Arizona: Phoenix

by David Safier

In the post below, I wrote about the recent meeting of the R-created committee looking into painting a happy face on the tuition tax credit mess. I mentioned it brought in an "expert," Charles North, to explain that tuition tax credits save Arizona millions and millions of tax dollars.

So who is this "expert," Charles North? He's an econ prof from Baylor University. About Baylor, from its website:

Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is a private Baptist university, and a nationally ranked liberal arts institution.

The only publication of note I could find by North is a book he co-authored in 2008: Good Intentions: Nine Hot Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith.

First Transit, a private transit management and contracting business, on Tuesday donated $5,000 to the Human Services Campus, which helps around 5,000 homeless people yearly.
The money was presented to the shelter with a check presentation at the downtown Phoenix campus, attended by Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox.  The money will help pay for Thanksgiving dinners and other holiday supplies, said Senior Vice President Nick Promponas in a news release.
The donation is critical to the campus' effort to help the homeless as layoffs and foreclosures push more people out of their homes. Separately, the County Board of Supervisors for years has helped fund operations ...

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

First a quick update: The Accidental Governor and the GOP insane clown posse are trying for a special session this week to deal with agency funding issues. They were to have met over the weekend to hammer out the details of a plan that they hope will be a one day special session on Thursday. I checked the Governor's web page and she has not yet called for a special session, and her calendar has her going out of town this week. Things could change, but it's not looking optimistic.

There has been a troubling trend in Arizona government for years now.

by David Safier

I don't usually blog about this kind of thing, but the Phoenix connection makes it irresistable.

There have been lots of questions about Bonner & Associates, a Republican outreach firm which apparently uses all kinds of shady tactics to do its clients' bidding. But this is a new one to me: FLS Connect.

According to Talking Points Memo,

Minnesota-based FLS Connect uses low-wage workers to make fund-raising calls for a bevy of prominent GOP clients. And many of those workers -- including those responsible for processing credit-card transactions -- have felony convictions, the former employees said.

Here's the Phoenix connection.

And many workers in the company's Phoenix office are ex-cons, who are paid not much more than minimum wage, lack benefits, and work in squalid conditions.