Blog For Arizona

FAUX News military contributor would 'lead a coup against the U.S. government'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea Party leader, retired Army general and former Fox News contributor Paul Vallely, in a recently published video told the Surprise Tea Party Patriots that, if given the troops, he would lead a coup against the U.S. government. Retired Army General To Tea Party Group: I Would Lead A Coup Against The U.S. Government:

Vallely made his comments in a discussion with the Arizona-based [Surprise Tea Party Patriots] last December, a recording of which the website Right Wing Watch recently acquired. “I had a call this afternoon from Idaho, the gentleman said, ‘If I give you 250,000 Marines to go to Washington, will you lead them?’” Vallely, who was Fox News’ senior military analyst during the Iraq War, told the group. “I said, ‘Yes, I will, I’ll surround the White House and I’ll surround the Capitol building, but it’s going to take physical presence to do things.”

Video below the fold.

GOP's war on the poor: cut food stamps, keep farm subsidies

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The compromise "farm bill," which provides the appropriations for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aka food stamps, survived a vote in the Tea-Publican House today. Last year a similar bill was defeated by Tea-Publicans in the House who felt the bill was not draconian and punitive enough towards the takers poor.

The New York Times reports, House Approves Farm Bill, Ending 2-Year Impasse:

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill authorizing nearly $1 trillion in spending on farm subsidies and nutrition programs, setting the stage for final passage of a new five-year farm bill that has been stalled for over two years.

Negotiators from the House and Senate spent several weeks working out their differences on issues in the legislation, including cuts to food stamps, income caps on farm subsidies and a price support program for dairy farmers. The bill is expected to save about $16.6 billion over the next 10 years.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 251 to 166. The Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week.

Compared with earlier, more contentious votes on the farm bill, Wednesday’s vote was largely bipartisan. Many Democrats who had opposed it because of cuts to the food stamp program supported it on Wednesday. A number of Republicans, including many who wanted deeper cuts to the food stamps, also voted for the bill’s passage.

Fred DuVal proposes sweeping ethics reforms

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Democratic candidate for governor Fred DuVal has proposed sweeping ethics reforms which go beyond the weak half-measures currently being proposed by Republican legislative leaders at the capitol.

When we elect our representatives we expect them to act ethically and be good stewards of our tax dollars. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen is scandal after scandal and no one’s lifted a finger to change the culture of corruption at the State Capitol. Free tickets to sporting events, free meals from lobbyists, free flights and hotel rooms, it’s all got to stop.

That’s why I’ve published a plan to totally overhaul our ethics laws and clean up the State Capitol. My plan would require every elected official in the state and the lobbyists that attempt to influence them to abide by tough, new standards including:

•A complete ban on accepting gifts, including tickets, free travel, or hotel stays for events.

•Creating a State Ethics Commission to investigate reported ethics violations and punish rule breakers.

•Closing the loophole that allows “professional lobbyists” to influence legislators without registering as lobbyists.

•Banning any statewide elected official from serving on the board of a for-profit company while in office.

Ethics reform and good government are not partisan issues. Everyone in Arizona will benefit from cleaning up the system, which is why it’s so frustrating that we’ve seen no action in the more than two years since Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery recommended changes to our ethics laws in the wake of the Fiesta Bowl scandal.

As a taxpayer, I’m disgusted at the lack of attention ethics reform has received at the State Capitol. If our lawmakers continue to refuse to act, I will.

###

The Arizona Republic is all for denying you your constitutional rights

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So the "editorial board" of The Arizona Republic, formerly known as The Arizona Republican, and the mouthpiece of the establishment Republican Party in Arizona, editorializes today that it is all for House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny you, the citizens of Arizona, your constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum.

More than 100,000 Arizona citizens signed the petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to vote to veto the legislature's anti-democratic measure.

No matter to this unsigned editorial from the "editorial board" of the Republic. Repeal HB 2305 and end this mess.

This opinion clearly is not shared by everyone at the Republic. Columnist Laurie Roberts called the Republican legislature's attempt to repeal a measure referred to the ballot for a "citizens veto" as "skullduggery." Are legislators plotting end run around voters in election-law referendum?  Columnist E.J. Montini said this action shows "exactly how much the Republicans who control the Legislature resent Arizona voters." Will lawmakers vote to deny your vote?  Columnist Linda Valdez has not written an opinion on the subject recenty, but in the past has opposed the GOP Voter Suppression Act.

New York Times: The Koch Party

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The New York Times editorialized on Sunday that the Republican Party has been displaced by the secretive "dark money" web of "Kochtopus" organizations, and is now the Koch Party. Maybe it's time for truth in advertising? The Koch Party:

Only a few weeks into this midterm election year, the right-wing political zeppelin is fully inflated with secret cash and is firing malicious falsehoods at supporters of health care reform.

As Carl Hulse of The Times reported recently, Democrats have been staggered by a $20 million advertising blitz produced by Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group organized and financed by the Koch brothers, billionaire industrialists. The ads take aim at House and Senate candidates for re-election who have supported the health law, and blame them for the hyped-up problems with the law’s rollout that now seem to be the sole plank in this year’s Republican platform.

* * *

Democrats intend to counter this campaign with the facts, but few of the candidates have the money to do so now. As a result, the campaign is taking a serious political toll, increasing the chances that Republicans who support a repeal of the law will win back the Senate majority this fall.

Naturally, Democrats are using the campaign to increase their own fund-raising, begging donors to give unlimited amounts to left-leaning super PACs and advocacy groups. But it is unlikely that they will be able to match the resources or the cunning of the Kochs, who are using vast pools of money earned through corporate revenues to build a network unrivaled in complexity and secrecy. This weekend, they are bringing together some of the biggest Republican bank accounts at a resort in Palm Springs, Calif., to collect money and plan this year’s strategy.

As Politico described it (Koch World 2014") on Friday, they have already set up an operation so sophisticated it rivals “even the official Republican Party in its ability to shape policy debates and elections.” Its components include a political consulting firm to recruit, train and support like-minded antigovernment candidates, which will be active in the congressional primaries. There is also a center that provides technology and administrative services to right-wing groups and candidates, an office that compiles and analyzes voter data and a youth advocacy group.

 

State Political Meetings: AZ GOP Nullifies Fed Law, while Dems Endorse Marijuana Legalization

by Pamela Powers Hannley

The party faithful of the Arizona Democratic and Republican Parties gathered on Saturday, January 25, 2014 in Maricopa County for their respective State Committee Meetings. State law requires official political parties to meet quarterly. Precinct committee people, state and county party leaders, elected officials, and candidates gather to discuss strategy, issues, money, and candidates.

The outcomes of those two meetings show the STARK differences between Arizona's two major political parties. (Even where the two parties met shows their ideological differences. Democrats met in a public high school; Republicans met in a church.)

At the Arizona Democratic Party's (ADP) State Committee Meeting, the ADP continued to show its progressive side, unanimously endorsing a resolution against fracking. With only two dissenting votes, ADP also endorsed a resolution supporting the marijuana legalization initiative, Safer Arizona, which was endorsed by ADP's Progressive Caucus at the November 2013 State Committee Meeting. (BTW, if you support legalization, help them out by signing and circulating petitions and/or donating money.)

A resolution barring the ADP from accepting funds from members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was endorsed by the ADP's progressive caucus on Saturday, as was the fracking resolution. When proposed to the entire State Committee, it was tabled.

This week in the Arizona GOP's war on democracy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This has been some week in the Arizona GOP's war on democracy, hasn't it?

On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny the citizens of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum, was pulled after angry citizens and the media showed up at the hearing. More than 100,000 Arizonans signed the petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to vote to veto the legislature's anti-democratic measure. No matter.

