Random Musings

Special session Thursday?

2009-12-14T21:35:00.004-07:00

Mary Reinhart of The Arizona Guardian is reporting that a one-day special session of the lege is in the works for Thursday (subscription required). There is some confusion over the details of the timing, but her article covers the topic well.

As planned, the session would include a referral of a sales tax hike to the ballot as well as a question to allow the lege to breach the protections of the Voter Protection Act (aka "Prop 105") to raid the funds of measures approved directly by the voters. In addition, there would be $200 million in budget cuts on the agenda.

According to State Rep. David Schapira (D-LD17), the tentative schedule is for the session to begin on Wednesday for Appropriations Committee consideration (and back room arm-twisting [my phrase, not his]) with COW and final passage (and probably more arm-twisting) on Thursday.

There are some serious questions if any package can pass a special session - most of the R caucus in the House and some of the Rs in the Senate have made it clear that they won't support even the referral of a temporary tax hike unless they pass permanent tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.

In addition, they still aren't talking to Democrats (other than to notify them of the session itself).

As Rep. Schapira said, referring to the Republicans in the House and the chances of a special session passing anything -

"They fall in line, or it falls apart."

More coverage here from Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, published by the EV Tribune.

Stay tuned for developments as this is a fluid situation. While it seems likely to fall apart at any moment, it could also be a done deal by Wednesday, with the leadership just holding the session to cross some "Ts" and dot some "Is" (pro forma consideration of something that they have worked out behind closed doors).

Assuming that the fifth "special" session goes off as planned, I'm not sure how I'd vote on a sales tax hike.

If it is simply to backfill revenue lost to tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, then my vote will be "HELL NO!!"

If it is part of a complete package designed to actually balance the budget while minimizing the pain to Arizona's neediest residents, then "maybe".

As for giving the lege the ability to breach Prop 105, that's a "HELL NO!!" Period. End of question.

These people have shown that they have neither the ability nor the inclination to govern responsibly. As long as they continue to ignore the wishes of their constituents, they must not be given the legal ability to do so.

And regarding any proposed budget cuts, I know that they are inevitable, but I want to see what they are first.

Time to cut the lege's budget, as well as those of state officials who have thus far been untouched by previous budget restrictions (like the Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction).

Later...

Brewer to the people of Maricopa County: You're on your own

2009-12-14T18:50:00.003-07:00

First she abandoned any pretense of leadership during the state's budget crisis, now she has abandoned the people of the state's most populous county during the crisis (OK, it's a clusterf***) facing Maricopa County as a result of the conflicts (OK, it's a civil war) between the County's elected officials.

From AZCentral.com -

Gov. Jan Brewer said the state's budget crisis precludes her from even considering any intervention in current legal and personality clashes within the Maricopa County government.

Brewer told The Associated Press on Monday that she has not looked into whether she should or could intervene.

"I have been paying attention and I have been reading the newspaper and, you know, listening to television and hearing about it," said Brewer. "Certainly I've got my hands full with what I'm facing here at the state level."

The sad part is that Brewer was a Maricopa County supervisor before winning election to the AZ Secretary of State's job.

Yet despite the fact that the people of Maricopa County are her constituents and neighbors, she is washing her hands of the situation, claiming that the state's budget situation demands her complete attention.

So where's the balanced budget, or at least a proposal that's balanced?

Where's her call for a special session to fix the latest fix for the budget?

I suppose this is a cheap shot (but she has made it so easy), but if the budget is the most important thing on her radar right now, more important even than the complete meltdown of Maricopa County government, why is she flitting about the country ~~campaigning~~ speaking at hotel openings, elementary schools, conferences, Christmas tree lightings, and more? (Public schedules for the last two weeks here and here)

Maybe one of her advisers should remind her that she will need the votes of Maricopa County voters during next year's elections if she hopes to win a full term on the ninth floor.

Not seeing the forest for the trees

2009-12-14T12:06:00.006-07:00

The Arizona Daily Star has an interesting article (byline: Rhonda Bodfield) up today about Clean Elections and its perceived failures.

From the article -

It's been more than a decade since voters made Arizona one of only two states at the time to offer public financing of campaigns for statewide races.

It was supposed to mitigate the effects of special interests, give voters more choices and help new faces compete against the power of incumbency.

But even the guy who helped bankroll the campaign to get it approved, former Democratic Party Chairman Jim Pederson, now says it it was a mistake — not only failing to achieve those goals, but actually contributing to more partisanship and the exclusion of political minority perspectives.

There are other quotes, from both sides of the partisan aisle, but almost all boil down to "it's made the lege less partisan and less civil."

Have no doubt - the legislature *is* less civil than it used to be (not that it was ever an afternoon tea party with the Queen of England). Just ask anybody who has been down there for more than five years.

Yet for all of the statistics and anecdotal quotes, the article (and the "quotees" in that article) make one fundamental error - Clean Elections was not and is not about changing partisanship or the behavior of legislators at the Capitol.

It was about giving an opportunity to citizens who don't have the corporate fundraising connections needed to fund "traditional" campaigns to run for lege or statewide office.

It has done so. I personally know a number of people who have run, and a few who have won, races who could never afford to do so under traditional financing.

It was about reducing the influence of lobbyists over the lege, or at least reducing the amount of influence that they have over who is *in* the lege.

This one may be a something of a failure. OK, more than "something" of a failure. Too many legislators (mostly, but not totally, from the R caucus) are openly in the pockets of corporate lobbyists. Of course, that may be due more to the ideology and lack of ethics of the legislators involved than any failures on the part of the Clean Elections law.

And there were elected officials around who were more interested in serving their personal ideologies and/or personal wealth than their constituents long before Clean Elections was ever proposed, much less enacted.

What the Clean Elections law is being blamed for are the effects of two phenomena that are utterly out of its control -

1. The far-rightward shift of the GOP and the harshening tone of its rhetoric, even toward its own members. As this piece from the Washington Post demonstrates, this tendency is a nationwide thing and not limited to Arizona.

Has the right wing of the AZGOP used Clean Elections candidates to take out moderate Rs with primary challenges (here "moderate" = "not conservative enough to bring smiles to the faces of Grover Norquist and David Duke")? Yes.

However, CE was just a tool for the extremists. Blaming CE for that is like blaming a hammer because the carpenter put up an ugly house.

In a state like Arizona, one that is thus far a Republican-majority state, the harshening of the GOP's rhetoric and the polarizing of its internal politics has the effect of similarly "harshening and polarizing" the overall political atmosphere, beyond just the GOP itself.

That's been seen in states that don't have publicly-financed elections, such as Texas and New York ("Scozzafava-ed" is a verb now). Blaming CE for the loss of civility in public discussions is misleading and inaccurate.

2. The apathy toward politics and governance on the part of most Americans. It seems that the vast majority of voters don't pay attention to what is going on in their government until campaign season heats up. And some, not even then.

The cynic in me believes that certain demagogues have deliberately made politics more distasteful so that more people turn away in disgust, leaving the demagogues and their vassals in office to wreak their havoc with minimal oversight.

However, the apathy toward politics has existed for, like, *ever*, so it isn't fair to blame the demagogues for the existence of that tool.

