Are the days of ‘Phil A. Buster’ numbered?

May 15, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last Thursday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took to the Senate floor to apologize to all the filibuster reformers he had stymied over the years.“The rest of us were wrong,” he said. “If there were anything that ever needed changing in this body, it’s the filibuster rule, because it’s been abused, abused and abused.”

Hindsight is always 20-20, Harry. You had the votes, and you not only failed to lead but obstructed on this issue. Despite his mea culpa, I have no reason to believe that Harry Reid would not do it again.

So this post by Ezra Kelin at his WonkBlog caught my attention. I had not previously heard about this lawsuit. Is the filibuster unconstitutional?:

According to Best Lawyers — “the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession” — Emmet Bondurant “is the go-to lawyer when a business person just can’t afford to lose a lawsuit.” He was its 2010 Lawyer of the Year for Antitrust and Bet-the-Company Litigation. But now, he’s bitten off something even bigger: bet-the-country litigation.

Bondurant thinks the filibuster is unconstitutional. And, alongside Common Cause, where he serves on the board of directors, he’s suing to have the Supreme Court abolish it.

Governor Brewer signs HB 2826, the ‘make-work for Goldwater institute lawyers’ bill

May 15, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Our lawless legislature and governor routinely pass bills that are unlawful or unconstitutional to make-work for the lawyers of the Goldwater Institute who write and lobby for these bills. It constitutes a taxpayer-funded subsidy to a right-wing organization — dedicated to the free enterprise system (sic) – that has done more harm to the state of Arizona over the years than any other source. Goldwater Institute is a cancer on the body politic.

Despite Goldwater lawyers having just lost in the Arizona Supreme Court on "Paton's Law" which sought to dictate to the Charter City of Tucson how it must conduct its local elections, the Goldwater Institute pressed ahead with HB 2826, which would dictate that all elections in Arizona must occur on only two dates in even numbered years (there is an exception for certain bond elections).

The bill was opposed by the Arizona League of Cities and Towns and county elections officials, and editorialized against by The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star.

Despite overwhelming opposition, Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2826 on Monday in what can only be viewed as a taxpayer-subsidy to the Goldwater institute to defend the bill it wrote and lobbied for in the courts. This corrupt system of "make-work for Goldwater institute lawyers" has to end. New AZ law limits city elections even-numbered years, 2 days per year – East Valley Tribune:

Brushing aside local concerns, Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday signed legislation that will limit cities to electing officials only in even-numbered years — and only on two days each year.

And in doing so, she may be setting the stage for a lawsuit.

Gov. Brewer vetoes SB 1182 for conflicting with federal anti-terrorism laws

May 15, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You may recall that back in April our Tea-Publican legislature was busy with an "Obama derangement syndrome" bill, SB 1182, which would block state employees from enforcing two sections of the new National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012 dealing with when the federal government can detain people – including U.S. citizens – suspected of involvement in terrorism. State acts to thwart US law on terrorism:

A federal act, signed at the end of last year by President Obama, gives him authority "to use all necessary and appropriate force" to detain, without trial, certain people, including not only those who planned or aided in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but anyone who "substantially supported al-Qaida, the Taliban or associated forces." That includes U.S. citizens and provides for military trials.

The state legislation deals with a contention that the federal government has overreached and is acting illegally.

State lawmakers already have voted to condemn the law. But Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, said that's not enough.

She said anyone who works for the state or local government should be barred from having anything to do with enforcing that law. And Allen said she sees nothing wrong with threatening those who do with arrest.

* * *

Allen said the terrorism enforcement prohibitions are needed because "if you help the federal government to arrest citizens who have due process," she has no problem making it a misdemeanor, which carries a potential six months in jail.

Gov. Brewer vetoes SB 1332, now defeat secession on the November ballot

May 15, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted last week about how "the "Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists" Tea-Publican insurrectionists put secession from the United States on the November ballot.

The House passed HCR 2004 on a 38-20 vote, sending the resolution to the Secretary of State. The resolution refers to the ballot a constitutional amendment declaring state sovereignty over lands, air, water, minerals, wildlife and the state's other natural resources based on the argument of "equal footing."

So this November Arizonans will suffer the national embarrassment of having to vote on whether to secede from the United States. Of course, it is unconstitutional and entirely unenforceable.

I asked you to contact Governor Brewer and tell her to veto a companion bill, SB 1332, and on Monday she did. Ariz. gov. vetoes bill that demanded federal lands:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Monday that would have had the state join Utah in demanding that the federal government surrender control of millions of acres of public land.

Update: Tea-Publican tyranny in Michigan – measure to repeal Michigan martial law in court on Thursday

May 15, 2012

Posted by AzBliueMeanie:

A couple of weeks ago I posted an Update: Tea-Publican tyranny in Michigan – The slow death of democracy:

 Laura Conaway posted at the Maddow Blog, Michigan, this is your democracy:

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers today rejected a petition drive that would have put the state's emergency manager law on the November ballot. The board's staff had reported (.pdf) that the petitioners had collected enough signatures, and recommended (.pdf) that the board deny a challenge on the basis that the petition's type size might be too small.

