The Trouble with E.Orr - he does not represent the values of his constituents

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Is this a private fight, or can anyone join in?

Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star is writing the most recent iteration of the Political Notebook that Rhonda Bodfield and Daniel Scarpinato (now with the RNCC) before her used to write. God, I hated the Political Notebook!

Anyway, Timmeh takes issue with Blog for Arizona's Pamela Powers Hannley for taking issue with a recent column of his, correctly pointing out that Rep. Ethan Orr (R-Tucson) only nurtures the appearance of being a moderate but votes with his GOP caucus routinely.

I would make the point that the occasional departure vote does not make Orr a "moderate" or a RINO, any more than a Democrat casting the occasional departure vote makes him or her a Teabagger or a DINO. It is a voting record taken as a whole that matters.

Here is Pamela's informative post. AZ Star Perpetuates 'Ethan Orr Is a Moderate' Myth. Please note the Votesmart.org link to Orr's voting record.

Today's Steller column wastes everyone's time focusing on Facebook comments about his previous column with which Pamela Powers Hannley took issue. Yeah, that's not news. Too many political reporters are fixated with social media like Twitter and Facebook. It is not news.

Timmeh could have reported that Ethan Orr, for the second time, voted to suppress his constituents' constitutional right to vote on a citizens-referred referendum that many of his constituents worked long and hard to put on the ballot. Orr previously voted for the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, last year, so that's a two-fer for his GOP voter suppression. AZ House votes to deny Arizonans their constitutional right to vote on a citizens-referred referendum.

Timmeh should read the Star to learn that Ethan Orr yesterday voted for a bill from the gun worshipers and fetishists seeking to punish the City of Tucson for having the temerity to enact common sense gun safety ordinances. Tucson, home to a mass shooting in January 2011 at a Safeway store in Orr's district. Orr's Democratic opponent, Dr. Randall Friese, is the surgeon who helped save Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' life. Dude, now that's news! Arizona Legislature moves to clamp down on local gun laws:

State lawmakers are moving to make it easier for anyone to sue a city over its gun laws.

And the sponsor said he’s specifically aiming it at Tucson.

Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, pointed out Arizona has had laws on the books for years preventing cities from enacting regulations that are stricter than state statutes. But he said that has not always been effective.

He cited one Tucson ordinance that allows police to request a breath sample from someone who has negligently discharged a firearm and appears intoxicated. And another requires people to report the loss or theft of a gun.

* * *

HB 2517 (.pdf), approved Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee, would change all that.

It says any individual or organization whose membership is “adversely affected” by a law they believe is illegal can sue. Challengers who win are entitled to legal fees and damages up to $100,000.

The legislation also says the court can assess a civil penalty of up to $500,000 against any elected or appointed government official if a judge determines the violation of state pre-emption laws was “knowing and willful.”

And to make sure that resonates with city officials, HB 2517 forbids the city from reimbursing the council member or employee for that penalty. It even says the official has to bear his or her own legal fees.

Smith said his legislation is designed to put “some teeth” in state pre-emption statutes. “They’re supposed to follow the law,” he said.

* * *

Rep. Ethan Orr, R-Tucson, said he understands the purpose of the pre-emption laws was to ensure that Arizona did not have a patchwork of different regulations affecting when and where people can exercise their constitutional right to bear arms.

“That said, I get very nervous when we start opening up particularly civil or other penalties for elected officials like us who are doing what they may interpret is the right policy to make,” he said. Orr said he is hoping the measure gets altered when it goes to the full House.

And then Orr voted for the bill. Vote Detail. A principled vote for the values of his constituents - NOT!

As I posted about this bill last week, Tea-Publicans love their vexatious litigation:

Tea-Publicans believe that Kavanagh's notion of vexatious litigation "applies to thee, not to me."

The Arizona Daily Star today reports today that the gun worshipers and fetishists want a cause of action to sue any local government official (read the City of Tucson) which enacts "illegal" regulations of firearms in violation of their absolutist view of the Second Amendment.

Get in line, assholes! You get to sue for damages when the government violates the law or the Constitution when I get to sue our lawless legislature and governor for damages for pissing away taxpayer money on lawsuits defending their unconstitutional and unlawful extremist agenda in court. Proposed law wants to make elected officials to pay for adopting illegal gun laws:

A proposed state law would let gun owners sue city council members or county supervisors personally if those governments pass or try to enforce gun laws that are stricter than state law.

Under the bill, HB 2517 (.pdf), courts could hit individual elected officials with civil penalties of up to $5,000 for passing an ordinance out of compliance with state law.

Anyone who enforces an illegal ordinance would be subject to penalties as well.

That could include the chief of police, zoning officials, the Tucson Convention Center director or anyone else involved with upholding a law.

