Netroots Nation 2015 is here!

...OK, almost :)

It starts on Thursday...

The official events actually start on Wednesday with a Pool Party Kick Off but the "official" events start on Thursday morning at 9 a.m.  NN hits the ground running; there are 14 trainings and panels scheduled for 9 a.m.

They will run the gamut from "Daring to Internet While Female 2.0" through "State Battlegrounds: The Real Fight for Voting Rights" to "Arizona's Latino Civic Engagement from SB1070 to Now" (I'm leaning toward attending "Creative for All: The Keys to Creating Compelling Content", but there is so much interesting stuff going on then that I haven't fully decided yet).

There will also be progressive-themed music, traditional Native American, hip hop, folk, and more, presented throughout the entire conference.

Thursday evening, the opening keynote speeches will be given by speakers both local and national.

The speakers will include Arizona activists and leaders like Alfredo Gutierrez, Petra Falcon, Isabel Garcia, Erika Andiola, Marisa Franco,  and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton (subject to change).

The speakers will include national figures like US Rep. Donna Edwards, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton (yup, he's a national figure, too), Joel Silberman and the evening's host, HuffPost Live’s Alyona Minkovski (also subject to change).

Others speaking throughout the event include (but are not limited to): Millennial Activists United’s Ashley Yates, US Reps Ruben Gallego, Keith Ellison, Mark Takano, Hank Johnson, Robin Kelly, and Raul Grijalva.

Oh yeah - there are three "big" names scheduled to speak (and the others are pretty "big" in their own right) - US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Friday) and presidential candidates US Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley (Saturday at a "town hall" event moderated by journalist, filmmaker and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas)

O'Malley, courtesy Twitter

Sanders, courtesy Twitter

Warren, courtesy Twitter

There are also a number of events that are "unofficial" (not part of the official festivities, but sure to be loads of fun).  AFT has a list of them compiled here, but the ones that I am most interested in are both on Friday night: "Candidate Happy Hour Presented by ActBlue and Democracy for America" (among others, my LD's state senator Katie Hobbs will be featured) and "Chairman (Emeritus) Pub Quiz 2015: Number 9, Number 9" (watch or participate as political geeks with vast cesspools of useless knowledge knowledge of political trivia compete for fun and bragging rights)

Another event, not directly related to Netroots Nation, is a campaign event featuring Bernie Sanders on Saturday night will take place Saturday evening at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Details:

Saturday, July 18 at 7:00 PM
Phoenix Convention Center
100 N 3rd St
Phoenix, AZ

In case you didn't see the pic at the beginning of the post -

:)


Note: The official NN15 program can be found here.

Donald Trump accuses Phoenix officials of willfully endangering thousands of lives...

...or maybe Trump is just inflating the numbers of his supporters in order to boost his own ego...

The above tweet was posted this morning, but even before the event, he was engaged in shameless number inflation (posted on Twitter Saturday morning) -

Let's be clear, the capacity of the venue is 4200 people at maximum (depending on the configuration of the room, that capacity may be lower; for the sake of this post, I'm assuming that they used the configuration with the highest capacity).  From the website of the Phoenix Convention Center -

The funny thing is, a turnout of ~4500 for an event at this point of the presidential election cycle is incredibly good.

However, by needlessly puffing up the numbers in order to puff up his ego, Trump undercut his already-limited credibility.

Of course, that predilection does lend some insight into why Trump is almost as famous for his serial bankruptcies as he is for his TV show.


Notes:

The entire Phoenix fire code is available here.

The Phoenix municipal code is available here.  I'm not a lawyer (in other words, do your own research if you think action in this area might be fruitful), but if Trump is willing and able to present evidence of malfeasance by "convention center officials", section 1.5 of the Phoenix City Code seems to indicate that those officials could possibly be guilty of a Class One misdemeanor.

Though with the alleged number of people allegedly endangered, someone may be able to bootstrap some felony charges...of course, if, as seems likely, Trump is just talking out of his ass, felony charges may still be warranted.

