Arizona
updated
10:43 a.m.
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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: When the clock struck midnight on June 30, legislative leaders ordered the clocks in the Arizona Legislature turned off to suspend time so that it would still be June 30. Day 171 of the regular legislative session......
Blog For Arizona - 10:42 a.m.
On Monday, July 6, the Arizona Legislature is scheduled to hold a special session to work up a budget after the governor vetoed most of the one that they sent to her at the very last minute. Actually, it was after the very last minute, but due to a localized time dilation phenomenon (known as shutting off the clocks at the lege)... :) It's already known that at least one Republican, Senate Presi...
Random Musings - Sun 9:55 p.m. - 6 clicks 
Tomorrow’s special session will give proponents of a flat state income tax the opportunity to raise the issue again after it failed to make it onto last Tuesday’s budget. Goldwater Institute’s Byron Schlomach and former Napolitano Chief Deputy George Cunningham debated the issue in today’s Republic. Cunningham argues (correctly) that a flat [...]...
Democratic Diva - Sun 2:01 p.m. - 12 clicks
Rob O’Dell has an essentially benign Cloth piece in today’s Star discussing the local rise of Clothmeister Glen Lyons, head of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, which is emerging as the epicenter of Tucson’s Clothiverse, the downtown and economic development initiatives that intertwine richly funded agencies, lobbyists, attorneys, developers, business leaders, and outright crooks. Lyons is th...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Sun 2:01 p.m. - 8 clicks
It's been a while, and there have been a number of committees formed since the last one of these... - In LD4, former state senator Scott Bundgaard, Republican, has formed a committee to run for the senate seat currently held by term-limited Republican Jack Harper (filer ID 201000138). A Phoenix New Times' article from 1999 shows that if he wins the seat, Bundgaard probably won't exceed the low...
Random Musings - Sun 2:01 p.m. - 9 clicks
As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevant political bodies/agencies, and subject to change without notice... ...Top billing this week goes to the Arizona Legislature, who are scheduled to gather in special session to address the continuing budget. The session is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Monday. More details in this story from AZCentral.com. No budget bills (only v...
Random Musings - Sun 11:10 a.m. - 9 clicks
Well, we still don't know WHY the chicken crossed the road, but we do know which road (highway 17 north of Phoenix) and what the result was (a major traffic backup.) Rooster on road backs up I-17. Drivers found themselves contending with more than holiday traffic Friday when a chicken was found crossing the road. Northbound Interstate 17 remains backed up north of Loop 101 after a rooster t...
Deep Thought - Fri 10:29 p.m. - 11 clicks
by David Safier From the Arizona Guardian: “We made huge adjustments to the ’09 budget, and that shocked the system, so much so that some of our members couldn’t handle the shock,” [Huppenthal] said. “During the course of the past......
Blog For Arizona - Fri 5:26 p.m. - 6 clicks
A GOP Presidential contender for 2012 hadn't melted down yet this week, so I figure since it's Friday, there's still time. And sure enough-- I'm reading that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, apparently upset about a Vanity Fair article out this week that quoted anonymous former McCain staffers who said that she was difficult to work with, has decided to quit . No, not in the sense of 'won't run for...
Deep Thought - Fri 3:21 p.m. - 5 clicks
Downtown Tucson Partnership’s Clothmeister Glen Lyons has been conniving to get his organization a hefty slice of the TIF kitty for months. The $Kaching! occurs when the corruption lands him a sweet contract to "manage" Rio Nuevo. I speculated in Conniving Cloth last April that some acronym was gunning for the TIF trough. It’s just too much money to resist. A few weeks later at Conniving Cl...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Fri 9:57 a.m. - 3 clicks
...and some of her brilliant press releases skewering the AZGOP and its various functionaries... Emily (Bittner) Derose used to be the Communications Director for the Arizona Democratic Party. She has moved onward and upward, taking a similar position with the Democratic Governors Association. One of the things that always impressed me was her ability to wield sarcasm like a scalpel. Most of u...
Random Musings - Thu 7:25 p.m. - 7 clicks
Protest the illegal and unconstitutional Military Coup in Honduras! Demand Peaceful Return to Office of Manuel Zelaya , the elected president of Honduras. If you are unfamiliar with Honduras, or Honduran politics I can tell you, this coup has been brought by the extreme right wring and very wealthy class that want to rule and exploit this country. These people are a very small minority of the...
