Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit

Cal Holman Funeral Info.

Just received this
11:00 am 3rd Jan
Valley Presbyterian Church
6947 E McDonald Dr
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253

More Media Myths...Busted

Everyone knows that the middle class is shrinking and their wages/standard of living is stagnant. 

That myth is so pervasive and yet so wrong.  Unfortunately, that myth is used to justify poor economic policies like higher taxes on "the rich" and restrictions on global trade. 

Here's an analysis that explains the truth better than I can.

Show this to your Teenage Daughters

Every teenage girl should see this.  I can't figure out how to embed it so you will have to click the link. 

How Quickly Things Change

I was at the Mustang Library in Scottsdale a couple weeks ago and heard the familiar call..."Sir, are you a registered Scottsdale voter"?  I enjoy talking to petition gatherers, so I walked over and found former State Representative Cal Holman sitting at a fold up table collecting signatures for a Scottsdale City Council candidate. 

The last time I had seen Hal was in 1994, we had breakfast at the Pointe when I was in the legislature and he was Chairman of District 24.  We didn't really recognize each other last week, but re-introduced ourselves and talked a bit about politics and the Scottsdale candidates.  I signed the petition and headed home.   I saw him at the same spot last week as well.

When I walked into the parking lot last week, I noticed his car--very distinctive for a parking lot in North Scottsdale--it was an older Camaro and the back was covered with half a dozen Jon Kyl and J.D. Hayworth bumper stickers.  I remember thinking that guys like Cal who sat at libraries day after day were the backbone of both political parties.   

Yesterday he was killed within two miles of that spot.

Scottsdale resident Calvin Holman, 76, a former state legislator representing Paradise Valley, was dead at the crash site, police said.

My condolences to his friends and family. 

The Making of a Myth

I'm starting a series of stories on the ways the media overtly seeks to manipulate its readers.  The first trick is the least subtle, and perhaps the most effective...simply make up a fact and repeat it until people believe it.  The employer sanctions law provides a great example.  Here's a great line from an op ed piece that is running nationally and appeared in today's Republic.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano reluctantly signed the law but vows to enforce it.

That's exactly what the media want you to believe.  They know it's not true, but they will push the story until it's so widely accepted that it will be the prevailing legend--just like they did with the New Deal and Rachel Carson.

You will recall however, that the sanctions provision was the brainchild of Democratic Senator Bill Brotherton; Republican leadership stripped the Brotherton amendment out of the legislation over the objections of Democratic lawmakers and then Napolitano used her State of the State address to call for renewed Sanctions Legislation.

Unbelievably Lame

The Washington Post is reporting that a handful of vulnerable Congressional freshmen are voting against minor procedural motions in an effort to look independent of Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership.

Powerline Blog is reporting that one the top 6 perpetrators of this ruse is Harry Mitchell.  In fact, Mitchell takes the con a step further by voting against approving the previous day's journal nearly two thirds of the time.

Remember that the next time you see Harry talk about how independent he is. 

Here's part of the Post article.

Half a dozen freshman Democrats took to the House floor one late-October morning to cast their lot with Republicans.

Their actions went unpunished by the Democratic leadership that day, as they have on many other occasions in recent weeks. The symbolic gesture -- casting nay votes on approving the House Journal, essentially the minutes of the previous day -- would have no bearing on the leadership's agenda.

While they overwhelmingly support that agenda, the bloc of freshmen has begun casting votes against such minor procedural motions in an effort, Democratic sources and Republican critics say, to demonstrate their independence from their leadership. The number of votes that the potentially vulnerable newcomers to Capitol Hill cast against House leaders is tallied and watched closely by interest groups and political foes.

A Noble Calling

The Washington Post is focusing attention on the obscure yet essential staff--and their long-suffering families--who make congressional campaigns and congressional offices run smoothly.  Sean Noble features prominently.  The article includes this picture of Julie Noble and the kids

Every four years it comes, like some celestial event -- inevitable and, apparently, irresistible: campaign season.

And with it, the hordes of otherwise reasonable human beings who desert their families, their jobs and their sleep patterns to join the fray -- and who know, even as they sign up, that havoc will immediately descend on their personal lives.