Different charges, though. :)

Nativists Planning To Party In Phoenix On Saturday

As pretty much everyone knows by now, the infamous Donald Trump, America's Wealthiest Loudmouthed Bigot, will be the featured speaker at an event hosted by the Maricopa County Republican Party later today.

From the event ticketing webpage -

AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona does an excellent job of dissecting Trump's presidential candidacy in general and  the visit to Phoenix in particular, here.

Right now, there are three announced speakers - Tyler Bowyer, chair of the MCGOP; Joe Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County (and one of the few people in America who doesn't have to take a step back from Trump in the category of "shameless media whore"); and, of course, Trump himself.

Left out of any announcements that I've seen thus far is a list of the "good ole boys" who will be sure to make an appearance, even if they aren't on stage  - the Russell Pearces, John Kavanaghs, AJ Lafaros, and more.

You know, the ones that have done their part to make Arizona a "must visit" on any bigot's national travel itinerary.

Where it could get surprising, and interesting, is seeing which B-teamers try to use the event as an opportunity to hobnob (OK, the 21st century version of "bow and scrape") with the nativists' equivalent of "royalty".

They won't be "establishment" Republicans - that breed of R is running as fast as possible and running as far as possible, away from Trump.

Nope, they'll be people who are looking to challenge establishment Rs, people such as State Sen. "Chemtrail" Kelli Ward (R-Lake Havasu City), who is looking to unseat US Sen. John McCain (R-Never Met A War That He Didn't Monger).

Of course, as soon as she (or any other non-establishment R challenger) is successful, they will become enthusiastic members of the R "establishment" - that's where the money is, after all...but I digress...

Of course2, in Maricopa County GOP circle, legendary bigots such as Arpaio, Pearce, et. al. *are* the GOP establishment, so Saturday afternoon in downtown Phoenix is sure to be colorful.

Originally, the event was scheduled to be held at the Biltmore resort in Phoenix, but it outgrew that venue...and the rather well-heeled residents of the Biltmore area realized that a visit from Trump also means a visit from protestors.

Protestors that might disturb the tender sensibilities of the residents.  Trump's bile filled speeches aren't bothersome, at least not as bothersome as truth.

"Top Two" primaries: Propaganda vs. truth

It's baaaack.

"It" referring to the "Top Two" primary proposal.

In 2012, Arizona voters soundly defeated a proposal to change Arizona's primary election system so that the two top vote-getters each currently-partisan race would go on to the general election, regardless of partisan affiliation.

As of this writing, there is no record on the AZSOS' website of such a proposal being in the works for the 2016 election, but Jackie Salit, who fronted the scheme in 2012 and is still out pushing it, had an op-ed piece published in the Arizona Republic in late June.

Note: AZBlueMeanie at Blog for Arizona has a response to Salit's piece here.

The stated goal of the scheme was/is to both reduce the effects of partisanship in the electoral process and to increase voter participation because more non-affiliated voters would participate.

The method was approved by voters in California in 2010 to cover elections in 2012 and beyond.

And if the stated goals are used as a measuring stick, it is an abject failure.

While the measure has caused an upheaval in certain district races (basically, two minority party candidates making it to the general election in a district dominated by the other major party because there were so many candidates from the majority party that the vote was diluted), no non-major party candidate (meaning Democratic or Republican) has won a general election race.  In fact, only one non-major party candidate has even exceeded 40% of the vote in a general election race.

It hasn't even impacted voter turnout.

California's general election turnout figures, since 1992 -

Year	Turnout %
1992	75.32
1994	60.45
1996	65.53
1998	57.59
2000	70.94
2002	50.57
2004	76.04
2006	56.19
2008	79.42
2010	59.59
2012	72.36
2014	42.20

In chart form (visuals really help when looking at things like this :) ) -

As you can see from the chart, California's voter turnout has been trending downward for the last quarter-century.  While there have been upticks in presidential election years (a marked uptick in 2008), the overall trend has been almost inexorably downward.  2014 saw a record low turnout, but "Top Two" may not be the proximate cause of that - the overall trend was downward before the implementation of "Top Two".

