They’ve gone and done it: Marszałek Senatu Bob Burns has told his three conservative insurrectos that their services would no longer be needed as committee chairs. It could be said that Ron Gould got the worst of it, since his committee was dissolved altogether.
Pamela Gorman and Jay Tibshraney were removed [...]
Ruben Gallego’s campaign is set to announce an honorary chair: United Farm Workers co-Founder Dolores Huerta.
This is not the first time Huerta has gotten involved in Arizona politics: she came to Arizona to campaign for Raúl Grijalva and often comes to our [...]
The all important quarterfinal has been set in the World Cup of Arizona Politics. Voting closes at noon tomorrow.
We’ve got liberal icon Mo Udall against chair of the progressive caucus Raúl Grijalva in the first match. Be very afraid on that one. Another interesting match is Arizona’s first woman [...]
Tonight will be the last meeting of Drinking Liberally at Elle. The group moved there after the owner of the Shanty put up a Ben Buehler-García banner on his wall. The election is over, so the group has decided to meet at the Shanty again.
Not only will [...]
Readers will remember that Ben Beuhler-García ran an ad that mirrored an ad that Bill Richardson ran during his presidential run. It is helpful to remember that neither Beuhler-García nor Richardson won.
Harry Mitchell’s supporters got a bit of mileage out of poking fun at this ad by Eric [...]
Once in a while, I pop over to Jason Rose’s Twitter feed. Many of his latest epistles are going after Jan Brewer’s ties to the payday loan industry.
It’s funny to watch Rose, with his innumerable fingers in the punch bowl, going after a candidate because [...]
Okay, okay, I forgot about Bruce Babbitt. Hard to forget about the guy, since he was governor from when I was seven until well into my High School years. Fred DuVal will, no doubt, have a penance prepared for me that will involve a hairshirt and reruns of the 1988 [...]
I heard that Jan Brewer was in DC for the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, which came from our state.
Here I thought she’d wait for the next special session to start before leaving the state.
[...]Sam Wercinski has landed the endorsement of former Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson. Pederson will also be serving on Wercinski’s finance committee.
People that are obsessed with playing the Arizona equivalent of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” would want me to point out that Pederson is close to David Waid, who [...]
Afghanistan? Tiger Woods? Don Stapely? Never mind that, what is going on in the World Cup of Arizona Politics?
It appears that Mo Udall and Terry Goddard are running away in their groups, with others fighting for a distant second. If there is a “Group of Death,” it would be [...]
It was Steve Leal’s last day on the council yesterday as he handed the reins over to his successor, Richard Fimbres.
Leal had been on the council for 20 years, which I think is some sort of record (it beats George Miller’s tenure on the council). He [...]
Just because I thought it would be fun, we are holding the World Cup of Arizona Politics. I’ve taken 40 figures from our state’s politics and divided them into eight groups. You readers have until Wednesday morning to choose who you like best in each group. The criteria is all [...]
John Munger quoted in the Arizona Daily Star, regarding gender discrimination at Tucson Country Club:
In my opinion, Terry Goddard should butt out. This is not a public accommodation — it is a private club.
Of course, Woolworth lunch counters, hotels and Pullman cars weren’t “public accommodations” either.
[...]Got an announcement from the Jesse Kelly campaign that he will be bringing Joe Arpaio to Oro Valley for a fundraiser. The upside for this is that even though Arpayaso will be visiting our county, he will not be going very deep into it.
The fundraiser will be in, and these [...]
I read this piece by Howard Fischer this morning. Tell me something: what does it say that the likes of Vernon Parker and John Munger, neither of whom are exactly vessels of proletarian outrage, get to call you out for being an industry stooge and selling out the working [...]
Hat tip to the pseudonymous poster calling himself “A Person With Multiple Cars.” This is from the John Munger campaign’s “How Can I Help?” page:
Put a “Munger for Governor” bumper sticker on each of your cars
They fail to note that a supporter can put yard signs in each of [...]
