Month: February 2014

House Ways and Means Committee advances unconstitutional ’empowerment scholarship accounts’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Snap quiz class. Tell me what is wrong with this headline from the Arizona Daily Star's creative headline writer: Expanding state aid to private and parochial schools on track. Congratulations class! You are all way smarter than the Star's creative headline writer.

Education_appleThis is a clear violation of the Arizona Constitution which prohibits state funding to private and parochial schools:

Article 2, Section 12: "No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment."

Article 11, Section 7: "No sectarian instruction shall be imparted in any school or state educational institution that may be established under this Constitution, and no religious or political test or qualification shall ever be required as a condition of admission into any public educational institution of the state, as teacher, student, or pupil;"

Several years ago, the Goldwater institute convinced the Arizona Supreme Court to accept a sort of "straw man exchange" argument common in real estate transactions to uphold tax credits that supported private and parochial schools. The argument was that the money went to the parents, not directly from the state to the schools, and thus did not violate the constitutional provisions above. The legal fiction created by the Court was in error, but established a legal precedent that the Goldwater Institute has been trying to exploit ever since.

And this is exactly what our Tea-Publican controlled legislature is hoping to accomplish with these so-called "empowerment scholarship accounts." Howard Fischer reports:

A House panel agreed Monday to allow hundreds of thousands of children to attend private and parochial schools at public expense — a vote one legislator said is part of a radical agenda to destroy public schools.

PCDP Precinct Committeeperson Workshop

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Late political calendar submission from the Pima County Democratic Party PC Development committee: Join us on Sunday, February 16 for a PC Workshop! This is a great opportunity for all PCs, new and experienced, to meet other PCs, and learn the latest information about PC activities, the VAN and how to present … Read more

Justice Department policy: equal protection to married same-sex couples

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a speech Saturday night at the Human Rights Campaign’s Greater New York Gala at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced a new Justice Department policy. Justice Dept. to give married gay couples equal protection (modified and updated):

EqualThe Justice Department on Monday instructed all of its employees across the country, for the first time, to give lawful same-sex marriages sweeping equal protection under the law in every program it administers, from courthouse proceedings to prison visits to the compensation of surviving spouses of public safety officers.

In a new Policy Memo (.pdf), the department spells out the rights of same-sex couples, including the right to decline to give testimony that might incriminate their spouses, even if their marriages are not recognized in the state where the couple lives.

Uphill Battle: Rep. Victoria Steele Introduces Bill to Extend ERA Ratification Deadline

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PDA econ equalityEquality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
– Equal Rights Amendment

by Pamela Powers Hannley

There is an ideological perfect storm brewing in the Arizona Legislature. A memorandum supporting extension of the ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been assigned to a committee where five out of seven members have pledged to protect and fight for the rights of fetuses over the rights of women.

Not content with winning the right to vote in 1920, women’s rights advocates proposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) 91 years ago. The ERA was introduced during every Congressional session between 1923 and 1972 and finally passed nearly 70 years after it was originally proposed. In the 1970s, there was a ground war at the state level to get 38 state legislatures to ratify the ERA in order for it to become a Constitutional Amendment. The ERA fell 3 states short of ratification; Arizona is one of a handful of states that never ratified the ERA.

HCM2006 Sponsors

Fast forward to 2013, the ground war for women’s equality has resumed at the state level with ERA ratification proposals six states– Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, and now … Arizona.; Nevada and North Carolina plan to hear it in 2014. LD9 Rep. Victoria Steele has introduced HCM2006, a memorandum from the State of Arizona asking the federal government to extend the deadline for ratification of the ERA, and HCR2016, a fill to ratify the ERA.

In addition to Steele, the ERA memorandum has 18 co-sponsors– including two Republican women, Kelly Townsend (LD14) and Karen Fann (LD1). Below is the complete list. Although Southern Arizona is well-represented on this list with Steele, Wheeler, Gabaldon, Saldate, and Pencrazi, where are the rest of the Democrats and the “moderate” Repulbican? (Should I name names, or can you figure out who’s missing here? If you live in LD9, LD10, LD2, or LD3, you might want to ask your representatives and senators why their names are missing from this list.)

R.I.P. Tucsoncitizen.com and greetings to Blog for Arizona

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  Posted by Carolyn Classen It was like a sudden death attack on January 31, 2014 when Gannett Publishing shut down the online Tucsoncitizen.com.  There was no warning to our paid Administrator /Sports Editor Anthony Gimino or us twenty-some bloggers/citizen journalists.  It just happened and all we got was a curt email from Jessie Menard … Read more