Reminder: Tucson 42nd Annual Juneteenth Festival

June 10, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: For more information please go to Juneteenth Tucson – Wall | Facebook

Can a President Affect Gas Prices? Yes, But Only One Way.

June 9, 2012

By Michael Bryan So, this is a meme now: In case you can't see this image for some reason, it expresses shock at how, in 2006, three-quarters of Democrats thought Bush affected oil prices, yet, in 2012, only one-third of Democrats think Obama is doing so. So, for the GOP who don't seem to get … Read more

AIRC Update: Tea-Publican deadbeats sue the AIRC with your tax dollars to overturn Prop. 106 that created the AIRC

June 9, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publican tyranny and authoritarianism are run amok in Arizona again this week. The Tea-Publican controlled legislature is suing the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), arguing that the voter approved Proposition 106 (2000) to the state constitution that created the AIRC violates the U.S. Constitution. And even though only Tea-Publicans argue this for their partisan political advantage, they are using your tax dollars to overturn the will of the voters. Arizona Legislature challenges redistrict commission:

The Arizona Legislature went to federal court Thursday to challenge the authority of the Independent Redistricting Commission to draw congressional boundaries.

The lawsuit argues only the 90-member Legislature can create new districts for Arizona's congressional delegation.

The suit follows through on a legislative vote last month giving House and Senate leaders permission to sue. It passed with only Republican votes. The suit joins three others contesting various aspects of the commission's work.

* * *

House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, and other lawmakers want a three-judge federal panel to take up the matter. Ultimately, he said, he wants to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the law nationwide.

"The U.S. Constitution clearly defines that only elected officials, an elected body, can draw the lines," he said.

Although this is the second time the independent commission has drawn new maps, there was no challenge a decade ago. Tobin said that's because there was no "outcry" from citizens.

"They felt the process was done correctly last time," he said.

That's bullshit! It was because Republicans controlled the 2002 AIRC and got everything they wanted and more out of it. It's all fun and games until they don't get what they want, then they want to take their ball and go home unless the rules of the game are changed to their advantage.

By the way, the 2002 AIRC was sued by several minority groups who initially succeeded in demonstrating that the original maps of the 2002 AIRC intentionally discriminated against minority voters (the U.S. Department of Justice had issued a rejection of the maps as well for the same reason). A different set of maps was approved by the Court for the 2004 election and thereafter.

After more than seven years in litigation the Court issued a ruling in which the Court essentially threw up its hands and said "Screw it! Redistricting is right around the corner, get it right the next time."

So when Andy Tobin says citizens "felt the process was done correctly last time," he is full-o-crap.

Another shoe drops in the Tom ‘banned for life by the SEC’ Horne scandal

June 9, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about this back in early April Tom 'banned for life by the SEC' Horne under investigation by the FBI when the Arizona Republic broke the story that Attorney General Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne, is under investigation by the FBI for campaign finance law violations.  Attorney General Tom Horne under investigation:

The FBI is investigating whether Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne illegally worked with an independent expenditure committee that raised and spent more than $500,000 in 2010 to run negative ads against his Democratic challenger.

The Republic learned that Horne was under investigation by federal officials about two months ago, but could only determine that it was tied to Horne's possible illegal involvement in an independent expenditure committee created in 2010.

* * *

A complaint was filed in February by a whistle-blower, who worked for Horne. Former prosecutor Don Dybus — who also worked on Horne's campaign — alleged Horne worked with the committee and later hired the chairwoman.

The complaint was filed in February, and the Arizona Secretary of State's Office released it Monday.

The complaint http://www.azcentral.com/ic/pdf/0402-horne-complaint.pdf

Well, another shoe dropped this week in the Tom "banned for life by the SEC" Horne scandal. Legal claim accuses Arizona AG Horne of cover-up, seeks $10 million:

[A] $10 million legal claim filed (.pdf) by Margaret "Meg" Hinchey, a longtime state criminal investigator, accuses Attorney General Tom Horne of engaging in a cover-up and attempting to destroy records that potentially show criminal activity.