On the other hand, it sure as hell didn't slow the decline.

Well, maybe it had an impact in turnout in primary elections.  The turnout figures for California's primary elections, since 1992 -

Year	Turnout %
1992	47.46
1994	35.05
1996	41.88
1998	42.49
2000	53.88
2002	34.59
2004	44.21
2006	33.63
2008	28.22
2010	33.31
2012	31.06
2014	25.17

In chart form -

Let me be clear, I have no problem with and would support true election reforms that result in reduced apathy and increase participation on the part of voters.

However, "top two" isn't one such "reform".

Some people, such as Salit, might argue that partisans exercise an outsized influence on American politics.

Some people, such as me, believe that the group with an outsized influence on American politics is a group that Salit purports to represent, the apathetics.  By not "showing up", by not participating in a major part of civil society, they help to elect bad politicians.

And increasing the influence of that group would not serve to improve America's political culture.


Supporters of the scheme, such as the editorial board of the LA Times, argue that there hasn't been enough time to see if "top two" works, but that if we keep using the method, it will eventually work.

Kind of the same thing said by proponents of never-ending tax cuts for corporations and 1%ers (aka - "tinkle-down economics").


California's election data can be found here.

2016 Committees Update

...This will be a quick post because a lot of plans are on hold, waiting for Monday's pending decision by the US Supreme Court on the Arizona Legislature's attempt to usurp control of the state's redistricting process from the people of Arizona.  Once that decision is made public, the dominoes will start falling...


- In Maricopa County, Royce Flora, the deputy county treasurer, has filed for a run at the top spot in the office, currently held by Charles Hoskins, who is retiring.

Won't say that he is the "annointed" candidate, buuuuttttt... :)

From his campaign paperwork -

- The cities of Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale have been quiet on the candidate filings front.

- Filings for legislative seats have been quiet, though that will change once the Supreme Court hands down its decision.  Some legislators will decide to run for Congress, others will take a pass.  Which names do which will vary depending on the decision.

- Filings for runs for Congress and US Senate have also been quiet, and pretty much for the same reason.

While she hasn't filed anything yet (none that I could find, anyway), Democratic State Rep. Victoria Steele has announced that she is exploring a run for the Congressional seat, representing the 2nd Arizona district (basically, southern Arizona).

The seat is currently held by Martha McSally.  If the Supreme Court supports the Republicans in the state legislature, it is expected that they will strengthen the R advantage in that district (and most of the other Congressional districts in AZ, for that matter) and that Steele will take a pass.

If the status quo of having Congressional districts that are drawn by a voter-created Independent Redistricting Commission is maintained?

McSally is probably out of a job.

Watch President Obama deliver eulogy at Rev. Pinckney's funeral

AZ State Senator equates affordable health care to slavery...

...and spent the rest of the day saying "No, I didn't!"...

Yup, she went there, "she" being State Senator Kelli Ward (R-LD5), an ostensible challenger to US Senator John McCain (R-never met a war he didn't monger).

Right now, she's exploring a run at McCain; many more days like this one, and she may not get beyond the "exploring" stage...


...After today's momentous Supreme Court decision upholding a vital part of the Affordable Care Act (aka - "Obamacare"), Sen. Ward tweeted the following -

As much as she insists to the contrary, she *did* go there.  Wholeheartedly, in fact.

Charleston: a few thoughts

As everyone knows by now, last Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina, a white man walked into a historically black church, sat and prayed with some of the congregants there for an hour, and then, using a gun, murdered nine of those congregants.

He fled the scene, but has since been apprehended.  As of this writing, he's sitting in a Charleston jail.

Much has been written and said about this attack, most of which is focused on two main areas:

1.  The racial component, the mass murder of African Americans by a white man.

2.  The gun violence component, the use of a gun in that mass murder.



I'd love to be able to say that I have an insight into how to change the unthinking hatred that fills the hearts of some people, but I've got nothing here.  People doing evil things to other people who have done no harm to them, but are just "different" in some way, is something that has been happening throughout recorded history and, sadly, will almost certainly continue to happen in the future.

