Small government conservatives? No; ‘Big Brother’ authoritarians? Yes

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sen. "Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori (R-LD 30) has decided to step into the shoes of the man he replaced, Sen. Jonathan Paton (R-LD 30), who was the wannabe tin horn dictator of Tucson.

In the last legislative session, Paton stripped the City of Tucson of its control over the Rio Nuevo Board and left it to Republicans from Maricopa County to appoint the members of the Board. Paton also violated Tucson's City Charter by having the legislature require ward only elections. And there was "Paton's Law," requiring the City of Tucson to hold nonpartisan elections (these last two measures are still pending in the Court of Appeals).

"Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori wants to do Paton one better on the wannabe tin horn dictator scale. He has set his sites higher, wanting to dictate not just to Tucson, but also to Phoenix (and Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale and Gilbert as well). And he has a like-minded stooge in Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio. Arizona bills look to impose state rule on Phoenix:

The bills, which aim to dictate how much Phoenix pays employees and how it provides city services, are designed to protect taxpayers and enact government reform, DiCiccio said. But DiCiccio's fellow council members say the legislation would harm the city and they question DiCiccio's motivation.

Today, the Senate Government Reform Committee is expected to hear Senate Bills 1322, 1345 and 1347, sponsored by Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson. SB 1322 would require Phoenix and other cities with populations greater than 200,000 to seek private-sector bids for services that cost more than $50,000. SB 1345 and 1347 would limit how many city employees Phoenix and Tucson could hire and how much the cities could pay in employee wages and benefits.

DiCiccio, of Ahwatukee, backed by conservative think tank the Goldwater Institute, said he has been working with state legislators on the bills for more than four months to change how Phoenix operates.

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The proposal excludes firefighters, police officers, judges and 911 operators, but would touch everything from running the city's water department to printing services.

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The bill was introduced to impose the bidding requirements only on Phoenix and Tucson but was amended Monday to include cities with populations of more than 200,000, which would impact Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale and Gilbert as well.

Legislative Republicans incessantly whine that the federal government is overstepping its jurisdiction and violating our "states' rights." Yet these very same legislative Republicans have no problem violating the jurisdiction of local governments and home rule, and the will of municipal voters. Legislative Republicans are essentially super-legislating for municipalities, dictating local government operations. This is a local government function. Why even have a mayor and council? Legislative Republicans who do not live in your city (or even your county) will dictate what your city must do.

Does this sound like small government to you? No. It is "Big Brother" authoritarianism. And of course the pain-in-the-ass Goldwater Institute is lurking behind these anti-democratic authoritarian bills. It's time to run this bad government think tank out of business. They have inflicted enough damage upon this state.

As a friend of mine said to me this morning, "First they came for TUSD, then they came for Tucson, and now they are coming for everyone else." It was all fun and games when it was Tucson that was the whipping boy of these authoritarians. Now they are coming for your city. Time to wake up people and to fight back against these authoritarians.

UPDATE: I guess I struck a nerve. The editors of the Arizona Republic, who regularly editorialize in favor of Tom Horne and the Legislature dictating to Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) over ethnic studies programs, and who were largely silent about the Legislature micro-managing the City of Tucson, today have their hackles up over the Legislature's attempt to dictate terms to their precious City of Phoenix (and Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, Scottsdale and Gilbert as well). Don't tread on Arizona cities.

Like I said, It was all fun and games when it was Tucson that was the whipping boy of these authoritarians. Now they are coming for your city. Time to wake up people and to fight back against these authoritarians.