Original photo at www.museo-fisogni.org

   Just how wild are the rising gas prices? I paid 20 cents more for a gallon of gasoline at my neighborhood station last night than the last time I filled the 13-gallon gas tank of my 2003 Honda Civic. Wow.
   One piece of good news – average Valley gas prices are the lowest in the nation, a significant turnaround from a few years ago when they seemed to be among the highest.
   I remember when I paid 79 cents a gallon in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. I guess that was well over a decade ago, but it seems like it was just yesterday.

Fred Phillis (Tribune file photo)

It won’t be long before someone working for the town of Gilbert asks Fred Phillis to reveal his DNA coding, his first crush and whether he really loves his mother.

Phillis, a Gilbert resident, is heading up a petition drive that seeks to force Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman into a recall election this year.

Tribune writer Beth Lucas has reported that Berman’s campaign filed a legal complaint against Phillis, claiming he bought a series of campaign signs to support the petition drive before he formally created the recall committee. Town officials decided anyone already on Gilbert’s payroll had a potential conflict-of-interest in checking out the complaint, which sort of makes sense since one of the main attacks against Berman is he wields too much power at Town Hall.

So Gilbert hired an outside lawyer to handle the investigation. That lawyer, David Pennartz, apparently didn’t accept Phillis’ initial explanation that he bought 10 signs for about $270, and donated them to the campaign once the committee was created.

So Pennartz has sent Phillis a sweeping list of questions that asking for detailed information about everyone Phillis might have talked to regarding the recall.

So far, Phillis is refusing to answer those questions and demanding to know Pennartz’s legal authority for asking them. Good for Phillis. This “inquiry” smacks of harassment and could easily discourage people from talking about political issues if they have to worry about investigators demanding later to know who they are and what they said.

Barbara Barrett (U.S. State Department photo)

President Bush has nominated another Arizonan to be a U.S. ambassador, as
Paradise Valley resident Barbara Barrett has been nominated to represent our country in
Finland.

Sen. Jon Kyl announced the nomination Thursday, a likely sign that he suggested her to Bush in the first place.

Barrett is a business and aviation attorney, chairs the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and is married to Intel chairman Craig Barrett. Her previous government posts include vice chairman of the United States Civil Aeronautics Board, and as the first woman deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

She already has gone through the Senate confirmation process three times, which should smooth the path for her to receive approval as ambassador.

Barrett also is an active donor to Republican candidates and unsuccessfully campaigned for the GOP nomination for Arizona governor in 1994.

Earlier this year, former state Republican Party chairman Robert Fannin was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Gila Bend, Ariz., calls itself The Crossroads of the Southwest. Well, the crossroads were closed to hundreds of travelers Saturday as the town of 2,055 launched a parade as part of its annual celebration for the long-forgotten stagecoach days.

I was on a quick road trip to Mexico Saturday heading south on state Route 85 when I approached Gila Bend. This is a popular route for Valley residents to reach Ajo and Rocky Point, Mexico, or to jump on Interstate 8 to head west to San Diego. The state highway was closed just as we entered town, and all traffic was detoured to streets south and west of the residential areas. We came out again just west of the Love’s convenience store and McDonald’s restaurant, which was just fine for those heading to I-8 but the wrong location if you need to continue south on Route 85. That connection is just east of the McDonald’s.

The traffic lines got pretty long as motorists drove through the detours, and one person working traffic control did his best to stop us from reaching the Love’s store or continuing south on Route 85, even though it turned out those areas weren’t officially part of the closure.

I was stunned Gila Bend, with an economy that depends heavily on tourists reaching those stores and restaurants on the main street, would close the road to all traffic and create such a disruption. Parades can be held any street, after all, but state highways are are funded by taxpayers everywhere to keep traffic moving.

A spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Transportation told me her agency did issue a state permit to Gila Bend for a 90-minute closure as part of the Butterfield Stage Days celebration, which is held on the first weekend in March. She said ADOT relies on local communities to minimize traffic disruptions and to offer alternative traffic routes. I do know the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was on hand, as deputy vehicles were used in several locations to block Route 85. But those directing traffic appeared to be either town employees or volunteers, as they wore regular clothing and orange plastic vests. I have a phone call in Gila Bend Town Manager Lynn Farmer, and I’ll update this post with any details I might learn about why Gila Bend created this unnecessary headache for travelers.

Sen. John McCain at Wednesday morning press conference (AP photo)

Call it the campaign to win back the faithful. Sen. John McCain hasn’t locked down the Republican nomination for president just yet. But he’s already reaching out to traditional conservatives who long have resented McCain’s willingness to oppose the agenda of the GOP base on key issues such as campaign finance reform, embryonic stem cell research, illegal immigration and a federal amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

During his Super Tuesday speech at a Phoenix campaign rally, McCain promised to defend the “conservative principles and policies” that have defined the national Republican platform ever since the Ronald Reagan years. He mentioned his support for appointing judges who enforce laws instead of making them. And he pledged to defend the nation’s freedom against all enemies, foreign and domestic, yet another reference to his prior career as a Navy aviation commander and Vietnam prisoner of war.

Then on Wednesday, he called out to the various right-wing talk show commentators who started thrashing McCain after his Florida victory moved him into the lead for the Republican nomination.

“I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there’s areas we can agree on,” he said according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, longtime McCain supporters are beginning to talk about their frustration that some conservatives are threatening to sit out the general election if McCain does claim the nomination.

Alberto Gutier is a Cuban refugee and naturalized U.S. citizen living in Phoenix who has been active with the Arizona Republican Party for more than 40 years and sits on the state party’s executive committee. But his Republican credentials have been questioned repeatedly, along with the state’s two at-large members on the Republican National Committee, because of their early backing of McCain over the other GOP contenders.

“It drives me crazy, this talk that we’re not going to come together behind one candidate,” Gutier said. “You want Hillary Clinton (or Barack Obama)? Fine, that’s what you are going to get.”

Barack Obama (left) and John McCain 

The first results from New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary are already in. To be the first of the first, two tiny hamlets called Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location allowed voters to cast ballots just after midnight today. With 23 votes for each party, Sen. Barack Obama claimed the lead among Democrats at a whopping 16 votes, while Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards were tied at 3 votes each.

On the Republican side, John McCain led the way with 10 votes. The real surprise, if there’s one in these trumped-up results, is that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was second with 5 votes and Rep. Ron Paul had 4 votes. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was fourth with only three votes.

Huckabee should fare poorly today elsewhere in New Hampshire as evangelical candidates never have been popular with this state’s voters. (See these recent polls.) But I won’t be surprised if Paul does pretty well, as there’s a large pool of libertarian voters in New Hampshire and independents can walk up to polls and pick either party’s ballot.

(From left) John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani during Sunday’s debate in New Hampshire (as posted at the ABC News web site).

Anyone with even a remote interest in the presidential election knows that John McCain is being described as the new (old?) rising star going in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. He has rebounded from the near-catastrophe this summer when he ran out of money and most of his top campaign staff were fired or abandoned ship.

McCain has surged back because immigration largely has been removed as a campaign issue this fall and winter. The other Republicans have been talking tough about enforcement first and McCain says he has heard the people loud and clear, setting aside his previous support for an immediate path for citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the U.S. This means there’s almost no difference on immigration reform at this point among the GOP candidates.

The Iraq war is the other big issue that has created a deep, emotional divide between Americans. For likely Republican voters, McCain has a clear track record since 2003 of calling for more troops and a more aggressive approach to dealing with insurgent violence. Democrats and independents want to end the war as soon as possible (tomorrow would be a nice goal), while many Republicans were interesting in leaving Iraq only because it didn’t seem the cycle of violence could be broken. The changes in 2007 have renewed hope that a stable, functioning Iraq still can be achieved if the U.S. just stays committed to right course.

The other Republican candidates haven’t been as vocal and consistent on Iraq as McCain, which seems to be swaying at least some of that party’s voters.