Of course, it *is* fair to blame them for their use of that tool, a use that is detrimental to the state and to the country, but that is a topic for another day.

This post is already long enough. :)

Anyway, I don't have a solution for this problem, other than to tell folks, D, R, or I, to watch the votes and actions of their elected officials, ask hard questions of their electeds, and listen to and consider the answers.

And to do it all the time, not just during campaign season or when things have already gotten ugly.

During one of the pro-education rallies at the lege last session, I was talking to one of the teachers present. He stated that he was a Republican and he was surprised at how bad things were at the lege (i.e. - the level of contempt for education, students, and educators on display from most of the Republican caucus).

He was a Republican, but he had never attended a meeting of his LD party or even a candidate forum other than for school board. He was shocked at the low priority his legislators give to the needs and views of the majority of their constituents.

I suggested that he switch parties or just show up.

I advised him that while as a Democrat, I would welcome him to the party if he chose to change his registration, I would understand if he chose to remain an R. What he could, and should, do, is get involved, at least a little. He doesn't have to be a PC to talk to and evaluate candidates, nor to talk about candidates. Just be there and let the candidates know that average people are watching them, not just the blind ideologues.

And by paying attention, and showing candidates and potential candidates, folks such as him can have a greater voice in which candidates are nominated by their party.

Because ultimately, voters decide who is in office; Clean Elections has only expanded the number of options that they can choose from.

Edit on later on 12/14 to add:

Donna at Democratic Diva has a post on this same subject here where she provides the perspective of someone who has run a campaign as a Clean Elections candidate.

End edit...

2010 candidate update

2009-12-13T21:44:00.004-07:00

Normally, the format for these posts is to discuss top of the ballot candidates and then work down. However, since the candidates for Tempe City Council are set while most of the other races are still forming up, we'll start with that one.

- For Tempe City Council:

Incumbents Shana Ellis and Onnie Shekerjian will be joined in the race for the Council's three open seats by Robin Arredondo Savage and Mark Ortiz. AZCentral.com report here. The Tempe City Clerk's announcement here. The Primary election will be held on March 9, 2010 and the General election (if necessary) will be held on May 18, 2010.

Ortiz is an Iraq War vet, community volunteer, and employee of a locksmith business and a lawn care business. His website is here, though it seems to be incomplete at this time.

Ellis is on the Council and is currently serving as Tempe's Vice Mayor. Her 2006 campaign website is here, though I'll update the link when/if a more current one comes online. Before her election to the Council that year, she had been a long-time community activist.

Shekerjian was also elected to the Council in 2006. Her campaign website from that year is here, though as with Ellis, when/if a more current site comes online, I'll update here. She's a conservative Republican who emphasizes her ideology during Council meetings and campaign stops. She's also Mayor Hugh Hallman's last remaining ally on the Council - unlike Mayor Bob Walkup of Tucson, Hallman doesn't ignore partisan affiliations when deciding who to work with on issues facing Tempe.

Arredondo-Savage is perhaps the most interesting candidate. She's the niece of current member (and future state legislator?) Ben Arredondo. She's currently a member of the Tempe Union High School District Governing Board. Unlike Shekerjian, she emphasizes community needs in her speeches and actions. She is a Republican, but in her dedication to the community, she is more like her uncle than Shekerjian (or Hallman.) I couldn't find a campaign website, but when one is set up, I'll link to it here.

- For District 2 on the Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District...

...Dana Saar, a member of the Fountain Hills school board, has formed a committee to challenge incumbent Jerry Walker (R-embarassment). AZCentral.com coverage here; Fountain Hills Times coverage here. The race may yet fall by the wayside - a conservative blog (Sonoran Alliance) is reporting that Walker is considering a run for the LD19 seat in the state senate.

- In LD8, a Republican has stepped up to challenge presumed candidate (and fellow Republican) State Rep. Michelle Reagan for the State Senate seat. Michelle Ugenti, a "tea party" brand of Republican, set up a committee on December 3.

Yes, this means that the AZGOP is running against a Reagan from the right.

- Current State Senator Jim Waring is termed out after next year. He has formed an exploratory committee for a run at state treasurer. He will only run *if* current treasurer Dean Martin decides to run for Governor. Phoenix New Times coverage here.

- Tajudeen "Taj" Oladiran has filed to enter the race for the Republican nomination for Attorney General. I couldn't find out much about him, but he seems to be best known for his rather "unique" court filings.

- NRA board member Owen "Buz" Mills has filed for the Republican nomination for Governor next year. And after Jan Brewer said all those nice things about the man at some NRA event last May. I'm shocked. Really. :)

AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has more complete coverage of candidate committees here.

The coming week...

2009-12-13T18:19:00.003-07:00

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice.

...In the U.S. House, the agenda looks to be pretty non-controversial, with the notable exception of possible consideration of a conference report on H.R. 3326, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. Anything with that much money attached to it is certain to generate a fuss.

The House is expected (no guarantees on this however) to finish its business for the calendar year by Friday.

...The U.S. Senate will also be in session. Its committee schedule is here. Of interest to Arizonans: An Armed Services Committee hearing considering, among other things, the nominations of AZers Douglas Wilson as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Mary S. Matiella as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller.

Wilson's bio is on this page near the bottom (summary - he's a DLC Dem who spent most of the 1990s working for the Clinton administration); Matiella's bio is part of this article (she's held a number of finance-related positions in government, including for HUD and the Forest Service. She has been appointed to the Audit Subcommittee of the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board.)

...Back here in Arizona, the intersession makework schedule seems to be nearing its end.

- On Tuesday, the House Study Committee on Sentencing will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR5.

- Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Capital Review will meet in SHR109 at 1 p.m. and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) will meet at 2 p.m in the same room. Both agendas contain an executive session component on private prisons. The item language on the respective agendas differs slightly so they may or may not pertain to the same matter. Either way, they address sending public money to private corporations that exist to profit from incarceration.

No sign of a special session. There were rumors that one more would develop before the end of the month, but that doesn't seem likely at this point. Things could change Monday morning, but... :)

...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. The agenda of that "utilities" meeting is here. Its hearing calendar is here.

...The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday. Agenda here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has an "informal" meeting scheduled for Monday, agenda here. The highlight of this one is the presentation and discussion regarding adoption of financial disclosure standards for County elected officials.

Whatever comes out of this one, you can be sure that Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio a) won't like it, and b) won't think it applies to themselves.

The supes have a "formal" meeting scheduled for Wednesday, agenda here.

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District looks to have a special meeting scheduled for Tuesday night, at least according an item on the previous meeting's agenda. I can't find an agenda for a meeting this week, though a phone call to the district on Monday morning should definitively confirm/refute the existence of a special meeting.

...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week; the Council Calendar is here.

...The Scottsdale City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week; the Community Meeting Notice is here. The highlights of that are a meeting of the Charter Review Task Force on Monday and a meeting of the City Manager Recruitment Ad Hoc Committee on Tuesday (members: Mayor Lane and Council members Littlefield and McCullagh).

Not scheduled to meet this week: Arizona Board of Regents, Boards of Directors of the Central Arizona Project and Maricopa Integrated Health System.

Later...

This stuff would be funny...any place else.

