Arizona's First Political Blog

E-mail Anonymous Mike at zonitics4-at-yahoo.com

By Anonymous Mike, pseudonymously.

 
Odd

Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris co-writes an entire piece with Mayor Gordon for the Arizona Republic on immigration and states that:

• Phoenix police officers should have all the tools necessary to go after the criminals and to make our community safe.

• We should do everything possible to get all criminals off of our streets while at the same time protecting everyone's civil and human rights.

• That input from a committee of learned individuals is welcome and of great value

• That immigration is a federal issue and that the solution must come at the national level.

• That the public have patience with them while they work through this very difficult issue

I am not sure why they need to appeal to the public for patience because I don't think there is a soul on our great city who doesn't think the police shouldn't be properly equipped or fight crime.
However most residents would respectfully disagree with on the value of advice developed by committees.

If you read the whole thing, you'll notice Harris and Gordon both keep referring to "immigration" but never use the term "illegal" as if the issue was whether those here legally on say tourist and work visas should be checked on by the police.

Two of the most powerful men in America's 5th largest city are given valuable space in the op-ed space of the state's leading newspaper and they cannot even differentiate the legal status between those who come to our city legally and those who sneak across the border?

Remember Mayor Gordon just won re-election with one of the biggest margins of victory int he city's history. In fact he hasn't even started his second term yet and still he cannot he face an issue near and dear to many of his city's residents head-on.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 4:42 AM

 
Christmas, Bloggers, and Beer

This Sunday, December 23, Vox will be hosting a Christmas bloggerama at Four Peaks Brewing in Tempe (8th St. between Rural and McClintock) Time for the gathering is about 3:00ish... which seems to be about the time Happy Hour begins. What a coincidence.

For those of you who don't how to find us in the bar, look for Vox- she's the red head.

The world-famous Exurban boys, those of the Instan-lanche and Jonah-lanche, will also be there. Cripes, if you cannot put up with me at least come and see them

Unlike past bloggeramas, this event will not be within walking distance of my house so I will be on my better behavior.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 12:49 PM

 
Footing the Bill

I have read alot of rhetoric over the past few years from the likes of Governor Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Gordon about how the feds do not pay their fair share of the costs of illegal immigration. They reason that border security is a federal problem so why do they, state and local officials, have to pay for a problem caused by the incompetence of the feds?

This attitude leads to all sorts of political stunts... such as Gordon invoicing the feds over costs incurred from crimes committed by illegals. I guess that's reasonable.

So let's extend the logic.

In the coming fiscal year, the Phoenix Police Department will receive nearly $18 million in grants. It's hard to see from the budget breakout where the money is coming from but I bet alot of it comes from federal agencies. Lest you have any doubt that all of these monies are for fighting federal problems, check out the front page of the Phoenix Police Department's Web site which trumpets the receipt of a $3.7 million grant for "COPS" or Community Oriented Policing Program. This follows some $70 million of such grants awarded over the previous 12 years.

Now unless you have some sort of expanded view of the Commerce Clause or national defense, why on earth should federal taxpayers in Iowa and Maryland pay for community policing in Phoenix?

Okay spare me arguments about pork barreling and federal spending as usual, I have heard them all. What I'm getting at it is that I bet Gordon is more than happy to keep receiving federal dollars for strictly local police projects while blaming the feds for not paying for problems caused by poor policies under the national jurisdiction.

I am sure the costs of illegal immigration far outweigh the benefit from programs such as COPS so let's have Gordon make a grand gesture. Rather than waffling and whining, Gordon should say that Phoenix taxpayers will completely pay for all local policing issues, foregoing all federal aid, in exchange for federal help in fighting crimes caused by illegals.

Let the accountants figure out how to tally up the costs... just do it.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 1:49 PM

 
Pulling the String

Espresso Pundit has a great post on the exploding state budget deficit. If you read his post, what's in the news, and the Financial Advisory Council's (FAC) presentation slides this is what you get for a picture:

1) The State's budget deficit for FY2008 (current) is now pegged at $970 million. This is out of budget of about $10 billion which if you do the math seems to be a deficit just short of 10%.

2) The FAC projects that revenue growth will not reach the current budgeted rate until about 2011.

3) The ongoing deficit means that this year's shortfall may almost double to $1.8 billion in FY2009 unless steps are taken to resolve the difference between what is budgeted and what is actually collected. No projection on how large the deficit will grow by 2011.

That means within 12 to 18 months we may be looking at a budget deficit of 15 to 20%.

