Archive for the 'Congress' Category
July 15th, 2009, 1:44 pm by Le Templar
 Dean Martin Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin just sent out a news release saying he had to borrow $130.9 million today to make the required monthly payment to local school districts. Martin said the state didn’t have the cash on hand, primarily because it was counting on up to $433 million in federal stimulus funds.
Martin also suggests President Barack Obama’s administration is playing games with Arizona’s share of the stimulus, which possibly is a continuation of the high-scale assault on comments from Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., about ending the federal stimulus program.
“The Administration needs to either send the money, or repeal the program. It’s becoming clear that the Administration is holding education funding hostage to bully Arizona into submission. This is taxpayer money, not the Administration’s personal piggy bank,” Martin said.
The short-term debt is part of Arizona’s on-going state budget woes. House Republicans are now estimating that all of Gov. Jan Brewer’s vetoes have pushed the projected deficit back up to where it was before the Legislature adopted a budget early on July 1.
The state treasurer’s annoucement assures more gloomy clouds will be hovering when the legislative special session resumes Monday.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Barack Obama • Dean Martin • federal stimulus • Jan Brewer | Post a Comment »
July 9th, 2009, 11:30 am by Le Templar
 Sen. Jon Kyl I guess Washington politics must be boring this week, as the Democratic National Committee is trying to rile things up by casting Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., as a blackhearted penny-pincher who wants to shut down jobs in Arizona. Kyl wrote in his weekly column about all of the recent news that President Barack Obama’s massive spending plan to boost the economy isn’t working out so well. Few actual jobs have been created and in many cases, the money hasn’t even been spent yet. In his conclusion, Kyl calls for canceling the rest of the stimulus program and stop adding to that massive federal debt.
The DNC went into a small tizzy, sending out a lengthy news release about the thousands of the jobs that Arizona will “lose” without the federal stimulus, primarily with highway construction contracts. Several politicos will seek to turn up the volume this afternoon with a telephone news conference that scheduled to include state Democratic Party executive director Luis Heredia, State Rep. Lynn Pancrazi, D-Yuma, and two Phoenix councilmen.
It’s unusual to kick over political anthills just because of a senator’s regular column, especially when that senator isn’t up for re-election.
But what is so silly about this is Kyl voted against the stimulus package to begin with, so his column really is a “I told you so” piece. He points to political polls that show more Americans are turning sour on the whole idea.
Democrats are just blowing hot air on this issue because Arizonans already know where Kyl stands, and that position is probably more popular today that it was back in January.
Update: Wow! The Democrats are putting some real energy in this. Now they have rushed out a video as well.
Posted in: Congress • Arizona Democratic Party • Barack Obama • Democratic National Party • Jon Kyl | 6 Comments »
July 6th, 2009, 10:46 am by Le Templar
 Senate President Bob Burns (left, sitting down) and Gov. Jan Brewer might need some mediation after his harsh words last week about Brewer's budget vetoes and a special session today (Photos by Capitol Media Services). When state lawmakers gather at 1 p.m. today to again deal with budget woes, a new set of clouds will darken the proceedings after the top two legislative leaders lashed out at Gov. Jan Brewer for her vetoes last week, which included striking down all funding for public education just to make sure Brewer has the Legislature’s attention.
Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, was particularly caustic. As Capitol Media Services reported, Burns essentially called Brewer incompetent and accused her of a “strong-arm tactic to take control of the legislative process.”
Several Capitol insiders noted Burns was angry, in part, because he had to cancel a long-anticipated trip to Europe that was supposed to start over the July 4th holiday. His language was so strong that it prompted a direct, public response from Brewer, in which she said she won’t take his comments personally. Nice words, but it’s going to be a while before these two become political friends once more.
House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, didn’t go quite as far as Burns. But he did call the vetoes “irresponsible and reckless.” That’s not something a leader says in public and then expects to quickly resolve the source of the conflict.
