Blog For Arizona

Budget Update: Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan passes the Senate

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In 2004, a handful of Republican senators joined with Democratic senators to wrest control of the Arizona Senate chamber from an obstructionist Senate President. It hasn't happened since -- until today.

A bipartisan Senate coalition, led by the Republican majority leader John McComish no less, gave tentative approval Thursday to Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to restore and expand Medicaid (AHCCCS). Ariz. moves closer to Medicaid expansion:

[The coalition beat back more than a dozen hostile GOP amendments sponsored by Senate President Andy Biggs and Sen. Kelli Ward, in a failed attempt to weaken the measure.]

The measure awaits a formal vote of the full Senate, which is expected to come later today. If it passes, as expected, it’s likely to run up against a buzzsaw in the House, where the fate of Medicaid expansion, and the budget it’s attached to, remain uncertain.

Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, a steadfast opponent of the governor’s proposal, fought unsuccessfully to kill it with a slew of amendments, including requiring a two-thirds vote for approval, eliminating a hospital tax that will help pay for expansion, converting all state employee health insurance to Medicaid and repealing expansion if even one Medicaid patient is found to be an undocumented citizen.

* * *

But again and again, two members of Biggs’ leadership team and three other GOP senators stood with the chamber’s 13 Democrats to defeat Biggs’ amendment. Majority Leader John McComish, Majority Whip Adam Driggs and Sens. Rich Crandall, Steve Pierce and Bob Worsley joined Democrats to approve the Medicaid amendment on an 18-12 vote.

Neo-Confederate dead-enders put the long discredited and unconstitutional theories of 'nullification, interposition and secession' on the 2014 ballot

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about this previously, Arizona's Neo-Confederate dead-enders and secession:

Remember the "Checks and Balances in Government" citizens initiative aka the "nullification" initiative from a nutty Scottsdale millionaire businessman, Jack Biltis, that failed to qualify for the ballot due to an insufficient number of signatures last year? Businessman spends $1.2 million to put nullification measure on ballot.

Biltis has decided to bypass the expense of another initiative effort and to take the easy route of getting his fellow Neo-Confederate dead-enders in the legislature to repackage his "nullification" initiative as a constitutional amendment referred to the ballot by the Arizona legislature. SCR1016 is sponsored by the usual suspects, Sen. Rich Crandell (R-Heber), Sen. Judy Burges (R-Sun City West), and cosponsors Sen. Cap'n Al Melvin (R-Saddlebrooke), and Rep. Brenda Barton (R-Payson).

The ballot measure would amend the state Constitution to allow the state to reject any federal action the public deems to be a violation of the US Constitution by passing an initiative, referendum or bill, or by using any other legal remedy. The proposal also prohibits the state from using its employees or resources to enforce or cooperate with a federal action that’s rejected by the people.

It turns out that Jack Biltis has a lobbyist buddy who helped him out in getting these yahoos to sponsor SCR1016: the wannabe tinhorn dictator of Tucson, Jonathan "Payday" Paton. If there is a bad idea, you can bet this tool is behind it.

Action Alert: Call your state senator now to oppose SB 1493

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Craig McDermott posted earlier about Senate President Andy Biggs' budget package introduced yesterday, and mentioned the omnibus elections bill tacked onto the appropriations bills. Here's Biggs' deal: Medicaid restoration in exchange for reducing voting rights.

After a cursory review of SB 1493, it appears to me that Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale) and Rep. Michelle Ugenti (R-Scottsdale) have abandoned earlier attempts to modify their so-called election "reform" bills to address the complaints of voting rights groups and Democratic legislators, and are now sticking with the earlier versions approved in committee in an attempt to ram these unnecessary and counter-productive measures through the legislature.

This is a middle-finger salute to voting rights groups and Democrats. It moves Arizona backwards on voting rights.

Each of the measures standing alone attracted unified opposition from Democrats and enough Republican opposition to stall these bills in the legislature. By combining all of these measures into a single omnibus bill and tacking it onto the budget appropriations bills, Senate President Andy Biggs is hoping to strong-arm this bill through the Senate by insisting on party unity. You can bet his whips are going to be working over Republican senators.

Your senators need to hear from you now. Pick up the phone and call your state senator to oppose SB 1493. The Senate directory is here: http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S. Keep calling them until this bill is defeated.

So how's that GOP rebranding working out?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Sunday, the Arizona Republic for some reason felt compelled to publish a guest opinion (and video) by the disgraced and recalled former Senate President, Russell Pearce, writing on behalf of his anti-immigrant nativist hate group, BanAmnestyNow.com.

Pearce discloses a continuing working relationship with the anti-immigrant nativist hate group,  Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), whose lawyer Kris Kobach wrote SB 1070 for Pearce.

Pearce also cites the widely discredited Heritage Foundation report (.pdf) released last week, which was drafted, in part, by Jason Richwine, who subscribes to the controversial "science" of hereditarianism and eugenics. Richwine was forced to resign from the Heritage Foundation on Friday, presumably after Russell Pearce submitted his guest opinion to the Republic.

Ol' Russel writes, Immigration tug-of-war: Reform effort is a sham:

The 3-year-old Senate Bill 1070, America’s toughest anti-illegal immigration law, has had a dramatic impact on Arizona. We are a better place.

* * *

According to information from the Federation of American Immigration Reform, Arizonans pay $2.6 billion per year to educate, medicate and incarcerate illegal aliens. According to the Heritage Foundation, the billions we pay today are but one-third of our eventual tab a decade from now if the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill becomes law.

* * *

However, despite the many advances we have made, the burdens of illegal immigration still are too high. This is why I call upon my fellow citizens to join me in opposing the latest amnesty/citizenship bill. The group of eight U.S. senators’ legislation (including Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake) risks America’s financial and national security. This bill is the epitome of everything that is wrong, backward and corrupt in Washington.

More B.S. from the Goldwater Institute and Tea-Publicans on Gov. Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You can file this one under stupid shit the Goldwater Institute says and that reporters unquestionly repeat as mere stenographers. You can cross-file it under stupid shit that Tea-Publicans believe but which has no basis in the reality based world (they believe in confidence fairies and unicorns, i.e., the entirely disproved and discredited faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economic theory).

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Medicaid expansion critics question viability of hospital tax:

Opponents of Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan are concerned the proposed hospital tax that would pay for Arizona’s share of the new AHCCCS coverage may not last long, leaving the state on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Christina Corieri, a health care policy analyst at the conservative Goldwater Institute, said the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, often referred to as the Simpson-Bowles commission, has proposed eliminating states’ ability to use hospital taxes to pay for their share of Medicaid costs. Even President Obama and leading congressional Democrats have floated the idea of scaling back provider taxes, she said, which are currently capped at 5.5 percent of a hospital’s revenue.

Heritage Foundation jettisons white supremacist autthor of its immigration study

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Oh, like no one saw this coming. Heritage Foundation fellow Jason Richwine, who subcribes to the controversial "science" of hereditarianism and eugenics, long championed by white supremacists and segregationists, is out of a job today. Maybe the Aryan Nation or the KKK have a job opening.