Collateral damage: Sean Noble missed his daughter's first dance recital. Jason Roe was in Boston when his wife needed consoling in Washington. Catherine Cameron is a newlywed, living alone.

"I just wished he was there to unpack the wedding gifts with me," Cameron says. But the morning after their honeymoon, her husband was gone -- back to Chicago, back to Obama.

You Can't Negotiate with the Clueless

I was listening to Alfredo on Radio Campesina last week as he encouraged protesters to meet at Pruitt's furniture store for the weekly protest.  I must confess that I'm at loss to understand why Salvadore Reza and his band of Day Labor advocates have chosen to pick on Pruitts.

I used to live in that neighborhood, so I've often shopped at Pruitts and at the Home Depot next to it.  A few years ago, you couldn't get through the Home Depot parking lot without being swarmed by day laborers.  Eventually, Home Depot posted signs and kicked them off the property.  So the swarm moved to the Pruitt's parking lot.  Pruitt's owner Roger Sensing asked them not to hang around in his parking lot, but they ignored him, so he hired off duty deputies to enforce the anti-loitering laws.

But instead of protesting Home Depot's decision to kick them off its property, they are protesting at Pruitts. 

Mayor Gordon is trying to defuse the situation.

Mayor Phil Gordon has formally invited a furniture-store owner and the man protesting his business to meet with him in an effort to resolve their dispute.

"I am asking you both to come to City Hall, where the three of us can attempt to work through your issues of disagreement," Gordon wrote Monday in a letter to Roger Sensing and Salvador Reza.

Gordon's efforts have fallen short.  I recently read a Tribune article that made me realize why Gordon and Sensing haven't been able to deal with Reza.

Reza said the only demand of the Mexican community is for the sherriff’s deputies to leave the parking lot. “I think when you have one individual, like Mr. Pruitt, hurting a community, then a community has the right not to buy from them,” Reza said.

Mr. Pruitt? Mr. Pruitt?  Salvadore Reza has been disrupting Roger Sensing's life for over a year.  The mayor has been negotiating for them to meet and work out a solution.  Reza refuses and makes it clear that the protest is about Sensing "hurting the community."  But Reza hasn't even figured out that the guy's name isn't Pruitt. 

I've been looking for a rational reason behind the protests and mayor Gordon has been looking for a rational way to quell the protests, our mistake has been assuming that the organizer of the protests is rational.  After a year of leading the protests, Mr. Reza doesn't even know the name of the man whose business he's ruining. 

In the face of such ignorance, looking for a rational explanation or a rational solution is futile. 

Christmas by the Doors

Doors fans will appreciate this parody.  Christmas carols as sung by the Doors. 

Barco Hundiendose (Sinking Ship)

The Spanish side of the Republic is sinking even faster than the English side.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that the La Voz website hadn't been updated in months and that the Republic is treating its purchase of the Spanish Language paper like a teenager who gets a guitar for Christmas.  It was really exciting at first, but now it's stuck in the closet. 

The latest blow is that Teclo Garcia has resigned and is heading back to Texas to work as a municipal lobbyist.  Garcia may not be a household name, but he was an integral part of the Republic's Hispanic strategy.  Here's how the Business Journal described the strategy nearly 4 years ago when Garcia was hired.

Gannett Co. Inc. is preparing to launch a new section in The Arizona Republic geared toward the Valley's English-language Hispanics. Gannett made a strong push last year into the local Spanish-language market by buying Ashland Media, owner of La Voz, a weekly newspaper.

The Arizona Republic hired Teclo Garcia of Brownsville, Texas, as editor of its new section for English-speaking Hispanics. Garcia was the editor of the Brownsville Herald, a Freedom Communications Inc. newspaper.

Meanwhile, sources tell me that the treatment of reporters for La Voz is abysmal.  They continue to be housed at the original shabby La Voz building in central Phoenix and have very little contact with Republic personnel.  All that talk about turning La Voz into the premier Spanish language newspaper is gone and the grim reality of their status is becoming clear.

