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Visit the Democrats of Greater TucsonLeister Lauds Passage of PATRIOT Act
I recently paid a visit to Sen. Bill Frist’s VOLPAC blog because he announced the ill-advised re-authorization of the PATRIOT Act in the Senate. You can certainly make up your own minds as to whether the permanent re-authorization of PATRIOT was a good idea (I happen to strongly disfavor re-authorization of any provision of that act that does not sunset), but I have to wonder how the CD 8 candidates would vote for the bill in its present form as it heads to the House, if they could vote on it?
We don’t have to wonder much about how one candidate, Dwight Leister, would vote. It seems pretty clear from his comment on Frist’s blog that he supports the re-authorization:
"As a Democratic Candidate for Congress in Arizona’s 8th District I support the "Features" that the Patriot Act gives to Law Enforcement agencies in Southeastern Arizona as we fight the War on terror by Securing our Borders and enabling our Border Sheriffs to have access to Federal Funds."
Dwight D. Leister:Chair
www.committee-to-elect.org
T.Mae Leister: First Vice Treasurer
www.dwightleister4congress2006.com
I am somewhat familiar with the PATRIOT Act, and I am not aware of any portions that are of use in enforcing our immigration laws, nor am I aware of any funding coming our way from passage of the PATRIOT Act. Perhaps Mr. Leister could enlighten us as to what those "features" are? I am also curious as to whether there are any "features" of this bill that Mr. Leister does not support?
As he apparently reads this blog at times, I would invite him to clarify his position in a comment, or by contacting me directly, if he prefers. I can’t imagine that the unqualified sobriquet "Supporter of the USA PATRIOT Act" is the best foot to put forward with CD 8’s Democratic primary voters. But what do I know? He’s the candidate for Congress.
Mr. Leister responds on the flip…
Drinking Liberally, Thursday 3/2
Coming Attractions
Slade Mead Qualifies For SPI and Clean Elections Funding
The effort to defeat Tom Horne as Superintendent of Public Instruction is important but often overlooked. One of the most important Constitutional officers is the SPI, as s/he has broad authority over public schools, which comprise a major portion of our 10 billion dollar state budget, yet the race is too often overlooked by the media and voters.
Slade Mead, a former Republican legislator who was recruited by Gov. Napolitano and Chairman Mitchell after having been defeated in his party’s primary, is one of the Democratic candidates for this important state-wide post. Slade recently completed his nomination petitions and his Clean Elections qualifying $5 donation allotment. He sent out a press release regarding his agenda in running for SPI, which I reprint in its entirety, without comment, below the fold.
I will invite Jason Williams, who is also running for the Democratic SPI nomination, to provide the same sort of statement regarding his campaign.
Dwight Leister Speaks Up
I recently added a link to the Arizona Daily Star’s forums to my right sidebar. I think that such a place could be a useful for community discussion of important public issues, and some candidates for public office are posting there regularly. I chose to recieve daily updates of new forum postings, and one of the posts which caught my attention was one by CD 8 Democratic candidate Dwight Leister.
I certainly agree with his underlying premise – that money is corrupting our political values – but I suspect that Dwight may be taking the give and take of politics rather too personally. Certainly, he needs to focus on things like grammar when addressing the public in an open forum. I haven’t met him personally, so I am not going to form any firm opinion of him based only on a forum posting, and I urge you not to do so either. But I will say that Mr. Leister needs to be concerned to present an air professionalism that does credit to what I am sure is an earnest and informed desire to serve the public welfare.
Oh, and if you are going to call Gabby Giffords a political whore who is frolicking on a bed of special interest money, just come out and say it Dwight; it serves no one to thinly veil one’s imprecations under a barely plausible veneer of deniability. After the jump, Dwight’s post without editing:
John C. Bogle’s “The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism”
Despite the ideological trope that capitalism is somehow the natural state of human economies, and that any government regulation risks causing the ‘invisible hand’ of the market to bitch-slap us all, the truth is that capitalism depends entirely upon a very complex body of law and social norms. Without the proper legal incentives to channel self-interest into benefiting society, Wall Street begins to behave like La Costa Nostra with better tailoring.
In the aftermath of the massive corporate failures that have characterized the past several years, it is easy to overlook that those failures where not due mainly to criminals doing illegal things, but to ethical people doing business as usual. Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Global Crossing and other now infamous business failures were only the rottenest apples in a bad barrel; not aberrations, but an extreme example of what we have allowed to become quite representative examples of the massive and widespread failure of corporate governance.
Friday Dog Blogging
Interview with Patty Weiss, Democrat for AZ CD8
Last week I interviewed Patty Weiss, former Southern Arizona
newscaster, and currently a candidate for the Democratic nomination for
the Congressional District 8 seat being vacated by Jim Kolbe. I have to
confess to a staggering feat of amateurism; my tape of the interview
came up blank. Luckily, I have a good memory, took some notes, and
Patty was kind enough to review my notes to ensure that they accurately
reflect her positions. As a result, the responses I attribute to Patty
on the issues I raised are at best paraphrasing, not quotes, though she
did sign off my recollections.
My impression of Patty was that she is a very intelligent and articulate person, the sort that might overwhelm less active intellects, and garner a certain reputation from the envious or less able. She is well-spoken, as one would expect from a professional communicator, but I never got the feeling she was just stringing together talking points, though, of course, there was some that, naturally. There were also moments when she was less guarded than any professional politician would have been and that could, unfortunately, cause her some embarrassments in the future.
It is obvious that Patty is not just ‘interested in politics’ (a quote that has been used widely to cast her as a dilettante); rather Weiss is possessed of a well-considered viewpoint on the issues. Anyone who thinks that Weiss is a less than serious candidate, or one who will turn off the electorate upon greater exposure is in for a rude awakening. She looks great on TV, and has charisma. The wildcard may be how she fares in face-to-face retail politics. I suspect that she will be better than most. In my opinion, Weiss is likely to exceed expectations upon greater exposure and develop into a formidable political contender. Her wide name recognition could very well translate into wide electoral support as voters come to know her and like her in this new role.
UPDATE 2/28/06: Blue in AZ at Daily Kos attended several panels with the candidates and transcribed their position statements on the Iraq war. There have been comments on this post that Patty’s previous statements about what to do in Iraq differ from how she answered me. I’ll let you review the record and decide for yourself whether that is the case or not.