What has to be galling for Burns and Adams is they find themselves trapped in the same position as their predecessors while Janet Napolitano was governor. Not that Brewer is much closer to Napolitano’s political ideology than previously suspected. But Brewer is demonstrating that many of the budget conflicts between Napolitano and lawmakers arose from the tension between the executive and legislative branches instead of naked partisanship.
In the end, Burns and Adams counted on Brewer’s loyalty to her fellow Republicans to accept she had received all they were willing to approve. But Adams and Burns ignored the long independence streak of Arizona governors who consistently have been willing to stand up to their own party, when they believed it would in the best interest of the state (and their own political careers).
Now, unless some Republican lawmakers changed their minds over the weekend about a temporary sales tax increase, Brewer is going to look for help from Democrats to get a final budget done. The governor’s challenge is putting together a strong enough coalition that can move a new budget package through the legislative process that Burns and Adams still firmly control.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Bob Burns • Jan Brewer • Janet Napolitano • Kirk Adams • State budget countdown | 1 Comment »
July 1st, 2009, 9:18 am by Le Templar
The Legislature has ended the regular session, adopting a final version of the new state budget in the middle of the night and then passing a final bushel of bills in the wee hours before voting to adjourn sine die.
But many lawmakers predicted Gov. Jan Brewer would veto most, if not all, of the budget package and call lawmakers back in a special session as soon as Monday. KJZZ radio reported this morning that the doors to the Senate building where briefly locked while lawmakers were still debating bills, apparently in an attempt to prevent Brewer from sending back a vetoed budget before the Legislature could adjourn at about 7:30 a.m.
Now, the Arizona Guardian speculates that Brewer could sign portions of the spending bills to keep “essential” government services operating while using her line-item veto powers to reject the rest.
A note placed at the top of the Arizona Department of Administration’s home page at 5:30 a.m. urged all state employees to report to work today. The Arizona State Parks agency had claimed it was closing all but two of its parks at midnight, but its Web site this morning implies the agency has reversed that decision.
Meanwhile, we await word from the governor’s office on what happens next…
UPDATE: Arizona State Parks has announced the agency is reopening all state parks this morning.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Jan Brewer • State budget countdown | 2 Comments »
June 18th, 2009, 5:21 pm by Le Templar
 Current Gov. Jan Brewer and predecessor Janet Napolitano As the June 30 deadline approached for adopting a state budget in 2008, there was plenty of discussion around the state Capitol about the possibility of a government shutdown once spending authority had expired. Then-Gov. Janet Napolitano claimed to have a plan to keep most agencies functioning, but never publicly disclosed it. Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria, then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he said a draft bill that would offer “bare-bones” funding for one month only for the most critical areas. But the public never saw that plan either. In the end, it didn’t matter, as the Legislature and Napolitano finally agreed to a $11 billion budget three days before the fiscal year ran out.
Now in 2009, with the same deadline just 12 days away, our state leaders have picked up where they left off a year ago. This time, Burns as Senate president is looking at a temporary proposal to fund all of state government at current levels, similar to the continuing spending resolutions adopted every year by Congress because it never adopts a complete budget before a new fiscal year starts. In his role as Senate Appropriations chairman, Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, still wants to go with the “bare bones” approach with funding only for public safety and education.
And current Gov. Jan Brewer is rapidly putting together her own plans, in case the Legislature fails to send her any acceptable spending proposal by July 1. Unlike Napolitano, Brewer’s administration is releasing at least a few details about what would happen with a government shutdown.
But it appears Republican leaders in the Legislature might be serious this year about avoiding the worst-case scenarios if July 1 arrives without an adopted budget.
Posted in: Arizona Legislature • Arizona government • Congress • Election issues • Governor • Presidential campaign • Bob Burns • Jan Brewer • Janet Napolitano • Russell Pearce • State budget countdown | 1 Comment »
April 30th, 2009, 1:14 pm by Le Templar
 Gov. Janet Brewer Gov. Jan Brewer has fired a shot across the bow of Arizona State University and its president, Michael Crow, by suggesting the state can’t afford two top-tier research universities.