Notice that journalists are no longer just leaving the paper, they are leaving the profession.  The phenomenon is technically not turnover, it's attrition.  The Republic has a strict hiring freeze, so the reporters who become spokesmen, lobbyists and PR consultants aren't replaced.  Fewer people are doing more work for fewer readers. 

We'll be reading plenty more such announcements.  Congratulations to Teclo for getting out while the getting is good. 

 

All the News That's Fit to Fabricate

The hapless New York Times has weighed in on Arizona's Employer Sanctions Law.  Most of it is the same old stuff--the Governor was forced to sign the bill, the economy is going to collapse, people in Arizona are mean.  Yada Yada. 

However, this factoid caught my eye. 

Sheriff Arpaio makes a show of his meanness, hounding and humiliating prisoners and forming his deputies into squads that check people’s clothes and accents before demanding their papers.

Give me a break.  Even Arpaio's critics aren't making that claim. 

Golly, for some reason readers have lost confidence in the Times.  In the last 5 years, the S&P 500 has risen 63% and the Times has fallen 63%.  Somehow, I don't think they can just blame the Internet. 

The Genesis of the Exodus

Two things in this morning's Republic caught my eye.  The first is the front page story about the self deportation that is occurring now that illegal immigrants are having a difficult time finding jobs.  It's clear that the employer sanctions law is having its intended effect.  Now that employment incentives have been eliminated, illegal immigrants are making the rational economic decision to leave the state. 

The other thing that caught my eye was the ongoing attempt by the Republic to rewrite the history of the Employer Sanctions bill.  The Republic simply can't admit that the sanctions bill was originally suggested by Democratic Legislators, that Governor Napolitano called for a sanctions bill in her State of the State address, that Democrats fought to have employer sanctions in previous immigration bills and that two thirds of the legislature voted for the sanctions bill. 

Joe Garcia who works as the Viewpoints Editor of the Republic announced on Sunday Square Off that the Governor had somehow been fooled into signing the legislation.  I'll chalk that one up to the stress of live TV. 

Today's Montini column is more typical.

The governor said at the time that because Congress has failed to act, Arizona had no choice.

But then, Napolitano had no choice either, because the Legislature was going to push something through with or without her.

That's the new corporate line.  The governor had no choice because the legislature would have done it with out her. 

I completely debunked that revisionist history here. 

The conventional wisdom could not be more wrong.  Employer sanctions were a pawn, offered up as a sacrifice to gain strategic advantage in the broader chess game of immigration reform.  Employer Sanctions began as a Democratic strategy to derail Republican efforts to toughen immigration laws.  The sanction strategy was a bold gambit that simultaneously made the Legislative Democrats and Governor Napolitano look tough on illegal immigration while driving a wedge into the Republican caucus.

So don't be tricked by the apologists in the media.  The governor was not "forced" and the governor was not "fooled."  Illegal immigrants who were once lured by illegal employment have lost their incentive to remain and are leaving en masse

Governor Napolitano and her Democratic Allies in the legislature were the Genesis of the Exodus.

The Costs of Illegal Immigration

The Congressional Budget Office has just published a very interesting report on the costs of illegal immigration.  The report attempts to quantify the federal, state and local costs of Healthcare, education and law enforcement associated with illegal immigrants and then compare that to the revenue generated by the percentage of the illegal population that actually pays taxes. 

Some states bear a disproportunate share of the costs and Arizona is one of them.  I thought this footnote was interesting. 

Although not traditionally a destination for unauthorized immigrants, Arizona has seen a dramatic increase in that population in recent years, making it the state with the fourth highest estimated
number of unauthorized immigrants (about 575,000, in 2007) and one of the states with the highest estimated percentage of unauthorized immigrants.(9 Percent)

Now That's Turnover

Mike Madden just gave notice that he's leaving the Republic as its Washington correspondent. That means the entire political team turned over in little over one year at the Republic. 

The Roots of the Revolution

On December 17th, 1997--ten years ago today--Jorn Barger, growing increasingly tired of devoting his website exclusively to robotics, announced that he was also going to provide links to the websites that he enjoyed.   In addition to the links, he would provide short commentary about why he thought the link was interesting.   He said that he would provide a separate "log" of those links on this site. 