2009-12-13T08:02:00.005-07:00

But since this is all here, it's more scary than funny...

You know, in this down economy (an outright depression in AZ), I am grateful to have a job.

Because of my work schedule though, it's sometimes difficult to write during the second half of the week.

This was one week when I *really* wished I had a schedule that allowed for some serious blogging time after Tuesday.

Let's see. This week saw...

...AZ Senator John McCain facing an ethics complaint over his use of campaign funds to ~~protect the interests of his Big Insurance clients~~ conduct Senate business when he created a series of robo-calls urging recipients to call their own Senators in support of McCain's effort to gut the Senate health care reform measure...

- Brett Mecum, Executive Director of the AZGOP, in trouble for using voter registration records to stalk a woman (thanks to Blog for Arizona for the heads-up on this)...

- Senate President Bob Burns (R-AZ9) purging fellow Republicans Ron Gould, Pam Gorman, and Jay Tibshraeny from leadership positions by stripping them of their committee chairmanships (in Gould's case, he dissolved the entire committee.) Gould's and Gorman's ousters weren't surprising - they've made a spectacle of their "more conservative than thou" jihads against anything resembling good governance...or, as is the case in what has come out of this legislature and governor, anything resembling governmance that is only moderately horrific.

They've embarassed Burns, and payback is as much a part of politics as elections.

I'm not sure what is going on with Tibshraeny. He's had his differences with Burns, but has been civil and professional about it (two terms that are not necessarily applicable to the words and actions of the other two). He's as conservative as they come in the Senate, but will occasionally oppose some of the more draconian measures that come before the Senate. He's a former mayor (Chandler), so maybe he understands that the wingers' games have real world impacts that stretch far beyond the ideological cat box on West Washington.

Or maybe he just has a conscience.

Either way, the fact that he is on Burns' bad side doesn't bode well for Arizona - all expectations are that the coming session's budget battles will be even uglier than last session's.

- However, none of that begins to hold a candle to the fireworks taking place between the various politicos at Maricopa County.

Just this past week, we saw...

...a federal lawsuit alleging a vast conspiracy among judges, attorneys, and county officials to interfere with investigations...

...indictments of Don Stapley and Mary Rose Wilcox. two county supervisors; indictments that probably won't hold up under scrutiny, but they get plenty of press coverage for Arpaio and Thomas...

...an Appeals Court quashing, at least temporarily, any MCSO search warrants of a judge's home and/or computer.

...A judge facing charges from County Attorney Andrew Thomas. It probably isn't a coincidence that the judge is the one who ordered an MCSO officer jailed for contempt for stealing papers from an attorney's briefcase in open court ...or that Thomas and Arpaio released the judge's home address...

...a ~~fishing expedition~~ raid at a public advocacy agency...one that just happens to be focused on the needs of Arpaio's pet "boogeymen" - Mexicans...

I don't know if Arpaio, Thomas, et. al. have violated any federal laws, but given their total control of Maricopa County's law enforcement apparatus and their pre-empting of a state investigation by their own investigations of the state Attorney General, Terry Goddard (there's no substance to those, but an investigation by the AG might be seen as "retaliatory" and a conflict of interest), sooner or later, federal intervention will be necessary in order to clean up Maricopa County government.

In case anyone from the U.S. Attorney's office is reading this:

Sooner would be better than later.

Later...

Out of a comfort zone and lessons learned

2009-12-09T18:51:00.004-07:00

Let me start off by saying that I have a newfound respect for anyone who steps in front of a crowd of (mostly) strangers to speak to them.

A few weeks ago, I wrote of an incident at a meeting of the Scottsdale City Council where a speaker criticized some members of the Council (which while poorly done in this instance, is part of a public official's lot) and the wife of a Council member (family members = off limits under most circumstances).

As this wasn't the first time such things have happened with the Scottsdale City Council and the fact that the Mayor issued a very tepid response (perhaps not-so-coincidentally, the targets of the speaker's ire were the Mayor's adversaries on the Council), I felt it was necessary to step up and say something, to let folks know that this behavior was not representative of Scottsdale's residents as a whole.

So, at Tuesday's Council meeting I did so.

And have never been so scared in my life.

I've spoken in front of small groups of people that I've known (friends, coworkers, etc.) but never in front of strangers, much less a group where I knew going in that most of them were not going to be receptive to what I had to say.

This was definitely out of my comfort zone.

So, as it was a rookie outing for me, it could best be described as "inartful."

Still, it could have been worse - at least I didn't drool on my notes or break into Pig Latin when I got nervous. :)

Among the lessons learned - the three minutes alloted to each speaker that can seem interminable for listeners just flies by for speakers. Even though I tried to keep my remarks brief and on point, the Mayor still cut me off before I finished. To be fair to the Mayor, I got my three minutes, so I am not criticizing him...for this. There will be other occasions for that.

Plenty of them.

In other news: the Council appointed current Deputy City Attorney Bruce Washburn to the vacant City Attorney's job. The initial over/under on his job tenure will be set at 16 months (April 2011) unless Lane's faction remains in the majority after next year's elections.

In other, other news: the Council failed to reappoint an associate city judge (or at least was well on their way to not reappointing - I had to leave for the D17 holiday party) because they didn't feel they didn't have enough info to make the reappointment..but not before they gave the floor to one of Mayor Lane's allies to engage in an off-topic diatribe against photo radar.

Which I thought was rather ironic because on Tuesday evening, one of the City's photo radar vans was situated on Civic Center Boulevard near Scottsdale Stadium, perhaps 1000 feet from City Hall.

Later...

Ya know what I love about campaign season? Campaign ads.

2009-12-08T11:14:00.002-07:00

Particularly satirical ones.

It's amazing what a Google search turns up - fourth on the list of items found with search terms: "Eric Wnuck" and posted on the internet in the last week -

FYI - there's a difference between "shameless copying," which is what the Wnuck campaign did when they posted their own spot last week, one that copied a spot from the Bean campaign in Illinois, and legitimate parody, which this is and something that Eric Wnuck opened himself up for.

FYI2 - I don't know who created the above parody, but given the nature of some of the lines used and the fact that it is, ya know, actually funny, I'm guessing that it is a Democrat.

Seven million dollars would keep a lot of teachers and court workers employed

2009-12-07T22:12:00.005-07:00

Not that Arizona's version of Joltin' Joe (aka Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio) would care about that - that wouldn't earn him as much media coverage as his never-ending feuds with other County officials.

From AZCentral.com -

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is asking the Board of Supervisors for $7 million to cover the costs of legal fees.

Chief Deputy David Hendershott wants the board to transfer the $7 million from the county's general fund to the Sheriff's Office general fund early next year, according to an agenda item obtained by The Republic.

The money would help pay for legal fees the Sheriff's Office incurred from three law firms: Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart; Sanders and Parks; and Wilenchik and Bartness.

Most of the legal fees that Arpaio wants the county supes to pay were incurred during Arpaio's fights with the supes themselves. In short, he wants the supes to fund his harassment of the supes.

Welcome to Maricopa County folks.

Enough with the Tiger Woods stuff already

2009-12-07T21:08:00.003-07:00

Time for a rant...

Enough already.