The Arizona GOP's plan is to repeal HB 2305, and to pass the separate provisions for voter suppression in the bill as separate bills to make another citizens referendum virtually impossible, and to get their way by "skullduggery," as Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts called it. Are legislators plotting end run around voters in election-law referendum?" "Fast Eddie" promises to bring his bill back up for a hearing, possibly as early as this week.

On Friday, the Arizona GOP was in U.S. District Court arguing to a three judge panel of federal judges that you, the voters of Arizona, by enacting a citizens referred initiative to create the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), Prop. 106 (2000), violated their federal constitutional right to gerrymander congressional districts in favor of GOP candidates. (Where are the Neo-Confederate "states' rights" federal "guvmint" haters now?) As I explained, their legal argument is entirely without merit. Arizona Legislature v. the AIRC court hearing this Friday. This is one of those frivolous "junk lawsuits" you hear about.

We need LAW ABIDING GOVERNMENT

In preparation for the State of the Union Address, they have been soliticing input from the public, via http://my.barackobama.com/State-of-the-Union-Survey   You are encouraged to go there and contribute.  FYI, here's what I submitted:

We need LAW ABIDING GOVERNMENT.

The stuff that is going on with Menendez and Christie and McDonnell is only 0.01% of the tip of the iceberg.  As far as I can tell, a great deal of what K Street does is a flagrant violation of the bribery statute 18 USC § 201 and the Hobbs act 18 U.S.C. § 1951.

Abramoff pled guilty to bribery, but then asked:  “Why me? What have I done that’s any different than anybody else?”  Indeed.  Good question.

On top of that, prominent persons go on TV and brag about committing torture and war crimes, yet for political reasons they are not prosecuted.

Wealth inequality means that the über-wealthy can purchase favorable treatment from the government, leading to yet more inequality.

Bottom line:  We demand that the laws be faithfully executed.  You could start by enforcing the bribery statute 18 USC § 201.  I'm not saying it's easy, but it needs to be done.  Now.

For details and references, see
  http://www.av8n.com/politics/big-issue.htm

Action Alert: bill to repeal HB 2305 and to deprive you of your right to a 'citizens veto' to be heard Thursday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Your presence is requested. For those of you who have signed up for a legislative account to submit testimony online, now's your chance.

Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305 subject to a citizens referendum ("citizens veto"), HB 2196 (.pdf), will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Press release from the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee:

NEWS ALERT! House Committee to Vote on Repeal of HB2305

First Step in Effort to Circumvent Protect Your Right to Vote Referendum

PHOENIX -- The Legislature will attempt on Thursday to revive a massive effort to make it more difficult for Arizonans to vote in 2014, a plan that had been put on ice by a successful citizen’s referendum during the summer.

The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee referendum gathered over 146,000 signatures to put the omnibus House Bill 2305 – which would prevent tens of thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots if it becomes law – to a statewide vote in 2014. According to recent media reports, incumbent lawmakers bent on getting tough with voters intend to circumvent the referendum vote by first repealing HB2305, and then re-passing the various voter roadblocks as new individual bills this session.

Step one begins Thursday morning when the House Judiciary Committee hears House Bill 2196, which repeals last session’s HB2305. Judiciary Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Mesa, is the sponsor of both bills. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4, 1700 W. Washington Street.

Former Virginia 'Governor vaginal probe' and his wife are charged

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It's been a long time coming, but today prosecutors charged former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell aka "Governor vaginal probe" and his wife Maureen were charged Tuesday with illegally accepting gifts, luxury vacations and large loans from a wealthy Richmond-area businessman who sought special treatment from state government. Former Va. Gov. McDonnell and wife charged in gifts case:

The two were charged with 14 felony counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, obtaining property under color of their official office and conspiring to the do the same.

They were also charged with making false statements to a federal credit union.

McDonnell was also charged with making a false statement to a financial institution, and Maureen McDonnell was charged with obstructing the investigation.

* * *

Authorities alleged that McDonnell and his wife received gifts from executive Jonnie R. Williams again and again, lodging near constant requests for money, clothes, trips, golf accessories and private plane rides.

In exchange, authorities alleged that the McDonnells worked in concert to lend the prestige of the governorship to Williams’s struggling company, a small former cigarette manufacturer that now sells dietary supplements.

(Update) Kavanagh for the kleptocracy of the 'Kochtopus'!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I recently posted Kavanagh for the kleptocracy of the 'Kochtopus'!:

I am guessing that the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star is also behind this latest bill attacking the state employee pension system as well, sponsored by its waterboy, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills). Lawmaker seeks to allow cuts in public pensions:

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state constitution amended to allow cuts to public employee pensions and increases in employee contributions if the systems are badly underfunded.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh introduced a bill [HCR 2001 (.pdf)] that would refer the proposal to the voters. He said in an interview he is targeting automatic cost-of-living increases but acknowledged nothing in his proposal would prevent cuts to existing pensions.

* * *

Kavanagh said that under his proposal, payouts from the state’s three major pension plans would have to be trimmed and contributions from employees and employers raised if reasonable accounting practices found cuts were needed.

“These decreases are only triggered when it’s necessary to maintain the health of the system,” he said. “If the system doesn’t need the cuts, you can’t do them.”

Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times recently went into greater detail of Kavanagh's ties to the "Kochtopus," Legislator John Kavanagh Could Teach Panhandlers a Few Tricks, Like How to Score a Free Trip to China:

State Representative John Kavanagh revels in his self-appointed role as the rightwinger Arizona lefties love most to hate.

Since recalled, disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce (Kavanagh's pal) was pounded into mainstream political irrelevance in 2011, Kavanagh's eclipsed his erstwhile mentor to become Sand Land's Lord Voldemort for liberals, dreaming up all kinds of ways to send those on the D-side into fits of apoplexy.

* * *

Lately, he's been on a roll, twirling his mustache and doing his best Oil Can Harry.

Have you heard about The Steve Yarbrough Disclosure Act?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's most corrupt state senator, Steve Yarbrough (R-Chandler), who uses his position to write charter school bills to steer state funding to his Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization to benefit himself financially. It's like writing checks to yourself. Unbelievably, this allegedly does not violate Arizona's ethics rules for legislators. (See Steve Murtarore at the Arizona Eagletarian for the latest self-dealing by Sen. Yarbrough, regarding a KPHO Channel 5 investigation by Morgan Loew. Is Republican Sen. Steve Yarbrough's approach the only thing corrupt in the Arizona Legislature? and Will you tolerate Steve Yarbrough's brazen self-service?)

Senate Democrats have decided to do something about the self-dealing by state legislators to line their own pockets, filing SB 1068 (.pdf), a bill which should go by the popular name of The Steve Yarbrough Disclosure Act.

Mike McClellan at the East Valley Tribune writes Legislature helping out powerful while most left in dark:

[T]he bills are pouring in already, 50 introduced in the House, 76 in the Senate at the time of this writing.

And two are colliding with each other already.

One is SB 1068, sponsored by a bunch of Democratic senators, including Tempe’s Ed Ableser. Here’s what it calls for:

A legislator who casts a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives or the Senate with respect to any bill, memorial or resolution in which the legislator has a direct financial interest shall prepare a written statement that identifies the bill, memorial or resolution, the legislator’s vote and the nature of the legislator’s direct financial interest. The legislator shall file the statement with the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate. The statement shall be posted on the internet web page corresponding to the legislator as found on the legislature’s website. The Web page for each legislator shall have an area entitled 'Disclosure of Direct Financial Interest' for each statement to be posted.

In other words, if my representative floats a bill and will have a direct financial benefit from that bill’s passage, he must file a statement explaining how it benefits him.

