Best news about Election 2023? Sal DiCiccio is term limited

Note: I live in Phoenix Council District 8.  DiCiccio represents District 6.

This came up while I was considering my vote -

From The Ahwatukee Foothills News, dated January 11, 2023 (emphasis added by me)-

Election 2022 isn’t over as voters decide District 6 seat

Ahwatukee voters haven’t seen the end of the 2022 election cycle and have one more vote to cast.

That will be to decide whether Kevin Robinson or Sam Stone will replace Sal DiCiccio as their representative on Phoenix City Council. Term limits precluded DiCiccio from running again.

I've never said anything positive about the character of any member of the political class in New York/New Jersey, but even there, he'd be considered a piece of work.

My guess is that he's not done with us yet - he may be looking at the R primary for 2024 US Senate or for a run at Greg Stanton's seat in Congress.

Legislative schedule - week starting 2/19/2023

This is shaping up to be a (relatively) quiet week at the state legislature, though I expect the Rs in the lege to commemorate hordes of anti-choicers descending on the Capitol by passing some sort of anti-choice bill.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority.  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4 at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, February 20 

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House Appropriations meets at 9:30 a.m. in HHR1.  And on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the same place.  Both agendas have the same bills on them.  Guessing that one of those meetings won't happen, though there are 45 bills on the agenda, so the second meeting may be a necessary one.  It looks to be light on propaganda, though HB2284 looks to be problematical.  It relates to "homelessness; housing; facilities" and contains clauses that are bad.  HB2633, relating to "Maricopa county transportation excise tax," has problem clauses, too.  The bill's sponsor, Rep. David Livingston, apparently REALLY doesn't like Maricopa County and/or light rail.  There are also unrelated clauses exempting religious organizations that operate a "pocket shelter" (homeless shelter) from a municipality barring that shelter.

Senate Inquisition Committee/Director Nominations meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR109.  I've written about this before.

On Wednesday, February 22 

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On Thursday, February 23 

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Senate Appropriations meets at 8:30 a.m. in SHR109.  22 bills on the agenda, including SCR1011, which contains many of the same problem clauses as HB2284, which is on the agenda for House Appropriations.

"Arizona March for Life" is another way of saying "Cathi Herrod won't need her leash leading to certain legislators" because she'll be there in person.

Former President Jimmy Carter goes into hospice care

:( :(

From CNN -

Jimmy Carter to begin receiving hospice care

Former US President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care, according to a statement from The Carter Center on Saturday.

“After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support of his family and his medical team,” the statement said.

Carter, who turned 98 last year, became the oldest living US president in history after the passing of George H.W. Bush, who died in late 2018 at 94. The nation’s 39th president has kept a low public profile in recent years due to the coronavirus pandemic but has continued to speak out about risks to democracy around the world, a longtime cause of his.

 

Is he the best president ever?  No.

Is he the best ex-president ever?

Yes, and it's not even close.  I don't agree with him on everything, but he's a profoundly decent human being.

You just know that Cheeto is walking air right now - when Carter passes, he'll become the oldest living former president.

And he'll try to monetize that.

You just know that Vlad misses Cheeto right about now

Mostly because Cheeto would have blithely supported any/all of Vlad's depredations.

From AP -

US: Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine

The United States has determined that Russia has committed crimes 

against humanity in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said 

Saturday, insisting that “justice must be served” to the perpetratrors. [sic]

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Harris said that the 

international community has both a moral and a strategic interest 

in pursuing those crimes, pointing to a danger of other authoritarian 

governments taking advantage if international rules are undermined.

“Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against 

a civilian population — gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and 

deportation,” Harris said. She also cited “execution-style killings, 

beatings, and electrocution.”

"Murder, torture, rape, and deportation."

Sounds like a summary of Cheeto.

AZ Senate Inquisition Committee meets again on Monday

Was going to copy the term used by AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona, "MAGA Fascist Star Chamber Committee", but decided that "Inquisition Committee" was shorter and just as accurate.

On the agenda, set for an auto-da-fe imposed by committee chair Jake Hoffman are

Jennifer Toth, nominee for director of ADOT

Elizabeth Thorson, nominee for director of ADOA

and Karen Peters, nominee for director of ADEQ

The meeting/shitshow is scheduled for Monday at 9:30 a.m. in SHR109.

Short Attention Span Musing

 ...Around a week ago, I came across an article that set me to thinking (always a dangerous thing :) ).

From BusinessInsider, dated February 3, 2023 -

The housing shortage is the root of all of America's problems

The US housing shortage isn't just fueling an affordability crisis. It could be contributing to several of the major problems the country is facing. 