AZNetroots - Thu 12:07 a.m. - 8 clicks
Efforts to enact a new state budget just a day before the deadline stalled at least temporarily Monday as some Republican lawmakers pushed to send Gov. Jan Brewer a spending plan she doesn't like -- and essentially dare her to veto it and shut down government. "We have a budget," said Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, referring to the package adopted June 4 with only Republican votes. He called it...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Wed 6:22 p.m.
How crazy are republicans? How stupid can they get? Today, we have an answer. In the state of Arizona--where Republicans control all branches of government--the legislature passed a law allowing concealed weapons in bars. Now that might seem run-of-the-mill crazy...but wait, there's more! At the same time, the legislature failed to pass a budget before the start of t...
DailyKos (Arizona) - Wed 6:22 p.m. - 12 clicks
I was starting to feel hinky last night as I left the Capitol. My throat was beginning to hurt and I had a headache. I thought maybe it was just a combination of tiredness and anger over the budget but I woke up this morning with my throat on fire and a temperature. [...]...
Democratic Diva - Wed 5:42 p.m. - 14 clicks
From an email - Arizona Democrats lost one of their great leaders yesterday, as Former Congressman Jim McNulty died at age 83. McNulty will be remembered by Democrats as a tireless public servant who had a bright vision for Southern Arizona. Originally from Boston, the G.I. Bill brought Jim to Arizona to study at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Following graduation, Jim worked for a Bisbe...
Random Musings - Wed 5:42 p.m. - 11 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Arizona Democratic Party has issued a statement responding to the epic failure of leadership from Governor Jan Brewer and the Republican-dominated Legislature in failing to produce a reasonable state budget before July 1 for the first......
Blog For Arizona - Wed 5:41 p.m. - 14 clicks
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Well that didn't take long. The Accidental Governor, Jan Brewer, has issued a strongly worded press release announcing her veto of the GOP legislative budget and calling for a Special Session (beginning Monday): Arizona Legislature Fails to......
Blog For Arizona - Wed 5:41 p.m. - 11 clicks
by David Safier The state legislature telling Tucson how to run its government is like Mark Sanford teaching "abstinence only."...
Blog For Arizona - Wed 4:18 p.m. - 7 clicks
The Governor has vetoed part of the lege's budget package and called a special session of the legislature. From AZCentral.com - Five hours after lawmakers wrapped up their legislative session, Gov. Jan Brewer has called them back to work, beginning Monday. She also issued line-item vetoes on what she called a "fatally flawed" budget. The governor wants lawmakers to work on adjustments to the...
Random Musings - Wed 2:10 p.m. - 18 clicks
The meeting lasted less than two minutes. It was held to propel SB1157 , Arizona Department of Environment Quality continuation, and SB1161 , having to do with public safety personnel, retirement, and reemployment. It was blissfully absent of both surprises and testiness, two things that are evidently in great supply at 1700 West Washington in Phoenix. Maybe we should start a mail-order/inte...
Random Musings - Tue 6:47 p.m. - 9 clicks
Either that or one of her staffers should give her some coaching on the difference between “lobbyists” and “bureaucrats”. “HCR2014 is proactive and will protect patients’ fundamental rights,” Arizona State Rep. Nancy Barto, a Republican, said in a statement. “We are a front-line battle state to stop the momentum of this powerful government takeover [...]...
Democratic Diva - Tue 10:27 a.m. - 24 clicks
There will be a Healthcare MegaForum on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at the Windham Hotel in downtown Phoenix. Cash donations accepted at the door Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 Time: 7 - 10 p.m. Where: The Wyndham Phoenix Hotel 50 E. Adams Street Phoenix, AZ 85004 Don't sit idly by while healthcare reform laws are written for you. Help shape the debate! Keynote Speakers •Donna Smith - California...
AZNetroots - Mon 10:04 p.m. - 7 clicks
The Daily Star (bless their hearts) has an article by Howie Fischer (bless his heart) up about the possible costs of the supposedly “revenue neutral” flat tax piece of the pending budget and the blatant b.s. peddled by its proponents. House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, said using a different starting point to compute Arizona taxes [...]...
Democratic Diva - Mon 12:42 p.m. - 7 clicks
The developer bifurcation between Rialto Theater president Michael Crawford and the DTDC (Don Martin and business ethics superstar (takes after dad) Scott Stiteler) just climbed a notch with a Crawford email to the Cloth Council, i.e. the board of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, about as thread infested a group one will ever find. Fellow Board Members, I would like to add the Rialto Theatre/L...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Jun 29 - 4 clicks
Yesterday I titled my post “Mayberry Milton Friedmans”. Some context is needed because not everyone knows who Friedman was, or the influence this evil little superannuated Ayn Rand dweeb continues to exert over conservative economic thinking (though it’s doubtful the average conservative can tell you who he is) and how millions of people in [...]...