'Kochtopus' dark money organizations with Arizona ties have yet to pay $15M fine to California

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In other news you never see reported in Arizona's GOP-friendly media, California has yet to receive the $15 million in penalties imposed on "Kochtopus" dark money campaign organizations after an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission into secret political donations last year by the Phoenix-based Center to Protect Patient Rights, run by GOP political consultant Sean Noble, tied to billionaire Republican contributors Charles and David Koch.

The Los Angeles Times reports, Two groups that used secret political donations haven't paid penalties:

State authorities have yet to receive $15 million in penalties they imposed on campaign groups after a headline-making investigation into secret political donations.

The money is owed to California's general fund, where it could support government programs.

Two Arizona nonprofits paid $1 million in fines for their role in hiding the source of political cash sent to California in 2012. But the two campaign groups that received and spent the money were ordered to pay $15 million and have sent nothing — seven weeks after the Nov. 30 deadline.

That didn't take long: Religious bigotry bill clears senate committee

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week I posted that Religious bigotry rears its ugly head in the Arizona Legislature. Arizona's most corrupt state senator, Steve Yarbrough (R-Chandler), is carrying this religious bigotry bill, SB 1062 (.pdf), for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP). While the bill is ostensibly about "hatin' on the gays," Yarbrough "acknowledged there may be individuals who have religious beliefs about unmarried women, or even employing people who do not share their same beliefs."

Got that? If you are not one of the Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists of the CAP who want to impose a Christian theocracy in the United States -- which would include Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and the hundreds of other religious beliefs and sects, and non-believers alike, all of whom are protected by the First Amendment from state-sanctioned establishment of religion or interference with the free exercise of their religion -- this bill would grant a "get out of jail free card" for compliance with civil rights laws based upon the mere assertion of "sincerely held religious beliefs," not just for a religious institution, but for individuals and corporations or any business (because "corporations are people my friend").

Apparently they never learned that "hate is not a Christian value." All the CAP does is hate.

As I pointed out, "This is a slippery slope which can easily be abused to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex and religion simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs."" It is a bald-faced attempt to eviscerate the civil rights acts hiding behind the gossamer thin veneer of "religious freedom" to be a discriminatory bigot. A nearly identical bill passed the Arizona Legislature last year but was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer.

That didn't take long: new versions of the GOP Voter Suppression Act to be filed

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Well that didn't take long. Yesterday i posted that the AZ Lege seeks to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, to deprive the voters of their 'citizens veto'. A co-author of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale), indicated that she would like to "repeal the bill before it goes up for the referendum election. However, she would like lawmakers to go back and pass portions of the bill once again in 2015."

"Republican Sen. Adam Driggs of Phoenix, who has had discussions with both Reagan and McComish about repealing the law, said he can’t control what bills lawmakers decide to introduce.  But he said he would discourage lawmakers from immediately sponsoring new legislation including measures from a repealed HB2305."

Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth (R-Gilbert), has already filed the bill for repeal of HB 2305, as HB 2196 (.pdf).

Howard Fischer reports, Arizona lawmaker considering end run on voting-law referendum:

State lawmakers are moving to repeal major changes in voting laws made last year — and then re-enacting at least some of them in a way to thwart a referendum drive.

The proposal by Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, comes after foes of those changes gathered enough signatures to put the measure on hold until voters have a final say in November.

HB 2196 would repeal the law, making the November vote unnecessary.

AZ Lege seeks to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, to deprive the voters of their 'citizens veto'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Several capitol observers have been warning about this possibility for some time now. The face of voter suppression in Arizona, Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale), is now preparing to proceed with a despicable plan to deprive the voters of Arizona of their citizens referendum ("citizens veto") of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, that she co-authored by pulling an Emily Litella: "Never mind!"

That's right, the evil GOP bastards, seeking to deprive the Democratic Party of a major motivational tool for their base voters to turn out in force in November, is proposing to repeal HB 2305, and then to enact portions of the law as new legislation. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Legislators consider preemptive repeal of controversial election bill:

Lawmakers are considering introducing legislation to repeal last year’s election reform bill, HB2305, which remains on hold because opponents gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the law this November.

Republican Sen. Michele Reagan of Scottsdale said she is working with leadership to repeal the bill before it goes up for the referendum election. However, she would like lawmakers to go back and pass portions of the bill once again in 2015.

Arizona Legislature 2014: not much new under the sun

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

A couple of early updates from the new session of the legislative session:

While some of the names have changed, some things haven't changed at the Capitol.  Like the arrogance and culture of entitlement among the majority caucus.

Exhibit 1:  They're proposing to pay any legislators, current and past, who claim to have incurred legal costs from lawsuits against their infamous anti-immigrant measure, SB1070. (Arizona Capitol Times, subscription required)

Something similar to this has been proposed before this week; after former senator Russell Pearce was recalled.  There was a move to reimburse him for the costs of his campaign in (unsuccessful) defense of him.  That move didn't go far, not least because he didn't actually pay for his defense - contributors did.

Pearce's acolytes in the lege may have failed the first time, but they haven't stopped looking for ways to funnel taxpayer money to him.

Exhibit 2: One state legislator, Sen. Don Shooter (R-Yuma), in response to proposals to end the practice of legislators accepting tickets to sporting events from lobbyists, proclaimed that unless legislators get a pay raise he's going to keep accepting bribes tickets.

For the record: I actually agree with Shooter on one thing - legislative pay should be raised.  Most would-be public servants are honest and honorable people.  However, they also have families to support and cannot do that on the current legislative salary of $24K per year.

So, instead of people who want to work for the best interests of their constituents and the state, Arizona ends up with the majority of the legislature is made up of whackjobs and grifters.

I'll leave it to readers to determine for themselves which category (or both, they're not mutually exclusive) that Shooter fits in.

In any event, he knew what the pay level for legislators was *before* he took his oath of office.  While I think that legislative pay is too low, that doesn't justify corruption.  He gets absolutely no sympathy on this.

Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen: Gov. Chris Christie Traffic Jam

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

By request: Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen team up to poke fun at the "Bridgegate" scandal of New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who is a "huge" fan of The Boss. "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam" ("Born To Run" Parody)

Video below the fold.

Kavanagh for the kleptocracy of the 'Kochtopus'!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last year I posted that the Goldwater Institute declares war on public employees:

Now the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star wants to extend this fiscally reckless amd irresponsible idea [Tucson public employee pension initiative] to state and local governments in Arizona through a statewide initiative. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Initiative would tie government spending to pension funding:

A proposed ballot measure would effectively bar state and local governments from increasing spending across the board until its employee pension systems are adequately funded.

[The purposefully deceptively named] Responsible Budgets Act, which was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, would bar political entities with underfunded pension systems from increasing spending, except for inflation and population growth. A provision in the initiative defines “adequately funded” as 80 percent funded.

[I-02-2014 Responsible Budgets in Support of Proposition __ and Petition Serial # ____, full text of initiative: PDF]

I am guessing that the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star is also behind this latest bill attacking the state employee pension system as well, sponsored by its waterboy, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills). Lawmaker seeks to allow cuts in public pensions:

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state constitution amended to allow cuts to public employee pensions and increases in employee contributions if the systems are badly underfunded.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh introduced a bill [HCR 2001 (.pdf)] that would refer the proposal to the voters. He said in an interview he is targeting automatic cost-of-living increases but acknowledged nothing in his proposal would prevent cuts to existing pensions.

Religious bigotry rears its ugly head in the Arizona Legislature

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this month I told you about the bill by Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Litchfield Park) to make it illegal for government to “require a minister to solemnize a marriage inconsistent with a minister's sincerely held religious beliefs.” A solution in search of a non-existent problem. As I said at the time:

I commend Rep. Montenegro for trying to keep his measure as narrow as possible. The New Mexico wedding photographer case he cites is an example of an individual claiming an overly broad definition of "religious liberty" to essentially assert a license to discriminate against members of the public. This is a slippery slope which can easily be abused to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex and religion simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs." If this wedding photographer had refused services to African-Americans or Jews, or to Arab-Americans and Muslims instead of "the gays," he would have been rightly condemned as a bigot. A "get out of jail free card" for compliance with laws based upon the mere assertion of "sincerely held religious beliefs" leads to anarchy.