Barger's idea became popular as other web designers decided to point their readers to sites that interested them.  Each of their websites had a separate "log" of these interesting sites.  Eventually entire sites were devoted to these logs and explanations.  Those sites became known as web logs.  In May of 1999 Peter Merholz jokingly split the term "weblog" into "we blog."  At that point, "blog" became a verb.

Without the blogs, John Kerry would be president, Dan Rather would be employed, Trent Lott would remain in the Senate and newspapers arguably would be credible. 

It may be decades before Jorn Barger is ever mentioned in a history text, but the web logs have indeed changed the course of history. 

Hmm, To Be Fair...

I was pretty critical of this: 

So it's hard not to be critical of this: 

Nooooonan.

Peggy Noonan on Hillary.  Wow.

This thought occurs that Hillary Clinton's entire campaign is, and always was, a Potemkin village, a giant head fake, a haughty facade hollow at the core. That she is disorganized on the ground in Iowa, taken aback by a challenge to her invincibility, that she doesn't actually have an A team, that her advisers have always been chosen more for proven loyalty than talent, that her supporters don't feel deep affection for her. That she's scrambling chaotically to catch up, with surrogates saying scuzzy things about Barack Obama and drug use, and her following up with apologies that will, as always, keep the story alive. That her guru-pollster, the almost universally disliked Mark Penn, has, according to Newsday, become the focus of charges that he has "mistakenly run Clinton as a de facto incumbent" and that the top officials on the campaign have never had a real understanding of Iowa.

Veni Vidi, Visa... I Came, I Saw, I Spent

The state budget is a mess.  Let's take a look at the history of how we got here.  All quotes are from the Republic. 

The Governor inherited a mess.

The state budget is in a $1 billion free fall. Many parts of public education are receiving lousy grades. The state universities are pushing to reach new heights but remain uncertain whether tuition should be as expensive or as close to free as the law allows. January 1, 2003

Bob Robb, for one questioned her solution.

Although Napolitano inherited the large gap between same-year income and expenditures, she proposes to paper it over with more than $300 million in borrowing. That's a decidedly un-New Democrat thing to do. It also happens to approximate the budget cuts Napolitano promised but has not delivered.  Bob Robb April 2003

Nevertheless 2003 went well for the Gov. 

Since Gov. Janet Napolitano grabbed Arizona by the lapels a year ago today, life just hasn't been the same.

"The budget deal was a superb performance," said Alfredo Gutierrez, her Democratic rival in the 2002 governor's race. "She showed that she could command the details of the budget better than anyone in the Legislature. She just stared everyone down."  January 6, 2004

And 2004 was looking really good. 

An improving economy has tax revenues pouring in at about $150 million over forecasts through the first half of the fiscal year, legislative leaders said Tuesday. That upward trend could shrink their projected shortfall for the 2004-05 budget from approximately $900 million to $400 million to $500 million.   January 7, 2004

By 2005, there was some debate about the future. 

This year's mantra from Republican leaders is "get rid of the structural deficit." In the past couple of years the state budget has relied on some financial gymnastics to avoid gutting programs that are crucial for future economic growth. We should recognize that some spending is an investment, which will pay off in the future or save dollars down the road.  January 9, 2005

In 2006 things looked really good.

Arizona is a land of milk and honey this year. The state budget is overflowing, with an expected surplus of $850 million as the Legislature heads into its 2006 session. What a turnaround. Just a couple of years ago, the budget overflow was red ink.  January 8, 2006

Gov. Janet Napolitano unveiled a $10.1 billion state budget Tuesday designed to fix what's broken in Arizona: the education system, immigration, the health care system, social services for families and state employees' pay.

The budget surplus has risen to about $1 billion, providing what could be a one-time opportunity to remedy ills that have plunged Arizona to the bottom of rankings in education, state-employee salaries and other areas.

"We have to do more than penny ante stuff, or we won't get where we want to go," Napolitano said in presenting her 2006-07 budget, which would increase spending by 20 percent. January 18, 2006

Len Munsil announces he's running for governor and complains about the state's fiscal management.  The Republic's Chip Scutari is in full defense mode.