Think Progress reports, Author Of Heritage Immigration Study Resigns Amid Racism Scandal:

Jason Richwine, a coauthor of the Heritage Foundation’s report on the cost of the current immigration bill, has resigned after it emerged that his graduate dissertation on immigration was premised on the idea that Latinos were less intelligent than whites.

The controversy, which began after The Washington Post’s Dylan Matthews unearthed the dissertation on Latino intelligence, forced the conservative think tank into emergency damage control for the remainder of the week, when it emerged that Richwine had ties to extreme anti-immigration groups. On Friday afternoon, Heritage announced that Richwine has resigned. Heritage’s statement:

Jason Richwine let us know he’s decided to resign from his position. He’s no longer employed by Heritage. It is our long-standing policy not to discuss internal personnel matters.

Repeal Citizens United movement gaining momentum

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Maybe the Arizona legislature would like to jump on the bandwagon? Oh right, they do the bidding of the Goldwater Institute, a charter member of the "Kochtopus," and a big supporter of its dark money organizations and Citizens United v. FEC, and also gutting Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections. "Power to the Plutocrats!"

John Nichols at The Nation reports that Maine, a pioneer of publicly financed campaigns, has become the thirteenth state to pass a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. As Maine Goes… a Bipartisan Call to Overturn 'Citizens United':

When the Maine State House voted 111-33 this week to call for a constitutional amendment to overturn the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the support for this bold gesture was notably bipartisan. Twenty-five Republicans joined four independents and all eighty-two Democrats to back the call.

Similarly, when the Maine State Senate voted 25-9 for the resolution, five Republicans joined with nineteen Democrats and independent Senator Richard Woodbury to “call upon each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation to actively support and promote in Congress an amendment to the United States Constitution on campaign finance.”

What happened in Maine this week was a big deal for several reasons:

1. Maine became the thirteenth state to urge Congress to develop an amendment to address the money-in-politics crisis that is unfolding as a result of Supreme Court rulings that that have effectively struck down campaign-finance regulations and ushered in a new era of unlimited spending by wealthy individuals and corporate interests. Maine joins West Virginia, Colorado, Montana, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, Maryland, Vermont, New Mexico and Hawaii in calling for an amendment. Washington, DC, has also backed the drive.

Immigration reform bill begins markup in Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin marking up the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill from the "Gang of Eight."

301 amendments have been filed, setting the stage for extended debate. Senate immigration bill brings flood of amendments:

About two-thirds of the 301 proposals came from Senate Republicans, including measures to grant Congress more authority over security along the border with Mexico, to require illegal immigrants to provide DNA samples before gaining legal status and to reduce the number of undocumented workers who would be eligible to pursue citizenship.

The amendments reflected the desires of many GOP lawmakers, who say that they will support only a comprehensive overhaul that puts a higher priority on law enforcement along the border and in the workplace. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin considering the amendments Thursday, and the fate of the 844-page bill will be tested by a process that is likely to stretch through several days of hearings in coming weeks.

* * *

Although Democrats have generally been more supportive of the bill, they offered dozens of amendments, including two from Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) that would allow same-sex foreign spouses and partners of U.S. citizens to apply for visas. Republicans have said that they will not support any comprehensive bill that includes gay rights protections.

Author of Heritage Foundation report subscribes to the controversial 'science' of hereditarianism and eugenics

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It appears that the Pioneer Fund and its support for the "study and research into the problems of heredity and eugenics in the human race" and "into the problems of race betterment with special reference to the people of the United States," still has influence in the 21st Century. For a lengthy backgrounder on this subject, see History of the race and intelligence controversy - Wikipedia.

The Heritage Foundation released its long awaited report this week for the stated purpose of defeating the "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill (and thus it is a political document). The report was written in part by Jason Richwine. Dylan Matthews at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog introduces us to Mr. Richwine, Heritage study co-author opposed letting in immigrants with low IQs:

Jason Richwine is relatively new to the think tank world. He received his PhD in public policy from Harvard in 2009, and joined Heritage after a brief stay at the American Enterprise Institute. Richwine’s doctoral dissertation is titled “IQ and Immigration Policy”; the contents are well summarized in the dissertation abstract:

The statistical construct known as IQ can reliably estimate general mental ability, or intelligence. The average IQ of immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations. The consequences are a lack of socioeconomic assimilation among low-IQ immigrant groups, more underclass behavior, less social trust, and an increase in the proportion of unskilled workers in the American labor market. Selecting high-IQ immigrants would ameliorate these problems in the U.S., while at the same time benefiting smart potential immigrants who lack educational access in their home countries.

Jim DeMint and the Heritage Foundation try to kill immigration reform

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea Party darlin', former Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), now pulling down big bucks for his conservative demagoguery at the Heritage Foundation, has an op-ed in the Washington Post (where else) this afternoon, What amnesty for illegal immigrants will cost America (note the code language to the nativist base) claiming that:

An exhaustive study by the Heritage Foundation has found that after amnesty, current unlawful immigrants would receive $9.4 trillion in government benefits and services and pay more than $3 trillion in taxes over their lifetimes. That leaves a net fiscal deficit (benefits minus taxes) of $6.3 trillion. That deficit would have to be financed by increasing the government debt or raising taxes on U.S. citizens.

* * *

Given the U.S. debt of $17 trillion, the fiscal effects detailed in our study should be at the forefront of legislators’ minds as they consider immigration reform.

Ummm, sorry, but no. By now any rational intelligent human being should know that one does not give any credence to anything produced by the Heritage Foundation. Ever. Especially now that a demagogue like Jim DeMint is at its helm.

Greg Sargent writes in The right’s last stand against immigration reform?:

The Heritage Foundation has just released its long awaited report supposedly documenting that the path to citizenship in the Gang of Eight immigration reform compromise will sock the taxpayer with a multi-trillion-dollar bill. You cannot overstate how much opponents of reform have staked on the hope that this report will be the magic bullet to kill the proposal. This is the report that’s supposed to send House conservatives running away, never to return.

Update on Special Action challenge to the consolidated elections bill

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last year, Rep. Michelle Ugenti (R-Scottsdale) sponsored HB 2826 (consolidated election dates; political subdivisions), a bill providing for the consolidation of elections in the fall of even numbered years only. The law will apply to elections in 2014 and thereafter.

The City of Tucson filed its special action for declaratory and injunctive relief on October 10, 2013 in the Pima County Superior Court, City of Tucson v. State of Arizona et al. (Case No. C20126272). The City of Phoenix Intervened as a plaintiff. The case is assigned to Judge James E. Marner.

Last Monday, the Court heard pending motions in this special action. I am not sure why it took a week for the Minute Entry for that hearing to be posted, but here it is. Minute Entry dated April 29, 2013.

The posture of this case is as follows:

There being no objections,

IT IS ORDERED that Defendant State of Arizona’s Motion for Leave to File Consolidated Response to Motions for Summary Judgment Filed by Plaintiff City of Tucson and Intervenor-Plaintiff City of Phoenix is GRANTED.