Arizona’s governor is a nonvoting member of the Arizona Board of Regents, and Brewer attended her first regents’ meeting today in Tucson. She clearly isn’t happy about the three public universities again adopting huge hikes in student tuitions, this time in response to recent cuts in state funding. At ASU, tuition for the typical in-state student has risen by nearly 63 percent since 2002, and will be at $6,700 for the fall semester (including a “temporary” recession surcharge).
In her prepared remarks, Brewer said she will use federal stimulus money to back fill some of the cash that universities have lost, with the intent of limiting the cost increases for students. But the governor warned that the federal money runs out in two years, and she challenged the regents to come up with better business model that will keep university costs as affordable as possible. This sentence was particularly intriguing:
“Having almost all of our undergraduates in research level universities is too expensive.”
While not mentioning Crow or ASU by name, she clearly had both in mind. Elevating ASU’s research status to among the best in the country has been Crow’s driving priority for the past six years, although it still lags behind the University of Arizona. ASU also has the state’s largest student enrollment (and one of the largest in the country).
I expect lots of political clashes between Crow’s ASU and the Brewer administration over the next year.
Posted in: Arizona State University • Arizona government • Congress • Governor • Presidential campaign • Schools • Uncategorized • Arizona Board of Regents • Jan Brewer • Michael Crow | 5 Comments »
April 22nd, 2009, 9:53 pm by Le Templar
 Republican Chris Simcox launches his bid Monday for the U.S. Senate at the state Capitol in Phoenix (Capitol Media Services). I didn’t attend the press conference today at which Chris Simcox formally began a campaign to defeat U.S. Sen. John McCain in the 2010 Republican primary. But I’m not surprised his announcement was dominated by the issue that has kept him in the spotlight for the past four years: stopping illegal immigration. Simcox gained attention in political circles after he founded the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and took his cause nationwide with the 2005 call for civilian patrols based in Tombstone that inspired new chapters and copycat organizations across the country. Even though McCain was the 2008 Republican candidate for president, his popularity has slipped within his home state party in part because of his support for comprehensive immigration reform, which critics see as code for immigrant amnesty. The issue is likely to heat up again this year as President Barack Obama has pledged to seek passage of immigration policy changes that have failed in Congress recently.
But as McCain began his bid for president, he retreated from comprehensive immigration reform to support a “secure the border first” stance. He repeats those words no matter how hard he’s pressed now (scroll down to the 8 a.m. hour on April 15).
Simcox will have to become competitive on other issues, or he’ll never be a serious threat to McCain. Here’s my evidence as to why:
- Jim Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo, Calif., was Simcox’s partner in 2005 when the Minuteman movement got underway. Later that year Gilchrist ran for the U.S. House as a third-party candidate during a special election in his conservative district. He did relatively well, but he never really challenged the eventually Republican winner.
- Closer to home, Don Goldwater (nephew of Barry Goldwater) ran for the Republican nomination for Arizona governor in 2006 and was supported by Simcox because Goldwater made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. But he lost by a wide margin to Len Munsil, whose comments on the issue were more moderate (as far as Republicans go).
- Former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., also lost his bid for re-election in 2006 after a well-publicized shift to the right on immigration issues during the prior two years. Hayworth routinely claims that Democrat Harry Mitchell actually had TV campaign ads that were tougher on illegal immigration than Hayworth’s own campaign. But I have yet to speak to a voter in the 5th Congressional District who so confused in 2006 as to believe that Mitchell was closer to Simcox’s views than Hayworth.
- State Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has to be the best known Arizona politician who campaigns for really tough immigration policies, after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Pearce has been urged by Simcox and others to run either for governor or the U.S. House. But Pearce has backed off from both after he realized that an immigration-centered campaign wouldn’t capture enough voters and also would turn away many would-be donors who want more expansive immigration policies.
