballroom floor on Dancing with the Stars.

Actually, that one *is* pretty colorful, but it doesn't top a local politico.

...I'm not even talking about Rep. Bill Konopnicki standing on the floor of the House and accusing the State Senate of deciding to raise taxes.

Of course, he neglected to mention (or even consider) the fact that Article 9, Section 22 of the Arizona Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the lege to increase or create a tax.

Or that no such vote has taken place.

While it is an outright lie on Konopnicki's part, at least it fits in with the GOP theme that the soon-to-expire suspension of the equalization property tax from a few years ago is actually a new tax.

In other words, he may be lying, but he is far from the only member of his caucus to engage in it. As such, his coloring blends in, not stands out.

...Nope, the most colorful bit of news today came from (who else? :) ), State Senator Jack Harper (R-OK, this isn't really much of a Surprise! anymore).

From AZCentral.com's Political Insider -

State Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, likened the behavior of legislative Democrats during budget talks this year to that of Sunnis who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for more than two decades.

The minority Sunnis, led by dictator Saddam Hussein, long controlled Iraq and its majority Shiite population through a mix of intimidation and brute force. Torture and murder at the hands of Hussein and his goon squads were commonplace.

Damn! For the first time in months, I went to the lege figuring all of the best action (and quotes) would be in the House. Hence, I spent most of my time there and missed this.

Let's see - Harper's statement was ignorant, inflammatory, and bigoted, all in one sentence.

That's our Jack.

Update: Approps is now at 4

They couldn't get a quorum at 3 (all of the committee's Dems and a few of the Reps were no shows), but expect to have one at 4.

This will happen, and probably today, but don't start holding your breath waiting for this...

House Appropriations at 3

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet at 3 in HHR1 to consider SB1025, repealing the state equalization tax in order to close the state's budget deficit.

No, that sentence doesn't make much sense to me, either, but sensible or not, that is the reality of this particular edition of the Arizona legislature.

No live blogging today as the Capitol's Wi-Fi is acting *very* hinky today. If you are interested, the hearing will be available on the lege's website via streaming video and should also be on AZ Capitol Television (for you Cox Cable subscribers).

Will update later...

Mr. President: No Real Public Option = No Real Reform

The AP is reporting (via the EV Tribune) here that President Obama and his advisers are considering a retreat from the plan for a public health insurance plan.

In the face of Republican opposition in Congress and industry-orchestrated protests across the country, the President and administration insiders have signalled that they don't consider a public option a "priority."

A public *option* doesn't necessarily mean a public *mandate.*

It does mean the availability of a viable and effective health care option for all Americans, regardless of their financial and employment situations.

It does mean the availability of a viable and effective health care option that is designed to benefit patients first, not corporate bureaucrats intent only on achieving their next bonuses.

It also means that members of Congress (and I'm talking to Democrats here. Most of the Republicans there have already sold their souls to one industry or another, but a few Democrats, hopefully enough, still have theirs) have to remember that they work for *all* Americans, not just the ones who hand out max campaign contributions the way that most of us buy a coffee in the morning.

Real reform begins with real change, not with a real rehash of the status quo.


Let me say this to the President, his Administration, and the Democrats in Congress who are enabling Republican and industry obstructionism:


In practical terms, there's no difference them winning and you surrendering.


Either way, America still loses.


Don't surrender, Mr. President.

Quote of the year (so far): Legislative edition

During Wednesday's session of the Senate, where they railroaded through the same budget package that Jan Brewer vetoed on July 1, but somehow failed to pass a ballot referral of a temporary sales tax increase, Russell Pearce uttered a pearl of bigotry and ignorance so rancid that it stands out.

Even in a year full of rancidness, both of the legislative and teabagger variety.

The lege's video archive page is here.

The offending quote can be found in the "8/12/2009 Senate Third Reading #2 - Special Session" video link.

Pearce starts his speech at the 15:01 mark.

The money quote came at the 16:59 mark, after a remark lauding the teabaggers (emphasis mine) -

"All you have to do is watch what is going on with health care and see what is happening with our gangster government in D.C. You know...the Mafia couldn't run government any better than they are."

Nice racial stereotyping there, Senator Pearce.

Now some may read that quote and think that Pearce wasn't engaging in racial stereotyping, what with the reference to the Mafia (not that was really much of an improvement, but more on that in a moment). Watch the video. The "Mafia" bit was a backpedal.

Admittedly, it was a little smoother than his backpedal in 2006 after he was caught sending emails to his campaign supporters with links to the website of the National Alliance, an infamous white supremacist group. At the time, he said that he was unaware it was a racist group, just that he liked what they wrote.