* * *

As to the Goldwater Institute's Request to file Amicus Brief,

The Court did not find a rule, either cited or un-cited, statute, case law or law review article that would have supported the notion that an Amicus Brief could be filed at the trial court level. Further, there was not a rule that was directly on point or even tangentially.

IT IS ORDERED that Goldwater’s Request for Amicus Briefing is DENIED.

And these high-priced suits call themselves constitutional law experts. They just make up their own rules as they go along. Such arrogance.

'None dare call it treason'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ed Kilgore at the Political Animal blog has some important posts about the growing use of eliminationist rhetoric by the far-right, and their threatening armed insurrection and sedition, None Dare Call It Treason, if they do not get their way in the democratic political process (see this Fairleigh Dickinson University poll in which 44% of Republicans, think “in the next few years, an armed revolution may be necessary to protect our liberties”):

As Steve Benen notes this morning, the National Rifle Association’s new president, James Porter of Birmingham, Alabama, likes to talk about the importance of the Second Amendment as a way to ensure the American people will be able to “resist tyranny”—i.e., shoot and kill law enforcement officers, members of the U.S. armed services, and presumably anyone else (you know, like their neighbors) who might disagree with their definition of their essential “liberties”—at some undefined point in the future. And while I’ve not yet seen evidence of him calling Barack Obama a “tyrant” (though he has called him a “fake president”) I’d be shocked if it doesn’t exist.

So let’s put it this way: Porter seems to be highly representative of the amazingly common type of contemporary “conservatives” who combine extremist language about their political opponents with violent language about their political options—who in effect point their guns at “liberals” while making it known they and they alone will decide what “liberties” to surrender, democracy or laws be damned.

Colorado passes model election reform legislation

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Longtime readers of this blog know the election reforms that I have been advocating for years. I cannot get a bill, let alone get a bill heard, in our Tea-Publican dominated legislature. All they care about is restricting your right to vote and making participation in the political process more difficult for voters.

But the Democratic controled legislature of the state of Colorado just passed several of the election reforms that I have long advocated for. Can you say "model legislation"? This is the bright-line policy divide in the Secretary of State race in 2014. Colorado Legislature Passes Major Voting Rights Expansion Bill:

Both houses of the Colorado legislature passed a major overhaul of state election law that would implement same-day registration and voting, automatically send mail-in ballots to every voter, and create a real-time statewide voter database to prevent fraud. [They stopped short of universal voter registration.] Proponents view the bill, written by a bipartisan group of county clerks, as a national model for other states.

Election Integrity Action Alert

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The election "reform" bills that have been stalled in the Arizona legislature, see (Update) Election 'reform' bills still stalled in the Arizona legislature, have been put on the calendar for Wednesday afternoon. Your urgent attention is requested.

Action Alert from the Arizona Democratic Party:

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! We need your help. Zero hour is 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1st. That’s when a conference committee will meet to discuss Republican Senator Michele Reagan’s latest attempt to circumvent open government.

Senator Reagan is replacing HB 2305 with the onerous and objectionable parts of two other bills which would severely limit a person’s ability to vote. Because she hasn’t been able to get SB 1003 and SB 1261 through the legislature, Reagan and other Tea Party extremists are resorting to back door maneuvering that eliminates any public comment.

We need you to call and/or email members of the conference committee and let them know you will not stand for their sneak attack on voter’s rights and democracy. Here is the contact information for committee members (below the fold).

The trouble with 'E.Orr' redux

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

During the 2012 campaign, Ethan Orr (aka "E.Orr") fashioned himself after moderate Tucson Republicans like former Reps. Pete Hershberger and Toni Hellon, and said he hopes to work with the southern Arizona Democratic delegation to pass legislation that can help the people and Tucson. The local media bought his act. Orr was elected to the House.

Rep. Orr (R-LD 9), voted in favor of HB 2455, which clarifies that local law-enforcement agencies must sell guns they acquire in situations such as gun buy-back programs -- even where the gun owner voluntarily surrenders his or her weapon for the express purpose that their weapon be safely destroyed by law enforcement.

HB 2455 is a bill that was introduced by the gun worshipers and fetishists in direct response to Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik's gun buy-back program earlier this year. It is a bill fashioned by our "big brother" colonial overlords in the state of Maricopa to subjugate the City of Tucson and to micromanage the affairs of this charter city. "Small government" conservative is just a lie.

CAP Christian Taliban threatens Governor Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan with specious claims about abortion

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) have emerged as a principal opponent of Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan. These fetus fetish anti-abortion extremists, who imagine abortion lurking in every bill in their fevered minds, have put forward specious claims that the Governor's plan will somehow "indirectly" provide funding for abortions, even though state and federal law has long prohibited such funding.

These radical extremists would rather see real live cancer patients and transplant patients in desperate need of AHCCCS healthcare coverage die, because they imagine a fictional fetus might somehow, someday be aborted. I fail to discern any "Christianity" in this position. WWJD?

The Arizona Republic reports, Arizona abortion issue heightens Medicaid standoff:

[Gov.] Brewer’s office is preparing language, to be amended onto a separate bill, that would ensure no federal expansion funding goes to health-care providers that perform abortions.

The move is a response to lobbying from Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, who says Medicaid expansion would subsidize abortions — a claim that puts in a political vise anti-abortion GOP lawmakers who back the governor’s proposal.

[Herrod first raised the abortion issue in late March in a letter to Brewer, using an opinion from a Christian legal-defense organization to argue that the draft Medicaid legislation should be amended to disqualify the non-profit women’s health provider Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from receiving public money.]

“In response to some of the concerns raised by lawmakers, the governor has been willing to revisit this issue,” Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson said Tuesday. “It’s become clear that it would be difficult to move forward with Medicaid restoration until some of these legislative concerns about abortion are addressed.”

Tea-Publican controled Arizona legislature adopts wingnut end-timers apocalyptic fantasy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So how's that "De-Kook the Capitol" thing working out for ya, Laurie Roberts? The Glenn Beck conspiracy theorists, who apparently got burned in his Goldline fraud -- "The company’s business model was built on systemically swindling and scaring its mostly elderly clientele into purchasing overpriced gold coins, prosecutors in California alleged, leading the company to settle for $4.5 million in refunds to its customers," Beck-backed gold fraud? - Salon.com -- have found a way to unload their gold coins while living out their paranoid end-times apocalyptic fantasies. And just in time, too, because The Price of Gold Is Crashing. Here's Why - Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Tea-Publican controled Senate gave final approval Tuesday to Senate Bill 1439 which would make Arizona only the second state in the nation to recognize gold and silver as legal tender. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Arizona bill making gold legal tender sent to Gov. Brewer:

If signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, the measure would take effect in 2014.

The state Department of Revenue opposed the measure. It passed in the House only after an amendment was added to exempt the department from having to accept gold or silver as tax payments.

Thoughts on the election consolidation bill now in court

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last year, Rep. Michelle Ugenti (R-Scottsdale) sponsored HB 2826 (consolidated election dates; political subdivisions), a bill providing for the consolidation of elections in the fall of even numbered years only. The law will apply to elections in 2014 and thereafter.