Rep. Montenegro's restraint is not shared by Arizona's most corrupt state senator, Steve Yarbrough (R-Chandler), who uses his position to write charter school bills to steer state funding to his Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization to benefit himself financially. It's like writing checks to yourself. Unbelievably, this allegedly does not violate Arizona's ethics rules for legislators. (See Steve Murtarore at the Arizona Eagletarian for the latest self-dealing by Sen. Yarbrough, regarding a KPHO Channel 5 investigation by Morgan Loew. Is Republican Sen. Steve Yarbrough's approach the only thing corrupt in the Arizona Legislature? and Will you tolerate Steve Yarbrough's brazen self-service?)

First Day of the Arizona Legislative Session

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

“No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” - Mark Twain

The GOP Insane Clown Posse is arriving in their clown car today at the "meth lab of democracy," the Arizona Legislature, for the first day of the legislative session. Hide the women and children! They are routinely abused, when they are not being ignored by these clowns.

Case in point is the CPS scandal, which has existed for years, and the legislature has been fully aware of the problem. The legislature will do what it did a decade or so ago during the last CPS scandal: some politician will use the Kangaroo Court hearings to advance his or her political career by grandstanding on the issue, as former Sen. Jonathan Paton did, but don't expect the Arizona legislature to accept any fault for its own lack of concern, oversight and inadequate funding of CPS over the years. They are looking for a scapegoat, not actual solutions to resolve the problems.

The Arizona Supreme Court last year ordered the legislature to restore the voter-approved mandate for education funding at inflation-adjusted spending levels before the budget cuts of recent years, but our lawless legislature is still fighting this in court, and will likely defy the court in appropriating education funding this year.

WaPo investigates the 'Kochtopus' dark money network; Arizona's political media ignores the political corruption in its own backyard

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Both The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star rely heavily on the Washington Post for reporting and syndicated columnists. But the editors are highly selective in the reports they choose to publish. For example, neither Arizona newspaper thought it newsworthy to publish the big investigative report by Matea Gold in the Washington Post on Monday about the evil bastard Koch brothers. Hmmm, is Arizona's GOP-friendly media still protecting Sean Noble and the "Kochtopus" dark money laundering organization Center to Protect Patient Rights? Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012:

The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors, according to an analysis of new tax returns and other documents.

The filings show that the network of politically active nonprofit groups backed by the Kochs and fellow donors in the 2012 elections financially outpaced other independent groups on the right and, on its own, matched the long-established national coalition of labor unions that serves as one of the biggest sources of support for Democrats.

The resources and the breadth of the organization make it singular in American politics: an operation conducted outside the campaign finance system, employing an array of groups aimed at stopping what its financiers view as government overreach. Members of the coalition target different constituencies but together have mounted attacks on the new health-care law, federal spending and environmental regulations.

Key players in the Koch-backed network have already begun engaging in the 2014 midterm elections, hiring new staff members to expand operations and strafing House and Senate Democrats with hard-hitting ads over their support for the Affordable Care Act.

Self-Actualization, White People Problems, & the War on the Poor

by Pamela Powers Hannley

As one year comes to a close and another begins, people often look back at events to reflect and perhaps resolve to improve their lives or change their behaviors in the coming year. In 2013, the Do-Nothing-at-All Congress-- led by the nose by Teapublicans-- continued its war on the poor-- fighting for cuts to food stamps and unemployment and fighting for austerity for the 99%, while disingenuously padding the pockets of their corporate benefactors.

As Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs teaches us, people must satisfy their basic needs before they can become fully self-actualized, before they can reach their full potential. To put this simply, if you don't have food, water, and shelter, your time, energy and resources will be spent obtaining those basic needs. Until you have security and the necessities of life, you will not have the luxury to worry about trifles-- Christmas gifts, video game releases, wine selections, fancy coffee, designer-label clothes, insignificant social snubs, political differences-- in other words, "white people problems".

Since our country is governed by the  Congressional millionaire's club, it's no wonder that they can't relate to the poor (or even the struggling middle class).

Arizona needs a 'Moral Mondays' movement

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The most fascinating political development of 2013 to observe was the rise of the progressive "Moral Mondays" movement in North Carolina in response to the radicalized extremist Tea-Publican controlled state legislature.

"Moral Mondays" engages in civil disobedience protests, organized in part by local religious leaders including William Barber, head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP. Members of the protest movement meet every Monday to protest an action by the North Carolina legislature and then enter the legislature building. Once they enter, a number are peacefully arrested each Monday.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently reported that a Moral Mondays organization was being established in Georgia. Your daily jolt: Moral Monday protests coming to state Capitol:

The Moral Monday protests that rocked North Carolina (and led to hundreds of arrests each Monday) last year may be coming to Georgia.

A group called Moral Monday Georgia (moralmondayga.org) has quietly begun gathering supporters and planning organizing meetings this month. They plan one of the first actions on the Jan. 13, the first Monday of the session, and the platform focuses on a call to expand Medicaid, restore funding to public schools and raising the minimum wage.

On Christmas Day, the AP reported that the "Moral Mondays" movement will spread to other Southern States (i.e., Red States). Moral Mondays to continue, spread to other states:

The Moral Monday movement to protest changes in North Carolina public policy that organizers believe are extreme and hurt the state won’t abate in 2014 and will spread to other states, its leader said.

Activists from a dozen states attended a meeting in Raleigh earlier this month to learn how to hold similar protests in their states.

Merry Christmas, Infidels!

 

 

Okay, now that I have your attention, what I'm really excited about this evening is that state Sen. Steve Farley (D-LD9) has pre-filed for the upcoming legislative session, his ALEC Accountability Bill, which looks to be essentially the same (and may be exactly the same) as SB1219, the one he filed for the 2013 session.

SB1219 was assigned to Michele Reagan's elections committee and died an agonizingly slow death there. Reagan was busy last winter and spring pushing the Voter Suppression Bill (#stopHB2305) instead.

It becomes even more important this year since the Arizona Supreme Court let the dogs out (when it lifted the injunction against implementation of the Lobbyist Shakedown Bill).

Contrary to what these videos might suggest, I do take this situation -- both the Lobbyist Shakedown and the ALEC Accountability Bill considered together -- seriously.

Farley first introduced the bill (HB2665) when he was in the Arizona House, in 2012. One provision of which is to require disclosure of ANY BENEFIT, including travel, lodging or registration fees for conferences. Also known as wining and dining, that, of course, is how ALEC butters up state lawmakers. In January 2012, here's what Farley said about the bill,

“This bill keeps our elected officials in line and focused on getting results for Arizona’s families, not for special interests,” said Assistant House Minority Leader Steve Farley, the sponsor of the bill. “It’s high time that transparency becomes a priority down here, and lawmakers work to get the job done, not carry the water for out-of-state corporations.”

The bill is one of the first to come out of Democratic lawmakers’ 2012 plan to move Arizona forward and leave the Tea Party’s extremism and divisiveness behind.

The ALEC Accountability Act works to change a long-standing, back-door system of lobbyist-funded scholarships that pay for lawmaker participation in conferences with ideological agendas and provide fancy accommodations, upscale dining and entertainment "networking" opportunities in cities around the country.

On the indirectly related subject of the Lobbyist Shakedown, a local conservative editorial columnist opined in today's edition that

The decision by the Arizona Supreme Court to permit higher campaign contribution limits to go into effect was this year’s most important political development. [...]