Not exactly an improvement, which he didn't seem to understand, or perhaps didn't care to understand.

Of course, the "Mafia" backpedal, while smoother, isn't exactly perfect.

After eight years of the Bush Administration, with the Abramoff scandal, Tom Delay, warrantless wiretapping, torture, scandalous firings of U.S. Attorneys, no-bid contracts for Halliburton, and more, perhaps he's not thinking of the Obama administration with that crack.

OK, probably not. :)

The equalization property tax permanent repeal may not be dead

Most media outlets in AZ are reporting that for all practical purposes, the permanent repeal of the state's equalization property tax (said repeal long being a fervent desire of the Republicans in the lege) is dead because the lege won't be able to pass the repeal by the time that the state's county boards of supervisors set property tax rates.

AZCentral.com story here. The Arizona Guardian and Arizona Capitol Times also have stories on this theme, but those are subscription-only sites.

While waiting for the Senate to get off of its collective duff on Tuesday, a few regular observers were talking in the gallery. The expectation, even before the latest collapse of the latest budget deal, was that in fact that the deal *would* collapse but that there was no rush to do the equalization repeal.

The Reps would just pass one at their leisure with a clause forcing the counties to refund any monies collected, not only reducing revenues for education, but making the counties absorb yet more costs, this time for the refund program.

And to those whose first reaction is "But they can't do that!" -

They've been doing stuff that "they can't do" for months now, whether it was taking voter-protected money from First Things First or refusing to send duly passed and engrossed bills to the Governor. Both tactics and more were slapped down by the courts, but that isn't slowing down the Reps. (Turning off the clocks on June 30 in order to maintain the illusion that they fulfilled their constitutional duty to pass a budget before the start of the new fiscal year is

And even if they don't use that particular route to railroad through the permanent tax cut for their benefactors at Pinnacle West and other large corporations, there are other ways for them to accomplish the same thing.

Sorry to be a wet blanket folks...

Other notes:

...The lege is recessed until Monday at 1. Apparently, they are all going to enthusiastically welcome President Obama to Phoenix on Monday morning.

OK, probably not. :)

...On Thursday, the Senate revived the sales tax referral contained in HB2015 with a motion to reconsider. It could be approved/disapproved early next week.

Back to the House

Well, the Senate passed the same budget today that was passed on June 30* and vetoed on July 1, minus the referral to the ballot of a temporary increase in the sales tax.

Because there are some minor differences between the House version and the Senate version of the package, it returns to the House for them to approve the changes.

Since the only (I think) significant changes are the removal of the referral of the sales tax increase and the amendments that were added to obtain Jack Harper's support in the Senate (anti-Rio Nuevo and anti-state employee, etc.), I expect that it will likely pass the House.

Still, it would be a good idea for all Democrats and Independents to contact their state reps (list here).

- If your reps are Dems, urge them to stay strong against the Rep budget and not to give the Reps even an iota of "bipartisan" cover for this fiscally irresponsible time-bomb of a budget.

- If your reps are Reps, they're probably a lost cause, but call or email them anyway. They're going to vote for this, but don't give them the luxury of saying "none of my constituents told me that they were against this."


And after you are done with that, contact the Governor (contact page here) and urge her to exercise her veto again. She did issue a statement critical of today's developments in the Senate, but nowhere in her statement did she promise to veto the package again.

Keep their phones ringing and their email inboxes full...

Final Senate floor session of the day?

3:31 - Announced Republican caucus meeting for "the purposes of organization." Senate adjourned until tomorrow. Everything goes back to the House now, and it is adjourned until Thursday at 1 p.m.

And I am out of here.

3:28 - HB2014, Environment BRB. Passes. Gorman apologizes for her late return from lunch, which caused a delay earlier.

3:26 - HB2013, Health and Welfare BRB. Passes.

3:25 - SB1025's fact sheet is here. Passes w/17 votes.

3:22 - SB1025, Revenues BRB. It was amended in COW for some kind of correction.

Senate back on the floor

2:53 - Going into COW for SB1025. Recess until they get the script written.

2:52 - HB2012 passes.

2:45 - HB2012, Higher Ed BRB. Holding the vote open again. For Gorman, Again.

2:42 - Passes. Finally.

2:40 - HB2011, K-12 Education BRB. Apparently, Burns has embraced his inner Mussolini, because this railroad is running on schedule again. Though Pam Gorman is doing her level best to show her displeasure by withholding her votes until long after the others have voted.

2:35 - HB2010, criminal justice BRB. Passes.

2:32 - HB2009, sale of certain state properties BRB. Passes.