This legislation purportedly is the first of its kind enacted in the nation -- a strong indication that it is an ALEC drafted bill, as it was also supported by other "Kochtopus" funded groups such as Americans for Prosperity, the Goldwater Institute, and the Tea Party. (In fact, the Goldwater Institute moved to file an amicus curiae brief in the case below).

The City of Tucson filed its special action for declaratory and injunctive relief on October 10, 2013 in the Pima County Superior Court, City of Tucson v. State of Arizona et al. (Case No. C20126272). The City of Phoenix Intervened as a plaintiff. The case is assigned to Judge James E. Marner.

I was not able to attend the motion hearing scheduled for yesterday, April 29, 2013, because I have a job. I have not seen any reporting on this hearing, despite the fact that I posted the details about this hearing so that reporters could put it on their calendar and cover the hearing.

Gov. Jan Brewer appeases her GOP crazy base

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

So how's that "De-Kook the Capitol" thing working out for ya, Laurie Roberts? Gov. Jan Brewer, engaged in a civil war in the Tea-Publican Party over her Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan, appeased her GOP crazy base by signing several bills on Monday.

HB 2455 clarifies that local law-enforcement agencies must sell guns they acquire in situations such as gun-buyback programs -- even when the gun owner desires that their weapon be destroyed, in violation of their private property rights.

House Bill 2326 would prohibit local governments from keeping a list of gun owners (there is no evidence that any city is keeping such a list). This is prophylactic paranoia.

It is now official. Idolatrous gun worship is the official state religion in Arizona. Guns are sacred objects and holy relics that are protected from destruction.  Bill signed preventing Tucson from destroying 'buyback' guns:

Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation aimed specifically at halting Tucson's practice of allowing police to destroy guns that people voluntarily surrender through buyback programs.

Instead, the state law, which takes effect later this year, will require that any weapons that come into a city or county's possession must be sold off, with the profits used to bolster the local treasury.

(Update) 'Kochtopus' spring retreat April 28-29 in Palm Springs

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted last week about the fabulous "Kochtopus" Confab in Coachella (Palm Springs) going on right now. 'Kochtopus' spring retreat April 28-29 in Palm Springs. Mother Jones intercepted an email invite to the "billionaires caucus" retreat and wrote about it.

I am hoping that Mother Jones will score another insider audio-visual exclusive story like they did with Willard "Mittens" Romney. These cockroaches like to operate in the dark. The double super-secret "no media" retreat for the "billionaires caucus" will receive no media attention otherwise. (The Local Desert Sun newspaper doesn't even mention the presence of all the high rollers in town).

The best that I can find (so far) is this report by Peter Stone at the Huffington Post. Maybe the local Arizona political media could, you know, maybe follow-up with some investigative reporting on Phoenix-based "Kochtopus" political operative Sean Noble, who is under investigation in California for money laundering? Hello? New Koch Brothers Group Revamps Billionaires' Dark Money Operation:

The sprawling conservative network backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is being overhauled, with some key Koch operatives moving to a fledgling "dark money" group that is poised to become a chief financing vehicle for the mega donors' political and ideological projects, The Huffington Post has learned.

The new organization, called the Association for American Innovation, is expected to ultimately funnel millions of dollars to other dark money groups nationwide. It's being staffed with Koch stalwarts, including Marc Short, who currently oversees other Koch-funded projects, according to a few GOP operatives familiar with the overhaul.

The Wyden-Murkowski campaign finance bill

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last Tuesday, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) unveiled the first bipartisan campaign disclosure bill in the Senate since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling opened the door to unlimited electoral spending by groups that were not covered by any prior campaign disclosure regime. The Huffington Post reports:

The bill, known as the Follow the Money Act, would require any and all groups spending at least $10,000 on electoral activity to register and disclose contributions above $1,000. The bill would also raise the threshold for contributor disclosure from $200 to $1,000 for all political committees, including those of candidates and political parties.

* * *

In addition to expanding disclosure of independent group spending and reducing the contribution disclosure threshold, the Follow the Money Act would create a system of real-time disclosure, require independent groups to abide by "Stand By Your Ad" provisions (including the identification of their top three donors), require senators to file campaign reports electronically, require tax-exempt 527 groups to file disclosure reports with the FEC (instead of the Internal Revenue Service), and direct the FEC and IRS to work together to craft and enforce regulations.

Is campaign finance disclosure coming from the SEC?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is an under-reported story in the political media, although you can bet that corporate players in campaign finance are all over this like white on rice. Christine Hurt at The Conglomerate legal blog writes, “Is Mandatory Political Activities Disclosure Coming from the SEC?”:

Two summers ago, a group of well-known law professors submitted a proposal to the SEC to require disclosure of political contributions by Exchange Act filers.  The arguments for new rulemaking were valid and persuasive:  investors are increasingly interested in the political contributions corporations make; even a diligent investor would have a difficult time finding this information independently; many corporations voluntarily disclose such information; and disclosure rules have historically evolved to require disclosure in various areas.

Wednesday, the NYT ominously declared that "S.E.C. officials have indicated that they could propose a new disclosure rule by the end of April, setting up a major battle with business groups that oppose the proposal and are preparing for a fierce counterattack if the agency’s staff moves ahead."  That sounds very dramatic.  The article reports that half a million comments have been submitted to the proposal; I did not count, but you can try here.  The NYT also reports that the majority of the comments are in favor of the proposal; again, feel free to count yourself!

The one percent are in complete control of the economy and the government

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The elite über-rich plutocrats -- the one percent -- are in complete control of the economy and the government. The ninety-nine percent who lead their lives of quiet desperation trying to earn enough income to provide for their families and to pay the bills, are simply too exhausted, and too poor, to be politically active and engaged. They are the voiceless, whose suffering is ignored in favor of the well paid lobbyists doing the bidding of the plutocrats.

Paul Krugman writes today, The 1 Percent’s Solution:

Economic debates rarely end with a T.K.O. But the great policy debate of recent years between Keynesians, who advocate sustaining and, indeed, increasing government spending in a depression, and austerians, who demand immediate spending cuts, comes close — at least in the world of ideas. At this point, the austerian position has imploded; not only have its predictions about the real world failed completely, but the academic research invoked to support that position has turned out to be riddled with errors, omissions and dubious statistics.

* * *

[T]he dominance of austerians in influential circles should disturb anyone who likes to believe that policy is based on, or even strongly influenced by, actual evidence. After all, the two main studies providing the alleged intellectual justification for austerity — Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna on “expansionary austerity” and Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff on the dangerous debt “threshold” at 90 percent of G.D.P. — faced withering criticism almost as soon as they came out.

And the studies did not hold up under scrutiny. By late 2010, the International Monetary Fund had reworked Alesina-Ardagna with better data and reversed their findings, while many economists raised fundamental questions about Reinhart-Rogoff long before we knew about the famous Excel error. Meanwhile, real-world events — stagnation in Ireland, the original poster child for austerity, falling interest rates in the United States, which was supposed to be facing an imminent fiscal crisis — quickly made nonsense of austerian predictions.

Yet austerity maintained and even strengthened its grip on elite opinion. Why?

