Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit

Will there be Writing on LaWall?

We've all read the outraged media accounts about Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' Crime Prevention booklet.  In fact, the governor referred to the controversy in her State of the State address.

In her annual State of the State Address on Monday, Napolitano said: “Too often lately, we see this money go for TV commercials that amount to little more than publicity for an elected official. That’s the wrong way to use it. Pass a bill that uses the money for core functions of law enforcement.”

So imagine my surprise when I obtained a copy of a 52 page, color glossy book touting the accomplishments of Ms. LaWall and her office.  The book is so slick and thick that it looks like the advertising folder for a new BMW. 

To be sure, Thomas spent more money on his pamphlet and it was more widely distributed, but at least it was about crime prevention.  It wasn't just about Thomas. 

Here's a copy of the full  LaWall brochure. Browse through it and see if it can be characterized as anything other than a campaign piece. 

So far, the Citizen is the only newspaper I can find that has covered the story.  We'll see if the media and the Governor express equivalent outrage, but considering that Thomas is a Maricopa County Republican and LaWall is a Pima County Democrat, I'm not holding my breath

Not that they are biased or anything.

The True Cost of Light Rail

I had to go to the Secretary of State's office today, so I left ASU for the Capitol at 3:08.  I arrived at 3:48--about the same amount of time it would have taken by bike.  I've often wondered why the westbound 202 is a parking lot by 2:00PM.  After all, it's not rush hour and traffic is going opposite of the traditional afternoon rush hour direction.

When the 202 backed up, I made the mistake of exiting so I could take Washington.  That's when I discovered the real problem.  Light rail doesn't travel along Washington; light rail replaces Washington.  Washington used to be a six lane, one-way street that moved an incredible amount of traffic.  Since it was bounded on the south by the airport and the river, there was very little cross traffic.  Due to construction, Washington is now down to one lane and it looks like it's going to be down to two lanes even after construction is done. 

The argument for light rail was that even if it didn't have much ridership, every little bit would help.  Did the advocates ever disclose that the trains would permanently replace one of the most efficient east/west arteries?

How much more pollution do the cars packed onto the 202 emit when they idle from ASU to the Capitol, or from the Capitol to Mesa?

Light rail was supposed to reduce the commute and pollution.  It appears that it will make both worse. 

More Sanctions Bashing...

The media is on a quest to convince the public that the Employer Sanctions law will hurt the Arizona Economy.  Here's a classic example from this morning's Republic. 

Arizona's employer-sanctions law is driving illegal immigrants to leave the state, as intended.

The departures were first felt at stores and businesses that cater to such immigrants. Sales suddenly dropped.

Now, apartment complexes, especially those with affordable rents in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations, are feeling the effects. Individuals and entire families are moving, leaving behind empty apartments that can't be filled.

Hmm, apartments are vacant.  That's a bad thing and it's the result of the employer sanctions law. 

But earlier this week, the Republic spun this story as being a good thing and having a different cause. 

Hundreds of low-income families have safer, more affordable housing now that Phoenix has successfully reduced a vacancy rate in its public-housing program that was double the national average.

The city attributed the gains to the hiring of temporary workers last year to process applications, interview applicants and prepare units for occupancy. They also developed a program to help applicants pay their security deposit, which has allowed some families to move in more quickly.

Golly, the City of Phoenix spends over $700,000 to hire temporary employees to recruit families to move into subsidized apartments and for some reason the owners of private apartments can't compete.  Shocking. 

The same thing is happening in Tucson as well.  With a massive slowdown in the construction industry, the high rate of real estate vacancies state wide, and the massive efforts of the City of Phoenix to move families into subsidized housing, is it any surprise that low end private apartments are sitting vacant?

Just one more example of the media manipulating the facts to promote its own agenda. 

Cal Thomas on Flake

Jeff Flake has become the national leader on Earmark Reform.   Congressional Republicans could have gained some credibility on the issue if they had put him on the Appropriations Committee, but they rejected that option.  Call Thomas has an interesting column on the story.

The best opportunity Republicans had at their retreat to prove they see the light on spending was to name the tireless anti-pork crusader Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona to the powerful Appropriations Committee. This would have been the equivalent of placing a preacher at the entrance to a house of ill repute, or a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union on an alcohol beverage and control board. The analogies are apt because too many politicians are drunk on power and behave like harlots with other people's money.

Flake, who was passed over for the post, would be the conscience of the committee, which has been devoid of a moral compass no matter which party controls the House. He sends out news releases spotlighting the "Egregious Earmark of the Week." Last week's was $1.12 million for potato research, which he characterized as "a waste of money no matter how you spell it."

