Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Hat tip to Carolyn Classen for sending me a copy of this Yellow Sheet Report (subscription required) story:
CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR: MONDAY SPECIAL ‘HIGHLY PROBABLE’
Lawmakers have been told to show up at the Capitol on Monday for a special session to send a proposal to the ballot to counter the top-two primary initiative that filed its signatures yesterday.
Brewer is expected to issue the call on Monday. Dial told our reporter this morning that he’s been contacted this week by both his leadership and the governor’s office and told “there’s a high probability” that the session will happen on Monday.
Tobin refused to comment on whether he’d spoken with Brewer or Senate President Steve Pierce about coming in for a special session Monday. He said the three have been discussing a possible special session on the top-two primary for months, but wouldn’t say whether they’d agreed to hold it on Monday. Tobin said he wouldn’t discuss private discussions with Brewer in the press.
Though Dial said he hasn’t seen language yet, it seems likely that the counter-proposition will be based on a proposal that Biggs had been working on in the closing weeks of the session. As Antenori explained in early May (YS, 5/8), the goal would be to ensure that a member of each officially recognized political party will make it to the general election if the top two vote-getters in a race are from the same party.
Tobin wouldn’t say whether final language had been drafted, but said discussions have been underway for a while. “We have been working on language for months,” he said. “It’s an ongoing conversation about what can we do to make sure all Arizonans are treated fairly.”
The goal here is to create ballot confusion. Neither measure should be approved by voters. They are both half-baked ideas that will have unintended consequences, and are unnecessary. Don't mess with the election system that we have now.
UPDATE: The gang that can't shoot straight couldn't even agree on language for an alternative measure, and the special session has been canceled on account of ineptitude. Updated: GOP alternative to open primary initiative falls apart; Brewer lacks votes for special session - East Valley Tribune. Sen. "Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, said [Brewer's plan] was not the deal sought by many fellow GOP lawmakers. So they refused to go along, leaving the Brewer-preferred modification without the votes. Antenori said the governor's plan really did nothing at all. "It's lipstick on a pig,'' he said.
Recent Comments