I recieved a missive from a person close to the House leadership who objected to my characterization of the possibility of changes to the budget to secure the votes of Republicans when it is reconsidered on Tuesday. I said that $20 million dollars had been offered for charter schools in exchange for the votes of […]
An interesting group of Republicans voted against the budget yesterday. Three moderates voted against it: Lucy Mason, Pete Hershberger and Jennifer Burns. They were joined by three very conservative legislators: Andy Biggs, Eddie Farnsworth and Trish Groe. This is why it made me laugh when someone posted the “level headed Republican” comment after the vote […]
Rumors are afoot that three Democrats are prepared to vote for the Republican House budget, Linda Lopez, Pete Rios (who both spent significant time in Jim Weiers’s office yesterday) and of all people Dave Bradley.
I campaigned with Bradley last year when I was running in the Democratic House primary, and I’ve known the guy for […]
Eleven members of the legislature came down to Sunnyside High School for a forum to discuss the state budget. David Lujan, from Phoenix, gave a detailed explanation of the budget, in particular the differences between the House Republican budget and the Senate’s bipartisan budget.
Interestingly, the names of the three Democrats who voted for the House […]
Organizers of the robocall campaign against Democrats that threatened to vote for Speaker Weiers’s budget are so happy with their results that they are aparently now going after soft Republicans. Details later.
Reports are now afoot at the capitol that the votes that were promised by renegade Democrats for Speaker Jim Weier’s budget plan have vaporized. Either these Democrats have gotten cold feet after the pounding they have taken from AEA members (geez, imagine if they were still allowed to hit these breakaways with rulers…) and a mysterious […]
I was suprised enough this weekend when I heard that Jim Weiers was going to attempt to present his own budget apart from his Senate counterpart and fellow Republican Tim Bee, but I was even more suprised when I heard rumblings that some Democrats were going to go along.
Well, it seems to have happened. Today, […]
Tim Bee and Jim Weiers have assembled a committee of legislators to look into the apalling conditions at the Arizona Veterans Home. The committee will include Southern Arizona legislators Jonathan Paton, Manny Alvarez, Victor Soltero and Charlene Pesquiera.
I’m glad the legislature is taking action on this. And, yes, Janet Napolitano bears responsibility since it did […]
What I like about Steve Farley’s newsletters is that they give me the chance to do a longer post with no actual work on my part. Thank you, Steve.
In his latest newsletter, Farley talks about Republican attempts to mess with, no, gut, no, abolish Health Care Group. Health Care Group provides an easy way for […]
In his latest e-mail to supporters and activists, Steve Farley brags that he has found out that Speaker Jim Weiers reads them, and even reads excerpts to other Republicans at caucus meetings.
Weiers and his staff read this blog too. I have also encountered Republican members that read me, and like what I write. This disturbs me in […]
The controversial HB 2286, that would classify groups like the Minutemen as terrorist organizations, is being heard on Monday.
Even though it goes after folks who I have barely any use for, I have some concerns about the constitutionality of this bill. You know what though? Those are things that can be debated by reasonable people, […]
Back in the closing years of the last century, I was regional director for the Young Democrats of America. A month or so into my term, an e-mail hit the YDA listserv (something I started, one of the few tangible accomplishments I made during my brief brush with leadership in that group) announcing that Oklahoma […]
Yesterday, some politicians and community organizations held a press conference to ask House Speaker Jim Weiers to reconsider his decision to allow Russell Pearce to continue as chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
The Republic ran a piece on the press conference this morning, and it included a quote from Barrett Marson, spokesman for Speaker Weiers.
The speaker […]
The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch. - Speaker Thomas Bracket Reed
It seems that the Republican leadership at the legislature is already being punitive toward Democratic members. There has already been talk that their offices may be moved from the third floor of the capitol, where most of […]
The House Democratic caucus re-elected Phil Lopes as minority leader. They also elected Jack Brown, a long time moderate-to-conservative legislator from St. Johns, as assistant minority leader and Phoenix Representative Steve Gallardo as minority whip.
The caucus will have somewhere between 25 and 27 members (depending on where uncounted votes end up), which is the largest […]
I ran into Phil Lopes yesterday, and he told me that he could take me. Okay, not really. But Lopes was having a problem that he didn’t anticipate. He had to make arrangements to move today’s Democratic caucus meeting to a different room to accomodate four members more than anticipated.
Not exactly the sort of problem […]
The talk out on the streets is that Speaker Jim Weiers’s reelection effort is in trouble.
The rumor is, and I must say I haven’t confirmed this, that a Republican internal poll shows Weiers running in third behind Rep. Doug Quelland and Democratic challenger Jackie Thrasher (The Democrats haven’t polled in the District in months). There […]
I love our Democratic elected officials that shun the party and endorse Republicans when it becomes convienient, but want to bathe in the reflected glow of a popular political celebrity when they come along.
One of the many R-Cubed correspondents reported to me that Leah Landrum-Taylor and Phil Gordon showed up to the Get-Out-The-Vote Rally that […]
The Democrats feel that they have a chance to take Jim Weiers out with Democrat Jackie Thrasher. It’s admitedly a long shot, but it can be done. Wow, a chance to take out a prominent Republican who has let the far right pass what ever the heck they want, regardless of constitutionality, practicality or sanity. […]
The sound you hear is prominent Republicans running from their one time best pal, Russell Pearce.
Well, another man running from Pearce is our own Randy Graf. Graf actually had an ad in the can featuring an endorsement from Pearce. Well, any link to the ad has disappeared from the site, but it can still […]
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