Sunday, December 23rd, 2007...10:56 am
Tymoteusz Pszczoła i Jacek Harfista Pokazą Komuś Gdzie Raki Zimują Generałowi Rataczakowi
A conflict that has been simmering for the past few months is about to come to a boil. You may remember that at the beginning of the summer there was a dispute over the reappointment of Arizona’s National Guard Adjutant General, General David Rataczak. Senator Jack Harper, Chariman of the Goverment Committee, refused to schedule a hearing on his reappointment.
To Rataczak’s credit, he prefered to handle this matter quietly. He met with both Harper and Senate President Tim Bee, but was rebuffed. With Harper refusing to schedule a hearing, and Bee refusing use his position to do anything about it, Rataczak’s tenure as head of our state’s National Guard will end.
Now for the fun part: there are multiple interpretations of state law about when exactly Rataczak would have to step aside. The Senate’s lawyers say that Rataczak would have to step down next week, December 28th. The Governor’s office says that he would be kept on until the spring. The Decemberists claim that Rataczak would actually be committing a misdemeanor should he continue to serve. No word yet on how they would go about enforcing this one.
Harper’s behavior in this whole episode is unbelievably petty, but what is even more unbelievable is that Bee refuses to exercise any leadership here. Bee could assign the matter to another committee (which begs the question why Bee put a vindictive jerk like Harper in charge of a committee in the first place), or ask Harper to allow the re-appointment to come to a vote. But, he’s done neither. He is more concerned about keeping the Jack Harpers of the world happy than doing right by our state and its citizen soldiers, despite pressure from veterans’ groups. If this guy doesn’t have the backbone to handle a yipping dog like Harper, how the heck is he going to handle being in congress?
One wonders what would be going on on our state’s letters to the editor pages and right wing political blogs if a Democrat unleashed this sort of small-minded vindictiveness against someone with as strong a military background as Rataczak.
6 Comments
December 24th, 2007 at 9:48 am
I read this yesterday, and I’m still trying to figure out if this is a serious question:
“If this guy doesn’t have the backbone to handle a yipping dog like Harper, how the heck is he going to handle being in congress?”
If you haven’t any backbone, then obviously the best place for you is in the US House of Representatives currently under Democratic leadership.
Will that change in 2009 with a Democratic president? It would certainly take better leadership than they now have, so it’s not likely.
December 26th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Thank goodness Senator Jack Harper is up for re-election… this guy is always embarrassing. I hope district 4 is paying attention!
December 27th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Kind of a half truth about the misdemeanor thing, but I suppose the Senate knows what they are talking about, right?
38-234. Usurpation of office; classification
A person who knowingly intrudes himself into a public office to which he has not been elected or appointed, or a person who, having been a public officer, knowingly exercises the functions of his office after his term has expired and a successor has been elected or appointed and has qualified, is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Jack Harper has always been petty.
Remember the time when Harper’s former legislative colleague, Slade Mead was running for school superintendent and Harper called up a radio talk show and gave them a bogus name and pretended to be an ‘outraged citizen’ while trying to disguise his voice but Mead recognized him and called him on it?
That’s the kind of guy that Jack Harper is. Not willing to stand up in the daylight and say what his point is, he is much more comfortable to hide in the dark and poison the well. He isn’t a ‘yipping dog,’ he reminds me much more of a cockroach.
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I forgot about that Eli!
When I hear “Jack Harper” I instantly think of “Guns in bars” and always picture him with the pigs pooping on him :rollseyes:
It is very frustrating that I am a district 4 resident, because he seriously never has “represented” me, but he sure is good at embarrassing LD4.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Unfortunately, VWgirl, our “nonpartisan” redistricting commission gerrymandered the districts so that there are some (and I think LD 4 is one of them) where they’d elect Charles Manson if he was listed as the Republican candidate.
I live in one of the very few ‘competitive’ districts in the state (LD 5).
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