Having said that, I *do* have a few general thoughts -

...There is a serious groundswell of opposition to using Confederate symbols as part of any official activity - moves to take down the Confederate battle flag flying outside the capitol building in South Carolina, removing the stars and bars symbol on license plates in Virginia, etc. - that threatens to make people forget that there are nine murder victims here.

Not nine "symbols", but nine human beings, with family and friends who are also human beings.

Human beings who have had huge, gaping holes ripped in their worlds.

On the other hand, having some of the glare of the national spotlight moved elsewhere may just allow enough breathing room for the family and friends of the victims to mourn their loved ones.


For the record, in my opinion, at no level of government - state, county, local, or other - should that symbol and the evil it represents be given official sanction of any kind.

However, that leads to...

...Companies are banning the sales of merchandise the Confederate symbol or are Confederate-related.  Where the companies are private retailers (such as Walmart or Target), it's their choice - they can stock their shelves, or not, with whatever merchandise they wish to sell, or not.

Where the companies are essentially just conduits for individual sellers (such as Ebay), the move runs close to being censorship.  I don't think it steps over the line in this case, but it is something to keep an eye on.

If it becomes a movement by a governmental entity to officially ban such items, it will become a First Amendment issue

 And I am a BIG supporter of the First Amendment.

That means I support the freedom to express unpopular ideas, even ideas that I find to be utterly repugnant.

Of course, that's an idealistic view; there is also a pragmatic view.

The stars and bars symbol is not only a symbol of bigotry and hatred in general, specifically, it is the emblem of a group of violent and bigoted traitors.

And if someone wants to voluntarily declare their affinity with that group, we shouldn't do anything to discourage that.

If nothing else, it's an efficient way of identifying the assholes of the world.


...Lastly, there is the "gun" aspect of this.

In the immediate aftermath of the mass murder, there was an attempt by the NRA, in the person of one of the members of its board of directors, to blame the victims for their own murders.

All that proved was that one doesn't have to rack up a body count in order to prove that one is a vile human being.

The victims didn't pull the trigger; the murderer did.

Period.

As for ideas to prevent this from ever happening again, I don't have one, and I'm not sure that there *is* one.

What can be done is to take steps to reduce the ease with which this was done.

One idea:  end concealed carry in public.

People would still be allowed to possess firearms, but concealing one would carry a minimum of, say, a year in prison, to be consecutively with the sentences for any other crimes committed while possessing a concealed firearm.  And if no other crimes were committed while possessing a concealed firearm, it would still mean a year in prison.

Oh, and change guidelines for use of force in self defense from the use of force being OK when dealing with a "perceived" threat to OK for dealing with an "actual" threat.

Call it the "do what you gotta do...just don't be wrong" doctrine.

Failing that (and face facts - the NRA and other gun fetishists would do everything in their power to curb any attempts to stymie their dream of turning us into a "kill at will" society), change use of force doctrine to allow perceiving the carrying of a concealed weapon as an imminent threat that can be responded to with any level of force that the threatened person deems necessary.

The NRA and gun fetishists want to create a world where civil society is as afraid of them as they are of us.

They should be careful of what they wish for; they just might get it.

Short Attention Span Musing: Fun With Social Media

I've been trying to write something about last week's mass murder in Charleston, but my thoughts are so jumbled, nothing I've written is all that coherent (outrage tends to do that to me), so, for now anyway, I'm going to go with a weekly dose of snark, in the form of "Fun with social media".

...First up:  The "Really should get a clue...or at least just go away" division.  This appeared on my Facebook feed on Friday -

...Now for the "Yes, there is a divide in the country, and sometimes it is obvious enough to show up in my Twitter feed" department -

I've got no problem with Twitter generating revenue with "promoted" posts and the like, but they should really pay attention to context...

