Month: December 2014

Don’t mistake McCain getting revenge for moderation of the AZ GOP

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

angry john mccain

Politico reported that Sen. John McCain is purging the Arizona Republican Party of his ardent detractors.

Nearly a year ago, tea party agitators in Arizona managed to get John McCain censured by his own state party. Now, he’s getting his revenge.

As the longtime Republican senator lays the groundwork for a likely 2016 reelection bid, his political team is engaging in an aggressive and systematic campaign to reshape the state GOP apparatus by ridding it of conservative firebrands and replacing them with steadfast allies.

The ambitious effort — detailed to POLITICO by nearly a dozen McCain operatives, donors, and friends — has stretched from office buildings in Alexandria, Virginia, where strategists plotted and fundraisers collected cash for a super PAC, to Vietnamese-American communities across Arizona, where recruiters sought out supporters eager to help the incumbent defeat the tea party.

Team McCain’s goal? Unseat conservative activists who hold obscure, but influential, local party offices.

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AZ Supreme Court rules Tea-Publican legislators have standing to sue over Gov. Brewer’s Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion plan

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Governor Jan Brewer has racked up yet another loss in court on her way out the door.

gavelThe Arizona Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that the Tea-Publican legislators who filed suit to challenge Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid (AHCCCS) expansion plan have standing to sue, because Proposition 108 (1992) requires a two-thirds super-majority vote of both chambers of the legislature to impose new taxes, and they assert that the “hospital assessment” is really a new tax. The case will now proceed in the trial court.

Note: This case would not even be in court if Arizonan’s would put the repeal of Prop. 108 (1992) on the ballot, for which I have advocated for over a decade. This undemocratic provision empowers a tyranny of a minority of anti-tax zealots (11 in the Senate, 21 in the House) by effectively giving them veto power to obstruct sound tax policies and tax reforms supported by a bipartisan majority of legislators and a  majority of Arizonans.

The Arizona Republic reports, Arizona high court OKs Medicaid challenge:

In a unanimous ruling, the Arizona Supreme Court determined Republican state lawmakers opposed to how the program was created in 2013 have a right to make their case that the funding mechanism created to pay for the program violated the Arizona Constitution.

The ruling returns the case to Maricopa County Superior Court, which earlier rejected arguments that the 36 GOP lawmakers had legal standing to sue. Meanwhile, the year-old expansion will remain in place. It was designed to restore medical coverage to nearly 240,000 low-income Arizonans and extend coverage to an additional 57,000.

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Adopt a pig at Pima Animal Care Center

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  This just in from Pima County Communications:   One of Pima Animal Care Center’s more unusual intakes – a potbellied pig. This 133-pound fellow had a run-in with a dog out near Three Points and was rescued by an Animal Care Officer Dec. 28. So far, no owner has claimed him and he’s been … Read more

Tucson Repertory Orchestra’s winter concert

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More information: http://tucsonrepertoryorchestra.org/. (Info below from their website) Music of the Masters VI will be on January 3, 2015 at 3pm at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams Sreet. Verdi: La Forza del Destino Overture R. Strauss: Horn Concerto No.1, featuring Greg Helseth Beethoven: Symphony No.3 “Eroica” Concert is Free and Open to the … Read more

Why we can’t have legal weed right now. Because they’re anti-choicers.

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

pot leaf

Per Howie Fischer:

He admits the plan is a political longshot.

But Rep. Mark Cardenas, D-Phoenix, hopes to convince colleagues to approve legalizing marijuana for recreational use by adults, if for no other reason than the alternative is having voters adopt their own plan. And if that happens, that locks lawmakers out of the process entirely.

His legislation, HB 2007, would make it legal for those 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of the drug…

…What might fare better is Cardenas’ backup plan: HB 2006 would decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, imposing a civil penalty of no more than $100.

Now, possession of any amount is a felony, meaning more than a year in state prison.

But these are usually handled as misdemeanors. And a 1996 voter-approved law generally precludes incarceration for first and second offenses.

“I’m willing to look at that,” Farnsworth said. But he said any decision whether to even grant that a hearing depends on whether police and prosecutors believe such a change will impair their anti-drug efforts.

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