Entries from January 2006

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

On the Verge of a Deal? Naw.

This morning, I heard on KUAZ that Governor Napolitano stormed out of a meeting with legislative leaders saying, “You don’t need to walk out, because I will.”
Yeah, a nice story, one that would be emblematic of the squabble over the English language learners legislation. It would be, except it seems to be untrue. I spoke […]

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

I Don’t Know About David Lara, But Ethelred the Unready Should Be Ticked

Okay kids, remember the spin: deep differences among Republicans indicate they are an inclusive “big tent.” Any differences among Democrats are a civil war within the party and indicate that those darned liberals are unfit to govern.
-sigh-
The latest hoo-hah that the local media is trying to overblow is a supposed row over immigration between Raúl […]

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Coretta Scott King

1927 - 2006

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

My God, They Attacked a Journalist Anchorman!

Okay, I have to admit that I ruthlessly stole this from Wactivist. Mr. T in AZ, proprietor of that site, was a bit taken aback by how much attention was given by television networks to the story of Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt and their injuries in Iraq. Why, he asks, is so much attention […]

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Deposed Legislators Don’t Tango

Well…David Burnell Smith’s legislative career has ended with not a bang, but a whimper.
Yes, I am allowed clichés. This is my blog, after all.
It turns out that Smith did not get a chance to resign, since the Seceretary of State had already declared a vacancy. The attendance board bore the legend “Vacant” in place of […]

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Yarborough’s People

So, you might be wondering why the Republicans keep pushing for these corporate tuition tax credits when they aren’t supported by the public and, in what seems to be more important strategically, will never make it past the Governor’s desk with anything that resembles a signature.
Well, it could be because at least one person could […]

Sunday, January 29th, 2006

What Are They Working On?

After the Governor vetoed the second Republican corporate tax giveaway massive wealth transfer disguised as an English language learners bill, members got right back to work to give her a bill that she could actually sign.
Wait, that didn’t happen. The legislature went back into regular session, and even took the weekend off.
Near as anyone […]

Saturday, January 28th, 2006

A Missive From One of the Legion of R-Cubed Fans

Funny how many people read this blog. I recieved a note from Barrett Marson, who works as the Director of Communications for the Arizona House of Representatives:
Tedski, I read your blog every day and do so love it. You may remember me from being the legislative reporter from the Daily Star for a couple years […]

Friday, January 27th, 2006

Pity the Poor Billboard Conglomerate

The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that Clear Channel must remove billboards from along I-10.
This is one of several ongoing legal actions between Clear Channel and various local governments. It is one of many instances where Clear Channel seemed to believe that they don’t need to follow the rules that other companies need to […]

Friday, January 27th, 2006

Arlo Said That If We Have Three, We Will Have Ourselves a Movement

A correspondent in Yuma sent me a story about the former Yuma County School Superintendent Judeth Badgley. She’s a Republican Schools chief who two years ago presided over a reign of kick-backs and political favortism. This sounds vaguely familiar…I know there is a reason that the story was sent to me…

Friday, January 27th, 2006

Not Only Does He Hold Office Illegally, But Apparently He Can’t Read a Calendar

From the desk of David Burnell Smith, Citizen:
The Arizona Supreme Court has denied my motion for a stay and indicated that they will deny my petition for review. Therefore, I will submit my letter to the Speaker on Monday, January 31st, on the Floor.
Sincerely, DAVID BURNELL SMITH
Arizona State House of Representatives District 7

There is one […]

Friday, January 27th, 2006

Republicans: Underprivileged Kids = Big Bucks

I posted a blurb about Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling a few days ago. Now I’m hearing more about the story, and it should outrage every citizen of this state.
Dowling, in addition to her other duties as Superintendent, is the sole member of the board of what is called the Maricopa County Regional School […]

Thursday, January 26th, 2006

Make Sure Not to Slam the Door; Just Hand Your Keys to Slim on the Way Out

It appears that the short and well litigated political career of David Burnell Smith has finally ended. The Arizona Supreme Court has refused to issue a stay of a lower court’s order that he vacate his office for violating the Clean Elections law. He can still appeal, but he will not be able to do […]

Thursday, January 26th, 2006

It Takes a Big Man

So, my mom got two calls this morning at 4:30. That’s right, 4:30 AM. You know, when most people don’t like to be awoken by phone calls.
The calls were both recordings of Howard Dean’s infamous “scream” speech. She called me up wondering if there was some sort of “robo-call” going out. Thinking about it later, […]

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

In Other Republican Education News

Hey, anyone know why the Maricopa County Attorney tossed Sandra Dowling’s office today?
I don’t know, I’m asking.

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

Giffords Announcement; Gelenberg-Weiss Builds Team

I attended Gabrielle Giffords’s announcement yesterday. Yes, I am not even pretending to be neutral. Have a problem with that?
When I worked for Gen. Clark’s campaign, it used to frustrate my boss that I was bad at estimating crowd size. This is the reason why I can never be a real political reporter. I’ll tell […]

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

Just In Case They Didn’t Get the Point the First Time

The Republicans went ahead and passed their “fix” to the English language learner’s bill. Apparently, they thought that the fix would be decreasing the corporate tax give away from $850,000,000 to $50,000,000. I guess you can call that an improvement, but they did nothing to fix the numerous other flaws in the bill, such as […]

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Governor’s Veto Message

The text of the Governor’s veto message is available. That didn’t take her long at all.
Apparently, they are right now debating a for-real bill. Of course, none of them have had time to do anything stupid yet. Maybe they are still dazed from the slapping.

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Did They Think They Could Get Away With That?

So, the legislature passed what could charitably called a sham fix for our ongoing and well litigated English language learner problem here in Arizona. The bill delivered a paltry sum of money to the classroom, and used accounting tricks to make it look like more money was actually being spent.
Even though this was […]

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

All Spin Zone

Never has the cold, clammy hand of constistency rested long upon my shoulders
-Sen. Henry Fountain Ashurst
Like many political observers, I looked over the Behavior Research Center poll numbers with great interest.
The poll shows Governor Janet Napolitano ahead of two of her possible opponents by large margins, beating Sen. John Greene 56-20 and Don Goldwater 53-21. […]

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