Someone pointed out an interesting response to a Seeing Red Arizona post that I linked to the other day. The issue was payday lenders and their lobbyist’s ties to Jan Brewer. Here is a response from Ron Gould regarding one of those lobbyists:
I will be interesting to see how [...]
I’ve been reading in the soccer media that a group of owners has bought the rights to the names of several old NASL teams. One of these was the Boston Minutemen, but they did not purchase the name of the other Boston team, the Tea Men. I’ve been wracking my [...]
We political junkies have been watching the Democratic Primary for Secretary of State, which features one announced candidate and one “exploring” candidate. There’s been a bit of trash talking from the penumbras of the campaigns. As usual, this seems to have more to do with the motives of the talkers [...]
Previous attempts to write and/or fix the budget during La Cervecera’s reign have “blown up” when she tried to tie spending cuts to new taxes. So, the idea went, why not break those up? Last week’s special session was to make cuts, revenues to be discussed at some future time, [...]
Ah, the payday lenders are at it again. Last year, y’all remember that despite a well-financed campaign, their attempt to change the laws to keep their doors open failed at the ballot box 41-59. Now, they have brought on Doug Cole, Chuck Coughlin and Grant Woods on board to lobby [...]
Maricopa County Justice of the Peace C. Steven McMurry when ruling on attorney’s fees for five activists who were acquitted weeks ago of disturbing the peace charges on one defendant’s assertion that Joe Arpaio’s deputy was “fascist:”
Moreover, it is important to note the message being telegraphed by Deputy Acritelli by [...]
John McCain took to the floor yesterday to take on the health care plan. He has proposed an amendment to get rid of changes to Medicare designed to save money, changes he says amount to cuts. Okay, he can argue that, ‘cept…well…this is from the Wall Street Journal last October [...]
I heard some sad news about someone that many of us that were active in the Young Democrats may have known: Eli Senna. Senna was a major force in the Young Democrats of New Mexico that I first met during my time as regional director in [...]
Busy week, what with Double-Plus-Extra-Special Session ending with a bit of a whimper. So, after the jump is my summary of items I didn’t quite get to last week:
Conservative blog Sonoran Weekly Review has a bit blasting Tom Boone for what are, at least, serious conflicts of interest in [...]
I attended an informal memorial for Enrique Pérez Gómez, a community activist who passed away last week. I have to admit that I didn’t know him that well, only to say hello when I’d see him in the room. I was invited to attend, and [...]
So here it is, and it must be seen to be believed.
I’m struck by the anger and bluster over a totally made up list of factoids. Sums up my trouble with the conversation on the right these days. Add to that the needless slap at folks of a different sexual [...]
So, which bleeding heart, fiscally irresponsible Democratic legislator said this?
…a fatally flawed legislative budget. The legislative budget ignores my consistently expressed goals and instead incorporates devastating cuts to education, public safety, and our state’s most vital health services for the frail. In particular, this package of bills is shortsighted, in [...]
One note I need to make, however. I contacted Raúl Grijalva aide Natalie Luna and she confirmed that Grijalva does not drive a Buick LaSabre but a Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid.
[...]
I normally don’t write about legislative candidates in the Phoenix area, but what the heck?
Ruben Gallego is is finishing off the last of his case files for Councilman Michael Nowakowski’s office and will make a run for the State House in Distict 16. Gallego is part [...]
We are already talking about another special session. I have a question: how many of these do we have to have before they are no longer, well, special?
[...]Ray Barnes made a doozy of a speech this afternoon. I don’t think I have ever seen that much rank ignorance being demonstrated before a public body. It made me embarassed to be an Arizonan. As soon as the session is archived, I’ll be posting it.
[...]Well, it passed. Thayer Verschoor, who was so steadfastly against the budget bill that he didn’t show up, gave an apology to the Senate for all the trouble he caused and voted for the bill. One railbird texted me to tell me that he thought that Bob Burns used the [...]
