Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The U.S. Supreme Court has proven that the Second Amendment absolutists (absurdists) who argue there can be no laws regulating guns are wrong, yet again. The Court today declined to hear a challenge to a strict New York law that makes it difficult for residents to get a license to carry a … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Governor Jan Brewer signed off on the Tea-Publican back-door asault on Citizens Clean Elections, House Bill 2593, Brewer signs bill ending limits on campaign giving, a bill which is unconstitutional and will result in promised lawsuits. The bill is unconstitutional because the Clean Elections Act of 1998 was a citizens initiative, and … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Last week Bisbee legalized civil unions, pushing aside AG's legal warnings. The City of Tempe announced that it too would explore a ciivl unions ordinance. Tempe to begin discussion on civil-union laws. Members of the Tucson City Council have advised me that city Attorney Mike Rankin has been asked to explore the legality of a ciivl unions ordinance for Tucson. Can the City of Flagstaff be far behind? Maybe even Phoenix?
Today in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton put these efforts into context. Stanton dons cape, defends little Bisbee against Horne:
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton this week said that if Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has a problem with cities giving legal status to gay and lesbian couples, he should stop bullying tiny Bisbee and take the issue up with the state’s largest city.
Phoenix has had a domestic- partner registry since 2009. Couples who file a declaration of partnership with the city clerk then have a right to visit their partners in any hospital in the city.
“We can’t go beyond our area of jurisdiction,” Stanton said. “But this gives legal status in any area where the city can provide support.”
He said that’s what Bisbee is trying to do with its civil-union ordinance.
“As mayor of Phoenix, I stand with Bisbee,” he said. “I support local control. And if the attorney general wants to pick on somebody, they ought to look at Phoenix.”
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Washington Post today has a lengthy investigative report into the "Offshore Leaks" investigation by a consortium of media outlets from 46 countries around the world. See previously, Offshore world: 2.5 million leaked files reveal stunning extent of global tax havens. You can read the full ICIJ report here.
The Washington Post reports today, Piercing the secrecy of offshore tax havens:
A New York hedge fund manager allegedly swindles $12 million from a
prominent Baltimore family. An Indiana couple is accused of bilking
hundreds of customers by charging for free trials of cosmetic products. A
financial manager in Texas promises 23-percent returns but absconds
with $33.5 million of his investors’ money in a classic Ponzi scheme.
All three cases have one thing in common: money that ended up
in offshore accounts and trusts set up in tax havens around the world.
The existence of the trusts surfaced during a joint examination of the offshore world by The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
a D.C-based nonprofit news organization. ICIJ obtained 2.5 million
records of more than 120,000 companies and trusts created by two
offshore companies, Commonwealth Trust Ltd. (CTL) in the British Virgin Islands
and Portcullis TrustNet, which operates mostly in Asia and the Cook
Islands, a South Pacific nation. The records were obtained by Gerard Ryle, ICIJ’s director, as a result of an investigation he conducted in Australia.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Last year, Rep. Michelle Ugenti (R-Scottsdale) sponsored HB 2826 (consolidated election dates; political subdivisions), a bill providing for the consolidation of elections in the fall of even numbered years only. The law will apply to elections in 2014 and thereafter.
This legislation purportedly is the first of its kind enacted in the
nation – a strong indication that it is an ALEC drafted bill, as it was
also supported by other "Kochtopus" funded groups such as Americans
for Prosperity, the Goldwater Institute, and the Tea Party.
Charter cities are entitled under the Arizona Constitution to determine how they are governed, and how to conduct elections. Arizona Supreme Court unanimously rejects 'Paton's Law'.
The City of Tucson filed its special action for declaratory and
injunctive relief on October 10, 2013 in the Pima County Superior Court,
City of Tucson v. State of Arizona et al. (Case No. C20126272). The City of Phoenix filed a Motion to Intervene as a plaintiff. The case is now assigned to Judge James E. Marner.
In a Minute Entry Order dated March 20, 2013, Judge Marner ordered:
IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. Opening briefs are due by March 29, 2013 and are limited to a maximum of thirty pages.
2. Responses are due by April 15, 2013 and are limited to a maximum of fifteen pages.
3. There will be no replies to the responses.
4. Oral Argument on Plaintiffs’ Complaint for Special Action and for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief set on Monday, April 29, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. in Division 10
for two hours is affirmed.