Despite the occasional empty gesture, Napolitano has also been far from a do-nothing governor. She held the line against budget cuts for education during the lean years and used her political leverage to begin phasing in state-paid all-day kindergarten.  Feb 19, 2006

Napolitano makes Arizona's fiscal strength a major issue in her re-election campaign.

Napolitano's camp points to the state's improved fiscal standing under her leadership, especially the billion-dollar budget deficit she inherited that became a billion-dollar surplus this year. The state economy remains one of the nation's best.  Sept. 14, 2006

Immediately after the election, the press was willing to admit that there was trouble ahead.

She inherited a state deficit that grew to $1 billion soon after she took office in 2003, and she helped balance that budget and lead the state to a surplus of more than $1 billion in the years to follow. The boast was central to her campaign for re-election earlier this year.

But now some experts are warning that the state is sliding back toward the red for the first time since 2004. December 24, 2006

Full speed ahead for 2007

The budget may be tighter, but Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday is expected to say this is no time to let up when it comes to planning and preparing for future growth, especially regarding education.

She is expected to push for funding to hire more K-12 teachers and to expand the capacity of Arizona colleges and universities. She will advocate more math and science for high school students and a two-year increase in the minimum dropout age to 18.

And she is expected to pursue an additional pay raise for teachers. Building on last year's increase, that would mean a minimum salary between $30,000 and $35,000 for starting teachers, an across-the-board pay hike for existing instructors and an additional bump for those specializing in math, science and special education.

"We need to look at children as they start school, what they learn in school and what they know when they graduate," Napolitano told The Arizona Republic.  January 7, 2007

What goes around comes around.  Here's the report from earlier this week. 

The result is a deepening state budget shortfall that's now pegged at $970 million for fiscal 2008. Unless significant cuts are made to ongoing state spending, as opposed to relying on one-time cuts and the use of reserves, the economists warned that the deficit could grow to $1.8 billion by fiscal 2009. The projections were offered by the Finance Advisory Committee, a panel of economic experts that meets periodically to offer guidance to legislators and their budget staff.  December 11, 2007

Lest the Governor's apologists trot out the tired Shibboleth that tax cuts caused the deficit, let me once again include ATRA's Spending and Revenue Graph.  It's a bit out of date, but clearly shows that while revenue has dipped recently, it remains nearly 80% higher than when the Governor took office.  If spending had been held to a reasonable level, the state budget wouldn't be a billion dollars in the read.   

"Who are Those Guys?"

It looks like Andy Thomas is going to have some competition. 

Nelson, 44, is a hotshot in the Guv's Office and works as her chief counsel. He's also a big marathoner, so he know's (sic) something about running. (Drumroll, please).  If he decides to go for it, it would be his first run for public office.

The Republic reporters are new to blogging, so I have to make a quick point. 

When you make a bad pun, you don't call for a "Drumroll", you call for a "Rim shot".

"Hey, did you hear that Stan Barnes is running for Governor?  With a name like that, you know he's outstanding in any field." (Rim shot).

The Drumroll is reserved for high suspense announcements.  "Word is that the hostile take over of the Republic has been orchestrated by (drumroll, please)...Dan Quayle."

Blogging lessons aside, the Nelson trial balloon has interesting implications.  Maricopa County has been Republican territory for so long that credible Democrats have given up running for the Row Offices.  Sure, Democrats will make the usual noise about the state becoming bluer and how they will have credible candidates for every office...yadda yadda yadda.  But you aren't going to someone with Nelson's stature running for County Treasurer or County Assessor. 

Nelson's balloon is the first public indication of something the political community has understood but not voiced.  The newspapers are going to turn Thomas' (and to a lessor extent Arpaio's) defeat into a high priority agenda item.  Picture Mecham in 1987, Jeff Groscost in 2000 or J.D. Hayworth in 2006.  Or Butch and Sundance circa 1908.

Newspapers aren't the force that they used to be, but they are a force.  If they decide to really hound a candidate they can tip the balance.  The first step is to telegraph their intentions to the political community in order to draw a credible opponent into the race.  Nelson's announcement is an indication that the first step has already been accomplished. 

