Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

In the later days of this session, the Republicans seem to be finding ways of taking things that should be political victories, but getting them ruined by their obsession with playing “gotcha” and settling scores.

Witness the subpoenas (subpoenae?) that have been issued to the Board of Regents over the proposed medical campus in Phoenix. It is rare for the legislature to issue them in the first place, especially when no one has noted a particular controversy here. Even if you look at subpoena happy chairman in congress, those usually come after a great deal of conflict and stonewalling. Here, some of the information requested is actually on the web.

Speaker Jim Weiers claims that he has to because Michael Crow didn’t have an answer when asked about the cost of the medical school. I suppose that Crow should have been better prepared when he gave testimony (although, he ain’t president of the U of A, and ASU’s involvement in the project is minor), but that barely qualifies as the sort of lack of cooperation that should result in subpoenas.

It is very strange that Weiers would do this when other Republicans have been supportive of the planned Phoenix based University of Arizona medical campus, not only Southern Arizonans like Tim Bee but many like Tom Boone who are not seen as water carriers for the U of A. This was one of the rare occasions when legislators were bridging not only the usual partisan divide, but the equally poisionous Tucson-Phoenix divide. So, why declare war?

One disturbing thing is that it looks like some Republicans want Beth Schermer to be an issue here again. It is only a short time ago that they tried to, without success, to tie her to problems with the State Veteran’s Home, now they seem to be engaged in a whispering campaign to spuriously claim cronyism and conflicts of interest here. Schermer is regarded as one of the top experts on health care law in the state, and is serving in the administration of the planned medical school. So, why try to take her down? I spoke to a legislator (not my brother) and a staffer yesterday that wondered if the campaign against Schermer is a way to get at her Democratic-aligned law firm and her husband, Sam Coppersmith. Coppersmith is a former congressman who writes a column in the East Valley Tribune that has skewered legislative leadership and the Republicans in general. That seems like a bit of a stretch, but if the Republicans chose to make her the issue rather than any issues regarding the cost of the facility, this would, like the Jack Harper fiasco, become another circus for jerk bloggers like me to talk about rather than a discussion about how best to solve our shortage of doctors in this state. 

Weiers has stated that he wants to involve the Maricopa Integrated Health System in the school. Not a totally bad idea, any involvement of the school with an already existing set of hospitals and clinics could save administrative and support costs. But, cynics like me have to wonder (especially since they brought up the phrase “conflict of interest”) if the fact that Weiers ally Chuck Coughlin is a consultant for MIHS and long time Republican magnate Betsey Bayless is their CEO has anything to do with his enthusiasm. But, even if this isn’t the motivation and getting MIHS involved a great idea, why push it in this way?

One observer I talked to thinks that this sort of “scorched earth” technique on behalf of MIHS bears the fingerprints of Coughlin. Coughlin was involved with the ads that ran in Flagstaff that compared the opponents of a planned Wal-Mart to Nazis. The campaign was so incendiary that Coughlin was let go and it led to a Wal-Mart executive appologizing  for the ads at a company meeting. The fact that Schermer’s name has been brought up made the person I talked to wonder if Coughlin is still holding a grudge against Coppersmith, who was a thorn in Coughlin’s side during his days working for Fife Symington.

I doubt that Weiers is against the medical college; no responsible leader in Phoenix is. But I wonder if playing this sort of hardball politics endangers the whole project. This was a chance for a good bipartisan victory for legislators and the state, but it could very well be tanked for the sake of partisan vendettas.