...From the "Should not be an elected official" department, this nugget from professional turd blossom Franklin Graham, shared on Facebook by Arizona's own Rep. David Livingston  -

Dear Rep. Livingston: The guy with the gun was the one in the church murdering people because of the color of their skin, not Hollywood.

Glendale starts to part ways with the Arizona Coyotes; will Phoenix step in to make the mistake that Glendale is try to rectify?

From ABC15.com -

The Glendale City Council voted 5-2 Wednesday to cancel its 15-year, $225 million arena lease agreement with IceArizona, which co-owns the Arizona Coyotes.

The city council's vote was based on an Arizona statute that allows an agency to cancel a contract when an employee who was highly involved with the agreement becomes an agent or employee of the contract's other party. Craig Tindall has served as general counsel to the Coyotes since 2013 after stepping down from his role as Glendale city attorney shortly before the lease was approved.

This is a "start" because this conflict is a long way from being over - the Coyotes have already gained a restraining order to prevent the city from cancelling the lease, as well as taken steps for filing a $200 million lawsuit against the city.

There have been many critics of the vote by the council, but there are also many supporters - people like me, who believe that public resources should be used to benefit the public, not to subsidize private businesses to the detriment of the public (to be fair, there are also people, like John Washington, Libertarian/Republican author of the blog Scottsdale Trails, who support the Glendale council's vote, but because he believes that all public assets should be privatized*).

However, no matter the political position of the observer, nearly every observer acknowledges that the contract almost *had* to be cancelled by the Glendale City Council - it was serving to devastate the city's finances.

The eyebrow-raising fact that the city's former attorney is now working for the Coyotes is just the Coyotes being arrogant enough to believe that they are untouchable, beyond any kind of push back or accountability.

There *is* word that at least two of the politicians in the city of Phoenix, Councilman Michael Nowakowski and Mayor Greg Stanton, are maneuvering to bring the Coyotes back to Phoenix.

Considering that the success of the Coyotes' business model seems to be predicated on impoverishing the community they are based in, Nowakowski and Stanton would have to be complete idiots to support the Coyotes moving back to Phoenix.

And while I don't know much about Nowakowski, I have met Stanton, and he is definitely not an idiot.

Of course, the sums of money that are being talked about here have been known to make even the brightest star a dim bulb.

* = John is a friend, and while he is on the wrong side of almost every issue in America where there is a partisan/ideological divide (with him being on the "Right" side, and me being on the correct side :) ), he genuinely cares about Scottsdale and his blog provides indispensable coverage of the political going-on here.  I highly recommend making it part of your regular reading.

Short Attention Span Musing - Cleaning out the inbox

It's been a busy couple of weeks (traveling for a nephew's high school graduation) and a few items have piled up in my email inbox...

...The US Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft assessment report on the potential effects on drinking water of the use fracking (aka - hydraulic fracturing) as a method of extracting oil and gas from the ground.

It's wordy and, as the risk of sounding that I'm making a pun (I'm not), dry reading, but is well worth the time and effort needed to get through it.

Note: it was written as if one of the contributors was on the payroll of someone who profits from fracking activities, so plan to "read between the lines".


...Infamous warmonger John Bolton announced his endorsement of, and financial support for, Congresswoman Martha McSally (R-AZ7).

This endorsement may hurt her more than it helps - she's been trying to project an air of moderation as she tries to keep her job of representing a competitive district, but Bolton isn't know for picking sane people to support.


...From Thursday, July 16 thru Sunday, July 19, Netroots Nation will be taking place in Phoenix.  There will be dozens of discussion panels and training sessions as we gear up for 2016, but one of the highlights is certain to be an appearance by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Friday morning (7/17), a longtime favorite of activists.  Get your tickets here.


...Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced his proposal to give additional funding for Arizona's schools by taking a greater amount of money from the state's land trust fund (which is funded by sales of state trust land and was created to provide support for the state's schools, something that it has done for over 102 years).

Of course, the trust fund was created in an era when it was inconceivable that the state's legislature and governor would work so enthusiastically *against* the long term interests of the people of Arizona.