I don't care that Tiger Woods was in a car accident and ran over a fire hydrant, other than to be happy that no one was seriously hurt.

I don't care that he has cheated on his wife - that's an issue to be sorted out between him and his wife, and perhaps their marriage counselors/divorce attorneys (whichever direction they choose to move in).

I don't care how many different women he has cheated with - any number above zero is bad news for the relationship.

I don't care that his wife has apparently moved out of their home - she hasn't moved in with me (not that I would have a problem with that - she's seriously hot).

What I *do* care about is that media coverage of this is overwhelming coverage of matters that actually have an impact on most of the country.

I can understand if the tabloid magazines/websites/TV shows that exist for the sole purpose of disseminating celebrity gossip cover this because this crap *is* their reason for existence. If you don't care for celebrity gossip (and I don't), you can avoid these media outlets (and I do).

I can understand if the sports networks/websites/mags cover this because Woods *is* a sports figure. This isn't their normal fare, but since this could reasonably be expected to impact Woods' play in his chosen field of endeavor, it's fair game.

What I can't understand is why the "mainstream" media outlets such as MSNBC and CNN have devoted so much effort and time to covering this. I watch those outlets for hard news, not the latest reports of "celebrities behaving badly."

Enough already.

End rant...

Yup, there were lots of "I's" in this one, but it was a rant, just something that has really been bugging me for a week and that I needed to get off my chest.

Thanks for your patience. Back to politics...

Let the screaming in north Scottsdale begin...

2009-12-07T11:32:00.002-07:00

From AZCentral.com -

Senate eyes cosmetic surgery, Botox tax

Last week, the Senate began debate on an $848 billion health care reform bill that includes a 5% excise tax on elective cosmetic surgery, beginning Jan. 1, 2010. The provision would raise an estimated $5.8 billion in the next decade.

To those readers who think that I am being inappropriately snarky toward my oh-so trendily-dressed and impeccably-coiffed neighbors to the north, know this -

The website of the Arizona Medical Board lists 21 medical doctors with a specialty in cosmetic surgery.

7, or 33%, list a Scottsdale address on their licenses. An eighth lists an address in Paradise Valley, but that addy is physically on Scottsdale Road. The doctor in question literally just has to cross the street to be in Scottsdale. That's 38% in or right next to Scottsdale.

According to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Arizona has more than 6,300,000 people in it.

According to the same source, Scottsdale has 235,000 people, or roughly 3.7% of the state's population, living in it.

3.7% of the general population, but more than 38% of the plastic surgeons.

Hmmm...

:)

Note: These numbers don't include the 7 licensees who list out of state addresses. I believe that most of them practice in Scottsdale when they are in-state, but belief is not proof. Also, the numbers do not include the doctors who have a cosmetic surgery component to their practices, but do not claim it as a specialty with the Medical Board. So far as I know, there is no requirement that they do so.

But it does make running numbers on this topic a little more difficult. :)

An open letter to Scottsdale's Mayor and City Council

2009-12-06T22:15:00.003-07:00

This letter was submitted to them via the City's website contact form -

Mayor Lane and members of the Scottsdale City Council,

On Tuesday you will be considering a consultant’s report on the possible acquisition of Arizona American Water Company’s (AAWC’s) operations in Scottsdale.

I am writing to you to urge you to consider the report with an open mind, and during your discussions keep an eye toward protecting the long term interests of the residents of Scottsdale.

You are certain to hear from a number of interested parties on this matter, including many representatives of an organization calling itself The ORANGE Coalition. They will flatly oppose even the mere possibility of the City of Scottsdale acquiring the troubled local operation and assets of Arizona American Water. While they profess to be an Arizona-based organization dedicated to protecting the private property rights of “farmers and ranchers and other land owners,” that description of their purpose may not be a complete one.

According to records from the Arizona Corporation Commission, The ORANGE Coalition was incorporated on November 12, 2008 and listed the addresses of its directors as “1025 Laurel Oak Rd., Voorhees, NJ 08043.”

That is the address of corporate headquarters of American Water Works, the parent company of AAWC.

The inference is clear here – The ORANGE Coalition is an “astroturf” group formed specifically to further the interests of its industry backers, and nothing more.

While all of the residents of Scottsdale (your constituents), even those who work directly (or indirectly) for AAWC, have the right to have their opinions heard, the fact that certain individuals represent AAWC shouldn’t give you reason to confer greater weight to their opinions.

To conclude, let me reiterate the beginning of this note – please consider the report with an open mind and let your decisions in the matter be based on what best serves the needs of the residents of Scottsdale.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

[cpmaz]

NOTE –

The ACC page for The ORANGE Coalition is here: http://starpas.azcc.gov/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wsbroker1/names-detail.p?name-id=14878680&type=CORPORATION

SEC info on American Water’s address from its initial registration is here: http://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1993/dig052193.pdf

American Water’s contact page from its website, with corporate HQ address, is here: http://www.amwater.com/about-us/contact-us.html

Later...

The coming week....

2009-12-06T16:02:00.004-07:00

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies (except where noted) and subject to change without notice.

...This should be the last "busy" week of the year as most political bodies try to get a month's work into the first two weeks of that month.

...In the U.S. House, the agenda includes the as-yet-unnumbered Tax Extenders of 2009 act some info here; it looks to be a bill to extend some tax relief for charitable contributions, alternative fuels development and more. Also on the agenda is H.R. 4173, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. CBO summary here. House Rules hearing on Tuesday.

This will pass the House but the Republicans will absolutely hate it, and enough Senate Dems (Baucus, Schumer, Lincoln, etc.) could cross over on this one and block it from passing the Senate or at least balk enough to remove any teeth from this bill.

...The Senate will continue to consider health care reform. They have hundreds of ~~obstructions~~ amendments proposed by the Rs to slog through. Other than that, the Senate's committee schedule is here. Perhaps of greatest interest to Arizonans is Wednesday's hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. There, they will consider a number of executive branch nominations, including that of Phoenix's P. David Lopez as general counsel (chief lawyer) for the EEOC. Lopez' statement from a November hearing is here. Lopez is an ASU alum and has worked for the EEOC since 1994, primarily as a trial attorney.

...Back here in Arizona, the Legislature's makework schedule is abating somewhat.

- On Monday, Sen. Sylvia "6000 years" Allen's Ad Hoc Committee on Mining Regulations will meet at 9 a.m. in HHR1.

- Also on Monday, the Ad Hoc Committee on Agriculture Regulations will meet at 1 p.m. in HHR1.

Look for these to be industry lobby-fests, and nothing more.

- Still on Monday, the Senate's Committee on Natural Resources, Infrastucture, and Public Debt will meet at 2:30 p.m. in SHR109 to discuss the state of the state's finances with JLBC and State Treasurer Dean Martin.

Look for this to be a combination bashfest (blaming Democrats for everything) and stump speech/posturing by unofficial candidate for governor Martin.

- In other lege news, House Democrats is inviting the public to legislative issue and advocacy forums in Tucson (Monday), Yuma (Tuesday), and Sierra Vista (Wednesday.) There will be more opportunities to meet with legislators about the state's budget issues and learn how to make their voices heard on West Washington.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to hold a special open meeting on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday concerning resource planning/rulemaking and APS' permanent rates. ACC's complete hearing schedule is here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has special meetings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

Monday's agenda is devoted hearing a presentation on the issues facing the County in the next five years and strategic planning.

