Arizona Democrats in the News: AZ Rep. Steve Farley on CPS

I am inaugurating a new series here on Blog For Arizona. There is a lot of really great media coverage of Arizona’s Democrats and the issues that our party members and elected officials are speaking out about. I’ve decided my little blog will do its little bit to help get those messages out there.

You can help by sending me clippings of good coverage of Arizona Democrats speaking out about important state and local issues. I want newspaper articles, television appearances, and radio spots. If you are a media coordinator for a candidate, office-holder or a party organ or committee, I want to hear from you. I don’t want press releases, I want clippings, video and audio from press coverage.

We of the liberal Arizona blogs have an opportunity to do more to help the Democratic message get heard, and an opportunity to help shape that message.

Here’s one of my own state representatives Steve Farley on Horizon (which airs in Phoenix, but not in his district in Tucson) discussing up-coming CPS public records reform legislation. Steve supports fellow Southern Arizonan Pete Hershberger’s bill, HB 2765, which is scheded for hearing in Human Services (which isn’t problematic, as Hershberger is the Chair) and Government Committees (where Kirk Adams, Steve’s opposite on this issue, is chair, so some encouraging words to Adams would help).

Adam’s competing bill on this subject,  HB 2454, allows "any person" to access the CPS records of a child victim when there is a fatality, only allowing withholding of records if CPS demonstrates a "specific, material harm" to a party by the release, but provides no standard of proof, nor any clear indication of what constitutes a "specific, material" harm. Such language sounds good to a layperson, but when I hear such ringing generalities, I hear the ‘cha-ching’ of prolonged litigation to figure out what that phrase means.