In a phone call from the retreat, Flake told me his colleagues rejected an earmark moratorium after hearing pleas from some members that earmarks were the only way they can get re-elected. (Whatever happened to ideas?) He said Republicans called on Democrats to act first and that by doing so they missed an opportunity to stand on principle and win political points.

"We'll get there" on earmark restraint, Flake predicted, but not until after more Republicans are indicted and "an anti-earmark crusader like John McCain or Mitt Romney is nominated and elected president."

Let's Save a $100,000

This story is truly outrageous.  A guy commits armed robbery 30 years ago.  His lawyer screws up the case and the guy ends up with a life sentence.  So now he's 74, a model prisoner, expensive to incarcerate and an example of how screwed up our system can get.  There is no mechanism for releasing him, but the Governor can commute the sentence. 

Read the story.  It's obvious that she needs to step in and do the right thing. 

Maynard's co-defendants in the case each took plea agreements recommended to them by their attorneys. One pled guilty to a drug charge in another case, and all charges against him regarding the robberies were dropped. He was released from prison the next year. Another pled no contest to being an accessory to the crime. His conviction was treated as a misdemeanor, and he was placed on probation for one year, with one day of credit for jail time served. The third defendant pled guilty to two counts of robbery and received five years and one day in prison.

However, Maynard didn't take a plea, and his case went to trial. When it was over, he received three 30-to-50-year terms on three armed-robbery convictions. The judge decided these sentences would run consecutively, meaning that Maynard has to serve them one after another.

Clueless in Seattle

Former Republic columnist Jon Talton has surfaced in Seattle.  Talton was famous as the leftist business columnist who recycled the same three columns each week:  Globalization is going to take your job, the real estate industrial complex controls the government and Arizona Sucks.

Like most unemployed former columnists, he's started a blog.  His major themes are: Globalization is going to take your job, the real estate industrial complex controls the government and Arizona Sucks.

Here's how he describes himself.

I've been a working journalist for 27 years. Most recently, I spent seven years as a columnist at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, standing up to that state's numerous cranks, haters, sleazy 'businessmen' and right-wing thugs.

Now I'm not a 22-year-old HTML kid and have little interest in writing about Britney's panties. So no newspapers are calling. I'm a writer living in Seattle. Aside from the risk of living under a bridge, I'm free to write the truth and raise hell. That was once the calling of the best newspapers. Now a few of us will try to carry it on as guerrilla journalists and rogue columnists.

Unconstrained by an actual job, he tells us what he really thinks about his former colleagues:

Show me a sick metropolitan area and I’ll show you cowardly, stupid, crappy local media. Nowhere was this axiom better proven than in Phoenix

On the way he takes on the business community,  Mormons and the Goldwater Institute.

Bottom-feeder businessmen who moved to Arizona precisely for “low taxes,” an easy regulatory environment and workers they can pay low and push around.

Mormons, who, for their many laudable qualities, are tribal, uncomfortable with transparency and diversity, and have been co-opted by the most extreme elements of the Republican party.

Meanwhile, much of the media are besieged by the hate-peddling right-wing echo chamber, exemplified by the “Goldwater” Institute.

It's stunning that the Republic gave Talton a platform for so many years. 

Even he isn't surprised that there isn't a market for his rantings.  In fact, he seems to have developed the fatalistic attitude of a martyr.  No one is enlightened enough to pay him to blog, so he's going to end up living under a bridge. 

Perhaps Talton needs to try the solution that has helped thousands of bloggers...Get a Job. 

The Myth Continues (Updated)

I'm attending a panel discussion on employer sanctions this afternoon.  The panel will be moderated by Paul Bender and the panelists will be: Mary O'Grady, State Solicitor General; Julie Pace, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll; Tim LaSota, Maricopa County Attorney's Office; Paul Eckstein, Perkins Coie Brown & Bain.

I'm curious to see if the debate touches on the origin of the bill.  The media still refuse to admit that Governor Napolitano called for employer sanctions legislation as part of her State of the State address; Democratic Senator Bill Brotherton sponsored the first successful employer sanctions amendment; Rep. Steve Gallardo fought to keep the Brotherton amendment on the bill; the House Hispanic Caucus called sanctions their top priority, and Napolitano vetoed a bill that lacked sanctions--calling it "amnesty for employers." 

The legislature eventually responded to Napolitano's call and passed the sanctions bill by a two thirds vote.  That history is well known, but we still have distortions like this from last week's Capitol Times. Discussing the relationship between Legislative Democrats and business, the Cap Times opines. 