Imagine you're a city-dweller living paycheck-to-paycheck. You're trying to save so you can afford a down payment on a home someday, but there's not much left to stash away after paying rent.

Is it significant?  Yes.

Does it need to be addressed?  Yes.

Is it the "root" of ALL of our problems?  No.

Much like the fact that we have more than one problem, the fact is that there is more than one cause behind those problems.

Abject poverty in the U.S. is also a significant cause, but I think that there is one overarching cause -

Inveterate greed.

...In 2024, is she running for Senate from AZ or Vice President of the U.S.?  Or is she just acting as one of Cheeto's surrogates?

From the Des Moines Register -

'I just want to save America': In Iowa, Kari Lake won't slam door shut on being Trump's VP

Arizona Republican Kari Lake said Saturday she isn’t in Iowa running for president or trying to raise her profile to become vice president — but she didn’t completely shut the door on being Donald Trump’s running mate if he asks.

“I really believe his policies are the ones that can help save this country, truly,” she told the Des Moines Register in an interview. “And so I'm going to do whatever I can. If he wants me to help him in any way, shape or form, I will do that. I will campaign for him. I'll do whatever I need to. But I'm not running for VP. I'm not running for president. I am just running to save America, if there's such a thing. I just want to save America.”

Personally, I believe  that while she hopes to be on a ticket with Cheeto, she'll keep her options open by running in the R primary for Kyrsten Sinema's seat.

...I expect/hope that Thursday will be a VERY bad day for Cheeto.

From CBS -

Judge orders release of parts of Georgia grand jury report on Trump's post-election conduct

A Georgia judge on Monday ordered the release of parts of a special grand jury's report on efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but said that most of the report will remain under wraps for now.

Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney largely ruled against media organizations who sought to make the report public, writing that all but three sections should remain undisclosed until Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' investigation is complete. He said the introduction, conclusion and a section in which the grand jury "discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony" should be released.

Legislative schedule - week starting 2/12/2023

All committee agendas have propaganda bills on them.  Apparently, they think that doing one semi-decent thing while in office (addressing the AEL looming over public education...for one year) has to be made up for.

Pushing propaganda (and fear) this week to the point of Arizona overdosing on it is their preferred remedy for their semi-decency.

There are some bad bills under consideration this week that aren't propaganda, but there's a LOT of pure propaganda this week.

They're also running up against the deadline for the originating chamber to hear a bill.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority.  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4 at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, February 13 

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Senate Transportation and Technology meets at 9 a.m. in in SHR2.  20 bills on the agenda, at least two of which are propaganda.  However, the one bill that I don't understand is SB1327, which appropriates money to the AZ Secretary of State's office for a Chief Information Security Officer.  I cannot find such a request in the AZSOS' proposed FY2024 budget proposal.  The bill is from Ken Bennett, a former SOS, but I expect that with this one he's channeling his inner treason enabler.

House Military Affairs & Public Safety meets at 9:30 a.m. in HHR1.  25 bills on the agenda, many propaganda.  HB2756 would bar cities and towns for reducing law enforcement agency budgets below the previous year's level.

House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  16 bills on the agenda, some propaganda.

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  13 bills on the agenda.  Some propaganda bills, some just bad.  HB2750 would raise the expiration date on the best quality eggs to 45 days after inspection (current: 24 days).

Senate Elections meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  17 bills on the agenda, most propaganda.  They should just rename this committee as the Senate Pravda Committee.

Senate Finance meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  15 bills on the agenda; approximately 1/2 are propaganda.

On Tuesday, February 14 

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House Commerce meets twice, starting at 2 p.m., in HHR3.  On the first agenda, there is only one bill, and it's anti-vaxxer propaganda.  The second agenda has 19 bills on the agenda.  Some propaganda, some strikers, lots of demonization of unemployed people.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  In the interest of "truth-in-advertising," this committee should be renamed as the "House Anti-Public Education Committee."  12 bills on the agenda, lots of propaganda, including a striker to HB2620 to specify that homeschool operations receive public monies.

House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  16 bills on the agenda, lots of strikers.  Light on propaganda, heavy on bad bills.

Senate Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  22 bills on the agenda.  Some propaganda, some bad.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  21 bills on the agenda; much propaganda.  Includes an anti-choice striker to  SB1366.

On Wednesday, February 15 

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Senate Commerce meets at 8:30 a.m. in SHR1.  17 bills on the agenda.  Some propaganda, including a striker to SB1131 (text not available as of this writing).  Some demonization of unemployed persons.

