By Michael Bryan
Although it burns my fingertips to write it, I have to praise virtue wherever I find it. Seldom do I locate civic virtue on the other side of the aisle, but Steve Kozachik of the Tucson City Council just did something virtuous, and perhaps even quite brave.
Steve published a Guest Opinion in the Tucson Weekly taking the GOP legislative majority to task for inconsistency and legislating without thinking it through. Steve rightly points out just how bat-shit insane (not exactly the words he chose) it would be to pass Arizona Senate Bill 1339, requiring all agency rules "impacting the private sector" be approved by the State Lege. He also presses the GOP majority for inconsistently applying the principle of local government control: they complain about federal over-reach even as they seek to limit the authority of local governments.
It will be very interesting to see the reaction Steve gets from his fellow Republicans whom he takes to task. It should not be so unusual for a politician to take his party to task for unsound thinking, but as the current iteration of the GOP's governing philosophy consists almost solely of unsound thining, they have to punish heterodoxy most severely.
I have very little time or love for most Republican politicians, but I gotta say to Steve, "Good on ya, mate!"
UPDATE:
The blowback begins!
The Cholla Jumps: "Keep it up Steve and you may find yourself without conservative support very quickly."