Does anyone else see the parallel between this and Aesop's fable about the goose that laid the golden eggs?

This will take the approval of Arizona's voters.  If a majority fall for this scheme (not a sure thing), expect the governor and legislature to propose further schemes to undermine the long term fiscal stability and viability of Arizona in the quest to enhance corporate profits (aka - provide cover for more massive tax breaks for corporations).


...Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), who, along with John McCain, is one of the country's most enthusiastic supporters of a US foreign policy of "Forever War", has become yet another passenger in the clown car known as "The Burgeoning Republican 2016 Primary Field Of Candidates".

In one of the first interviews he gave after his announcement, he advised that anyone who is "worn out by war" to not vote for him.

Wasn't going to vote for him anyway, but I thank him for the advice.

I'm going to guess that he secured the support of the Cheney wing of the GOP with that statement, though...

Kirkpatrick running for Senate: Dominoes will start falling

Crossposted from Blog for Arizona



...And I don't mean the pizza place, either...

With the announcement that Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (CD1) will challenge John McCain (R-Warmonger) for the US Senate seat that he currently holds, expect current state legislators to look at the CD1 seat...and other, lower-level, electeds to look at running for the legislative seats being vacated by those looking to run for Congress, and so on.

And that's not even considering the possibility of one or more additional members of Congress going after McCain's seat (i.e. - Kyrsten Sinema (D-CD9) and/or Matt Salmon (R-CD5) ).

Nor does it consider the possibility of a political newby/unknown entering (and upending) a race.

And finally, it doesn't factor in what the Supreme Court will rule in the case before it, where the Republicans in the Arizona Legislature sued to wrest control of the decennial Congressional redistricting process from the voter-created Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.  The USSC will issue its ruling on the issue in the coming weeks, and a ruling in favor of the legislature could result in a wholesale redrawing of Arizona's Congressional districts.

A ruling for the lege will result in many Rs jumping into races for what they consider to be "safe" districts; a ruling for the status quo will result in more Ds running for "competitive" districts.
Among the names being bandied about (and as the US Constitution requires only that candidates for Congress live in the state, not the district, most of these people could be considered to be carpetbaggers of a mild sort):

Update on 5/26/2015:

- Catherine Miranda, Democratic state senator, has already announced that she is "exploring" a run for the CD1 seat.  Her main claim to fame: she endorsed Republican Doug Ducey for governor in 2014, which probably won't help her much in a Democratic primary.

End Update...

- Andy Tobin, Republican former speaker of the AZ House, a former candidate for Congress, and current head of the soon-to-cease-to-exist Arizona Department of Weights and Measures

- Carlisle Begay, faux-Democratic state senator; had already been rumored to be considering a challenge to Kirkpatrick.  OK, the only real question about his candidacy was if he was going to run as a D or an R...


- Ben Quayle, R former Congressman; last seen working as a lobbyist

- Adam Kwasman, R former state representative and candidate for Congress

- Frank Antenori, R former state senator and candidate for Congress

- Russell Pearce, recalled R former president of the state senate (who has been making noises about a political comeback of some sort)

- Kelli Ward, R state senator who's exploring a challenge to McCain; she may decide that a run at a vacant Congressional seat is more viable

- Christine Jones, R former candidate for governor, who's always in the rumor mix when there is an open seat

- Chad Campbell, D former minority leader in the AZ House of Representatives, who is widely expected to run for a higher office.  The only real questions about that regard which office and when

- Paul Babeu, R sheriff in Pinal County.  Once considered a rising star among the Rs, he briefly ran for Congress in 2012.  During that campaign, news broke that he is gay.  End of campaign for Congress.  Still working the nativist circles in the Republican Party, so he may be looking for another run at higher office

- Jamescita Peshlakai, D state representative; unlike most of the people named about, she actually lives in northern AZ

- Chris Deschene, D former state legislator and former candidate for president of the Navajo Nation; widely respected and always on the short list of potential candidates in northern Arizona

- Ken Bennett, R former secretary of state and state legislator, he's been raising his visibility recently; while he now lives in Maricopa County, he has ties to northern AZ

More dominoes will fall once the USSC renders its decision, so stay tuned...

