Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

So, our friend J. D. Hayworth is at it again. He has decided to step into the whole ELL silliness by authoring a bill that declares that the bill passed by the Arizona Legislature is in compliance with federal law. Done.

Wow…it’s really that simple, eh?

Nice of Mr. Hayworth to jump into this whole thing when it is still up before a federal judge whose job it is to interpret the law. You know, that pesky separation of powers thing.

He says that he did this at the request of Tom Horne. A simpler solution for Horne would have been to ask his friends at the legsilature to pass a bill that actually funded English Language Learning in this state. It is helpful to point out that Horne can’t be too confident that the bill that was passed will address the issue to the satisfaction of Judge Rainer Collins or he wouldn’t run to Hayworth before Collins has even issued a decision.

The reason why the bill has had so much trouble getting by Gov. Janet Napolitano was that the Republicans insisted in using the ELL issue as an excuse for corporate tax credits. What the heck a tax credit for private schools has to do with English Language Learners is beyond me. Few, if any, private schools in Arizona serve English language learners. You have to wonder how the Republicans can be so scared of gay marriage, but they allow the unnatural union linking these two issues to continue.

Napolitano allowed the last version of the bill to pass without her signature even though it still had the tax credits, but it spent some money on English Language Learners. I guess the Republicans finally remembered what the bill was suposed to be for.

Hayworth’s involvement in the issue follows a pattern established of late. His front page usually contains at least one item on some percieved policy failure on Napolitano’s (or Goddard’s) part. I guess this would make more sense if he was campaigning for state office. It also would be more appropriate if he was not using federal money to do this sort of campaigning on state issues. Last week, the State Democratic Party took him to task for his federally funded press person issuing campaign related statements.

For example, his press release on this issue contained this item:

According to news reports, a private attorney hired to represent the state by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard told U.S. District Judge Raner Collins that key parts of the Legislature’s plan violate federal law, a strategy encouraged by the Governor.

“It is shameful that the Governor and Attorney General have actively sabotaged the state’s case and orchestrated a judicial power grab,” said Hayworth. “We must not allow Arizona’s ELL program to be run by an unelected and unaccountable federal judge just because the Governor can’t bring herself to compromise with the legislature.”

See what I mean? He obviously thinks that Napolitano is an abject failure. Since he is such a man of principle and courage, I take it that he will take the first chance he can to run against her and rid this state of her menace.

Oh? He whimped out of that? Can’t be. He’s so brave. He’s so brave that he’s ghostwritten a book picking on migrant workers.

By the way, I’ve talked to a few people and there is no way that this thing has the time to percolate through the process this session, much less before Collins issues a decision. So, this thing is just a really elaborate press release paid for by you, the taxpayer.