Democratic Diva - Jun 29 - 3 clicks
A flat tax to replace our graduated progressive income tax appears to be part of the possible budget agreement between Republican Governor Jan Brewer and our Republican legislative leadership. If revenue neutral, this would be a stealth tax increase for many Arizonans and may also undermine state finances well into the future, why? Economic conservatives generally believe [...]...
Make Democracy Work - Jun 29 - 6 clicks
Here are some details of the budget that Republican Governor Jan Brewer and Republican leaders in the state legislature have negotiated. See you at the State Capitol at 9am this morning to march in protest. ...
AZNetroots - Jun 29 - 5 clicks
A tentative budget deal has been reached between the governor and Republican legislative leaders and it's not very pretty for our schools or for vital health services. It's not to late to try to persuade rank and file legislators not to sign onto this travesty of a budget. Come join us tomorrow at the Arizona state capitol to march in protest and let your legislators know you won't stand for...
AZNetroots - Jun 26 - 6 clicks
Rob O’Dell has an AZ Star story (6/24/09) that begins with: City Hall and other Tucson facilities will be shut down for five extra business days over the next year so employees can be sent home without pay to help balance the city budget. We also have the story where Clothmeisters decided to screw the Rialto Theater for nine or so months of "back rent" in a clear act of retaliation afte...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Jun 24 - 3 clicks
Published Friday, May 22, 2009 in Southeast Valley Opinions of the Arizona Republic as “Some ASU students becoming agents of change.” “A great motto for all of us — find somebody to be successful for. Raise their hopes. Rise to their needs.” –President Barack Obama’s commencement address at Arizona State University, May 13, 2009. One learning outcome [...]...
Make Democracy Work - Jun 24 - 4 clicks
As you probably know by now, the Arizona Supreme Court today refused to compel the Arizona Legislature to forward the budget that it passed along to the governor who would likely veto it. Republican leaders apparently believe that by refusing to forward the budget to the Governor, they can strengthen their bargaining position by threatening to drop it on her at the last minute, forcing her...
AZNetroots - Jun 23 - 4 clicks
From nuestros amigos at Border Action Network What : Vigils in four Arizona towns to call on Arizona Senator John McCain and other participants of the White House Immigration Reform meeting to push for immigration reform this year. When: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 from 6:00-7:30pm Where : Tucson - Senator McCain's office at 407 W. Congress St. Douglas - Corner of 5th St and Pan American ...
AZNetroots - Jun 23 - 4 clicks
If the Arizona state government shuts down on July 1st as a result of the impasse between the government and the legislature, Todd Schwarz and Dorothy Czer of SEIU Arizona would like you to join them at the State Legislature to let them know how you feel about all this. Remember to tell all of your friends and neighbors that this is solely a Republican problem , the result of a Republican...
AZNetroots - Jun 23 - 5 clicks
Arizona held hostage, Day 22: Howdy, Friends O'Farley... One more week until we must deliver a balanced budget or face government shutdown. Democrats have the one reasonable plan on the table, but I'm not going to ask you to contact the governor's office to urge Governor Brewer to negotiate with us because she is still not listening to you. Despite your outpouring of support, our Democ...
AZNetroots - Jun 22 - 4 clicks
The demise of the printed Tucson Citizen may indeed turn out to be an injection of energy into the local blogosphere. I encourage the reader to consider some recent blog material at the new Citizen . One addition worth following is Meet Me Downtown by someone new to the blogs, Tucson downtown expert Donovan Durband, former director of the Alliance before it was clothified. In another case...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Jun 19 - 3 clicks
When TREO stole SAIAT’s funding and forced the closure of the training institute, I knew it was only a matter of time before Raytheon, the one company in Tucson (SAIAT’s largest customer) with sufficient resources would replace the loss with a training facility of its own. Conversation already existed about such a facility even with a SAIAT in operation. The ribbon cutting ceremony was Tuesday, ...
Sustainability, Equity, Development - Jun 19 - 2 clicks
You'd think that with one-party rule in the legislature and the Governor's office, Arizona Republicans wouldn't have any trouble getting a budget together. After all, the legislature was continually at loggerheads with former Governor Napolitano, a Democrat, and you'd think they'd welcome an opportunity to make their case to voters that they can get things done without having to inconveniently inv...
Deep Thought - Jun 17 - 2 clicks
