Month: September 2013

Two blockbuster reports on the ‘Kochtopus’ dark money financing

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

When last we heard about the Arizona-based "Kochtopus" dark money group Center
to Protect Patient Rights, founded by GOP operative Sean Noble, Peter H. Stone at The Daily Beast reported an Exclusive: California Grand Jury Probing Shadowy Money Groups:

A grand jury is now involved in a high-stakes California probe that is
looking into whether a PAC and three so-called dark-money
groups—including one with ties to the billionaire brothers Charles and
David Koch—broke a campaign disclosure law by funneling $11 million from
secret sources to influence ballot initiatives in the state’s 2012
election, The Daily Beast has learned.

* * *

One of the three groups that
allegedly channeled the funds to California was the Arizona-based Center
to Protect Patient Rights, founded in 2009 by Koch operative Sean
Noble, who has emerged in recent cycles as a big player in conservative
political and fundraising circles. Noble has spoken at least twice at
the billionaire brothers’ biannual conferences aimed at tapping other
wealthy conservatives for their favorite projects, and he has been a key
strategist at small Washington meetings with other GOP allied groups
such as the Karl Rove-founded American Crossroads.

“Sean
is the wizard behind the screen” for the Kochs and their network of
wealthy donors, said one GOP operative familiar with Noble’s political
work.

(Update) The Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201) has been struck by the Court of Appeals

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Baseball sage Yogi Berra was right! "It ain't over 'til it's over."

The Plaintiffs challenging the petitions of the Initiative to
Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201) filed an appeal from Pima County
Superior Court Judge James Marner's order on September 3, 2013. (2 CA-CV 2013-0120).

On September 12, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs/appellants, rejected the cross-appeal by counsel for the initiative committee, and remanded the case back to Pima County
Superior Court Judge James Marner with instructions to grant the injunctive relief requested by plaintiffs to prevent Prop. 201 from being printed on ballots:

Having considered the briefs filed by the parties and the oral arguments
before this court in this expedited election appeal, see Ariz. R. Civ.
App. P. 8.1, this court has determined that the trial court erred in
rejecting the plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees’ challenge as to the
validity of certain signatures obtained by circulators of City of
Tucson Initiative Petition 2013-1004. We further conclude the
cross-appeal raises no issues warranting relief. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED: The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the case is
remanded to the trial court which is directed by 2:00 p.m., September
12, 2013, to enter judgment in favor of
plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees and to enter an injunction
pursuant to A.R.S. § 19-122(C). A written opinion will follow. 

That mandate for injunction does not yet appear on the Pima County Superior Court docket for this case.

Has Brewer officially joined the sane (or saner) wing of the Republican Party?

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by David Safier As BlueMeanie noted, the [Fools]Goldwater Institute is launching a suit against Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan, mainly because Team Antenori failed to gather enough signatures for its referendum drive to block the legislation. Antenori, meanwhile, is crowing about his victory, saying he's got the signatures of 80,000 people who will work to … Read more

The ‘sovereign citizen’ editorial the Arizona Republic should write

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There was an editorial opinion in the Arizona Republic today that harshes on a couple of yahoos recently arrested last month on U.S. 60 south of Wickenburg who called themselves "sovereign citizens." Our View: A word for 'sovereign citizens':

[They have] supercilious interpretations of the U.S. Constitution that supposedly
permit citizens to declare themselves part of a “sovereign-citizen
movement” that considers adherents beyond the reach of federal or state
law, or any authority more distant than that of county sheriff.

* * *

The sovereign-citizen movement promotes a lot of what most of us call
crime. Besides encouraging paper crimes such as creating bogus
mortgages and liens, it also promotes hostility toward the police. Two
“citizens” are on trial in Las Vegas on suspicion of conspiring to
kidnap a policeman.

Sovereign citizens generally believe the minimalist government
envisioned by the Founders has been replaced by an illegitimate
government that holds no authority over them.

This is a conspiracy theory. It presumes that the choices of other
citizens at the ballot box are meaningless and sovereigns alone are able
to correctly interpret the Constitution.

That’s not politics. It’s narcissism.

Latest on the Marketplace health insurance exchange

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Five health insurers have filed their rate plans with the Arizona Department of Insurance for the Marketplace health insurance exchange beginning October 1. More information will become available in the coming weeks, but for now here is the report from the Arizona Republic. 5 health insurers outline rates for Arizonans under Affordable Care Act:

Paperwork filed by five major health insurers gives Arizona its first
glimpse of how much the Affordable Care Act will cost consumers when
they begin shopping for mandatory coverage next month.

Plans
submitted to the Arizona Department of Insurance signal that average
monthly rates will range from $225 to $334 when insurance marketplaces
launch Oct.1. Filing rate plans were Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Arizona, Cigna, Health Net and Meritus, formerly called Compass Health
Cooperative.

The documents suggest Arizona consumers will be able
to choose from a variety of plans and rates during the six-month
enrollment period, with monthly premiums that will range from less than
$100 to more than $1,700. Those rates are before federal, sliding-scale
subsidies kick in for consumers who earn up to 400 percent of the
federal poverty level.

[See Subsidy Calculator | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.]