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.

Harry’s Wealth Tax Breaks… for the Middle Class?

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I had a conversation (if me yelling a lot can be called a conversation) with Seth Scott, Representative Harry Mitchell’s Press Secretary about Harry’s co-sponsorship of a tax cut plan to keep Capital Gains taxes at their current Bush-mandated rate, and to decrease estate taxes by increasing the exemption to 3.75 million and graduating the … Read more

Rest In Peace: Jesse Latas

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The memorial service for Jesse will be at 9:00 Friday (8/3) morning at Adair Avalon Chapel, 8090 N. Northern Avenue, Tucson, http://www.adairfuneralhomes.com/Finding_Us.html. Graveside services will be at 1:00 Friday (8/3) afternoon at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Cemetery, 1300 Buffalo Soldier Trail, Sierra Vista, AZ, http://www.azdvs.gov/veteranscemetery.htm Memorials may be sent to any of the following organizations: … Read more

Republican Heaven 2020

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Link: Republican Heaven, The Year 2020

by Patrick McGann

Welcome back from your little nap. Here’s America. How do you like it?

Having
achieved a "Permanent Majority" under the architecture of Newt Gingrich
and Karl Rove, Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress and
the White House for two decades.

Economy booms!

Driven
by a robust demand for U.S. flag lapel pins (now mandatory by law), and
by highly profitable private prisons, where the pins are made,
Republicans are crowing this year! The nation’s largest prison
provider, Halliburton, announced its 20th consecutive year of record
profits. And after a prolonged period of consolidation, book publishing
is rebounding as Bible production ramps up to comply with the
replacement of all school text books with the King James version. Most
economists, still employed, credited tax cuts.

Final phase of tax reform completed!

The
last phase of tax reform has been completed. Itemized deductions are
now allowed on the national sales tax for qualified individuals who
spend more than $100,000 on selected items, including jewelry, furs,
German and Italian automobiles over $75,000, boats over 25 feet long,
real estate, stocks and stock options, certificates of deposit, limited
partnerships, oil paintings by the masters, and small, medium and large
businesses. Going the way of the income tax, eliminated in 2012 — in
order to spur investment — property taxes have been eliminated on
first, second, third, fourth or more residences valued over $500,000
each. Said Senator Riley Stickem, R- Utah, "Now the tax burden is more
fairly placed on those who cause the costs."

Giffords Gets $30 Million in SCAAP Funding Restored

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Link: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords gets SCAAP Funding Restored. SCAAP is the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses local law enforcement agencies for the cost of imprisoning undocumented aliens. You may remember the flap that Gov. Napolitano created by sending overdue bills to Washington for over $300 million in unpaid SCAAP reimbursements. Well, Gabby scored … Read more