Simcox’s best chance is voter turnout for the 2010 primary could be incredibly low, as first noted by blogger Greg Patterson. That means only the most active and loyal Republicans will cast ballots, and some of McCain’s loudest critics come from that crowd. But any Republican who upsets McCain likely would be vulnerable to a Democrat in the general election, which is why I expect most of the Republican Party machinery to unite behind the senator. That will leave Simcox sitting at home after the 2010 primary, assuming he makes it that far.
Here’s a short video clip of Simcox’s press conference:
Posted in: Congress • Election issues • Immigration • 2010 • Chris Simcox • illegal immigration • John McCain | Post a Comment »
February 9th, 2009, 5:52 pm by Le Templar
Photo by the Associated Press
My blog has been on hiatus for a week or so as I adjust to the demands of my new post as opinion page editor at the Tribune, and I handled some of my volunteer work for local journalism groups. But I’m back, with a post I’ve been waiting to write for more than two years: Republicans should be immediately and eternally grateful that Sen. John McCain shut down the “nuclear” option when it comes to Senate approval for judges appointed to the federal bench.
Last week’s news that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer reinforced widespread belief that she will be the first liberal jurist to leave now that Barack Obama is president. Speculation on possible replacements already is rampant. Even a certain former Arizona governor is getting lots of attention.
While the next Supreme Court justice appointment probably will come from Ginsburg’s legal perspective, that person won’t be as wildly liberal as many in the Democratic Party would like. That’s because Obama will have to deal with a potential Senate filibuster from Republicans if he steps too far out of the mainstream. And Republicans are in a position to influence Obama’s judicial choices only because of John McCain and the so-called Gang of 14.
A quick recap: Almost from the beginning of former President George Bush’s first term in 2001, Senate Democrats who were in the minority used the threat of a filibuster to delay or block appointments of federal judges that were deemed to be too conservative. Time and again, Bush tried but failed to persuade enough Democrats to relent to get the 60 Senate votes needed to stop a filibuster.
So conservative activists came up with an alternative route for Bush to get the judges he wanted. They argued a filibuster of judicial appointments violates the Constitution because that document says nothing about needing more than a simple majority of senators to give their “advice and consent.” The idea was to have Vice President Dick Cheney (as Senate president) declare a filibuster as out of order so the Republican majority could ignore the Democrats and approve Bush’s appointments. The Senate loves its traditions and the filibuster is one of the oldest. Revoking it in this manner would have caused endless rancor and pushed partisan politics to a whole new level in Washington. Thus the reference to the “nuclear” option.
Republicans were ready to reach for the nuclear option in 2005, when Democrats were trying to block the appointment of John Roberts as chief justice. But many senators greatly feared chaos would result because most Senate work depends heavily on lawmakers getting along. Otherwise, the rules as written on paper could be used to prevent any business from getting done.
So a bipartisan collection of 14 senators met privately for days to find a way to avert the nuclear option. The result was enough Democrats withdrew their filibuster threats for Bush to get his nominees.
John McCain received much of the credit for the Gang of 14 agreement, so he should have been widely praised by fellow Republicans for protecting tradition but without bowing to the will of the minority. Instead, McCain was roundly criticized for his role, as GOP activists argued he had somehow betrayed the party by not steamrolling the Democrats.
However, McCain had enough experience and wisdom to envision a day down the road when Republicans would be in the minority and a Democratic president would be eager to put his stamp on the Supreme Court. That day is here, and if Republicans had invoked the nuclear option in 2005, the 57 Democrat votes in the Senate now would be free to completely ignore the GOP side of the aisle.
That’s not to say Republican will be able to prevent appointments of pro-choice jurists. But Obama will have to win at least few Republican votes. Or maybe just one, that of Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican (and former chairman) of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter’s support of an Obama appointment will swing enough Republican votes to avoid any filibuster.