Ask Governor Brewer to veto SB 1108

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week I posted about Senate Bill 1108, a bill that would eliminate the requirement that foster families fully immunize their own children. When ideology endangers public health - call your state representatives. The bill passed on a 33-24 party-line vote in the Tea-Publican-controlled House, but it wasn’t enough of a margin to tack an emergency clause onto the bill that would have it take effect immediately if the governor signs it.

Today the Arizona Republic editorializes that Governor Jan Brewer should veto SB 1108. I agree. Junk science can harm foster kids:

Lawmakers were wrong to ease vaccination rules for potential foster parents.

Plain wrong.

They caved to people who believe junk science.

Arizona has a duty to protect the children who come into foster care.

Yet lawmakers passed a bill that forbids the Department of Economic Security from requiring people to immunize their own children before they become licensed as foster parents.

This reverses a smart rule that existed to protect foster children.

Laurie Roberts on the need for Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It looks as if the GOP insane clown posse rally against Governor Jan Brewer's Mediciad (AHCCCS) restoration plan did not sit well with the voice of the GOP establishment, the Arizona Republic's Laurie Roberts. The only exception I take is that the Tea Party tools she names would relish being the one to inform people that they are being kicked off of AHCCCS. Roberts gives them way too much credit for being caring human beings. Why is Medicaid expansion even an issue at this point?:

Arizona Republicans in the Legislature held a press conference this morning to denounce Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to expand Medicaid to insure nearly 300,000 people, all  without doing massive damage to the state’s budget.

I wish I’d gone because I would have loved to ask those who oppose Brewer’s plan one simple question:

Which of you wants to be the one to inform 63,000 childless adults in this state  – people whom voters in 2000 said they wanted to cover with AHCCCS – that they’re being cut off?

Which of you wants to pull the plug on treatment for 5,000 cancer patients and for 2,000 people who suffer from serious mental illness?

Step right up.  You, President Biggs?  You, Rep. Montenegro? How about you, Sen. Ward?

Rep. Bruce Wheeler on the need for Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Bruce Wheeler (D-LD 10) wrote this op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star in support of Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan. Guest Column: Governor's AHCCCS plan provides critical coverage, keeps tax dollars here:

Arizona's Legislature has a momentous opportunity this year. We have the unprecedented ability to provide access to health coverage for nearly 400,000 Arizonans, many of whom are the most vulnerable among us.

Very few legislators will ever have the chance to participate in a legacy issue that will improve the lives of such a large number of our fellow residents. It has been said that "great moments are born from great opportunity." Expanding Medicaid is a watershed moment for the 51st Arizona Legislature and represents the opportunity for legislators to cast one of the most important and critical votes of any elected official's career.

The crux of the debate is Arizona's ability to leverage a reimbursable assessment on hospitals in order to draw down additional federal funds. That effectively eliminates the financial burden on the state's general fund to support the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, our state's award-winning Medicaid program, thereby allowing our limited resources to be diverted to other equally critical needs such as education.

The GOP insane clown posse rallies against Gov. Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of the Tea Party, i.e., the GOP insane clown posse, held a rally yesterday in opposition to Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan. "Fringe" describes the unhinged from reality circus clowns who came up with this "genius" (sic) plan. AHCCCS might drop coverage for childless adults:

Thousands of Arizonans receiving health care through Medicaid could be thrown out of that program under one alternative offered by opponents of the governor's plan to expand coverage.

Senate President Andy Biggs, who joined a rally of Medicaid-expansion critics, vowed to do all he can to prevent a vote on Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to expand coverage to those making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, with the state share of the increased cost coming from a special assessment on hospitals.

* * *

Other speakers outlined their objections.

"We have a choice: More socialism and bigger government or more freedom and fiscal stability," said Rep. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, one of the leaders of an ant-expansion rally on the Capitol lawn.

Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, called the care provided under Medicaid "substandard," and said entitlement programs like this "disincentivize the poor from improving themselves."

Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, said an expanded Medicaid program means more tax dollars for family-planning services would be paid to Planned Parenthood, which has "this mission of terminating life before it's even born."

"I'm not going to allow late introduction of a bill," Biggs said, pointing out the deadline for that was months ago. And even if what the governor wants does end up at the Senate, whether from a House bill or an amendment to something else, "I never made a commitment I'd put it on the floor" for a vote.

(Update) Election 'reform' bills still stalled in the Arizona legislature

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about this a couple of weeks ago. Election 'reform' bills stalled in the Arizona legislature. The election 'reform' bills are still stalled in the Arizona legislature, and now the Tea-Publicans are looking for creative ways to get around the logjam. The reforms under consideration are unnecessary or counterproductive. As I detailed in an earlier post, the Arizona legislature fails to consider real solutions to the problems with our elections.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports today, AZ election reform bills face further problems:

Lawmakers attempted to push through a set of bogged-down election bills in a comprehensive 43-page amendment in conference committee Wednesday afternoon, but the committee was called off minutes after the amendment began circulating at the Capitol.

The lengthy amendment proposed to HB2305 includes essential portions of four election-reform bills – Sen. Michele Reagan’s SB1003, SB1261 and SB1264, as well as Rep. Michelle Ugenti’s HB2527 – that have languished at the Capitol.

West, Texas disaster a regulatory failure

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The West Fertilizer Co. explosion in West, Texas last week put an exclamation point on the need for government safety regulations and enforcement. The "free market" philosophy of no regulations and the mythical honor system imposed by the market place gets people killed.

This company appears to have pushed the envelope to see how much it could get away with -- and due to lax regulations and enforcement by "business friendly" Texas regulatory agencies, it got away with quite a lot.

There is plenty of blame to go around here, from the company, to state regulators, to the local planning & zoning board of West, Texas (assuming it had one).

The Dallas Morning News reports today, West Fertilizer Co.'s environmental compliance problems go back decades:

West Fertilizer Co.’s problems complying with Texas environmental rules go back decades, state records show.

In 1984, the company moved two large pressurized tanks of liquid anyhydrous ammonia, a potentially lethal poison, from a site in nearby Hill County to its current location in West without notifying state authorities.

Seven years passed before Texas regulators took notice and told the company to fix its paperwork. The tanks had sat at their new location, near homes, schools and a nursing home, with little or no state oversight for all that time.

The company’s regulatory history going back to 1976 comes to light as investigators seek the cause of last week’s fertilizer explosion that killed at least 14 people.

How the NRA aids terrorists and hampers law enforcement investigations

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week I posted about the "terror lophole" in the federal background checks law. F.B.I. Terrorist Watch List, Background Check Loophole - NYTimes:

The law that requires background checks on gun buyers is full of loopholes, some big and some small, but the most egregious loophole of all may be the fact that people on the F.B.I.’s terrorist watch list are legally entitled to buy firearms and explosives. And they have been doing so at an alarming rate. Between February 2004 and December 2010, individuals whose names turned up on the list were cleared to purchase firearms or explosives a total of 1,321 times, according to the General Accounting Office. Felons, illegal immigrants and mentally ill applicants are barred on the obvious grounds that they could present a heightened risk of violence. Not so, terrorist suspects — an anomaly that congress has occasionally tsk-tsked over since the 9/11 atrocities, but done nothing substantial to repair.

