Dean Martin to run for governor

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Dean Martin announced today that he will run for governor. No word yet on whether he will be joined by his old partner Jerry Lewis as his running mate for Secretary of State. Speculation among politicos is that the "rat pack" of lobbyist advisers to Martin will run his campaign. The Goldiggers chorus girls will return to the stage as the warm-up act at Martin's campaign events. Martin boldly asserted that he will "roast" Jan Brewer in the primary debates.

Huh? What? Hold on a minute. Sorry, my bad, I'm being told that we have the wrong Dean Martin. Too bad, I really liked this guy. He was cool and funny.

Unlike the Dean Martin who actually is running for governor. This guy is just freakin' scary. Martin announces candidacy for governor:

Dean Martin launched his gubernatorial campaign today with a promise to use armed National Guard troops to militarize the international border.

"What's the difference of guarding the Arizona border and guarding the Afghan border or guarding the Iraqi border,'' the 35-year-old state treasurer said. "It's a very similar role.''

If you do not know the difference Dean you should not be running for governor, or for any other elective office for that matter.

And Martin said he has no problem having armed Guard troops looking for illegal immigrants.

Apparently this immigrant bashing fear monger has never heard of the Posse Comitatus Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1385, which substantially limits the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. National Guard Forces in federal service are prohibited from exercising a state law enforcement capacity, and the border is federal jurisdiction.

Republicans are always saying how they fear a "big brother" government unless it means that they get to call out the National Guard against African-Americans scavenging for food and supplies after being left for dead by their government in New Orleans, or to dehumanize and hunt for sport undocumented immigrants crossing the border from Mexico (generally a misdemeanor offense). Where is their concern about the porous Canadian border? Those sneaky bastards look and sound just like us! (And now you know the answer).

[The] focus of Martin's campaign is the state's financial situation and the fact Arizona has been spending money faster than it has been taking it in. Martin said while the problem predates Jan Brewer's becoming governor a year ago, he clearly faults her for not doing more to fix the problem.

Martin specifically said he opposes Brewer's proposal for a temporary one-cent hike in the state's 5.6 percent sales tax to balance the budget until the economy improves.

"You cannot balance this budget by taking more money from the taxpayers we have left,'' he said.

And Martin also said it was wrong of the Legislature to try to come up with some immediate cash with a plan to sell off $735 million of state buildings and then lease them back for the next 20 years.

"Each of us has to live within our own means,'' he said. "And since government lives off our means, why should they be any different?'

He said state spending has to be brought back to the level it was five years ago to match current revenues.

Forget the realities of a greatly increased population in Arizona and a greatly increased need for public services as a result of the failed conservative economic policies of George W. Bush that devastated our economy and left us in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Martin lives in the GOP alternate reality and is still promoting supply-side economics which has been entirely disproved and discredited over the past decade (as are all the GOP candidates running for governor). As I've said before, anyone still promoting supply-side economics is unserious and unfit for public office.

Martin repeatedly refused to provide specifics today of exactly what programs and services he would cut.

Why am I not surprised. I can just hear his "rat pack" of lobbyist advisers whispering to him from behind "Psst! Just stick to the talking points and let's get out of here."

The closest Martin came to actually proposing a cut was to repeat what Brewer proposed Monday in her State of the State speech: Ask voters to reconsider their 2000 mandate that the state provide free health care for everyone below the federal poverty level.

There are currently about 1.2 million Arizonans getting free care; returning to pre-2000 levels would trim the rolls by about 300,000.

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But Martin had a twist on what Brewer proposed. He said voters should be given two options: Fund only the number of people whose care can be provided with the approximately $100 million a year the state is getting in that settlement, or ask voters if they're willing to permanently hike taxes to keep what he called the "Cadillac program.''

So it comes down to this: the Republican primary campaign is going to be all about sacrificing the poor and the vulnerable and scapegoating anyone with a Latin-sounding surname for Arizona's economic ills in the name of preserving the wealth and privilege of the wealthy and privileged.

The Arizona Democratic Party has issued this statement from its Executive Director, Luis Heredia:

"Dean Martin's announcement means the GOP is offering Arizonans an unfortunate choice between the far right and the farther right. It's clear that Governor Brewer's highly partisan speech Monday was intended to preempt Republican primary opponents like Dean Martin, who would push Arizona toward policies from the fringes rather than the mainstream. Neither Governor Brewer nor Dean Martin shares the priorities and independent values of everyday Arizonans. In the months to come, the Republican primary will showcase why their failed leadership is taking our state down the wrong path."

NB: The parody at the beginning serves a purpose. There was widespread speculation after the 2008 election that Arizona Corporation Commission candidates Sandra Kennedy and Paul Newman were elected on the strength of the public's familiarity with their famous celebrity names. The same holds true for Dean Martin (and he is counting on it). There is anecdotal evidence to suggest there is some validity to this theory. This is the peril of living in a celebrity culture. This Dean Martin ain't Dean Martin. Don't get fooled again!

UPDATE: The GOP sniping is already well underway. "Lyin' John" Munger, the reverse Robin Hood candidate who wants to steal from the poor to enrich the wealthy, has attacked Dean Martin's hypocrisy for running as a Clean Elections candidate. Sonoran Alliance:

Dean Martin’s first move as a potential future Governor is to throw the people of Arizona under his shiny campaign bus. His decision to use taxpayer funds to finance his campaign represents a complete flip- flop of his long-held position against accepting “clean elections” money.

It was Martin who once referred to public campaign financing as “welfare for politicians.” Yet now that he is officially a candidate, he has decided to go on the public dole himself. Further underscoring his hypocrisy, Martin continues to be a party to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s clean elections law.

Lyin' John may want to issue another press release about the Accidental Governor filing an affidavit in U.S. District Court in opposition to the Goldwater Institute's motion for an injunction against matching funds in Clean Elections in 2010. Brewer wants campaign funding law OK'd:

In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Grant Woods and Mary Peters said Brewer made the decision to use public funds to seek a full term of her own. That decision, they said, was based on her assessment that if better-heeled privately financed foes spent more than the governor was allocated, she would get a dollar-for-dollar match.

* * *

Woods and Peters said that if Silver sides with the challengers, Brewer's campaign would be "irreparably harmed." And part of the reason is that the governor is legally precluded from raising money from lobbyists until the just-started legislative session is over – something that might not happen until June or later.

U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver may decide Friday whether to block that funding provision for this year's election.