Most Republicans will rally around Thomas and he remains popular.  However his hard-line immigration stands will eliminate his support among business types. While his appalling lack of judgment in the indictment of Russ Jones has raised questions about his qualifications with the entire Republican Establishment west of Gilbert Road. 

Of course, Thomas has never relied on business types or the Republican Establishment.  But their support adds money and credibility to his candidacy, and their lack of support adds momentum and legitimacy to his opponents. 

Behind the scenes, Republican speculation will center on whether Republicans are likely to lose the seat if they rally around Thomas.  We are likely to see a prominent Republican moderate test the waters by openly speculating about Thomas' vulnerability and Nelson's strength.

So what result?  Advantage goes to the incumbent.  Thomas is a tenacious campaigner and the press has consistently tried to portray him as an extremist, so in a normal campaign cycle, it's unlikely that they will be able to move too many votes.  But if Thomas makes any more missteps and the media decide to really pile on then his lack of support in some Republican circles and the perceived vulnerability among Democrats could send him back to the private sector. 

"Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights and unplug the Coffee Pot."

Word is that the Republic's Ginger Richardson just left to be Director of Communications for Go Daddy.com.

"Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"

You may have missed the news that the Justice Department has decided not to conduct a formal investigation of former Congressman J.D. Hayworth.  After all, the only newspaper in the state that picked up the story was the Tucson Citizen. 

Former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth said Thursday that the Justice Department has told his lawyers they've decided against a formal investigation into his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Political stories have a short half life, so it's easy to forget the feeding frenzy that the national and local media conducted on Hayworth.  If you put "Abramoff" and "Hayworth" into the Arizona Republic's archives, you will get 56 articles.  Hayworth was on the cover of the Wall St. Journal the Friday before the election and he was on the cover of the Washington times as well. 

Hayworth always maintained that he was innocent of any wrong doing.  He received a few thousand dollars from Abramoff and donated it to charity.  That is, of course, what Harry Mitchell claimed to have done with the money he took from Charlie Keating. 

The coverage cost Hayworth his Congressional Seat, his reputation and a small fortune.  It was media fodder for over two years.  One of the Republic reporters who covered Mitchell is now Mitchell's Congressional spokesman.  Now the Justice Department has decided not to even formally investigate the charges.  And what does the Republic print?  A few words on the back page just below the international weather maps. 

One more reason why the public despises the media.  One more reason why Republic circulation drops 3% every six months.  One more reason why I write Espresso Pundit.

Hayworth has a platform on KFYI, but others aren't so lucky.  Here's a video of Hayworth discussing the ordeal.  He's left asking the question that Ray Donovan asked after being acquitted of highly publicized but politically motivated charges in 1987.  "Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"

In case you have forgotten the extent of the feeding frenzy.  Check out this video compilation.  And then remember that the charges never even rose to the level of a formal investigation. 

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

So one Demon says to the other Demon. "Hey, what's this flaky white cold stuff?"  The other Demon says "Golly, I think that's snow.  How could snow fall in Hell?"  Satan comes in, grumpy as always, and grumbles. "The Arizona Daily Star just wrote an Editorial that the Espresso Pundit likes.

Indeed.  The Arizona Daily Star is urging its readers to take advantage of a state law that allows taxpayers to donate money to schools and receive the entire amount back as a dollar-for-dollar credit on their taxes. 

Arizonans have a chance to combine the generosity of the season with a tax break. The Arizona School Tax Credit is a good way to help kids. Our idea is to make a tax credit donation to an Arizona school part of your holiday giving. It helps schools, it helps students and it helps you.

Bravo.  Good for the Star.  The editorial goes on to explain that there are two type of credits. 

The public school tax credit is up to $200 for single taxpayers or heads of households or $400 for married taxpayers filing jointly.

Additionally, the State offers an even larger tax credit for donations to organizations that provide scholarships to children attending private schools. 

The law prohibits tax credit donations to private schools. Instead, Arizonans can receive a tax credit by donating to a tuition organization that gives scholarships or grants to qualified private schools. However, you cannot give money to a tuition organization for the benefit of your own child or dependent.

