Blog for Arizona

CD 6 Debate Tonight: support Anita Malik

Posted on September 21, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | Leave a comment

Arizona congressman David Schweikert, a member of the radical GOP House Freedom Caucus, back in August drew an editorial opinion from The Arizona Republic practically begging voters to vote for his Democratic opponent — whoever wins the August primary. 5 reasons a Democrat could win David Schweikert’s seat, even in a Republican stronghold.

The winner of the Democratic primary is Anita Malik.

The rivals will face off at 5 p.m. Friday on Arizona PBS (Channel 8) in a televised debate moderated by Ted Simons of “Arizona Horizon” and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez of The Arizona Republic. Arizona elections: 6th Congressional District could be competitive:

Arizona’s 6th Congressional District has been a safe Republican district for years, but this year, fired-up Democrats are hoping to make a play for the seat held by four-term incumbent U.S. Rep. David Schweikert.

Schweikert, R-Ariz., is facing Democratic challenger Anita Malik, who works in technology and communications, in the Nov. 6 general election.

David Wasserman, a House editor of the nonpartisan “Cook Political Report” in Washington, D.C., said that this year is unusual for Democrats, who have been united and energized in opposition to President Donald Trump.

“As recently as April, a Democrat came within 5 points of winning a seat that’s much more Republican than the 6th District,” he said, referring to Arizona’s April special election in which Democrat Hiral Tiperneni lost to Republican Debbie Lesko in the 8th Congressional District, where voter registration is even more lopsided in favor of the GOP.

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Posted in Arizona Congressional Races, AZBlueMeanie, Campaigns, Congress, Debates, Elections, Endorsements, Ethics, Media, Scandals

So we’re all agreed: No on Prop. 305 (and elect a Democratic legislature and governor)

Posted on September 21, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | Leave a comment

The Arizona Capitol Times reported Voucher vote creates dilemma for school-choice supporters:

If voters approve the voucher expansion law in November, many believe those changes would be locked in under the Voter Protection Act.

A “yes” on Prop. 305 would keep SB1431, (the “vouchers on steroids” bill), in place as approved by the Legislature in 2017.

That means modifying the statute in the future would be incredibly difficult, and that is where the problem lies for the school-choice crowd.

Indeed, the prospect of locking that law in place has been enough to give even the staunchest supporters of Empower Scholarship Accounts pause.

“If Prop. 305 passes, it could hinder our ability to make crucial improvements to the ESA program,” said Kim Martinez, a spokeswoman for the pro-voucher American Federation for Children.

Laurie Roberts of The Republic expands upon this in Dark money groups’ stand on Prop. 305 shows the public got played on voucher expansion:

Here’s a curious and rather enlightening development.

The “dark money” groups that spent big bucks to get a Legislature willing to vote for a massive expansion of Arizona’s school-voucher program are not going to campaign to try to save their crowning achievement.

The Republic’s Rob O’Dell and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez are reporting that the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity will sit out Proposition 305. Meanwhile, the Betsy DeVos-created American Federation for Children actually will urge people to vote no.

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Posted in Arizona State Legislature, AZBlueMeanie, Ballot Referendas and Initiatives, Budgets, Campaigns, Constitution, Corruption, Education, Elections, Ethics, GOP War On..., Legislation, Party Politics, Propositions, Religion, Scandals, Taxes

Tagged privatization, public education, referendum, vouchers

The FOX News presidency is a threat to U.S. national security

Posted on September 21, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | 2 comments

I previously posted about how the intelligence agencies and the Department of Justice believe that President Trump has “crossed a red line” in ordering the declassification of the Carter Page FISA warrant applications and emails of FBI and Department of Justice personnel in pursuit of his “deep state” conspiracy theory concocted by his co-conspirators in obstruction of justice in the GOP House Freedom Caucus and House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes. Abuse of power and obstruction of justice in plain sight.

It turns out that Trump has not even read these documents, and is ordering them released on the advice of his “FOX News cabinet” of advisors who want the materials to further their “deep state” conspiracy theory effort to discredit federal law enforcement agencies and the Special Counsel’s Russia investigation. Trump ordered the government to declassify information he apparently hasn’t read:

It wasn’t a surprise when the White House announced Monday that it was ordering the Justice Department to declassify a set of material related to the genesis of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. For weeks, President Trump’s allies on Fox News and in the House had been echoing one another’s calls to do precisely that.

