new york times

CAP is at it again with a heinous anti-choice bill

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Fresh on the heels of their embarrassing defeat with SB1062, comes the Center for Arizona Policy with HB2284, which would allow surprise inspections of abortion clinics and impose criminal penalties on anyone who is not the parent or guardian of a minor who assists her in getting an abortion.

Democrats and progressive orgs plan a response, similar to the SB1062 one:

As long as the legislature is still in session, none of us are safe from Cathi Herrod, the Center for Arizona Policy, and other aligned organizations. Fresh from losing the battle against legalized discrimination, they now want the government to meddle in women’s healthcare with surprise inspections of clinics that provide healthcare and abortion services. This law is intended to frighten women out of utilizing these healthcare resources–as well as frighten clinicians & doctors out of offering these services. This bill, if passed into law, would be unconstitutional, illegal, and drastically misaligned with the priorities of Arizonans.

We must keep fighting for what is right: our dignity, privacy–and our freedom.

ACTION:

1) Share this event with ALL of your contacts.
2) Join the presser on the Capitol lawn at 1 PM.
3) Call Speaker Tobin at (602) 926-5172 or email him at atobin@azleg.gov to voice your opposition to this bill.
4) Fire up Brewer’s phone lines again at: (602) 542-4331.

#NotYourWomb

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Oh look, they’re blaming Clean Elections again

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Fresh on the heels of the SB1062 veto, and with national columnists hungry to meet deadlines with something “insightful” about Arizona, the Chamber of Commerce crowd is really pushing the “Clean Elections done it!” myth hard.

Here’s New York Times liberal Gail Collins repeating the narrative:

“I remember having a meeting with some folks I’d call country-club Republicans, and listening to them bemoan the fact that they have no more influence because of the Clean Elections law,” said Rodolfo Espino, a professor at Arizona State University.

We will come to a screeching halt here and re-examine that thought.

Yes! Part of the super-weirdness of Arizona politics appears to be the result of the state’s 1998 public financing law, which provided tons of matching funds to unwealthy-but-energetic candidates from the social right at the expense of the pragmatic upper class. The Supreme Court took the teeth out of the law in 2011, but, by then, the traditional Republican elite had lost its place at the head of the political table.

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