Another factor that I think must be involved is McCain has received the endorsement of virtually every major newspaper in the country that’s offering an opinion about who should be the Republican nominee. Newspapers don’t have nearly the same influence over public opinion as they once did. Still, such a strong collection of endorsements from opinion writers across the political spectrum must be prompting voters to take another look at McCain’s credentials.

But let’s be honest. McCain must win in New Hampshire Tuesday. Coming in second or worse means he won’t meet the expectations largely established by his own campaign. The national media would envision a Mike Huckabee vs. Mitt Romney sprint to the huge bevy of primaries on Feb. 5.

McCain doesn’t have the resources to continue fighting from behind as the campaigns move into the other early states such as South Carolina, Michigan and Florida. So he needs the wealth of free publicity that will flow from a win, even if it’s a win from the state that some people think he’s been campaigning in ever since he lost the 2000 Republican nomination to Bush.

On a side note, forget about Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. Giuliani’s entire campaign strategy is based on winning Florida’s Jan. 29 primary, which wouldn’t give him nearly enough of a bounce going to the Feb. 5 contests. And Thompson doesn’t seem to in position to win anywhere.

After a pleasant holiday season while filling for a vacationing editorial page editor, I’m going to jump into 2008 by attending my first Fiesta Bowl tonight. The game features two teams that blew their chance to vie for the national championship — Oklahoma vs. West Viriginia. The Fiesta Bowl was the one of the first college bowl games I ever paid attention to as a kid, because of the beautiful TV views from above Sun Devil Stadium including shots of people who scrambled on to the bluffs on either side to watch the action for free. (ASU had put a complete stop to that in recent years, before the Fiesta Bowl moved over the new stadium in Glendale.)

I am a University of Wyoming grad who also cheers for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the ASU Sun Devils. But a friend of mine who arranged for me to get a ticket for the Fiesta Bowl has ties to West Virginia. So tonight, I’ll be a honorary Mountaineer.

“I bring you the most joyful news ever announced, and it is for everyone!” said the angel to the shepherds watching over their flocks. “The Savior — yes, the Messiah, the Lord — has been born tonight in Bethlehem! How will recognize him? You will find a baby wrapped in a blanket, lying in a manager.” — The Gospel according to Luke.

 Maybe God’s blessing, peace and goodwill descend upon you at Christmas and throughout 2008.

The Rose & Allyn public relations firm of Scottsdale loves its reputation for over-the-top and sometimes outrageous publicity stunts. They certainly get credit (and blame) for some of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s antics and have been associated with some rather odd ideas such as placing the name of the Pink Taco restaurant on the Cardinals football stadium.

One smaller gag known almost exclusively to Valley journalists is the push by Rose & Allyn to be the PR firm who delivers the first Christmas cards of the year. So they arrange for their usually funny message of seasonal good cheer to arrive in our mailboxes – in July.

But being first doesn’t make you the best (sorry, Jason Rose), as we found out at the Tribune Monday when editorial page editor Bob Satnan received a holiday offering from another Valley firm, HMA Public Relations.

The small, tidy and tasteful envelope simply declares “Cheers.” On the inside are six cards with holiday drink recipes or at least suggestions, each one signed by a different member of the HMA staff. This clever twist on the traditional Christmas card is functional while keeping the HMA identity in front of the eyes of anyone trying out the recipes.

The 5-inch by 5-inch cards are made from strong enough paper stock that they could serve as temporary drink coasters, which also makes this holiday message reusable and little more environmentally friendly.

All six drinks are alcoholic and some feature intriguing names such as the Beer Margarita, the Snowplow and a Raspberry Mocha’tini. But the one that Bob and I like the best comes from the boss himself, Scott Hanson. (Full disclosure: Hanson is a professional acquaintance as we both are members of the Valley professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists).

Scott’s recipe doesn’t have a name but says, “Go to Circle K. Purchase Miller Lite. Open can. Consume contents. Crush can when finished and put in the recycle bin. Repeat process.”