Day 4 of Pima Dems’ Al Melvin Week

by David Safier

Once again a day late, here is Day 4 of the Pima Dem's Al Melvin Week.

This Media Release about cutting library budgets and digging for uranium is too good to edit, so I'll let the Pima Dems speak for themselves.

State Sen. Al Melvin has saluted his Phoenix bosses time and time again but his own ideas are simply baffling.

The Pima County Democratic Party has been celebrating Al Melvin Week, with a look back at some of his more "eccentric" votes. However, two bills he sponsored are worth some scrutiny too.

SB 1373 would have cut all library district budgets by 70 percent, essentially destroying the community library systems established by voters. It would have had zero impact on the state budget deficit.

SB 1126 sought to drastically increase nuclear power plant production in Arizona and allow for uranium mines free from federal regulation.

These bills show a state senator hungry for power in more ways than one, imposing himself unconstitutionally upon federal turf, and simply mugging local government for sport, said Pima County Democratic Party Chair Jeff Rogers.

"Al Melvin's crusade against against libraries is just bizarre and seems to come from out of nowhere," Rogers said. "And mining without regulation? What could go wrong? It's just uranium."

Melvin's vision for Arizona is hardly inspiring. A place where books are scarce, nuclear reactors pepper the landscape and extractive industries regulate themselves.

"We would never attract a job here if we had a reputation for being illiterate and radioactive," Rogers said. "These bills were too over-the-top for a Legislature that passed a 'birther bill' and took up the fight against energy-saving light bulbs. That's how outside the mainstream Melvin is."