Month: September 2015

Pima County Bonds Election: Ally Miller and the ‘Potholes Preservation Committee’ vs. Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce

by

Several years ago, state Representative Terri Proud, Queen of the Teabaggers, accused Pima County of misusing bond money during a fight over Marana laying claim to a county wastewater treatment plant, and demanded a state audit. The Tea-Publican legislature approved the state audit and — shockers! — Pima County passed with flying colors. The State Auditor General’s Office determined the bonds had been effectively managed and administered without bias. For the full report see: bd-auditor.general.bond.audit.report.pdf.

Terri Proud has since managed to end her political career, Terri Proud, Arizona Official, Fired Over Comment About Women in Combat, but her successor as Queen of the Teabaggers, Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller, has kept her false meme about the use of Pima County Bonds alive.

Miller and her right-wing allies from the Taxpayers Against Pima Bonds political committee are the force behind No on Pima County Bonds. Political committee opposes Pima County bond proposals. No on Pima County Bonds is opposed to any of the bonds passing, including the bonds for street improvements.

A.MillerWhich is odd because as the Tucson Weekly reported, Miller had no trouble directing county bond money into her own neighborhood for street improvements to benefit herself, campaign contributors and a political ally. Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller Has Odd Transportation Priorities. And Miller made a big effin’ deal about potholes in her neighborhood with this photo of her being swallowed up by a pothole. Ally Miller’s 911 Call Makes Fark.Com – Tucson Weekly.

Maybe  the Taxpayers Against Pima Bonds committee should rename itself the “Potholes Preservation Committee” instead.

Read more

There’s nothing enthralling, or new, about Carly Fiorina’s funhouse mirror “feminism”

by

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Coulter Schlafly

Perhaps the most disheartening aspect of the last GOP presidential debate was following it on Twitter and seeing feminists I respect declare Carly Fiorina the “winner” and express admiration of her fierceness and command of information (bad information but, whatever, I guess). While I do agree that Fiorina handled the question about Donald Trump’s buffoonish comment about her face deftly, I had to shake my head at tweets by feminist academics lavishing praise on her performance when these same feminist academics would fail a freshman student for dissembling as much as Fiorina did. Being a glib liar, and especially about things that tremendously affect vulnerable women (like Planned Parenthood) is not worthy of anything but contempt. And it’s not remarkable either but some feminists continue to be “enthralled” by Carly Fiorina even as they are (rightly) alarmed about how anti-women many of her stances are.

Read more

Arizona is failing to maintain its roads and bridges in safe repair because of Tea-Publican opposition to taxes to pay for it

by

The source of all of Arizona’s ills, the religious devotion to the “no new taxes ever, for any reason” dogma of the modern day Tea-Publican Party, is not just failing public education, it is also failing the basic government function of maintaining roads and bridges in safe repair.

Nearly 1,000 bridges in Arizona are labeled as problematic by the Federal Highway Administration. I-10 collapse puts spotlight on Arizona bridge safety:

There are 8,035 highway bridges in Arizona in the 2014 National Bridge Inventory Database, compiled by the federal government. Of those, 256 are considered structurally deficient and 684 are functionally obsolete.

That means almost 12 percent of Arizona’s bridges are labeled problematic by the feds.

Howard Fischer reports today, Audit: Taxes won’t cover long-term needs for roads, bridges:

HighwayArizona will collect less than a third of the money it needs in transportation taxes to meet the anticipated needs by 2035, including keeping the state’s roads and bridges repaired, a new state report shows.

The Arizona Department of Transportation will need about $88.9 billion in its 25-year plan to ensure “minimum acceptable conditions” for the state highway system, the Auditor General’s Office says. But at the current rate taxes are being collected, the agency will have just $26.2 billion over the same period.

Read more

Get modern with Tucson Modernism Week, Oct. 2 to 10

by

Tucson Modernism Week 2015, presented by the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation will take place Friday October 2nd through Saturday, October 10th. The celebration will feature a series of programs, film, lectures and events highlighting Tucson’s Mid-century Modern design and architecture throughout the city, along with the very popular vintage trailer show. Tucson’s Modernism captured the … Read more

Arizona’s Tea-Publican leaders seek to avoid paying education funding judgment, while Democratic leaders offer a plan to provide immediate relief to Arizona school districts

by

I mentioned in passing in a previous post that Arizona’s lawless Tea-Publican Legislative leaders have a plan to get rid of school inflation funding (Arizona Capitol Times – subscription required) instead of paying the school inflation adjustment judgement that these deadbeat debtors owe to Arizona’s school districts:

DuceyClassroomsRepublican legislative leaders want to repeal a voter-approved law requiring that lawmakers annually adjust K-12 education funding to account for inflation, arguing that keeping up with the inflation increases year after year is unsustainable.

Unhappy with recent court rulings in the longstanding education inflation funding suit Cave Creek v. Ducey (now DeWit), GOP leaders are shopping the idea of repealing the inflation funding requirement that got them into the lawsuit in the first place.

The state is facing the possibility of owing as much as $2 billion by 2017 to schools for violating the inflation provision in state law.

A document circulated to House Republicans at recent small-group meetings hints at the proposal to undo Proposition 301, a law voters approved in 2000. It increased taxes for education by six-tenths of a percent and required the Legislature to increase base funding for education each year to match inflation.

The pitch made to lawmakers by House Speaker David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, and Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, includes language that makes clear they feel continuing to adjust base school funding for inflation is unsustainable and needs to be reformed. The purpose of the inflation adjustment is to ensure the dollar’s buying power in 2015 keeps up with the times and remains just as strong in 2016 and beyond.

Top Republicans, from Biggs to Gov. Doug Ducey, have repeatedly stated their staunch opposition to raising taxes, even for schools.

Read more