The National Rifle Association has opposed measures in the past because the terrorist watch list has been shown to "contain errors." So much for erring on the side of caution.

UPDATE: It turns out that the deceased Boston bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was on a terror watch list.

MSNBC's The Last Word did a segment last week on how the NRA on behalf of its clients, the merchants of death, has prevented taggants from being required for gunpowder. How the gun lobby has already blocked Boston’s bombing investigators:

One avenue of investigation is already closed off to forensic officials working the Boston Marathon bombing case due to efforts dating back decades by the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers.

Flake in the Rewrite

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell was a key legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. From 1989 to 1991, he served as senior advisor to Senator Moynihan. From 1992 to 1993, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then chaired by Senator Moynihan. From 1993 to 1995, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, once again under Senator Moynihan’s chairmanship. O'Donnell has a deep respect for the history of the U.S. Senate and knows its institutional norms.

In his Rewrite segment on Tuesday, Lawrence O'Donnell heaped much-deserved opprobrium on Sens. Max  Baucus (D-MT) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) for their cowardly votes last week to filibuster to death consideration of the Manchin-Toomey background checks amendment.

When ideology endangers public health - call your state representatives

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I caught the European news on one of the PBS channels the other day and they did a report on a massive measles epidemic in Wales in Great Britain. The most important factor in this measles epidemic is that people had stopped immunizing their children against measles over the years. Measles outbreak in Wales soon to hit 1,000 - Daily Post North Wales:

Officials warned the outbreak could soon become the biggest in UK and Ireland for a generation, and may hit 1,000 cases by the time it peaks.

Shadow Health Minister Darrren Millar AM last night called on parents throughout North Wales to listen to public health professionals.

There are over 10,000 children who are not fully protected by the vaccine in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area and at risk of contracting measles.

Jeff Flake's political posturing, trying to have it both ways

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You may have read about this in the Arizona Republic last week. Caren Teves’ son Alex died during the Aurora theater mass shooting while shielding his girlfriend from the gunman’s bullets. She wrote a letter to Sen. Flake, in which she “invited him to our home to sit in our son’s chair, his empty chair” and “feel the emptiness and have dinner with us and discuss” guns. Senator Told Shooting Victim’s Mother He Supported Background Checks, Then Voted Against Them:

In response, Flake sent Teves a hand-written letter claiming that he supported one of the most important steps Congress could take to improve gun safety — expanding background checks:

Just days after raising Teves’ hopes that the Senate would act to prevent future mothers from experiencing the same pain inflicted upon her family, Flake voted against background checks. Flake claimed to oppose the bill because it “would expand background checks far beyond commercial sales to include almost all private transfers — including between friends and neighbors,” but this claim is false.

FBI terrorist watch list would not have prevented the Boston bombing

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Boston Globe reported, FBI was warned 2 years ago of alleged bomber’s radical shift:

Russian authorities warned the FBI in early 2011 that suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have been a follower of “radical Islam”[.]

* * *

A senior congressional aide privy to the Boston Marathon terror investigation confirmed Saturday that the FBI received the warning after Tsarnaev’s apparently suspicious activities caught the attention of Russian authorities keeping close surveillance on militant Islamist groups in the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union.

The FBI acknowledged Friday that it had investigated Tsarnaev in 2011, even interviewing him and his family, but “did not find any terrorism activity,” either domestic or foreign.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) confirmed on Sunday, Rep. Mike Rogers: Tamerlan Tsarnaev May Have Traveled To Russia Under An Alias - Huffington Post:

Law enforcement officials confirmed Saturday that the FBI had interrogated Tsarnaev in 2011 after the Russian government raised concerns to U.S. authorities that he was a follower of radical Islam. Rogers told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the FBI stopped tracking Tsarnaev after a foreign intelligence service failed to cooperate with its investigation.

"The FBI did their due diligence, did a very thorough job about trying to run that to ground and then asked for more help from that intelligence service to get further clarification," said Rogers. "Unfortunately, that intelligence service stopped cooperating, so what happens is that case gets closed down."

He then said that Tsarnaev "may have actually traveled on an alias to get back to his home country" last year and "that six and a half months or so becomes extremely important."

Background checks for speaking out, but not for buying a gun

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Seriously? WTF! Petula Dvorak writes for the Washington Post, At the Senate, a background check for speaking out but not for buying a gun:

It turns out, none of the deaths mattered to much of the U.S. Senate.

Not the Batman fans sitting in a dark Colorado movie theater, not the folks waiting to chat with their congresswoman outside a Tucson Safeway, not the 15-year-old hanging out with friends in a Chicago park, not the college kids trying to master German at Virginia Tech, not even the 20 first-graders cowering in their classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

* * *

“Shame on you!” shouted an emotional Lori Haas from the Senate gallery after 100 of the world’s most powerful men and women refused to impose any new restrictions on gun ownership. Even background checks went down to defeat.

“We were just frustrated and angry,” said Haas, whose daughter Emily was 19 when she survived two bullet wounds to the head during the Virginia Tech massacre. It happened six years ago this week.

And what did Haas get for her emotional outburst? You aren’t going to believe it.

She and Patricia Maisch — who also shouted “Shame on you” but is better known as the hero who knocked a high-capacity magazine out of Loughner’s hands before he could kill more people in Tucson — were escorted out of the Senate gallery by Capitol Police.

“They detained us for about an hour and a half,” said Haas, 55, who lives in Richmond.

They had to turn over their IDs and wait. For what?

A background check.

Gabrielle Giffords op-ed: A Senate in the Gun Lobby’s Grip

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was herself the victim of a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011, responds to the shameful cowardice of the U.S. Senate in this op-ed today in the New York Times. A Senate in the Gun Lobby’s Grip:

SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.

On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms — a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count.

Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents — who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.

'All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington'

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

President Barack Obama arrives to participate in a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in Washington, about measures to reduce gun violence. With Obama is former Rep. Gabby Giffords, left, and Mark Barden, the father of Newtown shooting victim Daniel. Photo by Associated Press/Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Speaking in the Rose Garden after today's Senate vote, President Obama used the "bully pulpit" and expressed righteous indignation about the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey background checks amendment as parents of victims of last year's Newtown school shootings and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords looked on. Obama: Senate background check failure 'shameful':

"I see this as just Round One," Obama said in his Rose Garden remarks.

"All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington," he said sternly, urging backers of gun control to continue the fight. 

Slamming critics who said that victims were used as "props," Obama said that their voices and experiences should have been welcomed, adding that gun lobbyists "willfully lied" about the consequences of the background check measure.

Craven Cowardice: GOP filibusters bipartisan Manchin-Toomey background checks bill

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a supreme act of craven cowardice, Republican senators led a filibuster to prevent even advancing to debate of the Manchin-Toomey background checks amendment, and a simple up or down vote on the merits. The final vote was 54 to 46.

Sen. Harry Reid changed his vote from yes to no to preserve his right to bring a motion for reconsideration.

Sen. John McCain voted to end the filibuster. Sen. Jeff Flake demonstrated his craven cowardice by voting for the filibuster to deny his friend Gabby Giffords a simple up or down vote on the merits.