The Governor has proposed doing some one-time shifting. Tapping the rainy day fund for a few hundred million, borrowing for school construction... all reminiscent of how she handled the budget crunch in 2003 when she avoid spending cuts or tax hikes by combining one-times with fund sweeps and a little accounting gimmericky. The problem is that back then the economy sharply rebounded so that the State didn't have to resolve to any further drastic measures while there seems to be consensus at JLBC that this budget problem will last for years.

Make no mistake, Governor Napolitano's political fortunes were not only helped by the last few years of economic good times which enabled her to appeal to both to her base with large amounts of new spending and to voters at large with lower taxes. She was also helped by the shortness of the budget crisis in 2003 because the magic she used to avoid deep spending cuts or tax hikes wouldn't have lasted much longer.

Does anyone doubt that Napolitano hopes for a political career after she leaves office in 2010? The question is which one. If she runs for senator, say for McCain's seat if he doesn't run again in 2010, she will have to face the Arizona voters again. I seriously doubt she would want to have to do that after some of the tough fiscal choices that are coming... the economic good times have allowed her to be the perfect political moderate, Janus-like in her ability to appeal to diverse constituencies. Bad budgetary times will puncture that illusion, after all she wouldn't be the first western governor to have her political future crushed by bad fiscal times (see Grey Davis.)

However I see another path for her.

First I believe she will kick the fiscal can down the road as much as possible to 2009 through a combination of one-time financial maneuvers or by blaming the the Republican legislature. She'll be helped in both tactics by an acquiescent media.

By the time her political and fiscal bag of tricks run out, or maybe even after, it will be Autumn 2008, election time. Who would be a better choice for a President Clinton or Obama to make for Attorney General than a former state AG, two-time Governor, who enjoys a moderate reputation and comes from a state trending in national politics from red to purple?

Let Jan Brewer sort it out
posted by Anonymous Mike at 8:45 AM

 
Andrew Thomas....

... call your office

From the East Valley Tribune

(Chandler Gilbert Community College VP) Mason testified that college lawyers believe the district’s policy supersedes this state law.

I am sure there is a context to Mr. Mason's argument that wasn't reported but for a public agency(Maricopa County Community College District) that has had a litany of revelations regarding audit issues, fraud, and even a raid of its files and computers by the Maricopa County Sheriff.... I sure wouldn't be saying such things.

If that didn't warm the cockles of Maricopa taxpayers, another part of the article should....

The context of the article was the reinstatement of a fired community college employee. The person in question repeatedly arrived to work late and once abandoned her post, indeed the entire campus for an hour. Oh and one minor detail, the employee in question was a security officer.

The officer's supervisor documented her transgressions with a video camera and as he said in an interview last week “I found an employee who was stealing from the district.”

The kicker wasn't so much her reinstatement, I don't want to get into the technicalities of labor law and policy, but rather what one of the employee's supporters said:

Cleopatra Martinez, the head of Phoenix College’s math department and a vocal Sutton supporter, said that Sutton’s transgressions did not warrant firing, at least not at the Maricopa colleges.

“Otherwise you’re going to have to start firing virtually all of us,” she said.

Oh really?

posted by Anonymous Mike at 7:11 AM

 
Dazed and Confused

I have passed the M.D. Pruitt's furniture store, current ground zero of the illegal immigration debate here in Arizona, many times on the way to the nearby Home Depot and such I have passing degree of familiarity with the neighborhood and the issues involved.

I have some questions that I just cannot seem to get answers on, whether from reading media accounts, or from the Mayor.

1) Roger Sensing, owner of Pruitt's, claims that he was once able to hire off-duty Phoenix police officers to patrol his property but that last year, right before an immigration protest, the Police Department pulled such officers. Why?

On Phoenix Mayor Gordon's Web site, there is an FAQ on the Pruitt's affair where the question is posted.... Why Cannot Pruitt's Hire Off-Duty Officers? To which we are informed by the Mayor's Office, that of course Pruitt's can, they hire Maricopa County Sheriff deputies. Nice evasion.

2) Have off-duty Phoenix officers been pulled by the Department from other places on Thomas Road? How unusual is it for the City to not allow off-duty officers to work at certain locations? What were those circumstances?

For a long time, it was hard to drive into the parking lot of the Home Depot down the street from Pruitt's without being accosted by day laborers. About a year or 2 ago, somebody(whether the businesses or the property owner) started hiring off-duty Phoenix police officers to keep such laborers off of private property. Why was the courtesy awarded to one business but later denied to another?

3) The City of Chandler faced a similar problem with day laborers congregating along Arizona Avenue in the downtown area. Chandler established a day labor center and began to crack down on contractors that stopped to solicit potential workers. Has Phoenix tried any such day labor centers or enforcement with on-duty police, if not why not?

