As Blue Meanie noted in an earlier article today, the members of the former Party of Lincoln are engaged in crafting a party-only budget that generously provides for the most wealthy in the state and not the most vulnerable.
How can a modern political party vote for a tax cut for the rich and tell children looking to be able to enroll in KidsCare to go to hell?
This same modern political party is also using the budget process to include measures that are nothing more than naked power grabs to take away authorities from Democratic state leaders and give them to Republican-controlled ones.
One example, reported by AZ Central, is taking away the oversight authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (Democrat Kathy Hoffman) with regards to the state certification teacher process and shifting it to the State Board of Education (where most of the appointees were made by Republican Governors.)
Another example which both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees formalized today was stripping Secretary of State Katie Hobbs ability to defend election lawsuits.
This provision actually has an expiration date of January 2, 2023, the day the new Secretary of State term begins.
They also took away the Secretary’s control of the Capitol Museum.
How petty can you get?
Talk about a naked power grab by reactionary bullies who have demonstrated again they are too cowardly to let the Democratic process take care of itself.
Before the Senate and House Committees voted on this power grab, Secretary Hobbs released a statement that read:
“All year, our legislature has worked to undermine our elections—from a wave of bills to make it harder to vote to the ridiculous ‘audit’ taking place at the Coliseum. It appears their next step is an attempt to undermine Arizona’s Chief Election Officer and prevent me from doing the job Arizona voters elected me to do.
“Last year, we oversaw three safe, secure, and successful statewide elections with historic turnout, despite a global pandemic, a massive misinformation campaign, and unprecedented threats against me and other election officials. Afterward, while other state officials remained silent, we defended that election in countless lawsuits seeking to overturn the will of Arizona voters.
“The fact that the legislature has singled out me and my Office for these unjustifiable restrictions—restrictions which expire at the end of my term—make it clear what this is really about: partisan politics. The most extreme members of our legislature think they can stop me from doing my job and working on behalf of Arizona voters. I’ll keep proving them wrong.”
Hopefully, Hobbs is either reelected to her current position or a more powerful executive one she is rumored to be interested in.
This is another reason on an increasingly long list of reasons that voters can justify the need to vote blue in the November 2022 midterms.
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Katy Hobbs was elected by Arizona voters and doing her job, but the Arizona GQP doesn’t care what voters want.
Here are the American democracy hating members of the Arizona House Appropriations Committee who are stealing democracy from you:
John Kavanagh Vice-Chair
Regina Cobb Chair
Jake Hoffman
Steve Kaiser
Quang Nguyen
Becky Nutt
Joanne Osborne
Michelle Udall
Not the smartest bunch, just take the vice-chair, famous for chewing on his own foot, a hateful man who was dumb enough to say out loud and on the record that he doesn’t think everyone should be allowed to vote.
These people hate everything about America and her ideals.
The Repubs must be scared s##tless as they are having a literal orgy of insanity down there in the alleged last days. They know demographics are running against them so they want to hamstring anyone who doesn’t adhere to Trumplike insanity and fantasy. And don’t forgot how ambition for another office drives a bunch of this so they can’t be accused in the primary of being reasonable or working with anyone. How come the Democrats always have to be bi-partisan but the Repubs never have to be?
Defying the will of the voters by drastically watering down citizen initiatives they don’t like, stomping on future initiatives to the point of making them impossible, taking away the powers of legitimately elected officials because they’re not obedient little conservatives; the list goes on and on….
21st century Republicans. Can’t live with them, sure could live without them. And before some random troll (elected or not) goes into hysterical shrieking mode, the only threat in this comment is electoral.