But at least the Republicans won’t be completely ignored.
Posted in: Congress • Courts • Uncategorized • Arlen Specter • Barack Obama • Gang of 14 • John McCain • John Roberts | Post a Comment »
January 7th, 2009, 1:20 pm by Le Templar
FORMER ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL RONALD BURRIS, LEFT, MET EARLIER TODAY WITH SENATE MAJORITY HARRY REID, D-NEV., ABOUT BURRIS’ APPOINTMENT TO THE U.S. SENATE (Associated Press photo).
U.S. Senate Democrats are cowards. All we heard for two weeks was how the Senate would not accept the stench of corruption around Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and so lawmakers would refuse to seat anyone that Blagojevich might appoint to replace President-elect Barack Obama. But now it looks like Blagojevich’s choice, Ronald Burris, will become a senator after all.
I hadn’t heard of Burris before Blagojevich made the appointment last week. Burris might be a perfectly reasonable choice. I don’t care.
Even if Blagojevich isn’t guilty of the FBI charges against him, his lawyers have basically admitted that the Illinois governor ”talked” over the telephone in detail about selling the Senate seat appointment to the highest bidder.
I was thrilled when the Illinois secretary of state refused to confirm Blagojevich’s nomination. And it was exciting to hear that Democrats in Washington would stand up to some of their Illinois colleagues and insist that no one with such a insidious taint join their hallowed halls. It was a sign that Democrats in 2009 might actually be serious about changing the political culture in Washington; to start setting some higher standards for our national leaders.
Now, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whines about protecting Blogojevich’s prerogatives as governor. And Reid, as always, wants to play nice with the person standing in front of him instead of supporting the larger, most important principle.
It now looks like that Illinois secretary of state is the only person preventing Burris from getting the job. It’s simply disgusting.
Posted in: Congress • political corruption • Rod Blagojevich • Ronald Burris • U.S. Senate | Post a Comment »
December 12th, 2008, 11:40 am by Le Templar
President-elect Barack Obama’s radio/Web video address on Nov. 22 seems to have opened the flood gates for various local and state governments to submit their wish lists for federal bailout money. Obama says he wants to help spark the economy by doling out billions of dollars in new funding for road, utility and other infrastructure construction supposedly just waiting for approval.
So officials across the country are jumping in line for the national charity giveway that opens Jan. 20. The Arizona Department of Transportation unveiled Thursday a list of highway, street and airport projects worth more than $1.3 billlion. On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a survey of cities nationwide, and came back with a list of projects worth $73 billion, including $3.2 billion just in Arizona. And Arizona State University President Michael Crow told the Tribune Editorial Board last week the nation’s public universities will be seeking their own dedicated bread line.
The official statement on Obama’s transition Web site claims he’s looking at a package of $25 billion in projects. But I’ve seen reports that the actual total amount of his stimulus plan could approach the $700 billion bailout approved by Congress in November (half of which already has gone to the U.S. Treasury for spreading around).
Forgive this doubting Thomas. But I have to point out that local governments and universities aren’t going to be getting “free” help from Washington. Taxpayers have to pay for all of these projects now, or with lots of interest in the future. And these projects have been waiting because taxpayers couldn’t afford to pay for them before. Why does Obama or anyone else think we can afford to pay for them in the middle of a deep and long recession?
On a side note, change.gov is a nice-looking Web site. But why doesn’t the Obama team have any links to video or transcriptions from his weekly radio addresses? It’s an odd mistake for a team that used new media so effectively during the 2008 campaign. Anyway, here’s the Nov. 22 speech from YouTube where Obama promises to break the federal coffers wide open.
Posted in: Arizona government • Congress • Transportation • Arizona State University • Michael Crow • President-elect Obama • U.S. Conference of Mayors | Post a Comment »
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