Gordon in his FAQ has stated that state law "prohibits direct City support or involvement in any day labor center." What circumstances have prohibited Phoenix from following the path that Chandler took or is Chandler breaking state law?

4) Gordon in both his FAQ and comments have put Pruitt's and the pro-day laborer protesters on a similar footing. In fact he has called the dispute a purely private matter. In fact yesterday, Mayor Gordon invited both Sensing and the man leading the protests, Salvador Reza, to his office to resolve the dispute. Mr. Reza is a coordinator at Tonatierra which ascribes to the notion of Aztlan which views the area of the American southwest as stolen land. A section of Tontierra's Web site states:

The present systems of the United States and other governments states of the hemisphere which derive their justifications for jurisdiction over the land on the Divine Right of Kings to Dominion over the Earth and its Peoples, is pure myth. Or better said, it is false myth -- a dead story with no teaching to teach but only a power grab to justify.
.......

To claim ownership by land title today in view of the above is the equivalent of proclaiming that the world is flat. It is the position of a lost world, and a false reality. It is an empire with no clothes.

It is fair to infer that Mr. Reza is at least comfortable enough with the notion that both private property rights and that the concept of a legitimate American nation state are myths to continue his association with Tontatierra. Has the situation deteriorated to the point where the Mayor would give his good offices to mediating a dispute involving a man associated with such views? What sort of views would you need to hold before the Mayor of America's 5th largest city would refuse to meet with you?

Once again, these questions aren't of earth shattering importance but I think their answers would provide a critical context to the seemingly minor protests involving a furniture store in east Phoenix.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 11:03 AM

 
Stale Post 2- This is the Business We've Chosen

There's been alot written about the reception NBA Commissioner David Stern received when he visited Phoenix to announce that the 2009 All Star Game will be at US Airlines Arena. Stern is catching hell from both the media and general fandom for his handling of the suspensions during last year's playoff and his perceived double standard regarding the finding that more than half NBA referees had been violating league rules by visiting casinos.

However that's not why Stern is ticking me off.

Back in 1995, the City of Seattle completely redeveloped what is now Key Arena making it into essentially a brand new venue for the hometown SuperSonics. By 2001 a new ownership group for the Sonics, led by Starbucks maven Howard Schultz, considered Key to be economically obsolete and pressed for a new publicaly funded venue. After several years of acrimonious debate between the Sonics and local government officials, the team was sold last year to a new group led by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett.

Mr. Bennett not only kept the new arena drum beating but added the threat of relocation, presumably either to his home town or to Kansas City, if he wasn't built a new arena estimated to cost upwards of $450 million. He has also rejected an offer by the City of Seattle to share in the costs of renovating Key Arena and redoing the lease in order to provide more arena revenue to the Sonics. Last week, Bennett's deadline passed and he announced his intent to move the Sonics from Seattle where they have been located and well supported for the past 40 years.

Stern has piled in and announced that if the Sonics do leave, presumably for Bennett's hometown of Oklahoma City which has far less revenue potential than Seattle, then Seattle probably won't ever get another team.


1) You have a team, the Sonics, that turned on an 6-year old arena and called it economically obsolete and wanted a new one while presumably the original venue probably still had some of that "new arena smell."

2) The team was then sold to an outside businessman who then claimed he got a raw deal in terms of Key Arena. I am not sure how Mr. Bennett made his money, but typically you don't invest money into a venture and then turn around complain about how you are losing your shirt on it...

3) The new owner then rejects an offer to completely re-do a 12-year old arena, at mostly public expense, and instead wants the taxpayer to build him a brand-new venue at more than twice the price of the renovation offer.

If you think that it is crazy, then David Stern says not only don't you deserve the Sonics but you don't deserve the NBA period.

Notice the story line. Outsider from a city hungry for an NBA team buys franchise, doesn't have to promise to keep team in town, immediately threatens to move team if he doesn't get a massive taxpayer-paid arena, and rejects anything short of close to a half a billion dollar deal.

Get the feeling the fix was in? That the moment the team was sold to Bennett, that he was looking for moving vans? He didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle and everyone including Stern knows it.

So why is Stern playing the heavy here? Threatening Seattle with a life-time banishment from the league if they don't cough up a king's ransom (and what exactly does a $450 million arena look like?) when he knows Seattle is a dead man walking? My guess is for the next city that doesn't want to fork over a few hundred million in corporate welfare to an NBA owner, Stern will drag out the pictures of the job he did on Seattle and ask the local powers-that-be if they want to sleep with the NBA fish as well.

Orlando beware....
posted by Anonymous Mike at 10:00 AM