Tuesday's agenda isn't posted yet, but an executive session regarding the latest litigation spawned by Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas is well within the realm of possibility.

,,,The Board of Directors of the Maricopa Integrated Health System will hold a special meeting Monday afternoon. The agenda includes both executive and open session components regarding assignment of contracts from MedPro to the newly-formed District Medical Group.

...The Governing Board of the Maricopa County Community College District will meet on Tuesday. The agenda includes an executive session at 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. The current agenda looks to be pretty mundane, though there will be special meetings on Wednesday (5:00 p.m.) and next Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and officer elections in January, all of which promise to be interesting.

...The Tempe City Council will meet on Thursday. The Council's Calendar is here.

...The Scottsdale City Council will meet on Tuesday. The regular meeting agenda includes the appointment of a new City Attorney while the agenda for the executive session (planned for 2 p.m.) includes items regarding discussion of and legal advice pertaining to the acquisition of real property, including assets of Arizona American Water within Scottsdale. More on that last in a later post.

Scottsdale's Community Meeting Notice is here.

...Not scheduled to meet this week: Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona Board of Regents, the Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project.

Hypocrisy, Double Standards, and Guilt By Association: Jim Lane's Scottsdale

2009-12-06T11:28:00.001-07:00

By now, most folks who care know that at Tuesday's meeting of the Scottsdale City Council, the Council voted 4-3 to withdraw from the Partner Council of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce. The vote was taken allegedly in response to a ruling that the C of C violated campaign finance laws during last year's elections and would have to pay some fines.

This particular dust-up has been going on since last year's election cycle when the C of C sent out some mailers that looked to endorse the former mayor, Mary Manross, and three candidates for Council, Ron McCullagh, Betty Drake, and Suzanne Klapp. The mailers purported only to discuss the "pro-business" and "pro-Scottsdale" qualifications of the candidates. The C of C claimed that the mailers (and some related TV spots) weren't "political" because they didn't ask anyone to vote for the candidates.

Complaints were filed by some of the non-endorsed candidates, including eventual mayoral victor Jim Lane. Various legal opinions followed that disagreed with the C of C's position, including one in late November from a state administrative law judge.

During the process and since the latest ruling. there have both been calls for the City to withdraw any support it provides to the Chamber as well as sustained withering criticism of then-candidates Klapp and McCullagh for not resigning their positions in the C of C.

None of this should be much of a surprise, because as Greg at Espresso Pundit notes, when the C of C tried to influence the election, they should have made sure that their candidate won.

In politics, retribution is far more frequent than is forgiveness. Lane's vengeance for the Chamber's lack of support for him was fully expected.

Still, the payback theme of the meetings of this year's Council has overwhelmed almost everything else, including common sense, fairness, and ethical consistency.

During the meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Lane pontificated that the City should withdraw from the Chamber because he didn't think that the City should be associated with any organization that breaks the law, in this case, violations of campaign finance laws.

The money quote; the fact that the City and some members of the Council are involved with the C of C "implies that the City itself participated in this."

Hmmm...where could I find "hypocrisy" and "double standards" there, and perhaps an opportunity to apply a little "guilt by association" here?

The sarcastic cynic in me (which I *never* give free rein to...OK, almost never :) ) thinks that this is all merely retribution from Lane because the C of C didn't support him in last year's election and that his moral outrage is of the "faux and one-sided" variety.

However, it is possible that Lane truly respects organizations that follow the law and simply doesn't want the City, the Council, or any of its members associated with an organization that ever breaks laws.

As Mayor, he has to be concerned for the image of the Council and the City, and doesn't want even the appearance of impropriety to sully that image.

The months-long witch hunt against former City Manager John Little notwithstanding.

Which I could accept, except for the fact that the Mayor and at least five of the six members of the Council are Republicans (Lane freely admits that he is one, Borowsky is a member of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women, Klapp, Littlefield, and McCullagh are members of the AZGOP's State Committee representing LD8, and Tony Nelssen is considered to be a Republican's Republican. I'm not sure about Wayne Ecton's registration - based on the few conversationsI think he is an R, but I cannot find independent verification of that right at this moment.)

So, in light of the fact that during the same election cycle, the AZGOP accepted illegal contributions that were earmarked to fund some of the sleaziest ads in recent memory, for the sake of consistency, they've all resigned their positions within the Arizona Republican Party and barred any organs of the AZGOP from using City facilities, so as not to associate the City with illegal activities...in this case, violations of campaign finance laws.

Right?

OK, so I don't expect them to really resign from the GOP, nor do I think that they should, and unless they were directly involved with campaign contribution laundering scheme with Arpaio, Fox, Pullen, and the rest, it shouldn't even be a matter for discussion. As sleazy as the ads and those campaign violations were, they are the responsibility of the people involved, not all Republicans.

By the same token, unless Lane, his followers on the Council (Borowsky, Littlefield, and Nelssen), and his friends/advisers masquerading as outraged "independent" residents of Scottsdale (Whitmer, Fernandez, et. al.) can show that McCullagh and Klapp were directly involved in the C of C's ad campaign, they should give it a rest, lest the same tactics are applied to them.

I don't expect them to learn that lesson, and neither should any readers -

So far, the scheming, back-biting, and hypocrisy have worked for Lane et. al., and they have no reason to stop until their tactics cease to work.

Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic has a pro-Council, anti-C of C view here.

Later...

Tempe recognized by EPA

2009-12-02T13:16:00.002-07:00

From the EPA -

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today recognized Tempe and three other diverse communities that are models of how to grow in ways that protect our nation’s air, land, and water; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; provide safe and affordable housing; and strengthen local economies.

{snip}

For Smart Growth and Green Building, the City of Tempe is being honored for the Tempe Transportation Center. The Tempe Transportation Center is a model for sustainable design, a vibrant, mixed-use regional transportation hub that incorporates innovative and green building elements tailored to the Southwest desert environment. The Tempe Transportation Center is a true multi-modal facility that integrates a light rail stop, the main city bus station, and paths for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The city of Tempe designed the Tempe Transportation Center as a multi-use green
facility that is not only a transportation hub, but also a gathering spot for the community. The center, which replaced a 2.7-acre surface parking lot, provides much-needed public amenities, including a community room and a shaded public plaza. Additional uses include a transit store, a café, shops, and offices, including the city of Tempe’s Transportation Division. Also notable, the center does not provide any automobile parking beyond spaces reserved for persons with disabilities.

From Congressman Harry Mitchell -

"As both a lifelong resident and former Mayor of Tempe, I am proud that Tempe has been recognized for its commitment to being a green and environmentally sustainable community," said Mitchell. "I want to congratulate Tempe city staff and the City Council for their vision and leadership in earning this award, and I hope that my hometown will continue to serve as an example of the possibilities of sustainable design.

Ground was broken on the Transportation Center in 2001 when Congressman Mitchell was the State Senator representing Tempe in the lege and Neil Giuliano was the Mayor of Tempe.

