by David Safier Daniel Scarpinato, recently of Paton campaign fame infamy, is now the communications guy for the Arizona House Republicans. And today, he came out with a classic Scarp. It's Scarpiosity at its finest. Advertisement In a News Release, he's writing triumphantly about the House passing the $500 million-plus in tax breaks for business. … Read more

by David Safier A reader sent me a link that is a campaign contribution wonk's paradise. It's part of the Follow the Money website. In this section, you can look up any Arizona legislative committee and see who contributed to each committee member and how much of that money is related to the committee's work. … Read more

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings The four members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) who have been appointed by the leadership of the Ariizona legislature will meet next week to select a fifth member, an Independent, to fill out the membership of the AIRC and to serve as chair. The agenda was emailed to … Read more

by David Safier I just caught this in Arizona Geology. [NOTE: For those of you who are astounded by the depth and breadth of my reading, be astounded no longer. It's all about "Google Alerts." Whenever the words "Al Melvin" come up in any publication anywhere in the world, I get a link from Google. … Read more

by David Safier And here I thought I had nothing to criticize in the Star today. Silly me. The Star ran an edited version of a Howard Fischer article today about the debate between Ds and Rs over the $538 million tax giveaway to corporations. The edited version reads OK. But it would have been … Read more

by David Safier Remember how Brewer promised the $538 million in business tax cuts wouldn't be paid for by the one cent sales tax hike? That's because the tax cuts are supposed to be delayed until after the sales tax is phased out. And that, says Brewer, . . . keeps faith with the promise … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Well, not exactly. The corporate welfare tax giveaway plan to be approved today by the Arizona Legislature does not pay for itself — there are no Pay-Go provisions. The legislation will cost the state $38 million next year and will grow to $538 million when fully implemented in 2018, according to this JLBC … Read more