NRA combines viciousness with self parody

January 30, 2012

by David Safier This ad for the NRA store would be laughable if it weren't for the use of JFK, assassinated by rifle shots, as a supporter of the perversion of "Freedom" the NRA stands for. The "I didn't say that," Much-louder-than-a-dog-whistle pairing of the killing a [Democratic] president with the "cost of freedom" borders … Read more

Son of TABOR 2 – Tea-Publican tyranny run amok

January 30, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

While I am on the subject of the Goldwater Institute's ready and willing stooge, Rep. Justin Olson (R-Mesa), this piece of work is up to something even more nefarious.

Olson is proposing that the House adopt a procedural rule that would effectively impose the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) by legislative fiat, rather than by law.

You may recall that the "Son of TABOR" bill last year HB 2707 was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer as being too restrictive. Hence, the back-door attempt by legislative fiat. House GOP looks to rule change for spending limit -Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required):

The rule requires approval by a majority of the 60-member body – 40 of whom are Republicans – to be adopted.

Under the proposed rule, any future budget that exceeds the baseline would be deemed out of order, and lawmakers would be required to vote on whether they wanted to suspend the rule in order to approve the budget.

The change would be more flexible than a statutory or constitutional one, something Olson said remedies Brewer’s complain that last year’s bill tied future Legislatures’ hands. The purpose, he said, is to force a discussion about spending every time the Legislature considers a budget.

“It would require that debate and vote, and members would have to make the case as to why they were growing the budget,” he said.

House Speaker Andy Tobin called the rule “a good first step” in imposing a spending limit.

But when the rule came up during the House Republican caucus meeting on Tuesday, some of his colleagues had concerns.

Although Olson suggested that the flexibility was an advantage, Rep. John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction, called the rule “a toothless tiger” and said that it would be “embarrassing” if a lawmaker tried to tell his constituents that he had put this measure in place to control excessive spending, only to see the rule bypassed by a procedural vote.

“This is something I would expect out of Congress, not the state of Arizona. Why don’t we just do our job? I think this is beneath us,” he said.

Rep. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, said that she was uncomfortable about the precedent of setting policy rather than procedure in the rules.

“We set the stage for some unanticipated consequences that I’m very uncomfortable with,” she said Tuesday.

Kill this Bill: The Goldwater Institute is a lobbyist organization

January 30, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

No single organization has caused more harm to the state of Arizona or contributed more to its image as an ideological backwater than the Goldwater Institute. The Goldwater Institute operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3), which means it does not have to disclose the donors who fund it, and it does not have to register as a lobbyist organization — even though the Goldwater Institute has its so-called "experts" testifying on bills at the state legislature on a routine basis. They also draft model legislation as a member of ALEC.

The Goldwater Institute is the lobbyist organization trying to kill Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections and is all-in for expansion of Citizens United v. FEC to allow unlimited direct corporate contributions to candidates on the specious legal theories that "money = speech" and "corporations are people."

You may recall that Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett had quite enough of the Goldwater Institute operating as lobbyists without registering its members as lobbyists last year. Goldwater Institute ‘lobbies’ against registering more lobbyists - Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required):

In March, Amy Bjelland, elections director for the Secretary of State’s Office, sent the Goldwater Institute a letter urging it to register their analysts — who are testifying in legislative committees and contacting legislators — as lobbyists.

“The Goldwater Institute made 26 requests to speak before the 49th Legislature alone,” Bjelland wrote. “The Ninth Special Session was called at the institute’s urging relating to putting the issue of the right to a secret ballot before the voters… to the extent that employees of the principal will be engaging in the conduct regulated by Arizona law as noted above, each of these people must be added to the principal’s registration.”

Secretary of State Ken Bennett said he disagreed with the Goldwater Institute’s interpretation of the exemption from the statute.

“When you start to express positions on whether legislation is good or bad, that is no longer answering technical questions and that is no longer technical information,” he said.

Bennett said his office would look into new legislation to clarify the language before the impasse with the institute could be laid to rest.

Well, quite the opposit has occurred. The Goldwater Institute had one of its ready and willing stooges, Rep. Justin Olson (R-Mesa), sponsor HB 2565 defining non-profit groups as being outside the scope of "lobbyist" organizations, and thus exempt. Bill eyes definition of who is lobbyist:

The bill is designed to resolve a running debate between the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Secretary of State's Office by putting non-profit groups such as the institute outside the definition of "lobbyist."

That would mean no need to adhere to state laws that limit gifts to public officials or to identify the interest a person represents when testifying to the Legislature. It also would exempt such groups from requirements to file quarterly public reports on spending.

The coming week, part 1

January 29, 2012

By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings   Due to the lateness of the hour, this post will cover only Monday's schedule at the Arizona Capitol. A post on the rest of the weeks schedule will go up Monday night. I'm not going into a lot of depth here tonight, so if an agenda or … Read more

Amazing. Genuine (but shaky) old 3-D images on the web

January 29, 2012

by David Safier Here's a image taken with a stereo camera in 1905, which, through the magic of gif animation, is rendered in a shaky 3-D. GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator It's on the NY Library Stereogranimator site, with lots of others. For those not familiar with this old 3-D technnique: Photographers would … Read more

Question of the Day

January 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Why do all the media villagers keep repeating Jan Brewer's version of the facts that Obama was "testy" when sh is the only person present who continues to make this claim, and two others have flatly denied it? Out of the three officials who met President Obama on an airport tarmac near … Read more