For those who profess to want more transparency in campaign spending, this should be a welcomed move. Money contributed to candidates is disclosed. Money contributed to independent expenditure campaigns often isn't. Increasing the voice of candidates in campaigns is good for transparency and voter choice. [...]

Regardless, candidates will now be less of a bystander in their own elections and voters will have more information about who is backing them.

In 2012, HB2665 did not even get assigned to committees. Recall that in 2012, the GOP enjoyed a supermajority in both chambers. They got away with quite a lot of mischief that year.

We cannot know with any degree of certainty how far this year's version, SB1034, will go. But there are a number of factors in play suggesting Democrats will have substantially more leverage in what becomes law in 2014.

Without the ALEC Accountability Bill, the ability of voters to make informed decisions on whom to delegate their authority (by way of their vote) is dramatically hindered. We DO know, however, that Move to Amend, Represent.Us and the American Anti-Corruption Act all will get more publicity and therefore more traction in 2014. To the degree Democratic leverage increases in the Arizona Legislature, SB1034 might just have a chance. 

 

So, thank you very much Steve Farley. And Merry Christmas, Infidels!

 

 

Senate war mongers want to get their war on with Iran

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After all the blood and treasure this country has expended in America's longest war in Afghanistan, and the unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq, there is still a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators who dream of the next war with Iran.

They won't fight this war of course; and neither will their children. They will send your sons and daughters to die in a war that will drag on at least as long, if not longer, than Afghanistan. And when the inevitable retaliatory terrorist attacks occur, well, that will just serve as a rallying cry for more war. Because there is big money to be made in war, damnit! These senate war mongers want to get their war on with Iran. The fact that this includes Democrats is enraging.

These senators are actively seeking to sabotage the current P5+1 negotiations currently under way with Iran. This is how the Washington Post reported it, Senators defy White House, threaten new Iran sanctions:

A bipartisan group of 26 senators introduced legislation Thursday that threatened new sanctions against Iran, dismissing warnings from the White House that such a move could scuttle efforts to peacefully resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

The bill, called the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, drew a rebuke from the Obama administration and highlighted deep divisions among Senate Democrats on whether to heap new pressures on Tehran’s government while sensitive diplomacy is underway.

Hours after the bill’s introduction, a separate group of senior Democrats revealed in a letter that U.S. intelligence agencies had cautioned lawmakers in private briefings about the consequences of new sanctions. A Dec. 10 intelligence assessment had concluded that new punitive measures would “undermine the prospects for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran,” according to the letter, signed by 10 Democrats.

The 'less-than-less-than-do-nothing' 113th Congress

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The 112th Tea-Publican controlled Congress (2011-2012) was worse than the "do nothing" Republican 80th Congress, securing the title of the "less-than-do-nothing" Congress. So what did voters do? They rewarded these do-nothing slackers by sending them back to Congress.

And what do you get when you reward do-nothing slackers? The 113th Tea-Publican controlled Congress (2013-2014) is historically the "Worst, Congress. Ever." -- it is now the "less-than-less-than-do-nothing" Congress. Why are we paying these people? Steve Benen reports, Giving new meaning to 'Do-Nothing' Congress:

[T]he grand total of bills signed into law in the 113th Congress [is] … 58. As Billy House noted this morning, that’s not an especially impressive number.

If you thought Congress hit rock-bottom in terms of how many laws they enacted last session, check out the current House and Senate.

Congress will close the year with 58 public bills (the congressional term for measures with broad impact) enacted into law, assuming that President Obama signs the budget deal as promised. They may add a few to that in the last few days of the year. But it won’t change substantially.

That’s the lowest one-year output since at least 1947, and only the tiniest fraction of the 6,366 bills introduced by lawmakers, according to House and Senate records.

The historic metrics are rather striking: 2013 was the least productive for any Congress since clerks on the Hill started keeping track, and this Congress is on track to pass fewer laws than any modern Congress.

The 'Kochtopus' Death Star kills Citizens Clean Elections

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have to admit that I was surprised by how quickly the Arizona Supreme Court entered its order setting aside the injunction of the Court of Appeals and agreed with the arguments of the "Kochtopus" Death Star, the Goldwater Institute, on higher campaign finance limits. It's as if there was no deliberation at all and the minds of the Justices were already made up before oral argument. That does not look good for appearance sake.

With its order allowing the higher campaign finance limits to go into effect, State Supreme Court lifts campaign finance limits, the Arizona Supreme Court has effectively ruled on the case despite the fact that a trial on the merits is pending before Superior Court Judge Mark Brain in the Maricopa County Superior Court. I am not sure what purpose would be served by proceeding with this litigation, other than to allow the "Kochtopus" Death Star to make its argument that there should be no campaign finance limits at all because "money=speech," under its gross distortion of the First Amendment.

AZ Supreme Court says "Merry Christmas" to R legislators, "Gimme" to lobbyists...

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

...and "Up Yours" to the people of Arizona...

From the Arizona Republic, written by Mary Jo Pitzl -

Higher campaign-contribution limits — up to $4,000 per candidate in a statewide race — are in force for the 2014 elections, in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling handed up late Tuesday.

The five-member court sided with state legislative leaders, who argued a bill that raises the limits and applies them to both the primary- and general-election cycles does not violate the state Constitution. They argued the higher limits are a free-speech right and would help fend off independent-expenditure committees from distorting candidates’ messages.

I'm not sure where Pitzl got the "$4,000" figure.  The original bill set the limits at $5K - $2500 per election, with the primary and general elections considered  to separate elections for campaign finance purposes - but there was also an argument that while the increased limits could not be stopped, they could be reduced by 20% under the law enacted by the voters that created the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.  $4000 is 20% less than the new law's "$5,000".

Still, whether the new limit is $4K or $5K per contributor, it's way too high for the vast majority of Arizonans.  Under the new limits, only corporations, the very wealthy, and those who do their bidding will be able to afford giving serious financial support to candidates.

The Tea-Publican economic terrorist are already plotting the next debt ceiling hostage taking

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Beltway media villagers were tripping all over themselves on Sunday to lavish praise on the GOP's alleged boy genius, Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan (R-WI), for his "pragmatic" budget compromise with Democrats. You would think it was the dawn of a new bipartisan era of cooperation where long-delayed legislation like a jobs bill and a comprehensive immigration reform bill were suddenly possible.

I can't believe how stone-cold stupid the Beltway media villagers are. First of all, the Senate still has to pass the House budget this week, which is not at all a certaintly. And then comes the appropriations committee process where Democrats and Tea-Publicans will square off over farm bill subsidies, food stamps and an extension of long-term unemployment insurance benefits, just to name a few.

Secondly, there is no "dawn of a new bipartisian era" -- this is the GOP 2014 election strategy to become the "Anti-ObamaCare" single issue party. Ryan on Sunday defended his budget deal to avert a government shutdown, saying that it would allow the Republican Party to "focus" on destroying President Barack Obama's health care reform law. Paul Ryan: Averting shutdown with budget deal allows GOP to 'focus' on killing Obamacare . That sounds like the same old bunch of dead-enders to me.

The case for aggressive litigation in the AIRC redistricting cases

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is the reason why I believe the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) should have been aggressive and filed a counter-claim against the secretive GOP redistricting organization FAIR Trust and its lawyer/lobbyists who tried to influence the AIRC on behalf of the Arizona GOP delegation. It would have allowed for litigation discovery and testimony under oath from everyone involved in FAIR Trust, and it would have conflicted out the lawyer/lobbyists who are currently representing the GOP in the redistricting lawsuits before the courts.

The Orlando Sentinel reports, Florida Supreme Court rules lawmakers can be forced to testify in redistricting court fight:

The Florida Supreme Court ruled Friday that state lawmakers can be forced to testify and turn over documents related to whether they intentionally redrew political maps for partisan gain last year.