More on Tempe's Green Programs can be found here.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but plagiarism is just lazy and contemptible

2009-12-02T11:37:00.002-07:00

Eric Wnuck, one of the Republicans contending/pretending in their primary race to go up against Democratic Congressman Harry Mitchell next year, has released a new web ad, available at Republican blog Gila Courier here.

GC calls the spot "interesting," notes a couple of possible gaffes (no "paid for by" boilerplate, for example), and pushes folks toward Wnuck's campaign website.

What GC didn't talk about, however, was the spot's dearth of originality.

From the Facebook page of Seth Scott, friend, law student, and former staffer for Congressman Mitchell (hence his knowledge of a particularly relevent fact) (emphasis his) -

Arizona newcomer Eric Wnuck is running in the AZ-05 Republican primary, and earlier today released an I’m-an-everyman-themed Web ad. It features lots of folks saying, “I’m Eric Wnuck,” and attempts to leave viewers with the impression that he’ll a strong voice for all of us in Washington.

It’s a brilliant idea for an ad. But I liked it much better when I saw it three years ago, when it was aired by Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill.

Wnuck plagiarized his new spot, but not from a random party. Nope. This bright bulb lifted material directly from Mitchell’s own advisers.

Adelstein Liston, the firm that has produced all of Mitchell’s television spots, also produced the “I’m Melissa Bean” ad that Wnuck loved so much.

Wnuck's spot can be found here; the original spot from Melissa Bean can be found here. It should be noted that the Bean campaign was professional enough to include the required "paid for by" line.

Further update - NIBW

2009-12-02T11:28:00.003-07:00

Yeah, it's just a "copy and paste" post, but the info is important to the residents of South Scottsdale.

From an email from Rachel Loftin, a Project Manager with the EPA -

Dear NIBW Community Involvement Group -

I am sending this additional information as an update to last Friday's e-mail about a release of untreated water which occurred on Monday, November 23rd, from a drain pipe which is connected to the groundwater extraction and treatment system of the Central Groundwater Treatment Facility (CGTF).

Here's the additional information EPA has learned from the City of Scottsdale:

Again, and most importantly, we want to emphasize that this release did not impact the drinking water supplied by the Central Groundwater Treatment Facility (CGTF).

On Monday, November 23rd, a release of untreated water occurred when Well 75 was turned back on after being off for a couple of weeks while construction work was being conducted. The release was observed by operations staff within 10 minutes of turning Well 75 back on. There was not an alarm or electronic system notification, however CGTF personnel are always onsite during the start-up of the facility to handle any problems or emergency events. The well and CGTF were shut down within 10 minutes of the release.

The release originated at a drain pipe resulting in an overflow of between 500-900 gallons of water onto a grassy area in front of the south gate of the CGTF. The City cordoned off the spill area and collected a soil and groundwater sample. The soil results indicate non-detectable concentrations of TCE and PCE, and the groundwater results from the spill area are 9 micrograms per liter (ug/l) of TCE and 1 ug/l of PCE. These concentrations are quite low.

The data indicate that the public was not impacted by the release because of the short duration of the spill, low volume of water released, and the low detections of TCE and PCE in the spill area. The City returned the CGTF to service last Wednesday, November 25th, after repairs were made and the soil sample results were received.

The City found that 3 automatic valves which were supposed to be closed, were improperly wired and left in the open position. The staff then tried to close the drain pipe using the manual valves, but the manual valves would not shut properly. The personnel on-site shut down the well and the CGTF to stop the spill. As of last Monday (Nov. 23), the City fixed the automatic valve wiring and is in the process of replacing the manual valves.

The City responded promptly to:

- Shut off the well and CGTF to stop the spill;
- Cordon off the spill area in the park;
- Collect a water and soil sample at the spill location;
- Obtain expedited sampling results,
- Wire the automatic valves properly, and
- Replace the 2 manual valves that would not shut/seal properly. This work is in progress.

What Happens Next?

The City is compiling an incident report with photo documentation and recommendations for next steps which will be submitted to EPA by the end of this week. I will share this report with all of you when I receive it.

Vicki, ADEQ, and I will be contacting you in early January to being planning for the annual community meeting to be held early next year.

Please contact me at 415/972-3253 or by e-mail if you have any questions regarding this information. Enjoy the holiday season! I look forward to meeting you all in person early next year.

Best,

Rachel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rachel Loftin
Remedial Project Manager
U.S. EPA, Region 9
Superfund Division, SFD-6-2
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
E-mail: Loftin.Rachel@epa.gov
Phone: 415/972-3253
Fax: 415/947-3528

As more info becomes available, including the time and location of the next meeting of the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site Community Involvement Group, I'll post it here.

Later...

PSA time - a side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate health care reform proposals

2009-12-01T18:00:00.003-07:00

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare has put together a side-by-side comparison of the health care reform, available here.

It shows that while there are some significant differences between the two, there are also some strong similarities.

...Thanks to correspondent Gary B. for the heads-up on the comparison...

Later...

Decisions, investigations, and lawsuits

2009-12-01T16:11:00.002-07:00

It's early in the week, but it has already been an eventful week for legal issues in the Valley of the Sun. And not surprisingly, most of the issues involve Joe Arpaio.

- The same Arizona administrative law judge who found that State Rep. Doug Quelland should forfeit his office for Clean Elections violations found that the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce violated campaign laws with a series of ads during last year's municipal election season.

Certain members of the Scottsdale community (like the member who sits in the Mayor's seat during City Council meetings) will tout this as a victory against the influence of third-party money in local elections.

Any such claims are a lie. The decision is a victory only against third-party money that doesn't go in the mayor's direction. There are still plenty of "independent" committees working to buy Scottsdale's elections.

Most of them are dedicated to supporting Jim Lane and his coterie of followers or opposing Lane's adversaries.

- Maricopa County's resident would-be jerkwater despots, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas were slapped down in a judge's (Encanto JP C. Steven McMurry) ruling that they (actually, the County's taxpayers) have to pay the legal fees of people arrested at a meeting of the County Supervisors last December. The people were there to speak against Arpaio and his anti-immigrant policies.

Snippets from the judge's decision -

In the audio recording of Ms. Theilen immediately after she was arrested, one can hear her, between her sobs, describing, and the actions of the arresting officer, Deputy Acritelli, as those of a “fascist”.

This Court was so startled to read in its post-trial memorandum the County Attorney’s written description of the proceedings before the Board of Supervisors that it went back and reviewed anew all the recordings submitted in this action in their entirety. The Court now sadly concludes that Ms. Theilen’s description of the events is more balanced and objectively accurate than that of the County Attorney.
{snip}

...Deputy Acritelli disrupted the meeting by moving through the audience, pointing at people who were sitting down with their hands in their laps, and insisting that they were being disorderly and had to leave. In virtually the same moment the arrests started. It is simply false to say that these arrests came after "repeated" warnings; they are surprising and disturbing arrests. The ironic moment then came when the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors called Kristy Theilen to the podium. One can hear Deputy Acritelli saying to Ms. Theilen "You're not speaking, you're leaving." Defendant Monica Sandschaeffer suffered the same fate when the Chairman called upon her...