The private school tuition credit is up to $500 for single taxpayers or heads of households, and up to $1,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly.

The editorial steers readers to this page of the Arizona Department of Revenue website that explains in detail how the credits work. 

While you can't write the check directly to a school, most private schools have been quick to either establish, or associate with a foundation that will direct the money to that particular school.

For example, If you want to learn how your donation can benefit Brophy students, you can click here.

I'm working with the Foundation for Blind Children in an effort to help them to raise scholarship money for their Kindergarten through Second Grade program.  This program teaches blind and severely disabled children who can fall through the cracks at public schools. If you want to learn more about how you can help the Foundation for Blind Children, Click here.

The Foundation only recently qualified for the Private School Tax Credit, so it's a bit behind the curve.  In an effort to make the community aware of the Foundation, who it serves and how you can help, the Foundation is hosting a “Tax Credit Breakfast” this Wednesday, December 12, from 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM at the Phoenix Country Club.

There's still plenty of seating.  So RSVP here and then come by and learn what you can do to help the Foundation for Blind Children.

So kudos to the Arizona Daily Star for informing and motivating its readers to take advantage of the ways that taxpayers can help both public and private schools.

Take the Star's advice and "make a tax credit donation to an Arizona school part of your holiday giving."

(But please continue to ignore their election endorsements.)

Gaze into the Crystal Ball

I comment so often about the demise of the newspaper industry that I'm often asked what the future holds for the Arizona papers.  I have to concede that I have no idea.  It's easy to look at companies like Kodak, Tower Records and Pan Am and say that the newspapers are likely to continue to shrink until they hit a point at which they are no longer viable and then close.  That certainly happened to the afternoon dailies.   But that's just me looking into the past and applying it to the future. 

One of the espresso pundit commentators had a prediction that I thought was really good and deserved to be placed into a separate post. 

Bob H. wrote "Long-term prediction: Gannett buys the Star, merges it with the Citizen, and then, over time, merges the Tucson and Phoenix operations."

That's really good.  Gannett already owns the Citizen and the Republic.  The Citizen is clearly not viable as a mid-market afternoon daily.  If Gannett buys the Star, eliminates the Citizen and merges operations with the Republic, Tucson would essentially become another zone.  Most of the content would be written in Phoenix, but the Star name and shell of local coverage would remain to give the impression that it was still a Tucson paper. 

We see through the glass dimly, but I think Bob H. has had a glimpse of the future. 

Exclusively Lame

This morning's Republic breathlessly labeled its lead story "Republic Exclusive."  Sometimes stories are "exclusive" because they are "scoops"...no one else has them.  You know, like Watergate.  Sometimes however, stories are "exclusive" because they are "lame"...no one else wants them.  Like this one. 

The top two leaders at Goodwill Industries of Central Arizona resigned Tuesday amid an investigation of conflict-of-interest allegations stemming from their romantic relationship.

Now, I've certainly heard of Goodwill Industries on account of that's where I get my suits, but it's a pretty obscure organization.  The story would be interesting if it involved one of Arizona's most prominent companies or if the two top executives were missing with the money.  But that's not the case.  So Dennis Wagner can't play the fame or fraud angle.

How about the hypocrisy angle?  Indeed, it would be interesting if the guy involved was a big Arizona executive or religious leader with a wife and couple kids and he ran off to Vegas with some 22 year old from the book keeping department.  But that's not the case.

Desperate for a hook to make the story actually sound like news, Wagner grasps at this straw.

The controversy at Goodwill Industries is similar to turmoil at the national American Red Cross, where President Mark Everson was ousted last week because of a "personal relationship" with a female subordinate.

In that case, according to Associated Press reports, the charity announced that Everson was forced to resign because his conduct "diminished his ability to lead the organization in the future."

Ahh, so he's trying for the "ethical lapse/hypocrisy angle."

Sure, this controversy is "similar" to the national story about the guy with a wife and two kids who got fired because he had an affair with a subordinate....except for the fact that the couple from Goodwill are SINGLE, announced their engagement, are both high level executives and resigned on their own.  Other than that they are "similar."

In fact, here's how the Chair of Goodwill's Board described the departure. 