Senate primary path cleared for Dr. Richard Carmona

June 9, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Let this be a lesson for candidates: train your signature gatherers well, and verify your signatures against the voter rolls before you turn them in so that you know you have enough valid signatures. Don't be embarrassed like this, Democrat Ruben ends US Senate campaign: Tucson psychiatrist David Ruben has withdrawn from the U.S. … Read more

The state of Maricopa appears to be the hub of the wingnut operations of the Koch brothers

June 9, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about the Koch brothers' front group Protect Patients’ Rights a couple of weeks ago. Koch is a cancer in the American body politic:

McClatchy News has the latest reporting on the billionaire bastard Koch brothers, who are a cancer in the American body politic. Center's activities provide glimpse into network of conservative advocacy groups | McClatchy:

The financial firepower that fueled the rise of a network of conservative advocacy groups now pummeling Democrats with television ads can be traced, in part, to Box 72465 in the Boulder Hills post office, on a desert road on the northern outskirts of Phoenix.

That's the address for the Center to Protect Patient Rights, an organization with ties to Charles and David H. Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankroll a number of conservative organizations.

During the 2010 midterm election, the center sent more than $55 million to 26 GOP-allied groups, tax filings show, funding opaque outfits such as American Future Fund, 60 Plus and Americans for Job Security that were behind a coordinated campaign against Democratic congressional candidates.

Well, it turns out that this Protect Patients’ Rights front group at "Box 72465 in the Boulder Hills post office, on a desert road on the northern outskirts of Phoenix," is also behind the GOP voter suppression efforts in Florida. Republic Report reveals Florida Official Behind Gov. Rick Scott’s Voter Purge Linked To $1 Billion Campaign Effort Against Obama:

Just before Kurt Browning was selected in 2011 by Scott as Secretary of State, Browning led a group called “Protect Your Vote Inc.,” which was set up to oppose fair redistricting. One of the biggest checks to Browning’s organization came from the Center to Protect Patients’ Rights, which gave $100,000 in 2010. At the time of the donation, the source of the money was shrouded in secrecy.

* * *

But as Republic Report exclusively reported last month, the Center to Protect Patients’ Rights is part of a universe of front groups financed by David and Charles Koch, the petrochemical billionaires, as well as several other billionaires, as part of an election-influencing effort. New reports this week about the brothers’ strategy indicate that they will now use this constellation of front groups to finance $400 million of a $1 billion campaign in outside money to defeat President Obama and congressional Democrats. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mitt Romney’s Super PAC, and several nonprofits controlled by Karl Rove, will furnish the other $600 million.

Update: Tea-Publican Tyranny in Michigan – appeals court panel rules emergency manager referendum should go on the ballot, then stays its own order

June 8, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The petition drive to seek a referendum on Michigan’s emergency financial manager law took another strange twist today as a state appeals court panel ruled that it should go on the ballot, then stayed its own order to poll the entire appellate bench on whether to review the issue further.

The Detroit Free Press reports, Appeals court agrees to put emergency manager law on ballot, then delays its order :

The three-judge panel, in a unanimous decision, said existing case law requires them to support the group Stand Up for Democracy and order the Board of State Canvassers to put the issue on the November ballot. But the court said they believed that, but for the precedent, they would have found against Stand Up for Democracy for failure to comply with a technical type-size requirement.

The rarely-used procedure ordered by the court calls for a poll of all 28 members of the Court of Appeals on whether to appoint a special panel of 7 judges to resolve the dispute.

Resolve what? The court just found that existing case precedent and statutory law — the substantial compliance doctrine — requires them to allow the referendum to go to the ballot. Here again is the Memorandum from the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, which advises that Michigan, like almost every other state, follows the "Subtantial Compliance Doctrine" (.pdf), which holds that:

"It is well established by both statute and case law that petitions need only substantially conform to the statutory requirements," and that “constitutional and statutory initiative and referendum provisions should be liberally construed to effectuate their purposes, to facilitate rather than hamper the exercise by the people of these reserved rights.” The general rule is that “all doubts as to technical deficiencies or failure to comply with the exact letter of procedural requirements in petitions . . . are resolved in favor of permitting the people to vote and express a choice on any proposal subject to election.”

The ‘Romney Rules’

June 8, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Andrew Sprung at Xpostfactoid has compiled the “Romney Rules” for which the media villagers really ought to keep a copy of this in their pocket at all times for quick reference: Weekly, Steve Benen tallies up the latest instances of Mitt's Mendacity. * * * I find the laser focus on lying … Read more