{snip}

...Moreover, it is important to note the message constantly being telegraphed by Deputy Acritelli by his words and manner at both the Supervisor's meeting and his courtroom appearance. Deputy Acritelli communicates that he believes that it is his role to make uncomfortable anyone who express views that disagree with the Sheriff. Were he to be candid, he would probably acknowledge being somewhat proud of it. (1)

[(1) =] On the stand Deputy Acritelli characterized the ruling of another judge who had dismissed similar charges a mistake, and insisted he would make the same arrests again if given the opportunity.

{snip}

...The best basis for an award of the Defendants’ attorney’s fees, however, is probably the “private attorney general” doctrine recognized in Arnold v. Arizona Department of Health Services, 160 Ariz. 593, 609, 775 P.2d 521 (1989). This is such an extreme case, with Sheriff’s Deputies trampling on the First Amendment and being aided and abetted by the County Attorney. It has to stop.

That language, while dry and wordy, is pretty blunt for judge-speak. While Arpaio, Thomas, and most of the Republican blogosphere will denounce Judge McMurry as an "activist judge" or worse, McMurry (as well as most of the county's judges be they Dems or Reps) is a stickler for the law who wants nothing more than to maintain a low profile and do his job.

Today, his job has called for finding fault with the actions of Joe Arpaio, Andrew Thomas, and some of their subordinates.

...In the "OK, the timing of this probably isn't a coincidence" Department: Arpaio and Thomas have filed a federal lawsuit against a laundry list of county officials, judges, and attorneys accusing them of conspiring to hinder the Nativist Twins' investigations into various county officials, judges, and attorneys.

...One of Arpaio's subordinates, Adam Stoddard, has refused a judge's order to apologize for rifling through an attorney's briefcase and removing documents from it without permission.

Arpaio states that Stoddard will serve time in jail per the judge's contempt of court ruling, but refuses to state which ~~Valley resort hotel~~county jail facility Stoddard will be held in.

Guess we'll have to wait for a full audit of MCSO's books to find out. Which should happen during the next millenium or so...

...Just an average couple of days in the three-ring circus known as "Maricopa County Politics."

The John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award

2009-12-01T12:51:00.003-07:00

Last year, this award was created as the Sunday Morning Crappie Award to recognize that week's most egregious example of political flip-floppery. Shortly after creating it, I noticed that Arizona's senior U.S. Senator was winning the Award or was one of the leading contenders every single week.

In the interests of giving every (usually) Republican elected hypocrite their moment in the glare of the spotlight, at that time I named the Award after Senator McCain and deemed him ineligible for future Awards.

However, from time to time Sen. McCain does or says something so outrageously hypocritical that he merits receipt of this eponymous award.

Today is one such time.

Yesterday, McCain introduced an amendment to the health care reform bill in the Senate that would remove any cuts to Medicare funding (the current proposal calls for $500 million in cuts - remember that number)

Sounds like he cares about seniors, or at least that he figures GOP seniors are more frightened of any changes to Medicare than they are of immigrants (giving him a leg up in next year's primary battle versus JD Hayworth), right?

Not so much.

During last year's campaign, McCain proffered his own plan for health care "reform".

At that point in time, he was so concerned with protecting Medicare, his proposal called for $1.3 trillion in cuts.

For this reverse inward twisting 2 1/2 somersault of an expedient political flip flop, the John Sydney McCain Memorial Crappie Award goes to...

John Sydney McCain.

Note: It wouldn't surprise me a bit to see more flip flops and position triangulations from McCain in the coming months - he's got fewer fundraisers since they started getting busted for racketeering and fraud. Whether the biggest threat to his job security comes from within the GOP in the rather loud and blustery form of Hayworth or from the Democrats in the rather tall form of Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman, McCain is going to have to work hard, on the issues and on the ground, to gain re-election this time around.

Note2: According to the FEC, the Florida attorney cited in the linked "racketeering" article raised or donated over $100K for McCain's presidential run last year.

Coverage from...

...The New Republic here.

...Tedski at R-Cubed here.

...Washington Monthly here.

...TPMMuckraker here.

Later...

The coming week...

2009-11-29T22:58:00.002-07:00

As usual, all info gathered from the websites of the relevent political bodies/agencies, except where noted, and subject to change without notice...

This will be a brief post due to other pressing matters, but I'll try to hit the high points.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, they'll be reconvening after their holiday recess on Tuesday. Much of the week's agenda will be taken up with post office namings and the like, but one highlight will be consideration of H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009. From the CRS summary -

Repeals provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) eliminating the tax on estates and generation-skipping transfers and the step-up in basis provisions for property acquired from a decedent for estates of decedents dying after 2009. Declares that the sunset provision (general terminating date of December 10, 2010) of EGTRRA shall not apply to title V of such Act (Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Provisions).

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a $3.5 million estate tax exclusion and a reduction in the maximum estate and gift tax rate to 45% after 2009.

Yup, there will be serious controversy over this one.

Oh yeah...

...The most interesting week should be in the U.S. Senate - they'll be holding floor debate on health care reform. Because of the cloture vote taken on November 21, there will be limits on the debate (though there will still be a lot of it). As such, expect Republican obstructionists to whine that there won't be "enough time" to properly consider all of the ramifications of health care reform.

That's crap.

The Senate's committee schedule is here.

...The Arizona Corporation Commission will hold a securities meeting on Monday; the ACC's hearing schedule is here.

...The Arizona Board of Regents will meet on Thursday and Friday at U of A. The agenda is here.

...The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will meet in "informal" session on Monday and *formal* session on Wednesday.

...The Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Project will hold a regular meeting on Thursday.

...The Tempe City Council isn't scheduled to meet this week, but the Council Calendar is here.

...The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. At 2 p.m., they will hold an executive session to interview three candidates for the vacant City Attorney job. At 5 p.m., they will hold a regular meeting. The City's Community Meeting Notice is here.

Later...

North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site update: small spill

2009-11-27T17:54:00.003-07:00

From an email from Rachel Loftin, the EPA's Project Manager -

Dear NIBW Community Involvement Group -

I am sending this to let you know of a release of untreated water which occurred on Monday, November 23rd, from a drain pipe which is connected to the groundwater extraction and treatment system of the Central Groundwater Treatment Facility (CGTF).

Here's what EPA has learned from the City of Scottsdale:

First, and most importantly, we want you to know that the release did not impact the drinking water supplied by the Central Groundwater Treatment Facility (CGTF).

On Monday, November 23rd, a release of untreated water was noticed within 10 minutes of turning on well 75. The well and CGTF were shut down as quickly as possible. The release originated at a drain pipe. Between 500-1000 gallons of water was released resulting in an overflow into a retention basin at the adjacent park. The City cordoned off the spill area in the park and collected a soil and groundwater sample. Preliminary groundwater results are 9 micrograms per liter (ug/l) of TCE and 1 ug/l of PCE. These concentrations are quite low.

Because of the short duration of the spill, low volume of water released, and the low detections of TCE and PCE in the spill area, the preliminary data indicates that the public was not impacted by the release.

What happens next?

The City is gathering additional facts and sampling results, and will provide them to EPA early next week. In turn, I will provide the additional information to all of you early next week as well. The City is also developing an incident report with recommendations for next steps which I will pass on to all of you when I receive it.

