Arizona: Republican

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.

This hearing will not be televised

by David Safier

[Note: In classic blog fashion, Part 3 is at the top of the page with Parts 2 and 1 following. Scroll down if you want to read them in the order they were written.]

These days, state legislative business is videotaped and streamed on the web. It's one of those wonderful high tech features that were impossible a few years ago. Bring the government to the people! (or at least let them watch the sausage-making live on their computer screens.)

The first meeting of the House's tuition tax credit/STO task force was streamed, as usual. Wednesday's session, however, wasn't.

by David Safier

This is the first time I'm quoting Emil Franzi, who writes a conservative-leaning column in The Explorer, where I write a liberal-leaning column. But when both of us are thinking more-or-less the same thing on an issue or two and he brings in knowledge I don't have, he's worth quoting.

Franzi is writing about Prop 200 which looked like it had legs then went down huge, 70-30. He says the idea for the proposition was cooked up by "a Phoenix political consultant" to help elect Republican city council candidates.

The advice, apparently based on rudimentary polling data, was to drop a bundle not on a direct assault but on an oblique move based on a public safety initiative that was supposed to draw out voters more inclined to elect council candidates who supported it.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ben Smith reports at politico.com A Tea Party party registers in Florida:

A Florida conservative has registered an official "Tea Party" with the office of the Secretary of State, and is promising to run candidates against Republicans and Democrats in state and national races.

"The current system has become mired in the sludge of special interest money that seeks to control the leadership of both parties. It’s time for real change,” says Orlando lawyer Frederic O’Neal, the new party's chairman, who couldn't be reached immediately by phone, in a press release.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Secretary of State, Jennifer Davis, said the party had registered in August, and that its qualified candidates will appear on the ballot in the state.