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.

Napolitano Girds for Budget Battle

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Governor Janet Napolitano faces a new session of the Arizona legislature with a large budget surplus and a Rublican majority dominated by ‘small government’ poseurs determined to lay a major tax cut at the feet of their wealthiest constituents. She’s going to have to fight to keep every dollar of revenue flowing to badly underfunded and neglected public purposes, and probably throw a few tax breaks into the mix to sate the ravening dogs of the Right. Her proposed 2007 is a solid start.

I will probably comment further on the Governor’s budget later, but for now, I want to present the Governor’s own words on the budget, which I suspect far too few Democrats, let alone Republicans bother to read. After the jump I pass on her letter to the legislature laying out her budget proposal.

The Governor’s main thrust is to repay the fiscal juggling acts adopted in recent austere years and to enhance core state services: the three major areas of education, prisons and AHCCCS consume 80 percent of Napolitano’s proposed budget. There’s little or no wasteful spending in the Governor’s proposal (though her gesture to the Right of funding for border enforcement, which should be borne by the Feds, is arguably wasteful). It will be interesting to see if the Legislature comes up with a budget of which the same can be said.

Drake v. Grijalva: Wet Noodle v. Cojones

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Normal_mvc0013fFormer Mayor of Avondale Ron Drake is having a few problems getting out of the gate in his bid to unseat Congressman Raul Grijalva in CD 7. The first and most obvious is the apparent futility of running at all against an extremely popular Representative in a safe Democratic district. The answer to that conundrum probably lies somewhere between overweening ambition and exhibitionism, and a promise of preference from the AZ GOP in some future office that is within their metier in exchange for a sacrificial dash.

What struck me immediately about Drake’s campaign was the symbolic resonance of his announcement. For some reason Drake’s campaign decided that a Southern Pacific engine would make a dandy backdrop for the historic occassion. What does this say about the campaign?

Robert Shows True Colors

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The Supreme Court upheld the Oregon assisted suicide law by a 6-3 vote. (PDF of Scalia’s Dissent in which Roberts joined) The minority asserted that federal drug laws override the democratic will of the people of Oregon as expressed by the Oregon legislature. So much for state’s rights. What is stunningly hypocritical about the minority’s … Read more

Al Gore Takes the Gloves Off

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UPDATE: Gore responds to the personal attacks on him by the Administration as a result of his speech: The Administration’s response to my speech illustrates perfectly the need for a special counsel to review the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. The Attorney General is making a political defense of the President without even addressing … Read more