Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit

Introducing the Arizona Political Report

For the last five years or so, I've wanted to establish a print version of Espresso Pundit.  My friends always responded..."Print?  You mean on like actual paper...that you put in the mail?"  Yep.  Actual print. 

Sure, mainstream, general circulation, least common ddenominator,  corporate group think newspapers are dying.  However, niche papers are actually doing pretty well. 

I believe that there is a large market comprised of people who are interested in politics and would be interested in additional coverage and analysis but who just aren't interested in blogs or other web-only content. 

So I have finally followed through, and the good folks at Americopy are mailing the first edition as I write this.  In the future, the paper will not be available on line, however here's a copy of the first edition.

One problem with print is that it is expensive, so I have to charge a basic subscription rate.  In this case, I'm charging $25 annually and I will be distributing the paper on the second Friday of each month.   The best way to subscribe is to click this link and use Paypal.

One advantage of Print is that it allows me to really expand the coverage.  I've often complained that the mainstream newspapers only focus on the big issues like AHCCCS expansion, or the trivial issues, like so called guns in bars or who gets to use which restroom.  There are literally hundreds of important bills that don't get any coverage.  I'm also concerned that the mainstream papers only portray legislators in a negative light. 

In response, I've invited guest columnists to discuss issues that they think are important.  I think you will enjoy the comments of Dick Foreman, Sydney Hay, Paul Walker, Greg Hopley and Marc Ashton.I think you will also enjoy the perspective the Jason Rose and Barbara Lockwood add to the debate about Net Metering and the future of the solar industry.  And don't miss the columns by John Kavanagh and Betsey Bayless about the proposed AHCCCS expansion.

In addition to guest columns and Point/Counter point by industry and political leaders, I've included a week's worth of Espresso Pundit columns for those of you who might have missed them.  I've also added two features that I think you will enjoy.  The first is what I call the "Real Facts of Life."  These are lessons that I've learned over the years and that I've shared with my children.  They are light proverbs and stories that have provided important lessons for me and my children and I thought you might enjoy reading them.  I plan to publish one story in each edition.

Finally, I've included a feel good story that didn't receive any attention.  A few weeks ago, the lobbyists and the legislators played a charity softball game in order to raise money for the Phoenix Children's Hospital.  Steve Trussell, Director of the Arizona Rock Products Association, organized the event and hired a professional photographer.   I thought it would be fun to show you a side of the Legislature that you are unlikely to read about in the mainstream papers. 

I want to thank my first round of advertisers as well as Steven Heywood at Americopy for his tremendous help and support. 

I hope that you will consider subscribing to the Arizona Political Report and if you would like to provide guest commentary, submit photographs, send story ideas, or buy advertsing, please contact me at gpatterson3@cox.net

Hypocrite of the Year

We are still early in 2013, but I can't imagine that anyone will catch up to Republic Editorial Page Editor Robert Leger for my Hypocrite of the Year award.

Recall that Republic Cartoonist Steve Benson drew a picture of the Cleveland basement horror scene with the role of Ariel Castro played by the GOP.  You can see the cartoon here. 

The cartoon is an abomination and fails the rules of civil discourse on so many levels.  No matter how much you disagree with someone, it's not appropriate to compare them with the most evil men our world has produced.  It's simply uncivil and unprofessional for an employee of a major newspaper to compare the Republican party to Ariel Castro. 

It's also not professional to characterize someone's views in a way that serves to both demonize your opponent and cheapen real crimes. For example,  Benson labels one of his victims "No Contraceptive Coverage."  Sure, that's just the same as being held as a starving sex slave for a decade.  And the guy who held them captive is just like the GOP guy who opposes mandatory contraception coverage provisions in the Affordable Care Act.  Golly, there's like no difference.

The Benson story has gone national and that's were Robert Leger comes in.  The Daily Caller's Tim Cavanaugh asked Leger about the cartoon, before you here Leger's response, here's a little background.

In the immediate aftermath of the Giffords shooting, "civility" was all the rage.  Robert Leger was working at the Scottsdale zone at the time and also attended the Scottsdale Leadership class.  Together those organizations led the charge to introduce civility to public discourse--with Leger playing a prominent role in both organizations.  In fact, their publicity packet is still available.  Here's how Leger described the effort.

The commitment includes hearing out others and speaking calmly without losing the passion of their position or resorting to personal insults.

Leger went on to announce that the Republic was sponsoring an essay contest for young people to discuss how they would improve the public debate. 