2:30 - HB2008, General Government BRB. Passes with 16 votes.

2:29 - Passes with 16 votes.

2:24 - HB2006, General Appropriations up for vote. I think this is actually just the June 30 budget that was mostly vetoed on July 1.

2:23 - SB1029 fails 15 - 10.

2:22 - Pearce refers to the federal government as "a gangster government."

2:20 - I think that they're waiting for Carolyn Allen.

2:18 - Rios laying into the Republicans for their failures.

2:16 - Burton Cahill wonders how long board will be held open. Burns says that they are waiting for a member who is 10 minutes away.

2:15 - Wonder if the rotator cuffs of Miranda, Gould, and Gorman will be frayed after today.

2:12 - Still holding the vote open at 14 - 8

2:07 - Third read of SB1029. Vote at 14 - 8 and hold, Miranda, Gould, and Gorman not voting yet. If one of them flips, it passes (with Burns' vote)

2:06 - will vote on SB1029, exchange with House bills except for one.

2:05 - Burns calling Senate back into session

Latest budget deal falls apart

By a vote of 14 -11, the Senate failed to refer a temporary sales tax increase to the ballot in December.

That effectively kills the entire package, though it could be resurrected.

Expect closed doors and arm-twisting at the Senate for the rest of the afternoon.

Senate floor session finally in session

1:22 - The late, great, Molly Ivins was once fired from the NY Times for referring to a Georgia chicken festival as a "gang pluck." I don't answer to an editor here, so I won't get in trouble for referring to the Senate as a "Georgia chicken festival."

1:21 - Senate in recess.

1:20 - I think he is trying to substitute SB1029 for HB2015. Ruled out of order.

1:18 - Harper trying something.

1:17 - HB2015 fails 14 - 11.

1:15 - Burns making a last-ditch attempt to get votes. 13 - 11, without his vote yet.

1:12 - 9 Senators haven't voted yet. Some aren't present yet, but even if they were, only four might vote for it, and that includes Miranda.

1:10 - Tibshraeny criticizes Dems for not offering amendments to lock in funds for Education during COW, neglecting to mention that his party always kills Dem amendments.

1:08 - As of the last time the tally was shown on camera, Miranda hasn't voted. Though even with his vote, they probably won't have enough.

1:06 - Rios responds to Leff by calling the bills "disingenuous" because there is no guarantee that tax hike revenues won't be used to backfill further tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy, or other funding cuts to Education.

1:05 - Leff criticizing Democrats as not supportive of Education for not supporting the tax package. Vote still stuck at 11-10.

12:59 - Still holding the vote open at 11 -10. They need 16 to pass it.

12:57 - Gould is full of it, and himself, but he's *so* full of it that he's actually on the right side of this. Even if that position was achieved by accident.

12:54 - I'm not sure, but I don't think that they have the votes for this one.

12:53 - immediate vote, no debate.

12:52 - Motion passes. HB2015 up for consideration.

12:51 - Gould moves that HB2015 "be immediately third read." Not sure what this means. Apparently they aren't either, as there is a whispered conference at the president's desk.

Senate having a COW on tax referral

The Senate is in Committee of the Whole (the "COW" in the title of this post) and is considering HB2015, referral of the sales tax hike to the ballot and imposition of TABOR.

Tedski is reporting that the Reps were successful in peeling off Richard Miranda, so this may pass.

This seems to be more a case of railroading - they're suppressing debate and questions, and there have been a lot of whispered conversations (apparently to keep Senators toeing the line) - but I've used the "railroad" metaphor before and don't want to be too repetitive.

HB2015 passes COW.

Wednesday's Senate floor session - via webcast

11:11 - I've got stuff to do. I'll check in later...

11:01 - It's 11:00. Do you know where your Senate is? 'Cuz it sure ain't at work...

10:42 - Still no activity. Probably not going to happen at 10:45.

10:28 - A call to the Senate information desk. Told that the "they're running a little late" (no kidding :) ), and that the meeting will start closer to 10:45.

10:24 - Still nada. Even for a body that is as notoriously "flexible" on the meaning of "on time" as the Senate, this is bad.

AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona opines here, that despite Tedski's reported rumor, the Reps still don't have the votes to pass their budget.

10:20 - OK, nothing is happening right now, at least not within view of the cameras.

10:06 - Can't afford the time to head downtown today, though if the rumor that Tedski has reported is true and a Democrat has been peeled off to be a 16th vote for the Reps' horribly irresponsible budget, I might try to squeeze in a trip to watch the goings-on in the House over this.

Right now, there is some activity on the Senate floor, but no meeting as yet.