Kirkpatrick mounting a 2016 run for US Senate in 2016

The first "Wow!" moment of the 2016 election cycle, courtesy a tweet (via Facebook status) from Brahm Resnik of Phoenix channel 12 -

The full story is here.

With polls, both formal and informal, it's all in how the questions are worded

In scientific polls, say, by a professional and unaffiliated pollster, the questions tend to be neutrally worded, to ensure that the responses are as informative as possible.

In less scientific polls, say, by a campaign or a pollster working for a campaign, the questions tend to be less neutral, either to garner a specific response or to test "messaging".

In unscientific polls, say, an online question, the questions tend to serve as clickbait or something designed to a specific response to support a specific argument.

Not surprisingly, anti-voter Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan seems to favor the latter, especially when looking to protect the corrupting influence of dark money from the disinfecting sunlight of disclosure.


Reagan is in a tizzy* over the moves of the voter-created Citizens Clean Elections Commission to update its rules regarding campaign finance disclosure, changes that would clarify that entities that are "created within the six months immediately preceding the beginning of a legislative election cycle or that is formed or created during the election cycle and knowingly makes expenditures or takes contributions of $500 or more for any election in this state in a calendar year..." as political committees subject to disclosure requirements.

* - Probably more "cold and calculating fury" than "tizzy", but I believe that the word tizzy isn't used enough these days, so "tizzy" it is. :)

To that end, she has published a "statement" criticizing the CCEC's "power grab".

At the end of that statement, she has appended a poll.

That question, coming at the end of her statement excoriating the CCEC, looks to be crafted to rouse the ire of "small government" partisans, the kind that voted for her for SOS last year.

Apparently, I am not one of her "kind of people" (the kind of partisans who voted for her).

So I voted "Yes" (of course :) ).

Apparently2, the majority of other people voting in this poll aren't exactly her kind of people, either.

After my vote, the following screen appeared -

Hmmm...

Probably not the sort of result that Reagan was looking for when she posted the poll.

On the other hand, she shouldn't be surprised - in scientific poll after scientific poll, the majority of Americans supports more oversight of campaign finance.

If, as I believe she has, she has aspirations to higher office (like the governor's office, which is both higher on the ballot and higher in the Executive Tower than her office), it might behoove her to take the poll results (both scientific and unscientific) into consideration before doubling down on her support of dark money and the anonymous purchase of elections and elected officials.

By the time the Doug Ducey era comes to a close, even the voters of Arizona may be tired of corruption in politics.

And its enablers.

2016 races already heating up...local races, anyway

OK, mostly in Tempe, because Tempe is small enough that they still conduct their elections on a March/May calendar (for elections in larger municipalities, counties, the state, and federal offices, an August/November calendar is used).

For Tempe City Council:

Randy Keating, a long-time community activist and leader, has filed for a run.  Tempe icon Harry Mitchell (former: high school teacher, city council member, mayor, state senator, and Congressman) will be serving as his campaign chairman.

Keating, courtesy Keating for Council

Phil Amorosi, another long-time community activist and leader, has filed for a run.

Amorosi at a community event, June 2014

Joel Navarro, incumbent member of the council, has filed for a re-election run.

Courtesy Navarro's Twitter page

Robert Kizere, yet another long-time community activist and leader, has filed for a run.


For Tempe Mayor:

No filings as yet, but incumbent Mark Mitchell is running for re-election.

Mitchell at a community event, March 2015

Others will file for both races; stay tuned.



For Scottsdale City Council:

So far, only incumbent Suzanne Clapp has filed.

Courtesy Klapp for Council

Others will get into the race...


I couldn't find any new/significant filings for city of Mesa, Maricopa County, state, or federal offices as of 8:00 p.m. on 5/13/2015 (caveat: the county elections database was down tonight).

Yet.  That will change. :)