Wow, thank goodness that the Daily Caller's Tim Cavanaugh went to Leger for the quote.  In addition to being the person responsible for the contents of the editorial page where the Benson cartoon ran, Leger has publicly called for increased civility, speaking calmly and not resorting to personal insults...you know, like calling your opponent a sex slave holding serial rapist. 

Leger's response to the Daily Caller?

Opinions editor Robert Leger, however, told The Daily Caller the cartoon “stands on its own” and that the cartoonist seeks to make strong statements.
 
“Steve’s cartoons are often among the things that draw the most comment,” Leger said. “This one was not unusual in that regard.”

So much for civility.  So much for discourse that doesn't insult or personalize.  So much for an essay contest on improving public discourse.  Benson is simply making "strong statements" that "draw the most comment" and this one is "not unusual."  And he has the full support of Robert Leger.

The debate is only going to get more civil when those in power--like Pulitzer Prize winners who draw for the largest publication in the state and the editors who enable them--decide to hold themselves to their own standards of civility.  Leger set the standards. Leger called for civility.  Leger announced the essay contest and issued the call to avoid personal insults and then when Leger was in a position of power and someone on his team issued the ultimate insult, Leger defended his work in the national press.

For that he wins the Hypocrite of the Year award.  If he questions it, I'll point out that it "Stands on its own."

Look For the Union Label

Last week I received this email from Phoenix City Council candidate Karlene Keogh-Parks

As co-chair of Mayor Greg Stanton's transition team and a member of the team's committee on ethics in government, I made recommendations for more transparency in the way City Hall conducts its business. Now I'm running for the Phoenix City Council in District 6, but I'm not waiting for this election to be over to start making changes.
 
That's why I pledge to accept no campaign contributions from city lobbyists.

Keogh is running against Sal Diciccio in a campaign that is likely to be fully funded by the Unions, so swearing off Lobbyist support and calling for transparency is meaningless unless she's willing to forsake union contributions and call for transparency with respect to union-funded independent expenditures.

I sent her an email reply asking if her pledge included union contributions....no response.  

I thought this stuff only happened in China

Here's a troubling story:

Raymond Michael Rodden was bored this week, so he drove to downtown Phoenix and began walking around, snapping photos of the federal courthouse and the state capitol with his iPhone.

The 33-year-old man ended up jailed, unemployed and homeless; his iPhone, iPad and Macintosh laptop confiscated as “evidence.”

All because they found it odd he was taking photos at 3 a.m.

“They told me they’re going to keep my computer because they want to see my search history,” he said Saturday evening in a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime.

“They wanted to know if I belonged to any extremist groups like the national socialist movement or sovereign citizens. They wanted to know what kind of books I checked out of the library.”

However, the only charges pending against him, if you even want to call them charges, are citations that he walked into an alley – a bogus charge that applies only to motorized vehicles –  and that he neglected to change the address on his driver license after moving to Phoenix from Tucson last August.

No Decency

In this morning's paper, Republic cartoonist Steve Benson casts the Republican party in the role of Cleveland basement sex slave criminal Ariel Castro.  Are there no limits?  Surely, the Republic management is going to realize that they have gone too far. 

There are still some areas of political discourse that are unacceptable.  For example,  you can't compare your opponents to Nazis because no one is as evil as the Nazis, so no one deserves to be compared to them simply based on policy differences.  Ariel Castro is so evil and his acts were so horrific that he approaches Nazi category.  It is simply unacceptable to vilify someone's political views by portraying them as a basement sex slave criminal.

Such comparisons also cheapen and make light of horrific crimes.  One of the women in the Benson cartoon is labeled "No contraceptive coverage" Really? Being held as a starving sex slave in a basement for 10 years is just like not having mandated contraception coverage?  How does that equate to cartoon label number three "no respect for rape victims"?  Doesn't Benson's portrayal show a shocking insensitively to real victims?

At some point the Republic management has to realize that they have crossed a line and are no longer engaged in professional discourse.  Sure, Benson has a free speech right, but that doesn't mean that the Republic has to publish his screeds.  The Republic must realize that it has to maintain some level of corporate responsibility and professionalism.  Free speech is a right, but if you run the paper of record for the State of Arizona, you have to have some level of self regulation and professionalism.

Benson hasn't simply crossed that line, he's shattered it.  Let's see how the Republic management reacts. 

