Star blog features new Barber ad
May 8, 2012
by
by David Safier
Brady McCombs has a new blog post on the Star website about Barber's latest ad: "Worry." (You can view the ad below the fold.) It begins with a pretty good summary of the ad.
Democrat Ron Barber has released a new TV ad, again attacking his GOP opponent, Jesse Kelly, for his past comments about proposing to privatize and phase out Social Security and Medicare.
The ad starts by using Kelly’s own words from his most recent TV ad in which he tells his grandpa Hank Allgyer “not to worry” in an spot where Kelly pledges to protect seniors’ benefits.
“With Jesse Kelly, there is a lot to worry about,” the narrator says in the ad. “Kelly said he’d loved to eliminate Social Security and Medicare.”
The 30-second ad highlights remarks made by Kelly in 2009 and 2010 — during his failed attempt to win the seat — in which he talks about phasing out Medicare and privatizing and eliminating Social Security.
“Now, Jesse Kelly will say anything to get elected,” the narrator says.
McCombs follows this by noting Kelly recently changed his website, taking out a statement advocating for the privatization of Social Security.
The section now says Kelly supports “preserving, protecting and strengthening” Social Security and Medicare, and that he does not support privatizing, eliminating or phasing out the programs.
McCombs post gives the Kelly campaign some space to get in a few digs against Barber. Fair enough.
When I open the Star tomorrow, I'll be looking for an article on Barber's Monday press conference which folds in some information from the blog post, since that's the coverage Kelly got when he held a presser and released an ad last week. (No, this isn't false equivalence on my part. It's talking about equal treatment of the candidates, giving them approximately the same amount of coverage. "False equivalence" is where you say or imply both candidates are equally right or wrong on an issue when they aren't.)
Watch the ad below the fold.
Democratic presidents are better for job creation
May 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: "If you want to live like a Republican, vote Democratic." – Harry S. Truman I have posted about this topic from time to time over the years, for example Democratic Presidents Are Always Better For The Economy – Always, and Why elections matter: the economy always does better under Democrats. Today, Steve … Read more
Civil Rights Office investigations of TUSD
May 8, 2012
by
by David Safier I haven't written about this, simply because I don't understand it very well. The summary is, the U.S. Department of Ed is looking into allegations of discrimination at TUSD. Apparently, this relates to events at School Board meetings. Here's a statement from the Dept. of Ed. “Our Office for Civil Rights is … Read more
Latinos for Obama!
May 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: OFA Announcement: What: Organization meeting of Latinos for Obama When: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Where: Pima County Democratic Party HQ, 4639 E.1st Street (one block Sount of Speedway and West of Swan Road). Details: All new volunteers are invited to come and learn how to become a part of the … Read more
PCDP Hello / Goodbye Party
May 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Event announcement from the Pima County Democratic Party: Hello / Goodbye Party SPECIAL EVENT! Pima Dems Invites you to say… Hello / Goodbye Thursday, May 17, 20125:00pmLobby at Hotel Congress311 East Congress(Public Parking Garage Available at Congress and 4th Ave.) Join the Pima County Democratic Party as we say “Goodbye” to our … Read more
About those fund sweeps in the budget
May 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Governor Brewer has signed the Tea-Publican budget. Brewer signs $8.6B AZ budget. All is right in Tea-Publican land. Or is it?
As I posted last week, there already is a Legal challenge to fund sweep of mortgage fraud settlement fund in the works. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Housing group preparing lawsuit over mortgage sweep | Arizona Capitol Times:
Attorney Tim Hogan, of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, said he will represent the Arizona Housing Alliance in a suit trying to block the sweep. The money is from a $97.7 million pool the state received as part of a multistate settlement with several banks.
Hogan said the suit will allege that the sweep is illegal for two reasons.
One, he argued, is that it would violate the separation of powers between the Legislature and the Attorney General’s Office.
* * *
Hogan said the Legislature cannot directly appropriate the money, so it instead passed a bill ordering Horne to transfer the money to the general fund.
* * *
Hogan said it would also be unlawful for Horne to transfer the money because the settlement stipulates that it can only be used for specific purposes, such as avoiding preventable foreclosures, ameliorating the effects the foreclosure crisis, strengthening law enforcement efforts against financial fraud or deceptive acts in the housing market, or compensating the state “for costs resulting from the alleged unlawful conduct of the defendants.”
“Were he to transfer the money it would violate his duty as trustee of this court-ordered trust fund,” Hogan said.
Today, the Arizona Daily Star editorializes against the fund sweep (a day late and a dollar short). Foreclosure-aid funds should be used as intended:
One of the legacies of the housing crisis is a failure to provide meaningful assistance to the millions of homeowners across the country who lost big on their homes. We bailed out Wall Street, but did nothing for borrowers, who often waited for loan modifications that never came. That's one reason we strongly disagree with the diversion of $50 million from a fund that was supposed to be applied to foreclosure assistance, but instead is being used for the state budget.
The vulture capitalist Willard ‘Mittens’ Romney and his ‘businessman’ myth
May 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
An important long post from David Waldman at Daily Kos, Mitt Romney is a 'businessman' like the Hamburglar is a rancher (excerpts):
So I've been thinking about revisiting the topic of just how Romney managed to keep making so much money from companies that, in many cases, ended up failing. But so has everyone else, so now I have some video support that does the job for me, in just three minutes.
See video from former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich explaining how private equity partnerships (vulture capitalists) like Bain Capital make their money. (Video below the fold).
Romney borrows money to buy a majority stake in a company, takes over its board of directors, and uses that position to vote Bain a fat management contract, and take out the biggest loans possible from the company's bank. That money goes to pay back the people who put up the money for the purchase, as well as giant bonuses for Bain managers. But now the company has a huge debt to the bank (the interest on which is, of course, tax deductible), which the Bain managers sorta-kinda attempt to pay back by cutting payroll, benefits, investments in equipment, etc. Basically anything they can find to transfer the pain to anyone other than themselves.
Thanks, Secretary Reich! Beautiful job!
* * *
What that means is that not only is Romney not a "job creator," he's not a even really a "businessman," either. He's a financier, but he knows that's always been kind of a dirty word. So it's "businessman," or "entrepreneur," or… "job creator."
To a financier like Romney, what a business does, and who does it, doesn't matter. He's in it for the money. Specifically, taking money from other people.
Anti-labor bills fail in the Arizona legislature
May 8, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: With much fanfare at the start of the legislative session, the Goldwater Institute pushed a package of four anti-labor bills carried by lead sponsor, Sen. Rick Murphy (R-Glendale). Anti-Union Bills Sail Out of Arizona Senate Government Reform Committee – Phoenix New Times: Senate Bill 1484 states public employers "shall not deduct" any third … Read more
