Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I posted cartography maps for the election last week in The Two Americas: Urban Versus Rural, but as I indicated at the time, the county-by county results adjusted for population were not yet available for the 2012 election. The wait is over. H/T Skeptical Avenger: Chris Howard: America really looks like this … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Red Queen, Governor Jan Brewer, once again has decided that the Arizona Constitution simply does not apply to her, because her court jester tells her so.
The Red Queen's publicist, Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services (remember how Howie ran a series of publicity posts masquerading as "news" reports for Brewer's crappy book, "Scorpions for Breakfast") floated a trial balloon today for extending the reign of his beloved Red Queen. Arizona Gov. Brewer, team defend option to run again – East Valley Tribune:
She’s not out printing up bumper stickers and buttons — at least not yet.
But Gov. Jan Brewer wants everyone to know that she believes she could legally seek another full four-year term in office in 2014 if that’s what she decides to do, regardless of the 1992 voter-approved constitutional amendment on term limits.
Her contention is based on a legal opinion crafted for her by Joe Kanefield when he was her chief legal counsel.
Kanefield, now an attorney in private practice, acknowledged the Arizona Constitution says statewide elected officials can serve only two consecutive terms. And it says that calculation “shall include any part of a term served.”
But Kanefield says the time Brewer spent finishing out Janet Napolitano’s term in 2009 and 2010 does not count toward her two-term limit. He said the clock started running when Brewer took office in January 2011 after winning the 2010 race. [Because… he says so.]
“Several people have talked to me about that,” Brewer said Tuesday of a 2014 race. While the governor said she’s made no decision, “it’s very interesting the way that certain people interpret the law and the constitution, if you will.”
* * *
Kanefield said he believes those who crafted the 1992 ballot measure put in the provision about part of a term counting toward a full term to keep politicians from “gaming” the system, resigning right before the end of their second term in a bid to remain in office.
Uh-Huh. What the Red Queen's court jester believes is irrelevant. The people who drafted the constitutional provision are still alive, I believe. Ask them. There would also have been a ballot publicity pamphlet sent to voters in 1992 that explained the purpose of the constitutional provision. But did the Red Queen's publicist seek out the drafters of the measure or research the ballot publicity pamphlet? Noooo.
Two local election integrity advocates–Jim March and Mickey Duniho–addressed the Pima County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, during the call to the audience.
Pima, Maricopa, Cochise and other counties are still counting ballots from last Tuesday's presidential election. Hundreds of thousands of uncounted ballots have caused delays in finalizing multiple races and ballot propositions. Main stream news sources and blogs have been on fire with stories about Arizona's election incompetence and stories of voter suppression– before and after the election.
Let's face it. We have systemic election problems in Pima County, in Arizona, and nationwide. In the 2010 election, hundreds of thousands of ballots were counted throughout the week after the election. Why weren't these election problems addressed and fixed before the 2012 election? The Board of Supervisors needs to man up and face election integrity issues instead of stonwalling.
Read Election Integrity Commissioner Duniho's comments after the jump.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In the same week that Steven Spielberg's biopic movie "Lincoln" premiered in theaters, reminding us all how Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union, the so-called Tea Party "Patriots" (sic) are petitioning the White House to secede from the United Sates, an act of sedition and insurrection, because their candidate did not win the … Read more
by David Safier This is a mind-bogglingly simple, creative idea. When debts look uncollectable, the lender will often sell them for pennies on the dollar. Usually they're bought up by companies that hound the debtors, hoping to get enough money back to make a profit. Instead, why not put together money to buy up, then … Read more