Leading with their Spikes

The Republic has done an excellent job highlighting pension abuses by city employees.  "Spiking" is the biggest problem.  That's when employees take all their accumulated sick and vacation leave and put it into their last three year's salary in order to artificially increase their salary.  This trick alone creates a tremendous liability to the pension systems.  The thing is....it's already illegal.

Yet Phoenix interprets the law differently. It allows police and firefighters through their city contracts to receive monthly pay in lieu of accrued sick or vacation leave. City officials have said the policy does not violate the law. The city declined to provide any legal opinion to support its policy.

This is a classic cat and mouse.  The state says that cities can't allow employees to use sick leave as part of the pension calculation, and the cities come up with a fancy "in lieu" alternative that is clearly designed to circumvent the law.   Frankly, this isn't even a loophole.  It's a clumsy trick in order to bypass the statute.   Unfortunately suing would take forever; the legislature needs to amend the law so that this specific ruse addressed by statute.  

Laurie Roberts gets Horne

I used to wonder if it is my imagination.  I'm a Republican and it seems like Reporters like to target Republican candidates much more than Democratic candidates.  Maybe I just noticed stories that bashed Republicans more than stories that bashed Democrats.  Then I started keeping track of concrete examples--and reading Laurie Roberts' column--and realized that imagination has nothing to do with it. 

The key is to find cases that are nearly identical and often occur at the same time.  Then watch the Republican official get flogged day after day, while the reporters completely ignore--or even actively downplay--the Democratic story.

So the media--especially Roberts--flogged the story of State Rep. Darin Mitchell possibly not living in his district during the last election, but the Republic never printed the story of Democratic Senator Pete Rios claiming to live in a trailer in Duddlyville, despite having a home in Apache Junction.  The Rios story was actually a more interesting story because is had criminal law implications-- Rios claimed thousands of dollars of mileage reimbursements for alleged weekend trips to the trailer. 

In another example, the media hounded former Congressman Bob Stump about allegations that he didn't actually reside at the ranch that was in his district, while ignoring the fact that Democratic Representative Polly Rosenbaum didn't really live in her Globe district.  This story is especially egregious because Congressmen aren't required to live in their districts, while state Representatives have that requirement. 

The latest example in which the media flog one side of a story while ignoring the other side of the story is the recent Attorney General race between Tom Horne and Felecia Rotellini.  By now I'm sure you are familiar with the narrative.  The Horne/Rotellini race was too close to call and Horne got a $500,000  boost from an independent campaign expenditure.  Now the Secretary of State and the County Attorney want to know if Horne coordinated with the independent group. 

Roberts is all over the story and spends most of her time mocking Horne.  I have yet to see a Republic story on the other half of the story....the Democratic Attorneys General Association spent $1,500,000 on behalf of Rotellini and didn't even register as a committee.

Click Here to see their commercial.

Incredibly, the group claims that this commercial was not a campaign commercial.  The Secretary of State and the County Attorney aren't buying that the commercial isn't advocacy. Here's Montgomery's Opening Brief.   If Montgomery is right, then the group will have some serious campaign expenditure violations to deal with--and will have an even bigger problem if they coordinated with Rotellini.

The Rotellini story is at least as big as the Horne story.  In fact, it's the opposite side of the same coin...just with triple the money and the absurd assertion that the commercial wasn't really a campaign commercial. 

So how does the media cover it?  Story after story and column after column mocking Horne and nothing on Rotellini. 

Roberts for her part is running cover for Rotelline. Check out this paragraph from today's column.  She continues with her narrative that the margin was so close that Horne's potential violations swung the race.  Then it's clear that people have been privately confronting her about the Rotelline allegations, but rather than mention them, she tries to downplay them. 

 Horne won with 51.8 percent of the vote – surviving some attacks aimed at him from an innocuous sounding independent group that turned out to be the Democratic Attorneys General Association. But that’s another story.

That statement is actual misdirection--"some" attacks "innocuous sounding".  That's how she describes $1,500,000 worth of attack ads.  She's also missing a key legal point.  The Democratic Attorneys General  Association is NOT defending itself by claiming to be independent, they are claiming that they don't have to file as a committee because the ad I embedded above is not an actual campaign ad.  That's an argument that the County Attorney and Secretary of State reject. 

Roberts then claims the Rotellini story is "another story."  No.  It's actually a large part of the same story.  It's the story that adds context to the story they run nearly every day.  It's the side of the story that you won't read.  It's the story that's not part of the narrative.  It's the story that Laurie Roberts and the Republic will ignore because it makes it more difficult to mock Tom Horne. 

It's "another" story that you will never hear.