House Government meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  13 bills on the agenda, some propaganda.

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  11 bills on the agenda, some propaganda, including HB2759, criminalizing nonprofits that "facilitate" undocumented immigration (the bill's word is in quotes)

House Ways & Means meets at 9 a.m. in HHR1.  Five bills on the agenda.  Light on propaganda, but heavy on grift.  HB2014 would expand corporate tax credits for contributions to school vouchers.

Senate Government meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR2.  20 bills on the agenda, most are propaganda.

House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  15 bills on the agenda; seems to be light on propaganda, but has an "insider baseball" measure on it.

House Municipal Oversight and Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  15 bills on the agenda, all propaganda.  Just rename this committee as "The House We Hate Municipalities and Elections Committee" already.

House Regulatory Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  Nine bills on the agenda.

House Transportation meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  13 bills on the agenda; light on propaganda, but HB2411 constitutes an ode to pettiness.  

Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  20 bills on the agenda, lots of propaganda here, but not exclusively so.  Does include SB1700, an advocating censorship in schools bill.

Senate Military Affairs, Public Safety and Border Security meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2.  16 bills on the agenda.  Short on propaganda, long on problem bills.  Many strikers will be proposed, and while the text of those isn't yet available for those, most look to be problems too.

On Thursday, February 16 

- 

Senate Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  26 bills on the agenda, many propaganda, but the bad bills aren't exclusively propaganda.  SB1413 seeks to criminalize living in homeless encampments.

Senate Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR2.  Nine bills on the agenda.

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Budgetary Funding Formulas meets at 10:30 a.m. in HHR4,  No bills on the agenda.

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Fiscal Accountability meets at 10:30 a.m. in HHR3,  No bills on the agenda.

Senate Government meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2.  25 bills on the agenda.  Most bills are propaganda; all are bad.

Legislative schedule - week starting 2/5/2023

Apparently, they think that by changing things up and being sneaky on a Monday instead of Thursday, no one would notice.

They were wrong.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority.  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4 at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

On Monday, February 6 

-

House and Senate Rules will be meeting.  House Rules will be considering a fake budget and a one year fix for the Aggregate Expenditure Limit fiscal cliff looming over public education in Arizona; Senate Rules will be considering only the same temporary fix.  Only the Senate's version.

House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  Nine bills on the agenda, with some anti-regulatory and anti-vaxxer propaganda here, including a striker to HB2316

House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. HHR3.  Seven bills on the agenda.  Includes HCM2002, where the state legislature blames the federal government for the housing crisis and wants to take federal lands from public ownership and give them over to private entities to address the problem.

House Military Affairs and Public Safety meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  Seven bills on the agenda.  Lots of propaganda here, including HB2332,  mandating that all schools offer firearms safety training and HB2418, mandating that municipalities increase the number of police officers in order to reduce response time and which has a working title of " law enforcement; response times; requirements" but contains  an unrelated clause about voter registration lists in Maricopa and Pima counties.

Senate Elections meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  14 bills on the agenda, most are anti-democracy propaganda.

Senate Finance meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  13 bills on the agenda, most are anti-society propaganda, including SB1243, increasing tax credits for donations to school voucher organizations (almost tripling it)

Senate Transportation and Technology meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2.  11 bills on the agenda; some propaganda bills here, including some anti-Big Tech ones and anti-political entity budgets ones.

On Tuesday, February 7 

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House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  Eight bills on the agenda, including some propaganda.

House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4.  Four bills on the agenda.  All propaganda, including HB2523, mandating that all students recite the pledge of allegiance.

Senate Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109.  15 bills on the agenda.

Senate Health and Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  19 bills on the agenda; most OK, some propaganda.

On Wednesday, February 8 

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House Government meets at 9 a.m. in HHR3.  Eight bills on the agenda, most are propaganda, including some anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant screeds measures.

House Judiciary meets at 9 a.m. in HHR4.  Four or five bills on the agenda (there's a discrepancy between the lege's website and the posted agenda.)

Senate Commerce meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1.  15 bills on the agenda, four of which will be subject to strikers (not available as of this writing).

Senate Government meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR2.  10 bills on the agenda.  Looks to be all propaganda.

House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1.  Six bills on the agenda, at least two of which are bad.

House Municipal Oversight & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. Six bills on the agenda, all propaganda,  In a bit of a switch up, only five are anti-democracy while one is anti-school districts.

House Regulatory Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5.  Six bills on the agenda.

House Transportation & Infrastructure meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3.  Four bills on the agenda, including one ode to pettiness.

Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  16 bills on the agenda.  A few are decent, but most are pure propaganda, like an anti-CRT bill and a "guns in schools" one.