So on Monday, that very specific order from Trump: Declassify precisely those pages of the application for a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page that were mentioned in a news conference held by 12 staunchly Trump-loyal members of the House in September. What’s more, Trump ordered the department to declassify text messages involving a number of names familiar to the Fox News audience. Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and so on.

Those elected officials and the Fox News hosts who echoed their demand insisted that the declassifications would demonstrate anti-Trump rot in the Justice Department. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) promised that revelation would help Republicans win in November.

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Posted in AZBlueMeanie, Congress, Conspiracy Theory, Corruption, Crime, Elections, Ethics, GOP War On..., International, Justice, Law Enforcement, Media, Party Politics, President, Russian Affair, Scandals

Tagged accessories, Attorney General, Authoritarianism, co-conspirators, conspiracy, Department of Justice, Despot, FBI, Impeachment, National Security, obstruction of justice, witness intimidation

Outlaw Dirty Money Creates Posse to Report Dark Money Ads

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Larry Bodine | Leave a comment

In an effort to restore fairness and transparency in Arizona elections, the Outlaw Dirty Money campaign has created a Posse to identify dark money political ads and report them on the ODM website, where people will be able to look them up by race or by sponsor.

“We will maintain a list of dark money sources that are already registered with the Secretary of State so people can look at a mailed piece, see who paid for it, and determine if it is a dark money group or not,” says organizer Merrill Eisenberg.

The group is working toward three goals:

Evaluate the sources of state and local political ads to decide if they are paid for with dirty money,
Provide information about the sources of state and local political ads to the voters, and
Educate voters and raise awareness about the dirty money issue.

“We need Posse members to help identify political advertising in any format and report suspected “dirty” money ads to ODM. We will research the ad and classify it as 1) not dirty money, 2) dirty money but the organization supports disclosure, or 3) dirty money intended to anonymously impact our election,” Eisenberg says.

At the recent showing of the film “Dark Money” at the Loft, the campaign set up a table and signed up 49 new posse members in one night. Continue reading →

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Posted in Election Integrity, Elections, Initiatives, Larry Bodine

An amoral indefinite detention policy for immigrant children

Posted on September 20, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | Leave a comment

The New York Times summarizes how we got here:

In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions installed a “zero tolerance” immigration policy, in which the government sought to jail and prosecute every adult who crossed the border illegally.

For months, migrant families were separated as adults were placed in detention, and their children were sent to shelters across the country. Widespread outrage led the Trump administration to end the practice.

In July, the Trump administration lost its bid to persuade a federal court to allow long-term detention of migrant families.

If you can’t win in court, get a feckless GOP Congress to change the rules for you — if you can.

Two weeks ago the Trump administration proposed a new regulation to allow the government to sidestep the 1997 consent decree known as the Flores agreement and detain children with their parents while their cases are being considered by immigration courts.

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Posted in AZBlueMeanie, Civil Rights, Congress, Constitution, Corruption, Courts, Crime, Ethics, GOP War On..., Immigration, International, Justice, Law Enforcement, Party Politics, President, Racism, Scandals

Tagged immigrant family separation policy, indefinite detention of children policy, zero tolerance immigration policy

A rare victory over ‘dark money’ in a divided Supreme Court

Posted on September 20, 2018 by AZ BlueMeanie | Leave a comment

Chief Justice John Roberts has dedicated his professional career to destroying the Voting Rights Act and destroying any and all campaign finance laws. He represents the millionaires and billionaires who want a corporatocracy to replace our democracy in a new Gilded Age. What a swell guy.

Last week, the Chief Justice granted an emergency application from Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategy, a nonprofit linked to American Crossroads, a “super PAC” started by Karl Rove, to stay the order of U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell which rejected a long-standing FEC regulation regarding disclosure, concluding that nonprofits like Crossroads Grassroots should be required to disclose any donors who give at least $200 toward any independent expenditures. See, Amy Howe at SCOTUSblog, Chief justice puts donor-disclosure ruling on hold. If allowed to stand, the ruling would be significant: Political nonprofits have spent over $700 million on “independent expenditures” since 2010.

Robert’s referred his temporary order to the full court, and the evenly divided Supreme Court denied the group’s application without comment or published dissent. The ruling means that the district court’s order invalidating the FEC’s regulation will go into effect for now.

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