The Senators are back in session…and already they pulled a funny. This was from the very first point of personal privlege today from Ron Gould:
$195,000 would buy a lot of toilet paper.
[...]
The Senate was supposed to convene at 10 AM, but no dice. Marszałek Senatu Bob Burns brokered a deal with Jorge García and Albert Hale which would have allowed schools on reservations to use impact aid for things like exces utilities. There is a sound policy [...]
David Safier over at Blog for Arizona found out that a website called My Gay Phoenix was lifting his posts in their entirety with nary a link back to his blog. He did some digging and found out that it is par for the course for the guy running [...]
Now you know why these are called “Special Sessions.” Like a very special episode of, say, Family Ties, this one is “to be continued.” To be continued today, as a matter of fact.
No word yet if the Governor has a plan to leave the state before things commence at ten [...]
Some sights and sounds from the Democratic Party meeting in Kingman yesterday:
Ed Espinoza from the Democratic National Committee came to address the group. I know Espinoza from his time as President of the Young Democrats of California, and some readers may remember him from his Mr. Super blog, where he [...]We here at R-Cubed are deeply, deeply sorry for mischaracterizing Jan Brewer’s actions during our very special session. She may have missed out on the entirety of the meetings this week due to her crucially necessary presence at the Republican Governors Association meeting, but she showed us the sort of [...]
Marszałek Senatu Bob Burns is angry with Senador Thayer Verschoor, who didn’t show up for Thursday’s extra special session. Burns was so angry with Verschoor that he…tweeted!
Pique is best when done in 140 character segments, I always say.
The funny part about this is that Verschoor was [...]
From Rasmussen:
Senator John McCain’s future in the U.S. Senate may be a little less assured than previously thought.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely 2010 Republican Primary voters in Arizona finds the longtime incumbent in a virtual tie with potential challenger J.D. Hayworth. McCain [...]
The folks at the Yellow Sheet decided to take on the Democratic Party for, it seems, a press release that the party sent a year and a half ago.
You may recall that during the heady days of the 2008 campaign, Tim Bee brought George W. Bush to Tucson for a [...]
Sarah Palin has been making the rounds (and no, I haven’t read the book) and one of the things that inevitably comes up is Katie Couric and her “gotcha questions.” It would be helpful to remember that one of these “gotcha” questions was about what newspapers she read. This wouldn’t [...]
All Things Considered had a bit about Carl Hayden last night featuring Jack August. This was obviously because they saw my post about Hayden yesterday morning and knew they had to catch up with me. The piece is up on their website.
August made one error (admittedly a big [...]
At the suggestion of one dedicated reader, I sifted through Shaun McCluskey’s last campaign finance report. He sent in an amended one due to a last minute infusion of cash and his last minute spending on hit pieces on Richard Fimbres.
It’s no big surprise: various members of Jim Click’s family [...]
Quick, who was the longest serving member of Congress? Well, up until this week, you could have proudly mentioned Carl Trumbull Hayden of Tempe. As of this week, however, the good Senator Hayden has lost that distinction to Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
Hayden served a term [...]
Meg Burton-Cahill announced last night that she will be stepping down from the Senate at the end of this term. Burton-Cahill has been a tireless advocate for programs for the neediest of this state. When I was sitting in the gallery for Sine Die, her remarks [...]
Sonoran Alliance had a reply to my post on Vic Williams the other day. I particularly enjoyed their citation of David Safier:
It what is best described as a case of wishful thinking, both Tedski over at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion, and David Safier at My Gay Arizona…are playing up [...]
There is an article in this morning’s Roll Call entitled “Grijalva: Enforcer for House Progressives.” Money paragraph:
An earthy, rumpled former social worker and community activist from Tucson who didn’t get a college degree until he was 39, Grijalva seems better suited to talk to House [...]