The bill would also prohibit a city from spending taxpayer money defending an official in court. It would allow residents or organizations to sue a city or county for up to $100,000 in damages.

These assholes already have the same cause of action that every other citizen in this state possesses when a governmental entity does something that violates the law or the Constitution. They can sue for a writ of mandamus and injunction relief to overturn the law if they can prove their case in court. If they win, they can recover their attorneys fees and costs.

These assholes want a cause of action to allow them to file vexatious litigation for the purpose of harassment against elected officials in their personal capacity (to attach their personal assets). This is not how things are done here in America, or how the American justice system works.

Ethan Orr just voted to give these unhinged assholes the ability to harass and intimidate public officials with vexatious litigation, and to attach their personal assets with any judgment obtained. This is not how the American system of justice is designed to work. This is authoritarianism.

Once again, the so-called "small government conservatives" from our colonial overlords in the state of Maricopa want to punish the rebellious blue colony of the City of Tucson. They do not believe in home rule and local government control when it suits their whim to behave like "big brother."

Ethan Orr is an enabler for our colonial overlords in the state of Maricopa, just as previous Pima County Republicans were. The Arizona Daily Star has frequently complained about the abuse of power by the Arizona legislature interfering in matters of local government in Pima County and the City of Tucson, frequently enabled by Pima County Republicans who previously served in the state legislature.

LD 9 is a Democratic voter registration edge legislative district. LD 9 is represented by a Democratic senator and house member. Many "moderates" thought Orr was an acceptable candidate. But Orr's voting record in office demonstrates that he is not a "moderate" and he does not represent the values of his constituents, nor serve the best interests of his community, the City of Tucson.

Comments

[Thucydides]

Ethan Orr is a magnificent human being who voted extend health care to the sick and poor and who works hard to make the system work as our founders envisioned it. Orr also has the personal background business expansion and acquisition to know exactly what it takes to create jobs.

Orr is a talent that entitle him to be classified as a top ten percent when his legislative career is completed.

I have a suspicion that his constitutents well recognize this and that your efforts to deceive them will go unrewarded.

[Donna Gratehouse]

I hear he also has what plants crave.

[Jim Hannley]

Comments to the contrary not withstanding, the AzBlueMeanie takes Mr. Orr to task for his extremist voting record including vexation litigation. As for Mr. Orr's corporate welfare schemes such as creating a tax-free zone for businesses extending the length of I-10 from Tucson to Phoenix, it's all about shoveling it to the rich; not about jobs. If Ethan Orr was truly interested in jobs creation, he would not shy away from meeting with constituents with fresh ideas for economic growth.

[Dennis Gilman]

Orr doesn't want his constituents to vote unless they are gun crazy teabaggers who want to decide what women get to do with their own bodies. Check his voting record.. Nice try with the flowery BS though. Where did you learn to copy and paste?

[Arizona Bobcat]

Everything about Ethan Orr and his place in local politics reminds me of a few years ago when Pete Hershberger and Al Melvin were running against each other in the GOP primary for a Pima County State Senate seat. At the same time that they were jousting for the Republican nod, Cheryl Cage was the lone Democrat running for the seat and was trying to build support and name recognition. Several Democrat-leaning groups, most notably the Arizona Education Association, willfully snubbed her until after Melvin trounced Hershberger. They held onto the vain hope that Hershberger would win and be their champion within the GOP caucus in Phoenix. With the primary in September, two months before the general, their 11th hour embrace of the lone Democrat running was too little, too late.

One could argue convincingly that Hershberger had a more moderate voting record than Orr, but that is not my point. If he had been elected, Hershberger would have voted for the same Senate leadership that Melvin did and he would have been a reliable Republican vote in most instances. This would have happened not only because of his personal beliefs, but also because no elected official of either party can do battle with their own party all the time and maintain their seat, or its potential influence. Cage would have been a Democrat who had seized a district previously held by a Republican and would have been one more vote for our party...but there were a great many people in organizations like the AEA who blew her off, yearning for at least one Republican they could count on in the Legislature.

The days of the "Sue Nation" and the "Mushroom Coalition" are long gone. Truly moderate Republicans have been purged by their more conservative peers, or have become independents and Democrats. It is unrealistic and sad to cling to a belief, at least in Arizona, that there will be a resurgence of a moderate voice in the Republican Party...unless and until that party starts to lose elections. We could see the beginnings of those losses in 2014 if the GOP nominates statewide candidates who the electorate sees as more extreme and less appealing than reasonable, solutions-oriented Democrats like Duval, Goddard and Garcia.

As for Ethan Orr, he is not fooling this LD9 voter. He reminds me of George W. Bush back in 2000. You can try and slap up some "compassionate conservative" window dressing, but the truth behind the veneer is soon revealed.

[AZ BlueMeanie]

Jim Click, is that you?