Michael Bryan

UPDATE 12pm: The Board voted 4-1 (Ray Carroll being the dissenter, as he so frequently is) to select Nancy Young Wright as the new State Representative for LD 26. Interestingly, even though Jorgenson got the most support among the PCs of 26 (not to mention Lena’s) the Board nominated Nancy immediately, and Ray Carroll couldn’t get a second when he suggested that Don deserved an up or down vote on the record before considering Nancy. Nancy is going to file papers to run today, so she will definitely be seeking re-election. She also said that she will be resigning her current job with the county, as she was a direct employee, not a contractor. Don Jorgenson and Cheryl Cage were both in attendance at the Board’s meeting and were very supportive of Nancy once the vote confirmed what everyone expected. Don is certainly still running as Nancy’s running mate. I don’t know whether Cheryl Cage will also run, or if she will return to running the LD 26 campaigns. I will be sitting down with Nancy as soon as her schedule allows to give everyone a feel for her priorities for this and future sessions.

I recorded some of the speeches from the LD 26 meeting the other night, and I thought some might be interested to listen. I apologize for the sound quality. The levels are rather too low, so crank up your volume.

First is Lena’s speech, in which she outlines the reasons for her resignation and indicates her views on who should replace her:

Download saradnik.mp3

Each of the candidates was given 5 minutes to address the meeting and make their case. I present only those candidates selected for nomination to the Board.

Don Jorgenson (in which my boneheaded mistake about the age of Don’s children becomes the stuff of political humor):

Download jorgenson.mp3

Nancy Young Wright:

Download wright.mp3

Cheryl Cage:

Download cage.mp3

There was some buzzing around Ann Kirkpatrick’s camp, who’s running for the Democratic nomination to Congress in CD 1, about an upcoming endorsement from a major Arizona political figure. Looks like that muckety-muck is Gabby Giffords. Taking a page from Grijalva’s early primary endorsement play book, Giffords seeks to be King… er, QueenMaker in CD … Read more

The thinking man’s alternative to Condoleeza, Susan Rice is Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Barak Obama’s campaign. Here’s a discussion of a few of the hot-button foreign policy topics that gives a taste of her thinking. There’s little doubt she’s an impressive intellect. Here’s her opening statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Darfur. … Read more

One of my Representatives in the State Legislature is Steve Farley. He’s back in the Capitol and back in the saddle, doing the Lone Ranger thing for the Progressives of LD 28 and all of Arizona.

That also means that the Farley Report is back. If you haven’t signed up yet, I strongly urge you to subscribe now. Your political intelligence quotient will rise 50 points immediately.

Just in case you want a taste before you drink from Farley’s fire hose of parliamentary perspicacity, here’s the latest issue after the flip…