Michael Bryan

Michael founded BlogForArizona.net as the Howard Dean presidential campaign blog for Arizona in 2003, and has been blogging ever since. The Blog is now coming up on 20 years of continuous publication, a major achievement for any political blog, which usually have the life-spans of mayflies. Michael is an attorney living in Tucson with his wife Lauren. In 2008, Michael remade BlogForArizona into a collaborative project. Michael is now but one of the contributors to the blog and provides editorial and publishing direction in consultation with the Board of Directors and the other authors. If you want to keep up with the latest Arizona and National political news in an entertaining quick hit of news and opinion, check out the BlogForArizona twitter feed, which Mike largely curates and writes. Michael is also an AAPC member who occassionally consults on political campaigns, strategy and communications.

Donkey Feed: Wednesday July 25th, 2018

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By Michael Bryan

Alas, I have not found a good solution for noting web articles and posting them here to the blog since Digg changed its business model. So, for now, I’m going to try a bi-weekly compilation of the best I’ve read so far that week.

Unavoidably, some of the articles will be a few days old, because I’ll be compiling throughout the week and posting (hopefully) twice a week: on Wednesdays and on Sundays (alongside Blue Meanie’s Calendar and Editorial Cartoon posts). I’ll try to stick to articles of note that will stand the test of a little time, or more considered looks at the breaking news of the week.

So, here we go after the “Continue Reading…”.

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We Get What We Deserve

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Cross-posted from RestoreReason.com.

Wow! I normally think of Laurie Roberts as a fair-minded reporter with a pro-public education bent. I don’t know what happened to her this morning, maybe she ran out of leaded coffee and had to drink decaf. At any rate, I couldn’t let her opinion piece, “Does Arizona really need 236 school districts?”go unanswered.

First of all, the answer is no. But of course, this isn’t the sort of question that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” because there are so many variables that must be factored in. For example, I was recently on the Diné (Navajo) reservation where even relatively close to Tuba City, the students must travel over REALLY bad roads for over an hour each way every day to get to and from school. Could we do more to consolidate district schools on tribal lands? Maybe a little, but I’m guessing opportunities would be very few and far between.

Sure you say, but that’s a really different situation than what they have in downtown Phoenix. Yes, that’s true, but I’m guessing there are other unique circumstances in those schools and the voters elect locally elected governing boards to make decisions about what is best for their students and their communities. Do they always get it right? No – no one ever does. But, they are closest to the action and have the best chance of making the right calls.

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Ads on BlogForArizona

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By Michael Bryan Pardon our dust, as they say. You will likely have noticed that there are some new ads on the blog. We have faced some significant expenses due to site updates, new security requirements, and a recent malware attack. To defray the costs of running and maintaining the site we need money. Some … Read more

Arizona’s Groundwater Crisis

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By Michael Bryan I seldom post about a single article, but this article by the New York Times Magazine, The Water Wars of Arizona, strikes so deeply and accurately at the root of a major problem for rural Arizona communities that I feel everyone in Arizona who wishes to be an informed citizen and voter … Read more