Read Blog for Arizona | Politics from a Liberal Viewpoint for more about AZ Congressional Delegation

Sham Cesar Chavez candidate demonstrates the importance of partisans

June 3, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

The candidate named Cesar Chavez, running in the Congressional primary in AZ CD7, has been revealed to be a guy formerly named Scott Fistler who was a Republican until recently and had sought other offices in the past as a member of that party.

After petitioning a state superior court last November and paying $319, Fistler now legally shares the name of the celebrated labor movement icon, Cesar Chavez. Earlier this year, Chavez (formerly Fistler) became a Democrat, and – before Ed Pastor announced his retirement from Congress – filed to run in the heavily Hispanic 7th Congressional District.

In his petition for a name change, Fistler wrote that he had “experienced many hardships because of my name.”

It’s unclear at this point whether this guy is a lone wolf or someone who was recruited to act as a spoiler – a la Olivia Cortes in the 2011 Russell Pearce recall. Either way, he’s a sham candidate and such candidacies are an affront to democracy and the community and (even more reprehensibly) often exploitive of highly vulnerable people, even if the candidates (or whoever puts them up to it) follow the letter of the law to qualify for the ballot. Chavez (nee Fistler) managed to get the maximum number of signatures and the state Dem party is exploring what options they have, if any, to remove him from the ballot.

Action Alert: Call your senators and tell them to vote for Sen. Bernie Sander’s VA bill

May 31, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

Earlier this week I reminded you about The real VA scandal: GOP filibustered the VA bill in February. That’s right, Arizona’s senators Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber filibustered the VA bill because they wanted an amendment that would have undermined current negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, because Neocon war monger John McCain wants to get his war on with Iran. Also, because it “costs too much” and “adds to the debt.”

Congress should have thought of that before it created a boatload of veterans in need of health care because of the unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq that George W. Bush put on the nation’s credit card creating that debt.

Our veterans were made a promise for their service to their country. Raise taxes on the wealthy who did not serve their country in Iraq and Afghanistan, but who financially profited off the military-industrial complex to pay for veterans health care going forward. This is the price of freedom — who are these Plutocrats to deny those who served in their place?

The VA scandal The Arizona Republic has failed to investigate

May 31, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

The Arizona Republic investigative report on the Veterans Administration hospital in Phoenix has led to a national scandal in which the inspector general of the Veterans Administration issued the nineteenth report since 2005 about scheduling delays at VA hospitals that may have compromised patient care. The Secretary of the Veterans Administration, General Eric Shinseki, did the honorable thing for an old soldier and submitted his resignation to the President on Friday.

The editors of The Arizona Republic, as well as many politicians here in Arizona, had called upon Gen. Shinseki to resign, so “mission accomplished.”

The VA scandal that The Arizona Republic has failed to investigate is this: every congressional office has staff that spends their days dealing with constituent services. Veterans in particular are not shy about calling their members of Congress when they are having problems with the VA. How is it possible that members of Congress were unaware of the problems at the VA? Our members of Congress have all sounded like Captain Renault in Casablanca, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”

Link for my Sunday Square off Appearance

May 27, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

ICYMI, and you probably did because it was Memorial Day weekend and it aired on Sunday morning at 8 a.m., you can watch me on the panel with Chip Scutari and Shane Wikfors here. Again, sorry I can’t embed but the videos tend to open immediately when you click on the site if I do.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to regulate the ‘Kochtopus’ dark money laundering operations of Sean Noble

May 16, 2014 by AZ BlueMeanie

You will recall the Pro Publica investigative report from earlier this year into The Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble Moved the Kochs Cash into Politics and Made Millions. I have posted frequently about the bag man for the “Kochtopus” money laundering operations in the state of Maricopa, who was at the center of California’s Biggest “Campaign Money Laundering” Scheme.

Governor Jerry Brown has now signed legislation strengthening California’s campaign finance laws. The Sacramento Bee reports, Jerry Brown signs law requiring political nonprofits identify donors:

Nonprofit organizations that make political contributions in California will have to disclose more information about the source of their money under a law Gov. Jerry Brown signed Wednesday.

Senate Bill 27 was inspired by the 2012 ballot measure wars in California, when two out-of-state nonprofit groups poured $15 million into fighting Proposition 30 and supporting Proposition 32. Because of the groups’ nonprofit status, they were not required to report where their donations originally came from, leading some to describe the contributions as “dark money.”