The opportunity to dramatically change the relationship with businesses, though, didn’t present itself until lawmakers debated — and ultimately approved — a Republican-backed law last year that allows the suspension and revocation of licenses belonging to businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

That sentence is wrong on two accounts.  First, it distorts the origin of the Sanctions bill, then it blames the Sanctions bill for the rocky relationship between some Republicans and the business community.

The history of the bill is well documented, the media simply chose to ignore it.  While the decline of business influence seems to be a phenomena that they don't understand. 

It's not really that the influence of the business community has shifted to the Democrats as much as it has simply decreased overall. Sure the Cap Times can point to one Democratic businessman in each house--and indeed DeSimone and Cheuvront both understand business issues--but that's not much of a shift.

The real story is that public financing has virtually eliminated the influence of the business community.  I've often written that prior to Clean Elections, candidates had to be acceptable to the party activists as well as to the business community.  The activists provided the organization and ground troops, the business community provided the financing. 

Now, the party activists are not only necessary, but they are also sufficient to ensure a candidate's viability.  And the business lobbyists?  Redundant.  It would be nice to have business community support, but they don't move actual votes and now they can't write checks.

So when Democrats proposed an Employee Sanctions bill that was supported by three quarters of the electorate, Republicans jumped on board. After all, they had nothing to lose. 

Eliminating the business community from the equation has served to make the legislature much more extreme.  Bob Burns, for example, is now considered a voice of moderation in the Senate.

The business community has responded by increasing its influence with the grass roots.  That's why the Arizona Chamber hired its Director from the State Republican Party.  They needed someone who knew how to swing votes without being able to write checks.  It's a recognition of the new reality. 

Eventually, the media will recognize it as well.

(Update:  Several of the commenters think I'm wrong on my history of the Employer Sanctions bill.  Before you accuse me of being ignorant, read my "Queen's Gambit Accepted" post and tell me where I'm wrong.)

 

Bushee to Leave the Republic

Poynteronline is reporting that the Republic's Ward Bushee is leaving for the SF Chronicle.  This will leave Randy Lovely squarely in charge.  Lovely is now the highest ranking openly gay newspaper executive in the nation. 

SAN FRANCISCO, January 25, 2008 -- Ward H. Bushee has been named executive vice president and editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, and will take over the top editor position of Northern California’s largest newspaper on February 1. Bushee was previously the editor and vice president of The Arizona Republic, and replaces Phil Bronstein who was named editor-at-large of Hearst Newspapers Division and The Chronicle on January 23.

The announcement was made jointly by Frank J. Vega, president and publisher, The Chronicle, and George B. Irish, president, Hearst Newspapers. The Chronicle is owned by Hearst Corporation.

"Ward brings a wealth of news experience and journalistic vision to The Chronicle team," said Vega. "He has long been recognized as an editor who instills strong journalistic values, integrity and sense of community at the newspapers he leads."

"The journalism community has regarded Ward as among the top newspaper editors in America and we are happy to have him as editor of The Chronicle," said Irish.

Profiles in Courage

I've long argued that public notice requirements amount to a state tax on business that is remitted directly to the newspapers.  I'm a big fan of disclosure, but give me a break.  No one reads public notices; they are expensive, hard to find and not searchable.  They are perhaps the least effective way to keep the public informed.  A common website would disseminate the information far more effectively at a fraction of the cost. 

The newspaper lobbyists argue that these fees are paid by businesses and even if the money is wasted, it's just another cost of doing business.  However, the dirty little secret that the Newspaper industry doesn't want you to know is that many of the public notices are paid for by taxpayers. 

Schools for example are forced to print their budgets in a newspaper of general circulation within the district, or the "official" newspaper of the county.   It's unconscionable to force schools to waste money in this way.  Schools have their own websites, the districts and the Superintendent have excellent websites and that's a much more effective way to distribute the information. 

These laws only exist because the newspaper industry pummels lawmakers who vote against the newspaper's financial interests.  It's a rare Legislator who is willing to stand up to the business interests of the Newspaper industry--even to protect education funding. 

Until Now.

Representatives Crandall,  Lujan and Tobin are the prime sponsors of HB 2369, a bill that would allow school districts to post their budget on their web site instead of forcing them to buy expensive and meaningless public notices. 

Be warned.  The newspapers will fight tooth and nail to protect this source of revenue, and they now longer by their ink by the barrel; they buy it by the tanker car.  Crandall, Lujan and Tobin will be vilified by the industry.  But you need to consider the source of opposition to HB 2369 and remember...it's for the children. 

Gov's Borrowing 2.4 Billion Dollars

The Governor's final numbers are out and she's planning go borrow an astonishing $2.4 Billion.

Here's a copy of the JLBC analysis.