Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Democratic activists in District 26 made their picks for the list that will be submitted to the Board of Supervisors to replace Lena Saradnik.
They are businesswoman Cheryl Cage, Don Jorgenson (who is already filed as a house candidate) and former Amphitheater School Board Member Nancy Young Wright.
If I were a betting man, I’d put my […]

The Republicans have managed to find a candidate to run for house on the South Side: Justin Pierce.
This is from his blog:
Throughout our long journey together I will make it very easy for you to know where I stand on every issue that is important to our district, our state, and our country. I am […]

You can, and should, check out the details of Russell Pearce’s proposed state budget cuts over at the Children’s Action Alliance site. The cuts include making over 19,000 children inelligible for KidsCare, eliminating substance abuse treatment and eliminating nearly $90,000,000 in funding for facility maintenance and construction for schools. Actually, it is a moratorium on school construction, […]

My brother’s guest in the gallery for the opening day of the legislature tommorrow will be Nick Luca. Luca is a local musician who recently came back from touring to find that he had undiagnosed diabetes, and all the problems attendant with that. He was hospitalized, and seems to be doing okay now. But, because of […]

I was going to be all snarky towards Howie Fischer after a piece he wrote ran this morning in the Star that mischaracterized Jack Harper’s bill to open up presidential primaries to independents. He neglects to mention that it effectively only opens up the Republican primary to independents, and he for some reason states that […]

I’ve written a missive to Mike Huckabee’s campaign. I’ll keep you informed when I get a response:
Yesterday, Mike Huckabee’s Arizona Chairman, Sen. Jack Harper, told a
reporter from the Associated Press that the Democratic Party is the “party
of anarchy and flag burning.”
(Link: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PluggedIn/14104)
We in Arizona would like to know which of the following Democrats are
anarchists, and […]

Over the next few weeks, there will be a process to replace Rep. Lena Saradnik. Names are already being floated.
One of my pet peeves is that whenever a vacancy like this opens up, you end up with one or two folks who say, “I’ll take the appointment, but I’d never run.” This is one case […]

Jack Harper, our favorite small-minded vindictive legislator, is at it again. He has filed a bill, SB 1064, that allows unaffiliated voters to vote in primaries.
“Gee, Tedski, that doesn’t sound so vindictive. Maybe you should step back and let Harper do his job for a change. Don’t you have something else to write about?”
Ah…but remember […]

Lena Saradnik, who late last year suffered a stroke, has resigned her seat in the state House of Representatives.
There had been speculation among local political reporters that she may not be able to serve out her term, including one reporter that asked me about it regularly.
We here at R-Cubed hope that some time out of the […]

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 […]

I caught Arizona Spotlight on Friday. They had a piece about the tuition tax credit and its effect on public schools (full show here). The report pointed out that, suprise suprise, already wealthy schools have been the chief beneficiaries of the tax credits.
So, they interview Mark Anderson, one of the authors of the tax credit law. Anderson […]

Some long haired freak claiming to be a State Representative had an op-ed in the Tucson Citizen yesterday about commuter freight rail and the possibility of an I-10 bypass.

Last week, I wrote a little bit about an e-mail exchange between Rep. Chad Campbell and anti-tax advocate Tom Jenney. To the credit of both Campbell and Jenney, the exchange was actually about policy differences. The e-mails were in regard to an article that Jenney wrote in the Phoenix Business Journal, and were “cc’d” to […]

The Phoenix Business Journal recently published an article about Phoenix-area leaders travelling to Ireland to find out about the the phenomenal growth in their technology sector there.
In response, a fellow named Tom Jenney from the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers wrote a letter saying that Ireland’s low corporate income tax is the real secret to their […]

I will be out for a few days as I will be travelling to Washington to see the New England Revolution decimate the Houston Dynamo’s vaunted flat back four.
But, fear not! Here are some leavings for you to chew on:
- Some of Hillary Clinton’s top staffers got into a bit of hot water this week […]

A brand new “grass roots” organization has hit the streets called Arizonans for Financial Reform. These community oriented Arizonans are demanding that the legislature get off its collective rear-end and reform the payday loan industry. From their website and their mailer:
For too long, the Arizona State Legislature has debated the issue of payday loans without […]

Sometimes, there is no need to elaborate.
A fella named Frank Schmuck is running for State House up in the East Valley.
Yep.

Yesterday’s CPS hearings didn’t turn into nearly the zoo I thought they would be, despite Ray Barnes’s best efforts.
Both Jonathan Paton and Kirk Adams seem to be endorsing more funding for CPS and giving them more power to intervene when situations warrant it. I’m still doubtful that they can get support for this from their […]

Linda Lopez has taken the plunge and filed papers to run for State Senate. The trouble is, Victor Soltero has not yet announced whether he will retire at the end of this term.
Lopez had been trying to convince Soltero to step down and run for house again. Apparently, she either gave up trying to convince him […]

Cochise County Supervisor Paul Newman is not going to run for another term. Newman has been serving on the board since 2001. He worked hard on conservation and environmental issues, which didn’t win him any friends among his colleagues or the county’s buisiness establishment.
Occasionally, his fights against the “development at all costs” attitudes and the […]