The fight between voting-rights groups such as the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Legislature stems from 2010 constitutional amendments adopted by voters that specify lawmakers couldn’t base their decisions when re-drawing congressional and legislative districts on the desire for political gain.

Specifically, the Fair Districts amendments outlawed drawing new lines with the intent to favor or disfavor incumbents or political parties.

(Update) Judge sends Arizona Prop. 200 voter registration case back to the EAC

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Wichita Eagle reports today, Judge sends voter citizenship suit back:

A federal judge has sent back to federal elections officials a request by Kansas and Arizona to force modifications in a national voter registration form so the states can fully enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on Friday sent the states' lawsuit back to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, with instructions that the commission has to have a final decision by Jan. 17.

The states want the federal form to include instructions requiring Kansas and Arizona residents to provide a birth certificate, passport or other proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

The Justice Department says such a change places an additional obstacle for eligible voters and would affect nationwide policy by setting a precedent.

Well Judge, here's the problem with your order. The EAC has no commissioners to comply with your order.

Senate Tea-Publicans have used obstruction of presidential appointments to the EAC to "nullify" the agency out of existence without ever enacting legislation to terminate the agency. This unprecedented form of "nullification" is being remedied with executive and judicial nominees now that Democrats exercised the constitutional option to eliminate the Senate filibuster rule, but the confirmation process has not yet made it down to presidential appointments to the EAC.

The looting of public employee pensions

Posted by AzBluMeanie:

Last week, a federal judge approved the Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy for the city of Detroit. Detroit eligible for nation's largest municipal bankruptcy filing, federal judge rules. The target of this bankruptcy are the public employee pensions.

Initial reports are that the Detroit bankruptcy proposal would leave pensioners with 16 cents on the dollar. This is despite the fact that Michigan’s state constitution, like those of many other states (including Arizona), specifically protects the pension rights of public employees.

U.S. bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes set a crucial precedent on a municipality’s right to cut pension benefits through the Chapter 9 process. Detroit judge's pension ruling is no panacea for beleaguered cities:

“Municipal pension rights are contract rights, and…the impairment of such contract rights in a municipal bankruptcy case is a regular part of the process,” Rhodes concluded, according to a court-issued summary of his findings. “Because the State of Michigan authorized the filing of this case, municipal pension rights in Michigan can be impaired in this bankruptcy case, just like any other contract rights.” (Rhodes read his eligibility ruling from the bench; a written opinion is to follow.)

The Volcker Rule to prohibit risky speculative bets by the banksters of Wall Street

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Five years after the "masters of the universe," the banksters of Wall Sreet, who nearly collapsed the world's financial system and destroyed our economy with their reckless casino capitalism by engaging in risky speculative bets on securitized mortgages, derivatives, credit default swaps, etc., the final "Volcker Rule" to prohibit such risky speculative bets by the banksters of Wall Street using your federally insured customer deposits has finally been approved. Final Volcker Rule limits on bank trading released by regulators:

Government regulators adopted a sweeping rule Tuesday to prevent big banks from trading for their benefit rather than on behalf of customers, three years after the Obama administration called for the measure.

The “Volcker Rule,” named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, bars banks from making trades merely for profit and prohibits them from owning hedge funds and private-equity funds. The centerpiece of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law took years to complete as government infighting and intense lobbying by banks slowed the process.

Lawmakers devised the measure to prevent banks with government backstops such as deposit insurance from making risky trades for their own benefit, because the bets could endanger taxpayers. The challenge for regulators has been restricting such proprietary trading without impeding acceptable practices, such as firms trading on behalf of clients as market-makers or hedging their risk against fluctuations in interest rates.

On Tuesday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board as well as the Federal Reserve unanimously approved the final version of the rule. The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3 to 2 in favor, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted it with a 3 to 1 vote.

Supervision will ultimately be the responsibility of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the CFTC and the SEC.

Treasury proposes new rules for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

About damn time! Treasury proposing new rules on tax-exemption:

The Treasury Department proposed new guidelines Tuesday that would affect so-called social welfare groups applying for tax-exempt status[.]

The intended rule change would establish a new term, “candidate-related political activity,” to help the IRS determine which organizations should be disqualified from 501 (c)(4) status.

The department said it will also seek recommendations for changing how much of a group’s activities could fall into that prohibited category before they would be ineligible for tax-exemption.

Many lawmakers have criticized the IRS’s current policy of allowing organizations to qualify as long as the majority of their activities do not involve political actions, a standard that is difficult to measure.

The newly proposed rules would clarify that social welfare does not count as prohibited activity. It would also define the term “candidate-related political activity” to include communications, grants and contributions and activities closely related to elections or candidates advocating for a clearly identified political candidate.

The Notice of Proposed Rule Making is Here.

'Kochtopus' ALEC model legislation to assault the 17th Amendment

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The "Kochtopus"-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is considering model legislation to assault the 17th Amendment -- the direct election of U.S. Senators -- at its December meeting. Think Progress reports, ALEC Mulls Assault On Constitution’s 17th Amendment — The Direct Election Of Senators:

In an agenda for a December meeting posted on ALEC’s website, one of the items up for review is language for a bill, called the Equal State’s Enfranchisement Act, that would allow state legislatures to add a candidate’s name to the ballot for a U.S. senate seat, along with the names of those nominated by voters.

“A nomination petition stating that the United States Senate is the office to be filled, the name and residence of the candidate and other information required by this section shall be filed with each Presiding Officer of the legislature of the state of __________,” the model legislation states. “The petition shall be filed at the same time as primary nomination papers and petitions are required to be filed.” The language also adds that at least 20 percent of the “then-sitting members of the legislature” must sign onto the nomination.

If ALEC’s members decide to further pursue this act and manage to get it passed in any state, it would be an assault to the 17th Amendment of the Constitution.

(Update) Hey, hysterical media villagers! 'ObamaCare' is working where the GOP is not sabotaging it

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In all the media hysteria over the rollout of "ObamaCare," the feckless media villagers always leave out three predicate facts: Chief Justice John Roberts created the Medicaid opt-out with his poorly considered legal opinion upholding the constitutionality of "ObamaCare," opening the door to partisan mischief; second, said partisan mischief did occur with Red State Tea-Publicans refusing to expand Medicaid and denying more than 5 million desperate Americans access to health care; and third, Red State Tea-Publicans refused to set up their own state-run Marketplace insurance exchanges, creating the need for a complex federal system not contemplated. GOP sabotage should be included in every report.

As for all the unhinged media hysteria, Paul Begala at CNN writes Chill: Obamacare snafus are fixable:

[D]espite the bed-wetting from Beltway Chicken Littles, the President's problems are eminently fixable. The Affordable Care Act isn't collapsing. The Obama presidency isn't imploding.

Similarly, Ed Kilgore at the Democratic Strategist looks at the polling that media villagers are so enamored with, and writes in Polling Panic:

What does it all mean? Probably that most people aren't breathlessly following events in Washington other than to register their heat and noise.

Democrats didn't win the 2014 elections in October and they aren't losing them in November. It's time to chill a bit.

So chill out, media villagers. The sky is not falling despite your best efforts to recklessly and irresponsibly panic the public.

A constitutional crisis: time for 'nuclear winter' in the U.S. Senate

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In blocking Judge Robert L. Wilkins’s nomination on Monday, Senate Tea-Publicans denied President Obama his third pick in recent weeks to fill one of the vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, second in importance to the U.S. Supreme Court. Another Obama Court Nominee Blocked by G.O.P.:

Senate Republicans on Monday blocked President Obama’s third consecutive nominee to the country’s most powerful and prestigious appeals court and insisted they would not back down, inflaming a bitter debate over a president’s right to shape the judiciary.