I found the Memorandum from the Michigan Board of State Canvassers referenced in the above document, which advises that Michigan, like almost every other state, follows the "Subtantial Compliance Doctrine (.pdf), which holds that:

"It is well established by both statute and case law that petitions need only substantially conform to the statutory requirements," and that “constitutional and statutory initiative and referendum provisions should be liberally construed to effectuate their purposes, to facilitate rather than hamper the exercise by the people of these reserved rights.” The general rule is that “all doubts as to technical deficiencies or failure to comply with the exact letter of procedural requirements in petitions . . . are resolved in favor of permitting the people to vote and express a choice on any proposal subject to election.”

Despite the fact that Michigan, like almost every other state, follows the "Substantial Compliance Doctrine," and the petition format had received the recommendation of the staff to deny the challenge to the petitions based upon a hyper-technical compliance with the statute, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers upheld the challenge on a partisan 2-2 vote.

The Republican front group "Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility" that brought the challenge conveniently also had a Board member on the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. As Rachel Maddow explain[ed], this obvious conflict of interest should have resulted in his recusal. Instead, this Board member was both pitching and umpiring, rigging the vote in his group's favor.

Stand Up for Democracy which gathered the signatures filed an appeal from this vote-rigged decision of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. The case is now in court. Unfortunately, in Michigan judges are elected by partisan elections so anything is possible. Justice may not be served.

Voice of Detroit reports MICHIGAN’S EMERGENCY MANAGER OPPONENTS TRY TO REVIVE THEIR EFFORT IN COURT MAY 17 | VOICE OF DETROIT:

A coalition that wants to repeal Michigan’s law giving more power to state-appointed emergency managers is headed to court to try and revive its stalled effort.

Stand Up for Democracy is scheduled to make oral arguments before the Michigan Court of Appeals on May 17 [at 10 a.m. before a panel consisting of Appeals Court Judges Kurtis T. Wilder (presiding), Kirsten Frank Kelly, and Michael Riordan. It will take place in the Detroit office of the Court of Appeals at in the Cadillac Place Building (old GM building), on West Grand Blvd. at Second.]

[Stand Up for Democracy filed the case, with amicus curiae briefs filed by the Michigan ACLU, Michigan AFSCME, and others.]

More on job-killer Willard ‘Mittens’ Romney

May 14, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It seems that the Willard "Mittens" Romney campaign has their knickers in a twist over the Obama campaign ad "Steel" released earlier today about the vulture capitalism of Bain Capital.

You will recall that In its effort to sell Mitt Romney as someone who understands the economy and knows how to create jobs, one of his campaign’s early talking points was that he helped create 100,000 jobs during his tenure at Bain Capital. Yeah, not true. Romney Campaign Massively Downgrades The Number Of Jobs It Claims He Created From 100,000 To ‘Thousands’:

The campaign repeated the claim throughout the primary, despite a glaring lack of evidence to support it (even Sarah Palin doubted it).

Romney eventually stopped repeating the talking point, which advisers had difficulty defending under pressure, and now it seems Romney has completely Etch A Sketched the number and severely lowered the number of jobs Romney is supposed to have created at Bain.

BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller reports that, in the wake of the Obama campaign’s new ad attacking Romney’s record at Bain, the “new Romney jobs math” is significantly more modest than the old. This time, the campaign is asserting that Romney created a meager and vague “thousands of jobs” at Bain and “tens of thousands” of jobs as governor of Massachusetts.

That's known as "weasel words" in the business — purposefully vague so you can't be pinned down on an exact number. I call it "Mitt Math."

This is nothing less than an admission from the Romney campaign that their 100,000 jobs claim was entirely bogus, and acceptance that Romney created vastly fewer jobs than he claimed he had just a few months ago. It’s a welcome return to reality, but calls into question any piece of evidence the campaign puts forward.

Jeff Flake’s past lobbying an issue in senate campaign

May 14, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Jeff Flake's past lobbying becomes issue in Arizona Senate race | Arizona Capitol Times

[A]s a result of the six-term congressman’s work as a lobbyist two decades ago for a Namibian uranium operation with ties to Iran, a GOP primary opponent and Democrats are portraying him as a Washington insider who should not get to succeed retiring Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Well before Flake was a leader in the campaign to eliminate the pet projects and grants that lawmakers add to spending bills [earmarks], he was a registered foreign agent who represented Namibia and a uranium mine in the southern African nation that gained independence in 1990. Flake has since received $100,000 in contributions from mining interests and voted a number of times against penalties on Iran.

* * *

Flake says his lobbying past has never been a secret and that it was tied to his “love affair” with southern Africa, where as a young Mormon he did missionary work. He says his focus was on helping the transitional government of Namibia emerge as a democracy and develop its economy.

He says it’s ridiculous to imply that his work representing Rossing Uranium, which was majority-owned by the global mining conglomerate Rio Tinto Zinc of London, played any role in his votes on Iran. He says it was only last year that he learned that the Iranian government also had a stake in the mine.