Please contact me at 415/972-3253 or by e-mail if you should have any questions. In the meantime, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Best,

Rachel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rachel Loftin
Remedial Project Manager
U.S. EPA, Region 9 Superfund Division, SFD-6-2
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
E-mail: Loftin.Rachel@epa.gov
Phone: 415/972-3253
Fax: 415/947-3528

Because the email came through so late on a Friday, I won't be able to follow up on this until Monday at the earliest, and since I have stuff on my schedule already, perhaps not even then.

Anyway, have a good weekend...

The political prognostication thing is easy...

2009-11-27T15:48:00.003-07:00

Earlier today, I posted about how Sen. Chuck Gray (R-Pearce's saddle partner) was going to forego a re-election run next year in favor of pursuing "business opportunities."

Contained in that post was the prediction that Republican Rich Crandall, one of LD19's state reps, would pursue the spot in the Senate.

Turns out that prediction was spot on.

From the AZ Rep's Political Insider -

Rep. Rich Crandall is likely to contend for the state Senate seat from east Mesa that Chuck Gray is vacating.

Crandall announced a Senate exploratory committee, noting that Gray does not intend to seek re-election.

{snip}

Crandall is in his second term in the House and chairs the House Education Committee. A move to the Senate is tempting, especially since the Senate Education Committee chairmanship will be open after 2010, as current chairman John Huppenthal is term-limited.

As of this writing, the AZSOS' office hasn't posted any info regarding a Crandall exploratory committee, and Gray's committee is still official "active" (according to his most recent financial report, which is a year old, , he still has over $14K in the committee's treasury). Expect those facts to change within a week or so.

Chuck Gray (R-LD19) not seeking reelection next year

2009-11-27T10:28:00.003-07:00

Chuck Gray, the winger state senator from East Mesa (with Russell Pearce covering West Mesa, Mesa is represented in the State Senate by all sorts of nutty), has announced that he won't be running for re-election next year in order to pursue as yet unspecified "business opportunities."

Not being a Republican, much less an East Mesa Republican, I don't have any insight into who is going to step forward as candidates to replace Gray as the third member of the R slate in LD19. However, my best guess is that they will be contending for a House seat, as State Rep. Rich Crandall will probably try to move over to the Senate.

He was rumored to be interested in the Superintendent of Public Instruction spot, but that primary is already a cattle call on the Republican side (five candidate committees and counting). In addition to that, Crandall's seatmate in the House is Republican Kirk Adams, the Speaker of the House.

Something tells me that Adams isn't likely to want to go from the top position in one chamber to a rank-and-file position in the other (OK, assuming he successfully made the transition, he'd probably rate at least a committee chair). At least, not until he is forced to do so by term limits.

As such, Crandall seems likely to be the one to try to move to the Senate, possibly to help set up a statewide run of some sort in 2014.

Look for more such announcements, from both sides of the aisle and in both chambers, as the turn of the year approaches.

Later...

Barnes: the transcript

2009-11-24T14:42:00.003-07:00

Well, apparently the staff at the lege was in a hurry to wrap up before the holiday, so the video archives from yesterday's session of the House is already posted on the website. Click on the "video" link for "11/23/2009 - House Third Reading - Special Session 11/23/09".

Here's the "unofficial" transcript, "unofficial" meaning "transcribed by a blogger with a newfound respect for court reporters" (note: it's not perfect, I left out a lot of the umms and pauses and the like) (Note2: "B" = Barnes, "A" = House Speaker Kirk Adams, and "S" = Representative Kyrsten Sinema):

[37:35 mark]

B: My light is lit, sir.

A: Please explain your vote.

Thank you mr. speaker. there's a couple of things...when I walked in here the first thing that I heard was that there weren't any Republicans that were against this thing...and..umm...I think maybe the other side should learn to count, Maybe it will help them with their budget problems.

As far as I could see, all the Republicans were there. The second thing that bothered me was when Mr. Ableser said that there was no bipartisanship here. I guess he forgot that he's a member of the Environment Committee and that I've helped push his bills through...I've helped push Representative McGuire's bills through and it has nothing to do with the fact that they're Democrats that I did it and it has nothing to do with the fact that other people are Republicans that I do that.

If it's a good bill, it goes, if it's not a good bill it doesn't go.

And this is the same thing with this. If it's good, it goes.

Now is this the best? No, it's far from the best.

[Start of the juicy stuff at the 38:45 mark]

And you say that "well you can't touch education".

When I went to school, we had the superintendant of schools and that was it. and then, for the school itself, it was the principal and the assistant principal was the English teacher, and when the principal wasn't there a substitute came in and took the English teacher's place and she became the principal.

[volume rising]

Now, you have the superintendant, the deputy superintendant, the superintendant of communications, the superintendant of sports, the superintendant of government affairs.

Ya got the principal, the assistant principal, the assistant to the assistant principal, the principal of recess, the principal of discipline, the principal of sports, and I'm sure unless we got a bisexual teacher somewhere, there's probably a principal of the girls restrooms and a principal of the boys restrooms.

[39:38]

And that bothers me, because I'm telling you that's not...[muffled]...padding the books...

[interrupted for a point of order from Rep. Sinema]

A: Mr. Barnes, point of order. Ms.Sinema, your point.

S: Impugning. I think, lack of decorum. Something inappropriate. Please keep your comments to the bill and not to people's orientation. Thank you.

B: I'm sorry, I didn't hear what she said sir.

A: Mr. Barnes, she would like you to keep your comments to the bill. Please proceed.

B: She wanted me to keep what?

A: Your comments to the bill.

B: I think this IS THE COMMENTS TO THE BILL! IS THERE NOT ANYTHING IN THERE ABOUT EDUCATION CUTS?!? WHAT'S THE MATTER? DON'T YOU READ THE BILLS BEFORE YOU START VOTING ON THEM?!?

It is a part of the bill. And now I'll tell you something, it's gonna happen again and it's gonna happen again and it's gonna happen again and I don't know where it's gonna stop. But you think it's in trouble now, you wait! Because if we don't solve all of the problems this year, which I doubt if we will, we got three times as many next year.

Somewhere, somewhere down the line, that thing is going to break. and then...I tell ya, one of the school districts came in and talked to me and said {mocking tone} "you can't vote against the school problems because we need the budgets, we can't solve them."

And I says "lookit", I says "quit putting pressure on me, I got enough pressure, I'm not against education. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for education."

And he says "but we can't take any cuts." I says "now wait a minute." I says
"I tell you what". "why don't we just let the state go bankrupt and let a trustee come in that's not...you can't vote on a trustee...the trustee comes in and he decides who's gonna take the cuts.

"Oh no no no, you can't do that!"

I says "yes we can, and maybe we should."

The transcript doesn't really capture the nuance and flavor of Barnes' rant. I heartily recommend that those who are interested view the video for themselves.

Those that don't live in AZ's LD7 will find themselves laughing their butts off and having something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving holiday; those that live in Barnes' district will find themselves crying this holiday.

BTW - Le Templar at the EV Tribune points out here that Barnes' bankruptcy scheme isn't feasible or even legal here.

Update - The AZ Capitol Times has posted the video on YouTube.