By a vote of 53 to 38, the Senate failed to break a filibuster of Robert L. Wilkins, a federal judge who was nominated to fill one of three vacancies on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, falling seven votes short of the 60 needed. Two Republicans — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — voted with the Democrats.

The impasse over Mr. Wilkins followed Republican blockades of two other candidates for the court since Oct. 31. Unlike previous fights over judicial nominees, the dispute is not as much about the judges’ individual political leanings as it is about the overall ideological makeup of the court. Republicans have raised few objections to the three candidates’ qualifications or legal positions.

Rather, Republicans are seeking to prevent Mr. Obama from filling any of the three existing vacancies on the 11-seat court, fearing that he will alter its conservative tilt. The court has immense political importance because it often rules on questions involving White House and federal agency policy.

Democrats accused Republicans of exercising a nakedly political double standard for confirming presidential nominees.

“Appointing judges to fill vacant judicial seats is not court-packing,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, said Monday. “It’s a president’s right as well as his duty.”

Ezra Klein: President Obama should not apologize

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

All this faux outrage from the conservative media entertainment complex and Tea-Publican politicians over insurance cancellation notices is a disgusting spectacle to behold.

Essentially what the right-wing is arguing for is continuation of the status quo of a health insurance market that was completely broken. One where people were at the mercy of unscrupulous insurance companies who would sell you a crappy health insurance policy with a low premium, but with high out-of-pocket costs and no coverage for serious illness or medical procedures, preexisting condition exclusions, annual limits -- and frequently cancelled after its term of one year expired. Consumers with a pre-exisitng condition were uninsurable at any price.

In essence, the right-wing is defending health insurance consumer fraud and victimizing consumers. The fact that some people are happy with being victimized by insurers with a crappy health insurance policy and no coverage speaks more to their shortcomings -- "please take my money for nothing in return, i love throwing my money away!" These are not the kind of people who should determine sound public policy.

Ezra Klein argues Obama shouldn’t apologize for blowing up the terrible individual market:

NBC's Chuck Todd asked President Obama about the people losing their health insurance despite his promise that "anyone who likes their plan can keep it." (See the video and read the transcript here.)

"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," Obama replied.

The answer is a bit of a dodge. People aren't finding themselves in this situation based on the president's promises. They're finding themselves in this situation based on his policy. And Obama isn't apologizing for the policy.

"Before the law was passed, a lot of these plans, people thought they had insurance coverage," he said. "And then they'd find out that they had huge out of pocket expenses. Or women were being charged more than men. If you had preexisting conditions, you just couldn't get it at all."

Obama was wrong to promise that everyone who liked their insurance could keep it. For a small minority of Americans, that flatly isn't true. But the real sin would've been leaving the individual insurance market alone.

Cincinnati rejection of pension initiative foreshadows Arizona pension initiative fight in 2014

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this year I told you about the Virginia-based ballot initiative activist Paul Jacob, and his Liberty Initiative Fund that was behind the City of Tucson public employee pension initiative which failed to qualify for the ballot. As I told you, this right-wing organization was behind a Tea Party group called Cincinnati for Pension Reform, which did qualify this model pension initiative for the ballot in Cincinnati in November. Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201).

So what happend with the Cincinnati pension initiative? It was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a crushing defeat. Cincinnati Issue 4: Voters say loud no to pension reform:

Cincinnati voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 4, a major overhaul of the city’s troubled pension system, in Tuesday’s election.

The vote was 78 percent against and 22 percent for.

Peter McLinden, Cincinnati-area Regional Director at AFSCME Ohio Council 8,  released this statement:

"Today's vote will be heard beyond Cincinnati and sends a message for those on the ideological extremes who think it is ok to impose their agenda on an entire city. Had this passed, outside money and political extremists would have cost Cincinnati taxpayers more money, with less services. ...  That said we all are dedicated to working together moving forward to fix the pension system in a way that is in the best interest of Cincinnati public employees and taxpayers."

NPR 'Secret Persuasion' report with the Center for Responsive Politics

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

NPR with the Center for Responsive Politics has a two-part investigative news report into 501(c)(4) social welfare groups and how their donors can give unlimited amounts while remaining private and bypassing public disclosure laws.

Part 1: From Social Welfare Groups, A River Of Political Influence, by Peter Oversby.

Part 2: Secret Persuasion: How Big Campaign Donors Stay Anonymous, by Peter Oversby.

U.S. Supreme Court declines identical case to Arizona campaign finance case

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It would appear the U.S. Supreme Court begs to differ with U.S. District Court Judge James Teilborg's ruling in an Arizona campaign finance case. Portion of campaign finance law overturned:

In 2011, Galassini sent an e-mail to 23 Fountain Hills residents making them aware of the road-bond proposal, asking them to write letters to a local newspaper and naming two street-corner protests where recipients were encouraged to show up with signs to make passers-by aware of their opposition.

Galassini then received a letter from Town Clerk Bev Bender saying Galassini needed to file a statement of organization in the Town Clerk’s Office before any electioneering takes place “if any additional person or persons join the effort.” After receiving the letter, Galassini told Bender she would stop all e-mails and not hold a rally.

Galassini asked the court to declare unconstitutional the portion of state campaign-finance law that requires groups that speak about ballot issues and accept or expend less than $500 to file as political committees.

In his order, [U.S. District Court Judge James] Teilborg said the definition of political committee is “overbroad because it sweeps in a substantial amount of protected speech that the state does not have an important interest in regulating.”

(Update) The Washington Post looks at Sean Noble's 'Kochtopus' dark money organizations

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I'm still waiting on The Arizona Republic to do investigative reporting into the hub of "Koch Brothers Network" dark money political non-profit corporations operating out of Maricopa County. The media is supposed to be the 'watchdog of democracy,' not the media arm of the GOP.

Instead, the Republic's resident GOPropagandist Doug MacEachern wrote a love letter to the "Kochtopus," For liberals, Kochs and tea party are evil personified, and the Republic turned over its opinion page to one of the key players at the center of the California money laundering scheme, former House Speaker Kirk Adams, president of Americans for Responsible Leadership, who dismissed the California investigation as a "big old nothing-burger." Why anonymous is good. Hard-hitting investigative journalism response from the Republic: "What condiments go well on a nothing burger?" (actual question).

The Arizona Republic is useless.

Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger at the Washington Post today take a look at Sean Noble's 'Kochtopus' dark money organizations, California donor disclosure case exposes how nonprofits can play in politics:

[N]ew revelations in California provide an unusual look at one national network of such groups that helped move $15 million into ballot-initiative campaigns last fall while working hard to hide the identities of their prominent financial backers. A pair of conservative nonprofits at the heart of the effort were together fined a record $1 million after a year-long state investigation, while two political committees were ordered to repay the state for $15 million in donations they received.

* * *

Several of the advocacy groups at the center of the California case have played significant roles in national elections, including Americans for Job Security, Americans for Responsible Leadership and the American Future Fund. Those three groups have reported more than $68 million in campaign-related expenditures during the past two election cycles, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Because they are set up as nonprofit organizations rather than political committees, the groups are not required to disclose their financial supporters to the FEC.

The details of the California scheme, revealed in interviews and a cache of investigative documents, show how political operatives casually shuffled around massive sums with little accountability. At one point, a consultant involved sent a text message requesting $11 million. The case also spotlights the extreme measures that operatives took to skirt disclosure regulations, passing along funds through a daisy chain of organizations without knowing which groups would get the cash or whether the money would end up where it was intended.

Koch-blocker Doug MacEachern: 'No transparency and disclosures in campaign finances for you!'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic's resident GOPropagandist for the conservative media entertainment complex, Doug MacEachern, is a sad and pathetic creature. He lives in the conspiracy theory hate-filled world of talk radio and FAUX News. Like Sméagol in The Lord of The Rings, it has turned him into Gollum.