Senate Military Affairs, Public Safety and Border Security meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2,  12 bills on the agenda, including three demonization specials from John Kavanagh, two of which will be subject to strikers (not available as yet).

On Thursday, February 9 

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Senate Judiciary meets at 8 a.m.in SHR1.  19 bills on the agenda.  Lots of propaganda here.

Senate Natural Resources, Energy and Water meets at 9:30 a.m. in SHR2.  10 bills on the agenda.  Some propaganda, most not.  Not necessarily "good" bills, but not "red meat for the base" bills, either.  One worries me though, because I'm not sure of the real effect of it.  SB1391 would add the state's department of environmental quality to the list of state agencies/entities that can bypass the Attorney General's office and hire their own lawyers for legal advice and representation.

There seem to be a lot of conduits for corruption here.

House Appropriation Subcommittee on Fiscal Accountability meets at 10:30 a.m. in HHR3.  No bills on the agenda.

Senate Director Nominations committee meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1.  Up for an inquisition this time by chair/trumpkin/rabid dog Jake Hoffman are Karen Peters (Dept. of Environment Quality), Dr. Teresa Cullen (Department of Health Services), and Angela Brooke Rodgers (department of Economic Securty).

Jerod MacDonald-Evoy of the AZ Mirror has fuller coverage of the new committee here.

Was Sinema's appearance at Davos a job interview or a victory lap?

I'm leaning towards "victory lap."

Pointed at some of this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From CNBC -

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pulls in cash from Wall Street, 

real estate titans as she mulls reelection bid

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema raked in campaign cash from corporate leaders at the end of last year as she prepared for a potential high-stakes 2024 reelection bid in the battleground state of Arizona.

Sinema, a centrist swing vote in the narrowly split Senate, switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent in December. Real estate and private equity leaders, who have long helped to fill Sinema’s campaign coffers, contributed to a healthy cash haul for the senator in the final months of last year.

Her latest FEC report is here.  It shows that she was accepting payoffs contributions from the wealthy long before her appearance at the conference at Davos, well-known as a get-together for the ultra wealthy 

Her behavior at Davos?

From BusinessInsider -

Sinema and Manchin high-five over supporting the filibuster at 

World Economic Forum in Davos

That the United States held a free and fair election in 2022 is evidence that Kyrsten Sinema was right to support a rule that prevents most legislation from passing the Senate without a 60-vote supermajority, or so the newly independent senator from Arizona argued while speaking in Davos on Tuesday.

Sinema, a former Green Party activist turned centrist, left the Democratic Party following last year's vote. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, she attributed the move to her opposition to the two-party system and extremism on the left and right.

It certainly looks like her buyers contributors got their money's worth.

Many words can be used to describe Arizona legislators: "sneaky" isn't usually one of them

Words like "arrogant." "antisocial." and "insane" maybe, but not "sneaky."

That implies a level of subtlety that this bunch, especially the Republicans, don't have.

So I admit to be a little surprised when I did this week's schedule post, looking at committee activity at the legislature.  When doing that, I came across SB1205 from Steve Kaiser (it's scheduled for committee consideration on Thursday by Senate Education).

It has a short title of "foster children; education; best interest" yet there's a section adding an unrelated duty to the list of things the stat's Auditor General is responsible for.

Not a change -

Kaiser's proposed change -

From the rules of the state senate -

Old School vs. New School: The 2024 election will be a test

Is anyone really surprised that the AZGOP went with "old school" on this?

From AP -

Arizona Republicans pick former Trump official to lead party

Arizona Republicans on Saturday selected former state treasurer and 

Donald Trump aide Jeff DeWit to be the party’s next chairman, turning 

to a familiar face with relationships across the fractured party after 

its worst election in decades.

DeWit replaces firebrand Trump ally Kelli Ward, who helped the former 

president in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and was a vocal 

proponent of his false claim that the election results were fraudulent. 

She broke with precedent in last year’s primary, openly promoting a 

slate of election deniers who went on to lose the general election in 

November.

[snip]

Meanwhile, Arizona Democrats elected Yolanda Bejarano, a senior 

national official in the Communications Workers of America union, 

to be their party chair following the first contested election for 

Democratic chair in 12 years. Bejarano was backed by most of the 

state’s elected Democrats, but newly elected Gov. Katie Hobbs 

supported Steve Gallardo, the only Democrat on the Maricopa County 

Board of Supervisors.

I wish Bejarano well, in what can be an utterly rugged and thankless job, and that DeWit does as well as Ward in his chosen task.