House Ethics Committee reviewing Rep. Daniel Patterson’s response

April 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Rep. Daniel Patterson (Ind.-Tucson) had until this morning to file his response to the House Ethics Committee special investigators’ report. Patterson filed a lengthy response to the special investigators’ report claiming that the report is full of unsubstantiated claims and that rumors have been put forth as statements of fact. The Arizona … Read more

The long and winding road to justice: Andrew Thomas disbarred

April 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It has been a long and winding road to justice, but today an Arizona Supreme Court disciplinary panel disbarred former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and his former deputy Lisa Aubuchon. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Thomas disbarred by disciplinary panel – Arizona Capitol Times:

A disciplinary panel disbarred former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his former deputy Lisa Aubuchon Tuesday. A third former deputy, Rachel Alexander, was suspended for six months and one day.

None of the sanctioned attorneys were in court when Presiding Disciplinary Judge William O’Neil read the decision of the three-member panel.

The panel followed the recommendations of John Gleason, an independent discipline attorney hired by the State Bar of Arizona.

Gleason had argued during an eight-week hearing and in writing that Thomas and Aubuchon deserved disbarment because they knowingly used their authority to retaliate against political enemies of Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

No Tea-Publican love for Sen. ‘Don’t make me angry’ Frank Antenori

April 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: FEC finance reports were due last week. Every candidate in the CD 8 Special Election filed their reports but one — Sen. "Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori. Isn't his campaign slogan "results for a change"? The Arizona Daily Star this morning reported that ol' Frank was full of lame excuses for … Read more

Grand Canyon Institute: Public employees are underpaid, Goldwater Institute is full-o’-crap

April 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Grand Canyon Institute is out with a new study titled "Are Arizona Public Employees Over Compensated?" by Jeffrey H. Keefe and Dave Wells. GCI Research Report Public Compensation Apr 2012 (pdf).

The two key findings: First, the data analysis presented indicates that Arizona public employees, both state and local government employees, are not overpaid. Second, GCI takes the Goldwater Institute, upon which our Tea-Publican legislature routinely relies for misinformation, to task for its "fuzzy math." The Goldwater Institute is full-o'-crap (I keep telling you that GI research is always scientifically flawed, it is intended to produce a pre-determined conclusion in suppot of its far-right political agenda).

From the Executive Summary (emphasis mine):

The research in this paper investigates whether Arizona public employees are overpaid at the expense of Arizona taxpayers. The Arizona legislature is considering four bills including one that would ban state and local governmental entities from recognizing public sector unions, prohibit collective bargaining, and meeting and conferring with union representatives. According to the bill’s proponents, taxpayers are unfairly burdened by public workers' contracts negotiated by unions. Senator Rick Murphy, R-Peoria, who introduced Senate Bill 1485 prohibiting meetings with union representatives, declares that it is inappropriate when employees "take on the mantle of a public servant, then group up together and use leverage on the people they claim to serve." He adds, “There needs to be a better balance." His statement suggests that state and local public employees in Arizona are excessively compensated.

Likewise, Governor Jan Brewer’s proposal (also moving through the legislature) to shift significant
numbers of state employees to at will status, while couched in the context of more flexible pay, will reduce the attractiveness of state employment, making market pay considerations increasingly important in hiring and retaining the best employees.

The data analysis presented in Figure 1 indicates that Arizona public employees, both state and local government employees, are not overpaid. Comparisons controlling for education, experience, hours of work, organizational size, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, and disability reveal that public employees in both state and local governments earn less than comparable private sector employees. On an annual basis, full-time Arizona state and local employees are under-compensated by 7.8 percent in comparison to otherwise similar private sector workers. When comparisons are made for difference in annual hours worked, full-time Arizona state and local employees are under-compensated by a smaller 6.0 percent.

These results sharply contrast with the analysis presented by the Goldwater Institute in their January 24 2012 policy report, which suggests that public unions caused Arizona state and local government worker compensation to be $560 million above market rate.  Their analysis is inaccurate due to poor methodology.

Ward 2 Forum with Mayor Rothschild

April 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from Ward 2 City Councilman Paul Cunningham: WARD 2 TUCSON CITY COUNCILMANPAUL CUNNINGHAMHOSTSMAYOR JONATHAN ROTHSCHILD Please join Tucson City Councilman Paul Cunningham and MayorJonathan Rothschild at a Ward 2 Town Hall. Mayor Rothschild willdiscuss his first 180 days in office and have a question and answersession following. Light Refreshments will be … Read more

AIRC Update: DOJ approves Arizona’s new congressional districts map

April 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: All the sturm and drang from Tea-Publicans over the new congressional districts map turned out to be so much sound and fury, signifying nothing. When the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) hired former Department of Justice  lawyer Bruce Adelson as its compliance consultant, it ensured that the maps would pass Department of Justice … Read more

Martha McSally Slaps Jesse Kelly Around for his Absurd Energy Claims

April 9, 2012

By Michael Bryan

About time one of the CD8 Republican candidates pointed out what an ill-informed, truth-twisting dolt Jesse Kelly is when he talks about energy policy.

Martha McSally outright contradicted Kelly's claim that the U.S. has "significantly more oil than Saudi Arabia" during a recent debate. Of course, right-wingers jumped on her, claiming she "appeared unsure and reluctant about using American oil and gas resources for our own domestic energy needs — apparently content to remain dependent on costly foreign imports." Apparently, working with the actual facts is now defeatism among GOPers.

What McSally said was:

"We need a strategy that uses all the resources we have to get on the path to energy independence. And, Jesse, we don't have more oil than Saudi Arabia. The oil your talking about is cost prohibitive in order to actually get to it, because we don't have those technologies, yet. So we need those to be developed. And maybe you should use your G.I. Bill to go back and get a geology degree, and you can help with that. But the reality is that that is not available."

Oh, smack! The crowd starting oohing and laughing when McSally recommended Kelly get himself some actual education on the topic. It has to sting a little for college drop-out Kelly to get told by the candidate with two Masters degrees, and a stint as a professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall Center in Germany, to get back to school and learn some shit.

It's nice to see a little reality-based discussion on the Right. Let's see if McSally keeps up the criticism of Kelly's less-than-real energy policy talking points.

See the video after the click…