This is a 55 54-vote majority of senators in favor of this amendment, all that should ever be required to pass legislation in a democracy. The recent GOP abuse of the Senate filibuster rules to obstruct any and all legislation required a 60 vote super-majority to break the GOP filibuster and to move to debate of the amendment.

Mark Kelly: Americans for Responsible Solutions will replace Sen. Jeff Flake

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mark Kelly, husband of former US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, says the gun-control organization the couple has founded will work to defeat Sen. Jeff Flake (R) in the next election if the Arizona senator votes against expanding background checks to include more gun buyers. The Christian Science Monitor reports, Mark Kelly on gun control bill: 'We do have a problem' with many senators:

Mr. Kelly, a retired Navy captain and astronaut, said Senator Flake is “a good friend” of Ms. Giffords. But he gave this warning Tuesday at a Monitor-hosted breakfast with reporters: “If there was the right candidate out there and he [Flake] didn’t support this legislation,… you know friendship is one thing … saving people’s lives, especially first-graders', is another.” 

On Monday, Flake posted on Facebook a statement that he will oppose the bipartisan legislation on background checks drafted by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The measure “simply goes too far,” Flake said.

Kelly criticized Flake's action.

“Senator Flake’s timing for his posting to his Facebook was not ideal in my opinion,” he said. On Tuesday afternoon, Flake [was] slated to join Giffords and Kelly, along with Vice President Joseph Biden and House Speaker John Boehner, to dedicate a room in the House in honor of Gabriel Zimmerman. He was a member of Giffords's staff and was killed in the attack that gravely wounded her in January 2011.

The warning to Flake from the cofounder of Americans for Responsible Solutions comes amid reports that prospects are dimming for new gun-control legislation. Republican opposition to expanded background checks is growing in the Senate, “enough to put the proposal’s fate in jeopardy.”

Sen. Flake: Will you deny your friend Gabby Giffords a simple up or down vote?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

With friends like these . . .

The friendship between Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is well documented and genuine. At the State of The Union Address in February, Sen. Flake stood and cheered when President Obama intoned:

Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.

The families of Newtown deserve a vote.

The families of Aurora deserve a vote.

The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote.

Last week, Sen. Flake was among those Senators who voted against a GOP filibuster of any debate of the gun safety bill. But that was only the first GOP filibuster test; each provision of the bill and offered amendments are subject to GOP filibuster obstruction.

On Monday, when the nation was focused on the tragedy in Boston, Sen. Flake quietly announced in a Facebook post that he would vote against the background checks compromise hammered out by his fellow Sens. Manchin and Toomey. He continues the line of B.S. that he has been saying for weeks, that he "supports background checks" -- just not anything that has a snowball's chance in hell of passing Congress.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Introduced Today

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., two members of the "Gang of Eight," plan to brief President Barack Obama on the group's comprehensive immigration reform biill on Tuesday. Senators had originally planned a high-profile rollout of their measure, including a Tuesday morning news conference where they would be flanked by immigration reform advocates. But the group opted to postpone the event late Monday because of bombings at the Boston Marathon. Schumer, McCain Issue Summary of Immigration Bill - Roll Call:

The bipartisan group of senators working on an immigration overhaul proposal has released a 17-page summary of its bill, which includes a provision that will exempt the children of unauthorized immigrants from a $500 penalty charged to those seeking to have their status legalized.

[A Scribd copy of the 17 page summary is available here. Outline of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (h/t Talking Points Memo).]

Under the bill, unauthorized immigrants may apply to receive legalized status, known as Registered Provisional Immigrant Status.

In order to be eligible, an individual must have immigrated to the United States prior to Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained a continuous physical presence since then.

Election 'reform' bills stalled in the Arizona legislature

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Election "reform" bills have stalled in the Arizona legislature. SB1003 and SB1261, sponsored by Sen. Michele Reagan, have stalled in the House at her request in an effort to give Latino groups and Democrats a say in the measures and pitch amendments.The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Despite changes to election reform bills, Democrats, Hispanics still opposed:

The bipartisan discussions have resulted in agreements for several changes in the bills.

But some Democrats say the efforts aren’t enough and are still urging Reagan to hold the bills until next year and use the interim as a chance to meet with all stakeholders — county recorders, lawmakers and voters — before drafting new legislation to make Arizona’s voting systems more efficient and accurate.

“I do appreciate the sponsor of the bill at least trying right now to bring everyone together, but it makes it a little more difficult once a bill is prepared to come to an agreement,” said Senate Minority Leader Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Phoenix.

Reagan said House Speaker Andy Tobin has withheld the bills from votes in the House Committee of the Whole at her urging.  The Scottsdale Republican used the extra time to meet with the Arizona Association of Counties, the Secretary of State’s Office and Democratic lawmakers to address concerns with the bills.

Though Democrats convinced Reagan to make a few changes to the bills in a stakeholders meeting on April 8, Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, called Reagan’s efforts a “waste of time” — without significant changes to both bills, his vote on the bill won’t change from a no to a yes.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal of New York concealed carry law

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The U.S. Supreme Court has proven that the Second Amendment absolutists (absurdists) who argue there can be no laws regulating guns are wrong, yet again. The Court today declined to hear a challenge to a strict New York law that makes it difficult for residents to get a license to carry a concealed handgun in public. Oh, gnashing of teeeth and wailing among the gun worshipers and fetisihists! Supreme Court leaves in place strict N.Y. limit on carrying concealed firearms:

The justices on Monday declined to hear a challenge to a strict New York law that makes it difficult for residents to get a license to carry a concealed handgun in public.

The court did not comment in turning away an appeal from five state residents and the Second Amendment Foundation. Their lawsuit also drew support from the National Rifle Association and 20 states.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear in its Second Amendment cases that government regulation of firearms is permissible. There is no support in law for the absolutist (absurdist) position.

Compromise on background checks comes at the expense of other gun safety laws

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"Bipartisan compromise" has become code for "the devil is in the details." The compromise on background checks comes at the expense of other gun safety laws.

The nation's second largest "gun rights" organization, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, claiming 650,000 members and supporters, endorsed the background checks compromise drafted by Sens. Manchin and Toomey on Sunday. Gun rights group endorses Manchin-Toomey background-check bill:

[The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms functions as a kind of sister organization to the Second Amendment Foundation, a legal think tank and law firm based in Bellevue, Wash., that, along with the NRA, has been a leader in filing major court challenges to halt restrictions on gun rights.]

[Late Sunday, a second gun rights group, the Independent Firearm Owners Association, joined the Citizens Committee in endorsing the Manchin-Toomey proposal. The group is led by a former NRA regional political director, Richard Feldman, but has far fewer members than either of the more established gun rights groups.]

[T]he announcement of support on Sunday from the Citizens Committee reveals that substantial parts of the bill are viewed as “wins” for the gun lobby, including provisions that would prohibit a government registry of gun ownership and make it easier to transport and market weapons across state lines.

Comprehensive immigration reform battle lines are drawn

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Beltway media villager meme for months now has been that the GOP will agree to comprehensive immigration reform after losing three-fourths of the Hispanic vote in 2012. The GOP allegedly has learned its lesson and now realizes that its ability to win national elections in the future depends upon appealing to Hispanic voters and understands the changing demographics of America.

