SWAG Update
April 3, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Time once again to update candidate filings. The dance card is almost full. You can play along at home at http://www.azsos.gov/cfs/CommitteeSearch.aspx The only breaking news this week is the pending resignation of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas to run for Attorney General. Speculation continues among the chattering class as to whether Maricopa
Opening Day: For Love of the Game
April 3, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Sunday is technically Opening Day for major league baseball, with the Seattle Mariners at the S.F. Giants, and the "2009 World Champion" N.Y. Yankees (God, it hurts to say that) at Fenway Park in Red Sox Nation (ESPN Sunday Night Baseball). The full schedule gets underway on Monday. President Obama will throw
I wish I could have been there…
April 3, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I was born and raised a Minnesota Twins fan. I can still recall the Twins' first World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the old Metropolitan Stadium in 1965. The Dodger's Sandy Koufax pitched a 3 hit shutout in one of his greatest pitching performances ever for a 2-0 win at
GOP Taliban to dictate to charter city governments when they can hold elections
April 3, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Earlier this year the GOP Taliban enacted "Paton's Law" dictating to the City of Tucson that its elections must be non-partisan and ward only, legislatively overruling provisions of the City of Tucson Charter without any vote by the residents of Tucson. The legality of this questionable act is now in the Court
Governor signs new campaign finance disclosure law
April 3, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Following the reversal of a century of Supreme Court precedents by the radical conservative activists on the Roberts' Court in Citizens United v. FEC, the state of Arizona's ban on corporate money in elections had to be modified. Gov. Jan Brewer on April 1 signed a bill that requires extensive disclosure of
AZ next to last in “Race To The Top” race
April 3, 2010
by David Safier This is just sad. Out of 40 states plus the District of Columbia that applied to win a piece of the largest federal education grant ever awarded, Arizona's application ranked 40th. Only South Dakota posted a worse score. It's not that Arizona didn't try. A 60 member group Brewer put together drafted
Predatory lenders back with strike everything amendment on Wednesday
April 3, 2010
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Just as I said they would, the predatory payday loan industry is back again with a strike everything amendment to try one more time to keep their predatory business alive and well in Arizona. Payday lenders try 1 more time: Unable to keep payday loans legal in Arizona, lenders are making a
Lege 101 – strike everything amendments
April 2, 2010
Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings The "strike everything" amendment, aka "striker", is a tool in the legislature where the text of one bill is changed (amended) by replacing it with completely new (and usually unrelated) text. The official definition, from page 84 of the Legislative Manual (page 90 of the .pdf) –