They voluntarily resigned," Gordon said of Mason and Hanson. "We're just really pleased with their professionalism and the contributions they've made to Goodwill over the years."

Gordon explained the board's concern.

They decided to re-evaluate, even though Mason and Hanson had committed no wrongdoing or ethical breach.

So the "Republic Exclusive" boils down to two highly-qualified single and successful executives who have done an excellent job running a charitable organization announcing their engagement and then resigning because some members of the board think it would be a conflict if they continued to work together.  And some editor decided that story should be A 1 above the fold and labeled "Republic Exclusive" in the state's largest newspaper.  How embarrassing. 

Golly, instead of trashing these two with a breathless hit piece, maybe Dennis Wagner should have done what any decent human being would have done...sent them a nice congratulations note and asked where they are registered.   

Fading Star...

I know I'm supposed to be taking the week off, but I couldn't help linking to the story about the layoffs at the Star.

The Arizona Daily Star cut 11 newsroom positions today, citing slumping advertising sales and the real-estate downturn.

Star Publisher and Editor John Humenik announced the layoffs today in a newsroom meeting with staffers. He declined to name the employees but said they were offered severance packages.

"The reason for the staff reductions is we need to reduce costs," Humenik said.
"Advertisers are advertising less because their sales are down."

The cuts at the Star are the latest in a series of newspaper layoffs and buyouts nationwide as papers cope with flagging advertising revenues.

Michael Marizco who is a former Star reporter and now writes a blog called Border Reporter has the names of those who were let go. 

Last June, I predicted that layoffs at the Star were inevitable.  Just like I predicted that the Tribune would be free.

Update:  You know, it strikes me as odd that the people who got laid off have high seniority, are older and probably make higher salaries.  I think the EEOC might just send the Star a certified letter that says "Prepare to be Boarded."  Too bad I'm not a lawyer...yet. 

Meanwhile at the Republic.

The Republic announced that it will continue to cherry pick the most profitable regions and abandon the rest of the state.

The Arizona Republic announced Monday that it will discontinue home delivery and single-copy newspaper sales in Kingman, Bullhead City, Parker, Quartzsite and Lake Havasu City, effective Dec. 31.

Readers in those areas have the option to receive a paper edition of The Arizona Republic by mail or an electronic edition via the Internet.

Arizona Republic President John Zidich said it was increasingly difficult to provide quality service on a consistent, cost-effective basis in those markets. 

Abandoning the river cities is a huge shift for the Republic.  The paper had full-time reporters in Mohave County for many years with current TV critic Bill Goodykoontz being the last in the early 1990s. It also was a major initiative of the paper during that time, when Pat Murphy was still around as editor, to make that rapidly growing area of the Colorado River area a zone much like any of the urban zone editions.

Until recently, the Republic had as many as 8,000 subscribers in Mohave County alone.  So this move alone will cause a 2% fall in circulation. 

I've pointed out before that a physical distribution model that involves shipping a 2 pound chunk of paper to an ever shrinking number of people over an ever expanding geographic area is destined to collapse.  You can look at the economics of the post office, milk distribution or Amtrak and see the future of the Newspaper. 

Tell me again why the state forces businesses to pay for public notices?  I thought that the newspaper had something of a public trust and would send information to the hard-to-reach parts of the state in exchange for forcing business to spend money on the notices. 

But now the papers are whining that serving those areas isn't profitable.  Of course, they still accept the money from the public notices.  Seems like this is one more reason why that arrangement should go away. 

I'm Melting...

I have four finals in the next four days, and that's AFTER a deferment.  (It was originally 5 finals in four days with two on Wednesday.)  I'm also puting together two major events for the week after finals:  I'm working on a breakfast for 125 guests for the Foundation for Blind Children on the 12th and my water association is hosting an ACC candidate forum with 3 declared and 4 exploring candidates together with 30 guests on the 14th.  Then on the 15th, Debbie and I are having 26 COUPLES from our Sunday School Class to our house for a Christmas Party. 

If I don't get the patio table/fire pit assembled by Friday, I'm going to be homeless.  So I'm basically in meltdown. 

I'll post again on Friday.  Thanks for your patience.