Silly reporters, you don't understand how deep nativism and racism runs in America. it is America's original sin.

The only reason there has not been hysterical anti-immigrant opposition to comprehensive immigration reform up to now is because there has not been an actual bill around which to rally the opposition of the nativists and racists -- timing is everything in politics.

That is about to change this week. The Senate's "Gang of Eight" is expected to unveil its comprehensive immigration reform bill this week.

The "Know Nothing Party" anti-immigrant nativists and the Dixiecrats-cum-"solid Republican South" racists are now gearing up for battle. Time to fire up the anti-immigrant hysteria of hate radio demagogues and FAUX News Fraudcasting.

Sen. Marco 'Big Gulp' Rubio and poison pills

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The darling of the Tea Party -- and Beltway media villagers -- Sen. Marco "Big Gulp" Rubio (R-FL), did the "full Ginsburg," er "full Rubio" to his Beltway media villager sycophants, on the Sunday bobblehead shows today. Have water handy! Out: Full Ginsburg. In: Full Rubio.

I really don't get why this freshman back bencher and intellectual lightweight garners so much fawning by the Beltway media villagers. Maybe it is because he is as shallow and vacuous as they are, kindred spirits of sorts. Talk about the "dumbing down" od America.

Sen. "Big Gulp," a member of the Gang of Eight (what is it with senators and their need for gang membership?), decried the use of "poison pill" amendments he expects from his fellow Tea-Publicans on immigration reform.Then turning on hs heel, Sen. "Big Gulp" endorsed the NRA "poison pill" amendment to kill the bipartisan background checks agreement reached by Sens. Manchin and Toomey.

The only principle that Sen. "big Gulp" believes in is his own self promotion for consideration as a presidential candidate in 2016. This Tea Party punk should focus on how to be a senator first. He is definitely not ready for prime time.

Sandy Hook victim's mother delivers the Weekly Address

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

From the White House blog, Weekly Address: Sandy Hook Victim’s Mother Calls for Commonsense Gun Responsibility Reforms:

This week’s address is delivered by Francine Wheeler, whose six year old son, Ben, was murdered alongside nineteen other children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, four months ago. Now, Francine – joined by her husband David – is asking the American people to help prevent this type of tragedy from happening to more families like hers. Since that terrible day in December, thousands more Americans have died, and thousands more families have suffered the pain of losing a loved one to violence.

Now that the Senate has agreed that commonsense gun safety reforms deserve a vote, they must finish the job and pass those reforms to protect our children and our communities. Now is the time for all Americans to help make this a moment of real change.

Transcript. Video below the fold.

Sen. Tom Coburn demolishes arguments against background checks

Posted  by AzBlueMeanie:

The gun worshipers and fetishists frequently violate Godwin's Law by invoking Hitler and the Nazis in any debate over gun reform. They just can't help themselves, it's almost a variation of Tourette syndrome.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) took this fearmongering over gun reform to new levels in a Facebook post on Thursday that compared expanding background checks to the Rwandan genocide. GOP Congressman Warns Background Checks Will Lead To A Genocide Like In Rwanda. No really, he did.

So now gun worshipers and fetishists are comparing themselves to to the victims of genocide? European Jews killed in the Holocaust and Tutsis killed in the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, all because they may have to complete a background check to buy a gun? This is offensive and demeaning to the memory of the actual victims of genocide. These demagogues are without shame or any sense of decency.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), a staunch conservative, has demolished this unhinged fear mongering in a letter he sent to his Senate colleagues who are engaging in shameless demagoguery. Conservative pro-gun Senator demolishes arguments against background checks:

Senator Tom Coburn, a staunchly conservative Senator with impeccable “pro gun” credentials, has done us all a tremendous service: He has effectively demolished many of the arguments coming from the right against expanded background checks.

Coburn has sent a letter to his Senate colleagues making the case that his proposal for expanded background checks is better than the one produced by Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey. But in the process of defending his own proposal from the inevitable claims by fellow conservatives that it would violate people’s Second Amendment rights, he effectively destroys that same argument as it is being applied to the Manchin-Toomey proposal.

Gov. Brewer rallies support for Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration/expansion plan

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Gov. Jan Brewer held the latest in a series of rallies at the Capitol on Thursday to show she has broad support for her Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration/expansion plan. Gov. Brewer rallies Medicaid allies:

A growing number of lawmakers in both parties believe the Legislature will pass Brewer’s expansion.

That’s a change from earlier this year, when the main voices heard in the debate were those of conservative Republicans opposed to the expansion, a signature part of President Barack Obama’s heath care overhaul law.

“It’ll get passed,” said Sen. Steve Pierce, R-Prescott, the most outspoken GOP supporter in the chamber. “She’s got the power of the veto and she will be there until she gets it.”

Democrats, who broadly support the expansion, hold 13 of the 30 seats in the Senate. Pierce believes the Senate vote could reach the required two-thirds majority, which would see at least eight Republicans vote in favor of the proposal.

“The governor’s sitting, as I see it, in the catbird’s seat, and she has tools at her command,” said Assistant Minority Leader Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson.

The House, with 36 Republicans and 24 Democrats, may be tighter, but the push being led by Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, is gaining traction.

“When we finally put together the package, I believe that we’ll have enough support to pass it,” Carter said Wednesday.

'Kochtopus' push polling on Gov. Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I previously posted about the 'Kochtopus' astroturf campaign against Gov. Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan.

This now includes push polling by the Colorado-based conservative polling firm Magellan Strategies commissioned by a "client who does not want to be identified."

A previous client of Magellan Strategies is the political consulting firm DC London, Inc., headed by GOP consultant Sean Noble. You remember him. Sean Noble also heads up the Center to Protect Patient Rights, an Arizona 501(c)(4) organization in the "Kochtopus." It was his organization which was the "dark money" conduit that laundered $11 million dollars to Americans for Responsible Leadership, an Arizona 501(c)(4) organization in the "Kochtopus," that California’s political watchdog agency said represented the largest case of campaign money laundering in state history. Sean Noble and campaign money laundering by the 'Kochtopus'.

It's a safe bet that the "client who does not want to be identified" is an operative from one of the tentacle organizations of the "Kochtopus."

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reported on the first push poll by Magellan Strategies on Wednesday. Dueling polls reach different results on Medicaid expansion support:

The Magellan poll showed marginal support for the Medicaid plan, with 41 percent of respondents supporting the plan and 37 percent opposing it. The 4 percent margin of support fell just outside the poll’s 3.44 percent margin of error. 

The auto-dial poll of 812 registered voters, which was conducted by Colorado-based Magellan Strategies, also showed a majority of Republicans opposing the expansion plan. A majority also said they would be less likely to vote for a lawmaker who votes for it. Sixty-three percent of Republican respondents, who made up 35 percent of the poll, said they would be less likely to reelect a legislator who voted for the plan, while 72 percent of the GOP voters said they’d be less likely to reelect a lawmaker who voted to fund the expansion with a new tax on hospitals.