Year: 2018

The Arizona Republic is failing its readers

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There was a time back in the day when The Arizona Republic used to report on state legislative races, providing readers with profiles of the candidates and their positions on the issues. It was an invaluable resource that informed voters. But after massive layoffs in recent years, The Republic apparently no longer has the resources to do this type of reporting so you are on your own. So much for an informed electorate today.

But The Republic does apparently have the resources to assign reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez to do pearl clutching stories based upon press releases from the Martha McSally campaign attacking Kyrsten Sinema for things that she – and many others by the way – said years ago.

This is news?

Here are just two examples. First, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez reported, Kyrsten Sinema in 2011: ‘There’s something wrong with the people in public office in Arizona’:

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema seven years ago ridiculed as “crazy” the Republican elected officials leading the state at the time, and the anti-illegal immigration legislation that began in Arizona and was being replicated in state Capitols across the nation.

Sinema, then a state senator and now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, in a 2011 speech told the Texas Stonewall Democrats that all Republicans in Arizona were “crazy” and could not be distinguished from the conservative “tea party” activists whose influence helped lead to legislation that she and others deemed harmful to Arizona.

The video of Sinema’s 2011 remarks resurfaced Thursday on social media and was recirculated by allies of Sinema’s Republican Senate opponent, Rep. Martha McSally.

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AZ GOP field organizers pull a classic Roger Stone, supposedly fired over it

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Dangerous demagogue Donald Trump and his GOPropagandists at FAUX News aka Trump TV have decided that they need to rile up his Deplorable base before Election Day by scaring them.

Republicans are going back to the well of GOP campaigns of the past by fear mongering that Democrats are radical liberals /leftists / socialists / communists / Leninists / Maoists /fascists and even anti-fascists (Antifa).  Pick one. Republicans use these distinct terms interchangeably, unaware of and not in the least bit caring about the differences, because their only objective is to demonize their political opponent to gin up GOP tribalism.

It has been a regular Red Scare at Trump’s Nuremberg-style rallies and in the conservative media entertainment complex over the past week or so.

The inanity of this desperate measure apparently inspired two yahoos in the Arizona Republican Party to pull a classic Roger Stone GOP ratfucking operation on Democratic Congressman Tom O’Halleran.

It appears it did not go well for them.

The Guardian reports, Republican pair apparently pose as communists to make Democratic donation:

Two young Arizona Republicans tried to make a donation to a congressman while posing as members of a university communist party, in an apparent attempt to tie the Democrat to the far left.

On Friday afternoon in Flagstaff, two men who called themselves Jose Rosales and Ahmahd Sadia walked into the campaign office of first-term Democrat Tom O’Halleran, with $39.68 and an urgent desire for the “Northern Arizona University Communist party” to be given a receipt for the donation.

The pair walked in to sign up to volunteer but they brought along a jar full of money that they said they wished to donate. After being directed to a finance staffer, they were told to fill out paperwork. In doing so, they identified themselves as members of the Northern Arizona University Communist party. They made clear they were not an official group but were holding meetings. But they also insisted on a receipt.

When told they would only get an emailed receipt, Rosales scratched out one email address and wrote down another. The process raised eyebrows among O’Halleran’s staff.

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Don’t be confused – vote no on Prop. 305, the referendum on the ‘vouchers on steroids’ bill

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I have previously explained that opponents of Arizona’s “vouchers on steroids” bill, SB 1431, and even supporters of the “vouchers on steroids” bill are urging voters to vote no on Prop. 305, the citizens referendum on SB 1431. So we’re all agreed: No on Prop. 305 (and elect a Democratic legislature and governor).

So what’s the problem?

Apparently voters are confused by the intentionally misleading ballot measure description on the ballot. Some people think this is a scholarship fund, rather than a voucher transferring public tax dollars to private and parochial schools.

Laurie Roberts of The Republic reports Prop. 305, expanding school vouchers, could pass? I think I’m going to faint:

Somebody find me some smelling salts. A recent statewide poll shows Proposition 305 could well pass.

According to the Suffolk University/Arizona Republic poll, 41 percent of Arizona voters support diverting more tax money to private schools by expanding the state’s voucher program.

According to the poll, they like the idea of creating a two-tier system of schools: publicly subsidized private ones for the children of parents who can afford to pay the difference between what a voucher is worth and what tuition costs, and poorly funded public ones for the kids whose parents can’t.

Yep, I definitely am feeling woozy. Either that, or 41 percent of Arizona voters don’t know what the heck Prop. 305 actually does.

I’m going with that one.

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‘Don’t be fooled by legislative flimflam’ – vote no on Prop. 306

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The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry opposed the citizens initiative to create the Citizens Clean Elections Commissions. They lost.  They have used their lickspittle lackeys in Arizona’s GOP-controlled legislature ever since to undermine the commission – with some success – with the goal to eventually destroy it.

Their latest effort is Prop. 306 which misleading claims to reform some clean elections rules. Don’t be fooled by the language of the ballot measure.

Mark Kimble, former editor of the now defunct Tucson Citizen, has an op-ed at the Arizona Daily Star which explains Prop 306 imperils nonpartisan Citizens Clean Elections Commission:

Twenty years ago, Arizona voters approved formation of the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, to “improve the integrity of Arizona state government and promote public confidence in the Arizona political process.”

But on the November ballot, the Arizona Legislature, using Prop. 306, is trying to trick you into doing away with the nonpartisan Clean Elections Commission. They want you to turn the entire process over to a shadow group of political appointees, all of whom would represent only the party of the governor.

Legislators want to do all they can to make sure the sources of dark money in political campaigns remain secret. And they want your help.

Take a close look at Prop. 306 and understand what the real goal is.

The majority in the Legislature knew that if they put on the ballot a clearly worded proposition to do away with clean elections, it would be soundly rejected. So they resorted to obfuscation and misdirection.

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Health care is the top issue, and GOP candidates campaign on the ‘Big Lie’

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Polling shows that health care is the top priority for Americans, and that Democrats are winning among the segment of the electorate most worried about health care.

POLITICO reported this week about how Republican candidates are actually running ads saying that they support the pre-existing conditions provisions of the Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare” even after every Republican incumbent in Congress has voted multiple times over a period of several years to repeal Obamacare and voted for House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to convert Medicare into a private system with vouchers (coupon care). They are running away from their Obamacare repeal votes by simply lying about it (looking at you Martha McSally). ‘Just ridiculous lies’: Dems incensed over misleading GOP ads on Medicare for All.

The super PAC affiliated with House Speaker Paul Ryan is also accusing Democratic candidates of supporting Bernie Sanders’ $32 billion “Medicare for All“ plan, even if they have taken no position on his proposal or support other options.

The effort to tie swing-district candidates to a single-payer concept — which Democrats are deeply divided on — illustrates the GOP’s major disadvantage on health care after failing last year to pass unpopular Obamacare repeal bills.

“When it comes to core issues that voters are looking at, obviously Democrats have an advantage on health care,” said Republican strategist Ford O’Connell. “So now you’re watching the Republicans sort of move the goalposts.”

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