I recently took The Arizona Republic to task for its lack of investigative journalism into the dark money web of "Kochtopus" organizations operating out of the Phoenix area right under its nose. The media is supposed to be the 'watchdog of democracy,' not the media arm of the GOP.

Doug MacEachern appears to be the Koch-blocker editor responsible for preventing such investigative reporting, with GOPropaganda love letters to the "Kochtopus" like this recent opinion. For liberals, Kochs and tea party are evil personified:

The settlement reached Thursday in California over anonymous campaign contributions was one of those good-news, bad-news things.

The good news? Two nameless, faceless Arizona-based non-profits that funneled $16 million into California ballot-measure campaigns got their knuckles whacked, and hard.

The bad news is that the California public officials who negotiated the settlement, which included a $1 million fine, just couldn’t resist topping off their big victory with a cheap-shot partisan dig:

The two Arizona groups, they said, “operated as part of the ‘Koch Brothers Network’ of dark money political non-profit corporations.”

“Koch Brothers” — a reference to a couple of rich guys who dare contribute to conservative causes — is a well-worn, all-purpose liberal epithet for perceived conservative villainy. Everything about the word “Koch” sets liberal hair afire.

'Kochtopus' dark money and Arizona solar energy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic reported this week, APS, solar companies clash over credits to customers:

APS recently acknowledged to The Arizona Republic that it provided money to a Washington, D.C.-based conservative organization called 60 Plus, which focuses on seniors’ issues such as taxes, Social Security and Medicare.

It also gave money to another non-profit called Prosper, which was launched this year by Republican Kirk Adams, a former Arizona House speaker.

The non-profits have supported APS’ position in websites, online videos and television advertisements.

John Hatfield, APS vice president of communications, said the utility is contributing money to the non-profits, and potentially other groups, through political consultant Sean Noble and his firm, DC London.

“We needed to respond to these ridiculous assertions that we do not support solar,” Hatfield said, adding that APS does not agree with all political positions at 60 Plus and Prosper.

Early this year, APS initiated a series of meetings with solar companies and other interested parties to address net metering.

In March, California rooftop-installation companies SolarCity Corp. and Sunrun Inc., with other partners, formed TUSK, or “Tell Utilities Solar won’t be Killed.”

The group opposed changes to net metering even before APS formally submitted its proposed changes to the Corporation Commission, which approves rates and related policies for most of the state’s utilities.

Rick Renzi: From the US House to the Big House

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings

 

...It was a long and winding road, but the destination is in sight now...

From the Phoenix New Times, written by Ray Stern -

Former Arizona U.S. Congressman Rick Renzi was sentenced today to three years in prison following his June conviction on fraud and corruption charges.

The sentence was a long time coming in this classic case of congressional corruption, but Renzi, a Republican, will finally be doing some hard time. New Times was the first to expose Renzi's disgusting dealings in a 2006 article that preceded his 2008 indictment.

Arizona U.S. District Judge David C. Bury sentenced Renzi in a Tucson courtroom Monday, October 28. Renzi's buddy, real-estate investor James Sandlin, also found out today he'll be serving 18 months in the Big House himself.

While there may be a few political luminaries in Arizona who are as deserving of prison as Renzi, I can't think of any who are *more* deserving.

Rick Renzi sentenced to three years for corruption

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they turn. Former Arizona U.S. Rep. Renzi gets 3-year prison term:

Former U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, convicted in June on 17 counts of extortion, racketeering and other federal charges, was sentenced to three years in prison this morning at the U.S. District Court in Tucson. The 55-year-old Republican served in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District from 2003 until 2008, when he chose not to seek re-election while under indictment.

* * *

Renzi, who is expected to appeal, was allowed to remain free following the hearing, but was ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his time on Jan. 6.

Renzi’s sentencing caps criminal proceedings that dragged on for more than five years. In June, after a 24-day trial, he was found guilty on two sets of charges. In one scheme, prosecutors said, he embezzled client funds from his southern Arizona insurance brokerage, funneled the money into his first election campaign and sought to cover up the crime.

In the second conspiracy, Renzi allegedly committed extortion while trying to orchestrate a swap of U.S. government land for an alfalfa farm near Sierra Vista that belonged to a business partner who owed him money. A deal ultimately was consummated and Renzi paid $733,000 to relieve a debt from his associate, James Sandlin, who also was convicted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino said after Monday morning’s hearing that the outcome verifies that, no matter how long it takes, “justice will be served.”

More details at the link. Michael Bryan used to cover "Renzigate," so I will let him provide a commentary.

Tea-Publican sabotage, rooting for failure

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Because nothing says sober, serious, responsible government like someone rooting for it to fail . . .

There is something deeply disturbing about Tea-Publicans. GOP hopes Obama heath care woes have staying power. What kind of patriotic American roots for their country to fail? Whatever happened to "American exceptionalism" and our can-do spirit? Who are these people?

Remember back when the GOP pushed through its Medicare Part D government subsidy to Big Pharma and tried to set up its program? The Tea-Publicans are all pretending to have amnesia about this disaster now. Jon Perr remembers How Democrats Saved Bush's Medicare Drug Program:

President [Obama] declared, "It's time for folks to stop rooting for its failure because hard working middle class families are rooting for its success."

["I’m willing to work with anyone, on any idea, who’s actually willing to make this law perform better.  But it’s well past the time for folks to stop rooting for its failure.  Because hardworking, middle-class families are rooting for its success." Transcript of Weekly Address: Enrolling in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace (10/26/2013).]

Which is exactly right. After all, when President Bush's Medicare prescription drug program nearly crashed and burned in late 2005 and early 2006, Democrats in Washington and in the states stepped in to save it.

The media is supposed to be the 'watchdog of democracy,' not the media arm of the GOP

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

To its credit, The Arizona Republic has from time to time editorialized against the corrosive and corrupting influence of "dark money" political organizations in Arizona. See today's editorial opinion, How to peel the 'dark money' onion, ostesibly about California's Fair Political Practices Commission settlement with Arizona-based Americans for Responsible Leadership and the Center To Protect Patient Rights. Yvonne Wingett does some decent hard news reporting today as well. 2 Ariz. groups to pay $1 million for not disclosing Calif. campaign-fund sources.

But this faint praise comes with a caveat. The Republic's editorial opinion today, as in previous editorial opinions, always come back to the "dark money" political organizations who have attacked their anti-union, anti-public employee pensions Golden Boy, Phoenix City Councilman Sal Diccicio, whom the Republic endorsed as "the 2013 version of Scott Walker." In DiCiccio race, it's union advocates vs. taxpayers. (Scott Walker has also endorsed Sal Diciccio).

Nightmare scenario: no campaign finance limits

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Craig McDermott posted about the Court of Appeals ruling in Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, et al. v. The Honorable Mark H. Brain, and real parties in interest (.pdf) earlier in State appeals court blocks higher campaign contribution limits.

Howard Fischer from Capitol Media Services has a report in the Arizona Daily Star this morning (the online link is not working) captioned "Appellate court orders new review for campaign-finance limits," which lays out a nightmare scenario for anyone concerned about the corrupting influence of unlimited money in political campaigns:

In a formal opinion, the judges reaffirmed their earlier order keeping the current limits in place, saying there is evidence legislation pushed through by Republican lawmakers earlier this year increasing campaign donation limits violates a constituional provision.

But the court also sent the case back to the trial judge, directing Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Brain to consider claims by lawyers for Republican legislative leaders that the old limits -- the ones the appellate court just restored -- are so low as to violate the First Amendment rights of candidates annd donors. [A favorite argument of the Goldwater Institute.]

That raises the possibility the old limits could be declared unconstitutional. And if the new limits were improperly enacted, there might be absolutely no cap on how much individuals and political action committees could give, or how much candidates could accept.